Let's take a look at what a learning
plan is over the next four courses. As we have discussed,
we have defined fintech very broadly as technological innovations
that improve how money and capital are transferred,
raised and invested. Therefore, our courses will be structured
as deep dives into each of these three segments and
analyze both the technology and the business side of
innovations in these segments. Feel free to take these courses in
any order that works best for you. Our first two courses look at
fintech Innovations in the capital transfer sector. They're about the digital
challengers to
financial institutions that promise to make paying for things and getting
paid faster, cheaper, and more secure. In the first course,
which we'll call PayTech, we'll examine the payment innovations that
do not rely on decentralized technologies, such as blockchain. A good example of
this type of
innovation is the digital and mobile wallet, for instance, PayPal,
Venmo, and Apple and Android Pay. We'll first look at how
things are traditionally done before these innovations and connect
the specific inefficiencies of these practices to the specific technological
advantages of the innovations. We'll also look at the business side
into how to leverage the data advantage of the new technology to build
entire payment ecosystems. And to give you a broad exposure, we'll look at building
the PayTech
business from multiple angles. Both in the markets with good existing
payment infrastructure and in markets where there's none and where things had
to be built completely from scratch. The second course in the series,
which we call CryptoFinance, examines payment innovations
that do use decentralization. We'll first look at the technical
aspects of the blockchain, which powers the thousands of
cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin. As usual, we'll identify the specific
advantages of blockchain's decentralized record-keeping technology and connect them
to current inefficiencies
in the transaction system. On the business side, we'll first look at the angle of
blockchain as a tradeable asset. That is, the market dynamics of
cryptocurrencies, how they are priced, and their role vis-a-vis fiat currencies,
such as the dollar. We'll then look at the angle of
blockchain as a business and show you some real experiences and
lessons from growing a new business idea based on the blockchain
into a profitable company. The next course in our series,
which we call CreditTech, looks at how fintech is
helping both individuals and businesses raise capital more broadly and
more efficiently. We'll start with how things
are currently done and how credit actually works from both
a finance and a statistical point of view. Then we'll deep dive into how fintech
is disrupting this equilibrium. We'll first look at the lending market and
see how peer-to-peer-based platform lending could expand credit access to
both individuals and small businesses. And how to translate this customer
expansion into profitability. We'll then turn to the equity side and see
how our traditional initial public stock offerings, or the IPO,
could be complemented by the myriad of new funding opportunities
enabled by online crowdfunding. And also by crypto token-based
fundraising vehicles, such as the initial coin offering. We'll then combine these
markets together
and look at how fintech disruptors are competing on the entire
fundraising spectrum. And how incumbents, or existing financial
institutions, like banks, should respond. The fourth course of the series is
called InvestTech, and not surprisingly, it deal with how fintech is fundamentally
changing the way that we invest money. On the technology side, we'll deep dive in
the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence. And see how they
could help
us better select stocks for more targeted portfolios and
manage our long-term Investments. We'll also look at how big data,
particularly new, unstructured data from mobile sources and
social media, could help better understand the consumers
and better plan their wealth. On the business side, we'll examine the
business models of the new robo-advisors, which combine online platforms
with machine learning to deliver customized financial
advice at a low cost. Hopefully by now you'll notice a common
theme from these descriptions. That is the intricate link between
the technology and the finance. In the world of fintech, there are many finance
talents and
there are many tech talents. The emerging problem is that sometimes there is a
communication
barrier between the two sides. The finance people don't understand
the technology well enough to make the customer's pitch. And then the tech people
don't
understand finance well enough to design the optimal product. The goal of this
series
is to bridge this gap. Throughout the courses, we'll learn to be well-versed in
the languages of both tech and finance. We'll have a good knowledge of
the core fintech concepts and connect these technical know-how to both
financial theories and market practices. So that we could be an effective
communicator between the tech and finance sides. Decipher fintech beyond
just the buzz words. Understand their specific
value propositions. And provide critical judgments
on new technological ventures.
