Interview with PAIR´s Senior Advisor Sebastian Diemer

By Dara Lazarova | February 15th, 2016
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  • Portrait Sebastian Diemer

    Sebastian Diemer began working at FinLeap because of his fascination with the incredible ecosystem for Fintech and finance that the company provides. After observing the development of FinLeap for a while through his connections to some of the founders and employees, Sebastian decided to engage in entrepreneurship and utilize his expertise and skills for a variety of different ideas. Thus, he now fulfils two roles at FinLeap: he is a part time consultant for the company and an investor at our new venture PAIR. Being his first investment in a company that he hasn't founded himself, Sebastian believes that PAIR promises growth for the future.

    Today, we will interview him on his experience at FinLeap, the creation of PAIR, and our venture's competitive edge in the market.

    FinLeap.com: Sebastian, you fill two positions at FinLeap. What's your favorite part of being in the FinLeap family?

    Sebastian Diemer: I love to see progress every day. The larger a company gets, the more time there is between idea and execution. I see how quickly everything is moving at FinLeap, because the ventures are still in the growth stage with very engaged and ambitious founders. Thus, ideas turn into action and substance in a short amount of time. Moreover, I enjoy the combination of experienced financial experts and young, wild entrepreneurs working together.

    FinLeap.com: Now, more about PAIR. What triggered the creation of PAIR?

    Sebastian Diemer: Most of us have received a letter or a call, because we have debt that we need to pay. The system, however, is really outdated and lacks cconvenience and efficiency.

    PAIR fills a gap where debt collection is online, customer friendly, and cost efficient. Everything is based on a data set and algorithm which allows us to be individually centered. Furthermore, we are the only ones who use tech enabled mediation (vs. expensive and annoying call centers) and try to understand the customer and the reasoning behind his debt and jointly fix the problem with the customer.

    FinLeap.com: Could you describe a typical business solution PAIR will provide?

    Sebastian Diemer: Our online negotiation engine sends out a message to the debtor. He/she has two options: either pay the debt directly online and receive a discount for doing so, or give us a reason why he/she cannot pay and the algorithm will tailor an action for each individual situation.

    FinLeap.com: What is PAIR's main purpose?

    Sebastian Diemer: Usually a customer who turns into a debtor gets agitated with the merchant and is lost as a customer. We aim for customers to remain customers. That way, the merchant wins, the customer wins, and after all PAIR wins.

    FinLeap.com: What gives PAIR the competitive edge?

    Sebastian Diemer: With one word: technology. The beauty of the technology is that it scales in a way that everyone benefits. Thus, we can achieve happier customers with higher repayment rates for the merchants.

    FinLeap.com: You were the CEO of Kreditech in the past. How does the experience at PAIR differ from that at Kreditech in the early days?

    Sebastian Diemer: Kreditech did not have a company builder and expertise behind it. In the very early days, it was more of a family that lived, worked and fooled around jointly, because of everyone's belief in the product. PAIR and FinLeap are a more professional setup that took us a while to mature into at kreditech where mistakes that can be avoided, are avoided thanks to the expertise of individuals.


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    Dara Lazarova