Summary of "Behind the Scenes of Cross Border Payments | Skydo Co-founder, Movin Jain Reveals All"
Business problem & market context (cross-border payments)
India’s export ecosystem has grown—more freelancers and small/medium businesses now earn from global customers—but bank payment operations haven’t evolved, causing:
- Delays in receiving funds
- Low transparency (unclear fees, purpose-code requirements, and compliance steps)
- High and unpredictable costs, including deductions across wire transfer paths, correspondent banks, FX conversion margins, and GST/FIRC/SWIFT-like charges
- Manual/branch-based steps and potential rework when money is returned or information is missing
Startup solution: Skydo (trade facilitation + “UPI-like” UX for B2B cross-border)
Skydo is positioned as fintech infrastructure for financial inclusion / financial plumbing for exporters in India receiving international payments.
Core product/process design (what changes vs banks)
Current bank flow (pain points)
- Recipient in India waits for wire transfers (Swift/MT103/telegraphic transfers).
- Sender may need bank-branch form steps, and charges get deducted along the way.
- Recipient sees the credited amount (e.g., “~2900€ received” vs “3000€ expected”) with multiple hidden deductions.
- FX conversion uses a bank rate with a margin (~2–3%), plus additional charges (GST/FIRC/SWIFT/Fx-related), some uncertain until later.
- Compliance forms, follow-ups, and uncertainty can become a “queue-like” experience depending on transaction volume.
Skydo flow (proposed improvements)
- No branch visit / fewer physical forms
- Account creation + KYC within ~5 minutes (RBI compliant).
- Virtual accounts in foreign currency / local rails
- Example: A German client transfers €3000 locally into Skydo’s Euro virtual account (treated as local payment within the EU currency area).
- This reduces reliance on traditional wire initiation and associated manual friction/fee leakage.
- Operational tracking + faster settlement to India
- Recipient gets a notification immediately when funds arrive against an invoice.
- Within 1 business day, Skydo converts Euro → INR and credits the recipient’s Indian account (current account / savings account).
- Provides end-to-end dashboard visibility (“Where’s my money?”), unlike typical banks.
- Purpose-code compliance setup in advance
- During onboarding, Skydo captures the RBI “purpose code” (often stable for SMBs) and uses a default in the dashboard for smoother straight-through processing.
Explicit scale/traction claims mentioned
- RBI aggregator license for cross-border payments (earned “recently”).
- Customers/providers are Indian-based exporters/traders receiving money internationally.
- Volume milestone cited: “payment volume has already reached $300 million” (as part of vision discussion).
- Timeline ambition: start international allocation within 1–2 years.
Strategy & positioning (business model logic)
- Start with India because
- The team is Indian; stronger knowledge of RBI regulations and execution in India.
- Indian exporters/freelancers are large and fast-growing, enabling product-market fit to emerge first.
- Expansion plan
- Move from India → other emerging markets (examples given: Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico) and later developed markets.
- Positioning comparison
- Frames Skydo as “UPI for cross-border payments”, focused on trade facilitation rather than P2P remittance/family transfers.
GTM scope: who it serves (and who it doesn’t)
- Not focused on P2P remittance / family transfers.
- Instead, Skydo targets:
- Indian freelancers and SMBs/exporters receiving payment from global business customers.
- Sales motion
- Users in India who receive money adopt Skydo to receive international funds via Skydo’s rails.
- The interview emphasizes the receiving-side trade facilitation problem.
Frameworks / playbooks / operational tactics mentioned
No formal frameworks (e.g., OKRs/SWOT) were explicitly named, but the interview includes a clear process playbook:
- Eliminate manual steps by redesigning payment rails
- replace global wire with local payments via virtual accounts
- Reduce cost uncertainty via predictability
- consolidate FX/conversion + compliance/FX/payment steps
- Compliance-by-design
- gather purpose codes at onboarding → enable straight-through processing
- Customer visibility as a product feature
- build a tracking dashboard to reduce “payment anxiety” and support burden
Metrics & KPIs explicitly cited (or quantified examples)
No formal KPI table was provided, but several numeric indicators were mentioned:
- Onboarding/account creation: within 5 minutes
- Funds availability to India: within 1 business day
- Example invoice value: €3000
- FX rate margin mentioned: typically about ~2–2.5% (up to ~3%)
- Fee leakage example: recipient could receive ~€2900 (≈ €100+ lost in the example)
- Payment volume milestone (vision discussion): $300 million
- Expansion timeline: 1–2 years to start international journey
Entrepreneurship & leadership takeaways (execution culture, risk, mental health)
- Founder guidance:
- Avoid being misled by social media “overnight unicorn” narratives; ground yourself in skills and interests.
- Seek advice from trustworthy mentors who created real world value.
- Money philosophy tied to mission:
- Success should include proportional impact; earning without creating good outcomes leads to dissatisfaction.
- Founder sustainability (“unwinding”):
- Build a recurring routine to avoid burnout:
- Gym 4–5 days/week + yoga 2 days/week (with trainers)
- fixed schedule so work doesn’t consume all time
- Cites becoming a father (~5 months prior) as an additional stabilizer for balance.
- Build a recurring routine to avoid burnout:
Concrete example/case narrative (end-to-end payment)
Bank-based flow (typical)
- Germany client (Lets) pays a freelancer.
- Invoice sent on the 5th of the month (email).
- Client initiates wire (potential bank-branch/manual steps).
- Multiple charges deducted (sender charges + correspondent charges).
- Recipient sees net credited amount only after conversion and extra bank charges.
Skydo alternative
- Client transfers € locally into Skydo’s Euro virtual account.
- Freelancer receives a notification.
- INR credit arrives within 1 business day.
- Dashboard shows payment progress at each stage.
Presenters / sources
- Vivek Law (podcast host, “Simple Hai”)
- Movin Jain (Founder, Skydo)
- Context mentions: RBI (Reserve Bank of India), Piyush Goyal, and companies PhonePe, Meesho, Ola, BLS (as Movin’s work/experience references)
Category
Business
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