Technology
05/19/2017

SizeUp: Friend or Foe


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Making smart decisions at every stage of growth is a critical—and often difficult—process for many small businesses. While larger companies have the money and resources to utilize big data and analytics tools to gain insight into their performance, customers and competition, small businesses are often left guessing and must rely on incomplete information (or gut instinct) to make key decisions like whether to expand into a new location or introduce new products.

That’s where fintech business intelligence startup SizeUp is stepping in. SizeUp partners with traditional banks to offer big data and business intelligence tools to small business customers to engage (and retain) them over the long run. Business owners who want to know such things as the most under-served areas of their markets when they are considering where to expand can use SizeUp to make the best possible decisions.

SizeUp already partners with big banks like Wells Fargo & Co., but long term will it be a friend or foe to legacy institutions? Let’s dive in and find out.

THE GOOD
SizeUp was initially chosen as one of 30 finalists in the TechCrunch Disrupt startup pitch competition in 2016, out of more than 12,000 applicants. TechCrunch Disrupt is Silicon Valley’s leading startup and technology conference, and the Disrupt startup pitch contest is widely considered to be the most competitive in the tech world. One of the important benefits that banks derive from working with SizeUp is that it increases the breadth of services they can offer their small business clients. Wells Fargo’s Competitive Intelligence Tool (powered by SizeUp), for example, helps businesses manage and grow their companies by analyzing performance against competitors, mapping out customer opportunities and finding the best places to advertise in the future. Providing this level of intelligence about local markets, along with a competitive scorecard analysis, can also be used to decide the best areas for potential expansion.

And as successful small businesses scale, SizeUp’s platform is designed to enable banks to anticipate which financial products their clients are likely to need in the next stage of growth.

“SizeUp enables banks to introduce their products and services at each key decision making moment in a business’ life,” says SizeUp CEO Anatalio Ubalde. “So for example, a small business loan during launch, and a line of credit as they grow.”

Big banks quickly realized the value that SizeUp’s platform brings to the table, with institutions like Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse investing early on in SizeUp’s development through programs like the Plug and Play Fintech Accelerator. Headquartered in France, Plug and Play is a large international fintech venture capital firm and accelerator, and a partner with BNP Paribas, France’s second largest bank. SizeUp has even partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration to help entrepreneurs and business owners assess how they stack up with the competition and map out potential vendors and suppliers.

THE BAD
It’s hard to find a whole lot of negatives with SizeUp’s platform and partnership model. If there’s one drawback, it’s the sheer volume of data points and information that is available on the platform. SizeUp draws from hundreds of public and private data sources, so the platform might be slightly overwhelming for small business owners who are not particularly tech savvy. That being said, banks are in a good position to aid their small business clients onboard to the platform and accelerate the learning curve.

OUR VERDICT: FRIEND
At the end of the day, SizeUp is a friend to banks and legacy financial institutions of all sizes. Bringing this level of sophisticated big data and business intelligence to their small business clients is only serving to help them grow and succeed, which should ultimately result in increased small business account retention. And as these companies grow, banks can be ready to upsell and cross-sell additional products and services that focus on specific stages of development along the way. SizeUp also provides an engaging product and interface that business owners can use for a variety of purposes, from plotting out an advertising campaign to gaining an in-depth understanding of how they stack up against the competition at any given time.

Big data and sophisticated business intelligence is something that most small business thought was only for companies with large technology budgets, but SizeUp is in the process of changing all that. And in addition to helping small businesses make better decisions during each phase of their growth, the firm is helping banks engage (and retain) those customers over the long haul.

David Harrington