I'm Aishwarya Jaishankar, Co-Founder & COO at Hyperface. Ask me anything!
Hi Grapevine,
I'm Aishwarya, currently building Hyperface, India’s most advanced modern banking platform, starting with credit cards. We enable banks & consumer companies to issue credit card products, seamlessly.
I'd love to chat with you folks about my journey in building Hyperface, my thoughts on fintech and financial services, organization building, amongst other things.
Ask me anything, I'll be back at 7:30 PM and begin answering! :)
One interview, 1000+ job opportunities
Take a 10-min AI interview to qualify for numerous real jobs auto-matched to your profile 🔑
I see you did your MBA in Advertising from MICA. How did you come about pursuing a career in Corporate Finance?
Oops corporate finance sounds too boring - I have been a retail banker actually - working to create products from liability to loans to remittances - MICA taught me customer obsession and respecting the nuances in making brand relevant - replace brand to banking product and thats where my MICA education and advertising background has helped me. From simplifying processes to building workflows I have had fun in retail banking - cherry on the cake is to be able to create business impact - like improved acquisition, better tunnel conversions, cost savings etc etc
My girlfriend is in IB and she complains a lot about high stress and long working hours which leaves very little time for both of us to cherish life and the little moments.
How did you manage the stress of finance and did you ever take mental therapy? How do you practice mindfulness?
All banking jobs - corporate/ retail/ investment banking all stressful - handling other people money aint easy! A great book that has helped me is Stillness is the key by Ryan Holiday. Most important practice is to be able to shut down and unwind every day - dont take stress full time (this is something I am struggling with as a startup founder but could do in the corporate world). Read, rest, recuperate and go back the next day stronger. Also with time you learn to juggle things
Hey Aishwarya,
Switching from corporate to building something wouldn't have been easy. Could you share the gist of how Hyperface came to be? How did the idea and team come together?
Both me and my co-founder (then Friend) were consulting neobanks and realised that banking integrations are too complex, even for the best of tech teams - we wanted to help them reimagine banking products and user experiences with an API first, modular stack.Credit cards was a natural selection 1. Due to the deep engagement nature of the product and 2. the growth of cobranded cards - which convinced us on the space. A pleasant surprise along the way has been banks embracing our stack to offer great user experiences - Hyperface is a culmination of our strong belief in embedded finance and modern banking. I would say the team is always a WIP- we have been lucky to have such a passionate team that is never afraid to challenge status quo!
Thank you so much for this answer. Very fascinating story and journey!
Nice product with good Vision
Thanks Sid, long way to go - need all your best wishes!
Hi Aishwarya, thanks for this.
With only 60 mil credit cards versus 800 mil debit cards in India, how did you identify this market opportunity?
IKR! barely 5-6% of Indians own a credit card - One of the main reason our Credit Pro engine isnt built just for cards is because we truly believe that credit line on upi is a product that can completely shift this narrative. Just as Debit cards have been replaced by UPI we will see a lot of entry level sachetised credits through UPI - Excited!
IKR! barely 5-6% of Indians own a credit card - One of the main reason our Credit Pro engine isnt built just for cards is because we truly believe that credit line on upi is a product that can completely shift this narrative. Just as Debit cards have been replaced by UPI we will see a lot of entry level sachetised credits through UPI - Excited!
Yo Aishwarya Can you tell me what made you to leave a cushy corporate job? What was the positive reward and negative pain that led you to decide against moving into another corporate?
Asking because it humanizes you in some way.
ahh - there is a lot of pain - leaving some of the products that I gave life too affected me a lot - I told myself I will build a 100 of them - Starting up a Fintech infra play came from that mindspace. To me Hyperface is purpose led - help every bank/ client to innovate! Also corporate options after a point seemed more optics focussed than operations focused - I love building so didnt want to become that boring leader in a corner cabin playing politics :-D
There are some nice & some not so nice days when building a startup. How do you navigate out of the not so nice days? Any tips?
Not just while building a start up - corporate career has those days too - Over time you realise the importance of being kind to yourself, take a deep breath and say this too shall pass - do the thing that reenergises you - from playing with your pets to reading your favourite author - Trust me it passes :-)
What strategies have you developed at Hyperface to build products that are "regulation-native" rather than having to retrofit compliance later?
Boss, being an ex banker means regulation is intrinsic to the way I think about products! am sure my tech and product team by now are used to all the regulations me and our legal head throw at them - To me thats the most fun about fintech vs going out there and just build - respect to customer data, respect to data security, respect to compliance are all non negotiable for a company like Hyperface - Its our DNA!
What book would you recommend to:
- For someone who knows nothing about finance
- For someone who knows enough finance. (Debit/Credit/Stocks/Debt)
- For someone who understands finance very well. (Stock Options/LBOs/etc.)
Recommend Finance book to understand more about Finance for these personas?
Aiyoo! I dont know if I understand so much either! I am a product, marketing enthusiast and retail banker - I love books like Why people Buy and Nudge and Inspired. I am intrigued by behavioural psychology, modern technology and design thinking. Please dont assume that we bankers are naturally mini warren buffets :-) I have heard psychology of Money is quite good - my own copy is sitting in my TBR pile!