The Rise of the Developer as Buyer in Financial Services

In 2024, the developer will become one of the most important influencers in the purchase of financial services infrastructure.

Historically, financial services infrastructure purchases were mostly driven by the economic buyer (“What’s my ROI?”) or the business lead (“Does this solve my use cases?”).

But there is now a third, increasingly influential constituent: the developer. In tandem, developers at larger financial institutions and insurance companies are becoming more influential in buying decisions.

The rise of the developer as buyer in financial services companies of all sizes favors new entrants; for fintech companies that pride themselves on a great developer experience, this will play to their advantage.

Fintechs are already prioritizing the creation of developer sandboxes to let customers “try before you buy,” and are even open sourcing parts of their solutions.

The developer-buyer would, of course, prefer to get a sense of how the product works prior to full implementation. But isn’t this strategy also better for everyone?

For larger financial institutions selling their infrastructure, appealing to the developer will be a new muscle that may require improvements in product architecture (including up-to-date documentation!).

Still, it’s clear these institutions are recognizing the need to influence the developer, as well.

Source: a16z