This article is only available in Dutch 🇳🇱
If anyone has earned his spurs in the fintech field, it is Gertjan Rösken. As an innovator, he was involved early on in the digitization of the traditional banking system. In 2009, he initiated the first online banking app in the Netherlands. While building this iPhone app, which was far ahead of its time, Gertjan and Robert Kosse got to know each other. Initially in the role of customer and supplier. But the cooperation quickly grew into a close partnership, based on mutual respect, trust and equality. Recently, Gertjan and co-host Arlette Broex recorded the 100th episode of their podcast 'Nieuwe Knikkers'. After the event, we managed to catch him for an interview.
People may know you as a Fintech Solutions Creator, Design Thinker, Product Owner, Business Developer, System Architect, Innovator and as a Podcast Host. What are you currently working on?
'At the moment I am mainly active as an entrepreneur and specialist in payments. Online and in-store. I combine my professional knowledge with developing new products. I also provide many companies with advice, currently I do that for example at Knab. I also work a lot in Suriname. Together with Move's development team we are now making a product there to realize financial inclusion. An important pillar to build a good economy.'
How did the collaboration with Robert and eventually Move come about?
'That relationship goes way back. In 2008 I was working at Rabobank, where they already saw mobile as an important new channel. The smartphone app market was still very small, but when the iPhone came along, I realized it was going to be very big. That's why I wanted to convert Rabobank's mobile website to an iPhone app. Within the bank at that time, there was not enough knowledge and expertise in-house to do that. So I ended up at the development agency where Robert worked. Together with his team we took up the challenge. The promises he made beforehand were not empty. Robert is a man of his word: you enter into an adventure together and that app will come. It became a huge success. My colleagues at the bank didn't know what hit them. It was a very cool period in which Robert and I gained a lot of trust in each other. That bond of trust has always remained.'
What was the next step in collaboration?
'After this project, I mainly worked on mobile payments at Rabobank. I became technical director of a fintech start-up that Rabobank had bought. There Robert and I picked up the collaboration again. Meanwhile, he and Jan Gerard, among others, had founded Move. Everything I picked up with them, I called 'special projects': projects I knew I could leave to Robert and his colleagues. One of these was Rabo SmartPin: an app that allowed entrepreneurs to use debit cards. Rabobank simply didn't have the development capacity for that, but projects like that did come across my desk. In such cases, it made perfect sense to me to have Move create such an app. Another 'special project' was the very first mobile payment trial in the Netherlands. I very consciously tackled that with Move as well.'
And how does that work these days?
'I am technically savvy, but I can't build apps and complete platforms. I do have a pretty good idea in my head how the structure of an app or the backend should be. Recently I was working for a client in Suriname. Once I knew what needed to be done, there was only one party I wanted to call: 'This needs to be done. This is the budget. Can you build it?' Robert was standing on his skis on a mountain somewhere and said, 'Yes, that should do it.' At times like that, I know I can safely go to the client, pitch the idea AND the product will come. Eventually, one project leads to the next. In total, I and Move have already completed about ten large fintech projects in this way.'
What has changed in the partnership with Move since 2009?
'In essence, of course, not much. Because it's always about trust. And that trust has never been damaged, it has only become better and more solid. There has of course been an enormous professionalization and growth within Move. When I come across larger projects now, I prefer to work with you. But that has been a process. When Move was just emerging, I was faced with the choice of hiring a party to build a large platform. Although I trusted Robert and Jan Gerard, I couldn't commit that job to Move because the company was simply too small. Now I would easily dare. In retrospect, I secretly think you guys would have done quite well.'
What challenges do you encounter in your daily work?
'I regularly find myself in organizations where there are cultural differences. Where people want to work with a fixed budget or according to the waterfall method and think it's over at the end. But in the field we're in, it's never over. In digitization, it's never over. It used to be, especially in banking, you had a physical office where you took care of your business. That whole office has moved to your pocket. And with a new channel like that, it's just beginning. When you start serving customers, all kinds of new questions and needs come up. A major technological transformation, which includes agile working. With short lines and a fixed team. A method that Move understands well.'
How do you handle such situations?
'I like learning by doing. Ultimately, you only experience what it is like to work with someone by working together. That also applies, of course, when companies start working together. You can make great pitches, you can promise great things, but you just have to start making it together. It's almost like in a normal relationship. You have to pitch a tent together once before you get married.'
What do you want to close with?
'It's almost Christmas, so I'll close with a compliment. I deeply admire the entrepreneurship that Robert and Jan Gerard have shown since the founding of Move. Fantastic to see. You are not one-hit wonders.'
Read more? Check out the Rabobank SmartPin case study.
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