Startup Corner: Eric Ham, Midwest Financial Networks LLC, aka MFN CUSO

Minimally viable product …
Financial institutions require very secure and robust service offerings with skilled professionals and proven solutions. To meet this need, a group of Missouri credit unions created a company with a cooperative business model to provide all members no matter their size a lower cost path to solve this problem.

Value proposition …
Structured more like a cooperative than a for-profit, we focus on helping our members solve their technical needs without breaking the bank through shared cost and resources. We are able to provide specialized services by limiting our focus to one industry.

Seed money …
MFN was organized by financial institutions that invested enough to handle the annual operations of the organization. We leverage internal and external economies of scale to keep those costs in check.

Hurdles overcome …
We are a business-owned business, so our biggest hurdle was building a company with eight business owners while keeping to the cooperative spirit of the credit union philosophy. Each one has different needs and requirements when it comes to technical operations, and we had to develop a flexible and secure solution that could accommodate everyone.

Biggest mistake …
We spent more than we should on attorney fees working with various firms over several years to help us structure a business-owned company. In the end, it really just took everyone to sit down and map out the vision and provide that outline to one attorney for the final agreement.

Best advice …
Get out and network. I try to network in both the tech and financial institution spaces. If you only focus on your industry or tech, you may miss out on a solution or idea that creates a spark for you.

Greatest need …
Always security and awareness. We can do everything right, but it takes one end user to click on one wrong thing. We need every organization across all sectors to make security awareness part of our daily fabric so we have a chance against the bad guys.

Food for thought …
Some startups move fast, some sideways and others systematic. As a business in a highly regulated industry, we took the systematic approach to make sure security and business operations were never compromised. Know your target and industry and move accordingly.