How small businesses are driving innovation in finance

Discover how fintech is transforming small business, from mobile payments and AI tools to why the next unicorn might be run from home.

I’ve run a small, independent business for almost 25 years. It’s been fun and most of it has been rewarding, except for the accounting, banking and paperwork. No one enjoys that behind-the-scenes stuff, which is exactly what inspired many fintech startups. Founders who had been through the same pain saw an opportunity to make things easier. So how exactly has financial technology transformed life for small businesses? Here’s what I’ve seen.

Back in 2000, as the founder of a startup, I walked into a bank, eager to open an account for my new business. The first question they asked me was: Where’s your business plan? Not, What do you do? Or What are your goals? — just: Show me the paperwork. Back then, I just accepted this as the way small business banking worked. I spent weeks pulling documents together and meeting with a relationship manager, just to open an account. It was months before we got any kind of financing, and that only happened after we’d built a track record.

Fast forward to today, my children can start a business from home without visiting a bank branch, as I had to. No business plan required. In a few clicks, they can register a company, open an account, and start taking cashless payments online. There are hundreds of more options to support them, more than ever before. That shift is enormous, and it didn’t come from big banks. It came from technology, and people who were tired of how hard everything used to be. In fact, it’s small businesses — their challenges and frustrations — that drove this wave of change. Fintech has undoubtedly changed the landscape for SME finance.

We often think innovation starts in the boardroom, but the biggest changes in how we pay and manage businesses have actually come from the ground up, from small businesses solving real-world problems.

One of the biggest changes for me? How easy it’s become to get paid and run everything from my pocket. Nowadays, anyone can make or take digital payments as a small business owner. I remember a time when paying with a card in a taxi was a laughable idea. Not so long ago, drivers would insist on cash or point you toward an ATM. These days, almost every cab or delivery driver has a contactless card reader.

And it’s not just card readers — merchants today have mobile POS systems and fully digital business accounts that run straight from their phones. These simple business tools aren’t built for boardrooms. They’re built for real life — for cab drivers, food truck owners and freelancers who operate on the move.

But fintech isn’t just a convenience. It allows people to get started. You can run a mom-and-pop store or be a freelance designer and take digital payments from day one. No more red tape. No more having to wait for the relationship manager at the bank to give you a green light. And no more bloated platforms that feel like they were designed for giant corporations instead of real people.

What really makes a difference? Simplicity. Some of the biggest names in fintech build powerful tools, but they’re often packed with features that most small business owners don’t need or want. The winning solutions aren’t the flashiest or most complex. They’re the ones that just work — like SumUp's card reader that scans in seconds or a POS that runs on your phone. It is this kind of simplicity that gives everyday businesses a real edge.

But it’s not just about payments. As I mentioned before, accounting, banking and administration used to be one of the biggest headaches. Receipts in shoeboxes, endless spreadsheets, invoices scattered in my inbox —  I’ve been there. Today, we’ve got fintech for small businesses, which does all the heavy lifting for me.

Not long ago, I founded a startup that provides a fully digitalised, AI-driven corporate advisory service using advanced data analytics and multi-location accounting solutions—all seamlessly integrated into the cloud (Now, there’s a sentence you wouldn’t have heard back in the 90s). In a nutshell, we use AI and fintech to help other businesses with accounting and advisory services.

What made it possible? I started from a spare room with nothing more than an old MacBook and small business tools to handle invoicing and digital payments. No expensive tech stack required. I could invoice clients in multiple currencies and automate financial reports — all before lunch.

It’s the kind of business that would have been almost impossible to start in 2000, especially from home. Today, I'm running the business with an extremely lean team. That’s not just a personal milestone — it’s a sign of how much the environment has changed.

The rise of fintech has enabled something even more powerful: it has lowered the barriers to entry for millions of entrepreneurs, just like myself. You don’t need a storefront or a warehouse anymore. You can start an advisory service, e-commerce store, food delivery company, or even a fintech tool of your own, without leaving your home.

In the UK alone, almost three million SMEs are run by entrepreneurs working from home, simply because in our networked economy, they can! Notably, these small businesses contribute around £300 billion in annual turnover to the economy. Multiply that worldwide, and you begin to see how enormous this shift really is.

This is more than just witnessing a change in tools. We’re watching the way we work and how business evolves. And the key to that transformation? Financial technology.

So What Comes Next?

My prediction is that this is just the beginning. We’re going to see more businesses started by individuals, with powerful fintech doing the work of entire departments. Some predict, including Sam Altman, that the next unicorn—a business valued at over $1 billion—will be a company run by just one person at home. A decade ago, that would’ve sounded crazy. Today? Entirely possible. Just wait and see!

Fintech has not only made life easier for my small business, but it's redefined what business even is. That’s something I never could have imagined when I first walked into the bank in 2000, business plan in hand. Now, all you need is Wi-Fi and a good idea.

 

Postscript:

I started a new business recently to help small businesses with tax and acccounting using AI. Checkout https://webaccountplus.com/ for more.