General Information
Instructor Bio
In 2022, Rotman’s graduating MBA class voted Dan Richards as Best Professor. Before teaching at Rotman, Dan built and sold start-ups to Environics Research and to Rogers Communication, In 2002, he was recruited to become CEO of a public company that was struggling after acquiring five investment distribution firms; he led a team that stabilized the situation leading to a successful sale two years later.
Dan‘s columns have appeared in Harvard Business Review and the Globe and Mail Report on Business and he is a regular guest on Business News Network. Dan holds an undergraduate degree in economics from McGill University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has been a member of Rotman’s marketing faculty since 1992 and has consistently won teaching awards based on student ratings of his courses.
Target Audience
Students who hope to work in startups, in venture capital, as product managers in technology role or in financial services generally. This course is also relevant to students interested in consulting or strategy roles, as well as those interested in digital disruption and innovation.
Format
Thursdays from 6:30 to 9:00
12 regular sessions – 2.5 hours in length, incorporating a guest speaker, discussion of articles and cases and a lecture. There will also be optional out of class meetings with senior decision makers at banks and venture capitalists.
Course Mission
- Fintech Marketing explores the number one issue for CEOs of every successful player in financial services: the onslaught from a wave of well-funded, disruptive startups looking to carve out their most profitable lines of business.
- The course addresses this from the perspective of disruptors, established financial institutions and venture capital firms, looking at issues of customer segmentation, positioning, product development, pricing, distribution, customer acquisition, scaling of offerings and competitive insulation.
- The case features guest talks by fintech founders, senior decision makers at banks and VCs, supplemented by case discussions and lectures.
Evaluation and Grade Distribution
| Component | Delivery | Due Date | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Submitting Key Lessons at Class Conclusion | In Class | Ongoing | 12% |
| Weekly Questions | Quercus | Ongoing | 11% |
| Weekly Quiz on Assignments | Quercus | Ongoing | 11% |
| Group Project | In Person | Week of November 14 | 26% |
| Final Exam | To be submitted online | In person during exam period | 40% |
Required Resources
There is no text, rather the course uses a combination of videos and articles from leading publications that act as “living cases’ and enhance the learning process.
Student Comments
“Great course, amazing speakers, great lectures.”
“Best course I’ve taken at Rotman. I would recommend it to every other student.”
“Great guest speakers to learn from”
“My best course at Rotman, tremendous learning” “Amazing course, great insights from the professor”
“Very well-organized course which connects Strategy, Marketing, Fintech industry.”
“Impressive breadth of material, tons of interesting readings”
“A fabulous course! I really enjoyed the different speakers, and the Prof’s insights”
“A must for students interested in innovation, startups, digital marketing”
“Among the most valuable courses in my two years at Rotman”
“Excellent speakers with unrivalled market knowledge”
“Passionate prof with outstanding knowledge of financial services and fintech”
“Guest lectures were amazing. My best course with tremendous learning”
“A fantastic professor! One of my favourite courses at Rotman”
“By far my best course at Rotman!”
“Industry speakers were a big value-add.”
“handsdown among my favourite courses at Rotman”
“the chance to hear firsthand from founders and leaders doing such interesting work made it incredibly engaging and memorable.”
“I absolutely loved the course; for its contents, the speakers and everything else around it. As someone who is extremely passionate about the Fintech space – globally and in Canada alike – this was one of my favourite courses at Rotman.”
Founders Who Kick Off Classes
A highlight of this course are founders who kick off each class. Below are the founders who spoke in the fall of 2024, many of these will be back in 2025:
| Jeff Adamson, NEO | Andrew Graham, Borrowell | Zaheed Poptia, Essiance |
| Will Bradly, Policy Me | Rob Khazzam, Float | Shivanki Singh, RBC |
| Jimmy Dinh, Simplii | Cathy Ly, EQ Bank | Steven Uster, FundThrough |
| Daniel Eberhard, KOHO | Aditya Maitre, My Beacon | Danish Yusuf, Zensurance |