As startups often are, Habito began from my own simple story of acute frustration; I bought a house and the experience was nightmarish.

My home-owning dreams weren’t being quashed by the fault of any particular individual, company or intrinsic malice working against me. It happened because important processes – like home buying – have mutated over time into complex and convoluted chains of different stakeholders, from regulators to lenders, brokers to surveyors, estate agents, buyers and sellers.

I have been in tech recruiting for the best part of 25 years now, and I can safely say it’s an industry that systemically overrates technical ability and underrates behaviour. Invariably, issues that arise within technical businesses – and, really, in any business – don’t come down to technical competence (i.e. what people know) but have everything to do with behaviour (i.e. what people do).

Though Prodigy Finance has now extended over $325 million in student loans, the company began, humbly, over a couple of beers. My INSEAD colleagues and I sat around, nodding our heads in complete understanding as we chatted about the difficulties we experienced in finding the funds to pursue our MBAs.

We weren’t an anomaly. As many as 82% of Prodigy Finance-funded masters students have no alternative sources of educational financing. They’ve been accepted into top universities to pursue advanced degrees with potential for exceptional salaries – and banks can’t take that into account.

Commentators have talked about the death of the high street for several years now, and indeed the market continues to change as customers change their shopping habits with the continued rise of online. Whilst as the high street as we know it, stuffed with large chain retailers, ancient technology and products you can find anywhere, is suffering, this in turn is creating an opportunity for a new wave of independent boutiques and retail spaces. With more independent shops opening than closing in 2016^[1], the large chain retailers are no longer providing the shopping experience customers are after. With online retail here to stay, the future of retail is changing to encompass the best of the online and offline worlds, focusing on consumer experience more than ever before.

As the shift to the digital banking grows, financial institutions are facing new challenges.
Global banking fraud is up 26% (£800m in UK) over the last year and the problem is getting worse as customers continue to move to mobile banking.

Imagine running a company built to service Fortune 100 clients in a highly strategic and creative way. Imagine running that company without empathy, kindness and care of your employees, a place where no one says thank you and no one cares if someone is crying in the bathroom. Truly, try to imagine running that company without paying attention to the heartbeat of the culture. There is not a person reading this that would raise their hand to work at said company. There is not one person that would jump at the chance to spend 8-10 hours a day at a company built with no soul.