In at this time’s interview, we sit down with Margarita Mukhmadeeva, a seasoned product chief and present head of product at CoinsFlow, a quickly rising Web3 start-up. Margarita brings over a decade of expertise in FinTech, specializing in high-performance fee platforms and B2B options. As a mentor at Girls in Tech, she additionally champions gender variety within the business. Be a part of us as Margarita delves into the function of AI and automation in shaping the way forward for FinTech, the challenges girls face in tech, and the way AI is revolutionizing product administration practices.
Margarita, you’ve led a Web3 progressive start-up to spectacular 10x+ progress. Are you able to share some key methods or choices that contributed to this speedy growth?
There’s not often a single reply to this query—no silver bullet. As a substitute, our success is the results of a mixture of a number of key components.
Firstly, I consider our obsession with buyer wants has all the time been our core worth and the cornerstone of our success. We centered on deeply understanding our shoppers and figuring out ache factors and alternatives by working carefully with prospects who have been already well-informed about Web3 however have been searching for better-tailored options to handle their present challenges.
One other vital enterprise choice was our dedication to addressing one of many business’s largest points: credibility. From day one, we invested closely in authorized and compliance, secured the mandatory licences, and partnered completely with probably the most respected Web3 initiatives. These efforts have been essential in establishing belief and credibility—we aimed to create a Web3 finance venture with the repute and trustworthiness of a standard monetary establishment.
Lastly, I have to emphasise the significance of our unbelievable group. Hiring the correct individuals could be difficult, but it surely’s an funding that all the time pays off. With the assistance of my in depth expertise in constructing agile processes, we applied growth practices that allowed for fast iterations based mostly on consumer suggestions. Collectively, these components have been instrumental in driving our success.
Together with your in depth expertise in FinTech, how do you see the function of AI and automation evolving in fee platforms over the following 5 years?
One of many key classes you achieve from working in fintech is knowing the inevitability of change—notably the intense pace of those adjustments on this business. It’s tough to foretell precisely what’s subsequent, and there could also be extra surprises across the nook, however there are a number of instructions wherein AI is already remodeling the panorama.
- Our fee platforms will proceed to turn out to be safer with AI-based fraud prevention. AI algorithms will maintain enhancing the detection and prevention of fraudulent actions in real-time.
- Buyer assist will proceed to turn out to be cheaper, sooner, and higher. By streamlining and automating back-office operations, AI will cut back prices and human error. AI-powered chatbots and digital assistants will present 24/7 buyer assist, resolving queries shortly, with much more developments to come back.
- Our fee merchandise can be much more tailor-made to every buyer. Personalisation will proceed to develop, with AI-driven analytics offering personalised suggestions and tailor-made monetary merchandise. Better integration of varied monetary merchandise, mixed with in depth information about customers, will allow us to create next-level options for everybody.
- One other vital enterprise use of AI inside fee platforms is enhancing stability and acceptance charges. The usage of AI for optimising fee routing and minimising transaction prices and delays will proceed to reinforce the general high quality of our funds.
As a mentor at Girls in Tech, what challenges do you consider girls face within the FinTech business, and the way can organizations higher assist gender variety?
Sadly, the challenges girls face within the fintech business are removed from distinctive—gender bias and stereotypes, lack of illustration, unequal alternatives, and the extra problem of balancing demanding careers with private obligations. As is the case throughout a lot of the tech sector, girls’s illustration is comparatively robust at mid-level positions however considerably decrease in high roles. Regardless of the progress made in the direction of equity and variety, we’re nonetheless removed from a degree the place we will afford to decelerate our efforts. I consider that each firm ought to actively form its tradition and deal with challenges at each stage of the worker journey.
Our efforts ought to start with implementing bias-free recruitment processes to make sure numerous candidate swimming pools. As soon as an individual is a part of the corporate, inside assist and mentoring are essential. Establishing mentorship and sponsorship initiatives to assist girls’s profession progress is significant. Moreover, I wish to emphasise the significance of highlighting profitable girls leaders and creating visibility for feminine function fashions within the business. From my private expertise, the dearth of function fashions typically pushed me to go looking additional afield, which might have slowed my progress.
It’s additionally vital to recognise that fostering a tradition of inclusivity, respect, and assist by means of common variety and inclusion coaching is commonly underestimated. For these with households and youngsters, providing versatile working hours, distant work choices, and parental go away to assist work-life steadiness could be notably useful.
Lastly, it’s important to acknowledge that it’s not solely girls who are suffering from difficulties and injustices—all varieties of minorities do. I consider that corporations that constantly give attention to altering their tradition profit tremendously from the variety they foster.
Are you able to talk about a selected occasion the place AI integration considerably remodeled a product administration workflow you have been concerned in?
We at the moment are dwelling in extremely thrilling instances, with AI instruments thriving, but I consider that is just the start! Personally, I exploit AI, LLMs, and ML instruments day by day, each at work and in my private life. The important thing to efficiently integrating AI, for my part, lies in understanding that AI usually doesn’t automate a complete job or perform—it automates particular duties.
My favorite use instances are those who considerably improve on a regular basis effectivity. For instance, all of my buyer interviews are transcribed and summarised utilizing AI instruments. Moreover, AI assists me in getting ready for interviews, figuring out recurring subjects, and even formulating higher hypotheses to check.
One other state of affairs the place AI performs an instrumental function for me is brainstorming. For those who’ve ever feared the clean web page, this will likely be just right for you too. I typically embrace a request in my prompts to generate a number of choices, which helps me shortly decide the route I wish to take.
In our world and multicultural world, AI instruments are additionally extremely helpful for working in worldwide groups, aiding with translations and even including cultural references to communication when wanted.
In fact, we perceive that these instruments require extra checks and may make errors, however they continue to be unbelievably useful—nearly like pure magic.
In your view, what are among the most fun AI-driven instruments presently obtainable for product managers, and the way are they reshaping conventional practices?
I consider it’s truthful to say that we’re now at a stage the place AI is being built-in into most of our on a regular basis instruments—Jira, Notion, Miro—generally so seamlessly that we might not even discover it.
From my private expertise, probably the most thrilling instruments are those who deal with among the much less fulfilling features of a product supervisor’s job, resembling routine operations (transcriptions, follow-ups, speculation enhancing, and consumer story refinement). Nonetheless, I feel this choice is partly as a consequence of my pursuits.
One other side that excites me is every part associated to consumer analytics. As a B2B enterprise within the early levels of progress, we’re much less depending on large-scale analytics information. Nonetheless, I discover it fascinating to see the place this discipline is heading with instruments like Mixpanel and Amplitude, in addition to consumer analysis and suggestions evaluation instruments like UserLeap and Qualtrics.
What recommendation would you give to aspiring product managers who wish to specialize within the FinTech and AI area?
I’ve encountered the notion that entering into AI or FinTech is just too sophisticated or that it’s too late to begin, however that is merely unfaithful. I consider that anybody can achieve an understanding of a discipline—the hot button is to simply start. One other helpful piece of recommendation is that it’s vital not simply to be taught however to begin practising as quickly as doable. Given how quickly the business is altering, staying up-to-date with the most recent information and developments is essential, so a terrific first step might be following related information channels and media.
Moreover, it’s not all the time apparent, however discovering a mentor and even only a good friend to speak to could be extremely useful. There are many platforms the place you will discover assist, typically at no cost or at a really low price.
For potential product managers in fintech, I might additionally add that should you’re transitioning from different industries, you may not be as aware of regulation and compliance. Nonetheless, in fintech, these concerns are important and have to be stored in thoughts continuously.
