New York City-based Grasshopper Bancorp, a newly-launched digital-only bank targeting startups, was built from scratch with its sights on global expansion. The approach requires flexibility — and lots of it.

“We rewrote everything,” CEO Judith Erwin told Bank Innovation. “Just imagine the tiniest little niche that has to do with banking, like changing your address or sending a wire. We rewrote all those workflows.”

As a starting point, Grasshopper selected Swiss banking software provider Temenos’ cloud-native T24 Transact core banking system, which also is used by PayPal and Varo Money. Erwin pointed out that the processor is a rarer sight at traditional U.S. banks.

Grasshopper, a 42-person operation, currently is hiring for technology and client-facing positions. Erwin said the bank expects to likely have 65 to 70 employees by year-end.

Also see: Backed by $131m, Grasshopper Bank to roll out broadly next month

In an interview with Bank Innovation, Erwin shared her reasoning behind going fully digital, as well as what she believes are Grasshopper’s core differentiators. An edited version of the discussion follows.

BI: Why did you select Temenos’ T24 platform for your core?

Erwin: We looked at 31 core processors with four requirements. One was we needed to own our data, which is not true for most core systems in the U.S. Secondarily, it had to be multi-currency because many of our companies, from day one, are doing business internationally. We also wanted it to be multi-entity so that we could choose to expand globally after a three-year period or move into adjacent SMB spaces. Finally, it’s completely modular. When you think about core systems that banks choose today, they’re like wall-to-wall carpeting. What we wanted was more like carpet squares, where you can pick one up and throw it away when you spill a glass of wine on it.

BI: Why is going fully digital so important?

Erwin: Banks have a high fixed-cost structure. They have big data centers, very high data processing costs, branches that they’re paying for and a lot of people doing work that could be automated, but it’s difficult for these legacy banks to automate. Our only fixed cost is the lease on our headquarters space here in New York. From there, it’s all going to be costs for growth, and I’m happy to pay for growth. It makes us more nimble from a product development standpoint.

We are using an agile framework for development, so we’re able to add new functionality and features every two to four weeks and we can do it while we’re still in production and running. We built this within an open API architecture so that we can connect clients to some of these great fintech companies that are emerging and we can provide their functionality to our clients.

It all comes back to the client experience and to data. I’ve always felt that banking, fundamentally, is all about data, and yet banks have data trapped in a way that they can’t use it to benefit themselves or their clients.

BI: Who are your competitors and what are your biggest differentiators?

Erwin: We’re a bank, so I will compete with all banks.

In the beginning, startups just need a good checking account, good savings account and good payment services. But they also need data about how to run their business. We’ve differentiated ourselves, first of all, because we’re entrepreneurs. We started this company from scratch, so we understand the pain that entrepreneurs face. Number two, user experience is our main deliverable. Most bank innovation has been in the consumer space, not in the commercial space, so that’s where we focused our efforts.

There are a few things we’ve already built with this in mind. Number one is the ability to open your account completely online in a seven-minute chat. You don’t have to go into the branch, you can upload all your documents, it’s paper free and we have automated all of the anti-money laundering/know-your-customer and beneficial ownership compliance — all those things required for opening a business account. We’ve automated the entire screening process. Then, you’re delivered a link to an app and you can be up and running in short order. Many banks today can take two to three weeks just to open a business checking account.

Number two, it’s beautiful. The same folks who designed Venmo designed our user experience. It’s very user-friendly, very intuitive and simple to use. The initial product has a cash burn calculator in it, which allows them to do what-if scenarios, such as ‘Should I hire this engineer?’ ‘Can I increase my Google ads spend?’ or ‘How much can I afford for my co-working space?’ That’s already a part of the model.