CheGoranov[Career] = “Fintech”
by Che Goranov
What Would Batman Do?
Finance/Accounting professionals are not known for our creative verses and artistic expression. But our P&Ls and Balance Sheets are pretty fantastic. Regardless, here goes my best attempt at a blog… What is going on everyone?! My name is Che Goranov and I am so happy you are here. Really. I have a cool story to share but before we get into that, who am I? Let me hit you with the headlines (see below)
- Born in Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Live in Chicago, IL
- Madly in love with my wife for 8 years running and fun fact - knew I was going to marry her after our second date.
- Oddly obsessed with Microsoft/Xbox.
- R&B music is my peanut butter, jelly and my jam.
- Finance professional my entire career.
- Huge gamer and nerd. Batman and Harley Quinn super fan.
- And finally I live my life by one question… What Would Batman Do?
Fintech : Never Heard of Her
Okay enough about me … and now more about me. I know what you all are thinking…Why Software Engineering? Why now? Why Flatiron? Alright, chill y’all. I will explain. Making a guy uncomfortable and also kinda flattered ;)
My journey really started when a new industry was born, a truly exciting one. A few years ago, with the boon of tech, a new branch of finance emerged. One that would rock our industry to its’ core. Fintech. This new section of finance exploded onto the scene rocking every finance professional’s world. Everything from Consumer Finance, Investment Banking to Trading all of a sudden shifted from traders screaming into phones and money being deposited with checks, to code immediately moving money around the world and Artificial Intelligence predicting market trends.
So where does little old me fit into this craziness? Well, while some colleagues of mine scoffed at Fintech as nothing more than a fad, I became obsessed with the possibilities to push finance to the future. That obsession, however, truly blossomed two months when the MOST CLICHE thing happened to me. You have my permission to eye roll at this next part…
It was a normal review with *redacted* and as he was looking over *redacted* he looked up at me and said “Che, why can’t there be a button to just *redacted*”. The moment he yelled that out… okay ready for the cliché moment, here it is… I immediately had that light bulb pop up in my head. The idea. My idea. My contribution to Fintech.
That night, I crack a red bull wide open, put on some smooth R&B and put together a pitch deck for this idea. The next day I called up my mentors for an emergency meeting. Here it is. The moment Batman… um no, sorry.. . the moment I was waiting for and proceeded to pitch my heart out. After I was done, my mentors looked at me and said they want me to find a way to build this and deliver a beta this fall. Is this real? Yes. Time to go to work Che. Time to go to work.
My first plan of attack was to find the best Software Engineering bootcamp and regardless of the list, Flatiron School was always top 5. Also, they were the first to audit their graduation data and openly publish their grads’ hiring performance. The accounting side of me really appreciated that.
And so we are here. That is the story so far, but my plan is clear. My integrity is absolute. My passion is infinite. And I cannot wait to build this idea and blow my mentors away this fall for my final project. The Fintech world will never see me coming…
Just like Batman would do…
