Unlock the secrets to successful entrepreneurship within the financial services sector as we feature Nicki Senyard, the trailblazing CEO and founder of Fintel Connect. Nicki offers her unique insights into transforming business pain points into strategic advantages, highlighting her expertise in affiliate marketing and her journey since 2002. Listen to how Fintel Connect is revolutionizing customer acquisition by bridging financial institutions with third-party publishers, emphasizing the essential role of compliance and trust-building in the industry.
Throughout our conversation, we explore the art of building scalable businesses through robust systems and documentation, essential for franchising success. Nicki shares her perspectives on the importance of creating processes that transcend individual personalities, enabling businesses to grow and adapt more efficiently. We discuss the significance of technology in streamlining operations and the necessity of continuously updating strategies to align with evolving market demands.
For entrepreneurs navigating the financial services landscape, Nicki delivers invaluable advice on strategic growth and shareholder value optimization. We discuss the timing and purpose of fundraising, the power of strategic partnerships, and the importance of non-organic growth opportunities. This episode is packed with practical insights for aspiring founders, focusing on planning for both triumphs and obstacles, and the transformative potential of digital advancements in financial services, particularly in CRM and data utilization. Make sure to tune in for a conversation full of gratitude and insightful takeaways.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm a sort of like I'm a builder of businesses.
That's where I really love togo.
I love the problem solving.
I love the sort of like beingable to hear a client or a
publisher because we've got a.
You know, we were a marketplacebusiness, so we've got two
sides to the equation.
I love actually hearing whattheir problems are and seeing
what we can do systematically,structurally, you know, by focus
(00:22):
and intent, be able to helpthem.
Because my philosophy alwayshas been, when you find a point
of pain, if you can become thesolution for that point of pain,
you've got a real purpose foryour business and you're not
constantly reselling your value.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Seed
to Exit.
I'm your host, Rhys Keck,founder at MindHire, a
recruitment firm thatspecializes in helping
venture-backed startups find toptechnical talent.
Today, I'm super excited tohave Nikki Senyard on the show.
Nikki is the CEO and founder ofFintel Connect and she's been a
powerhouse in performancemarketing for over 20 years.
She's built and exited a SaaSmarketing tech business and now
(01:05):
leads Fintel Connect, whereshe's helping financial brands
grow with smart, scalablemarketing solutions.
So today we're going to dive alittle bit more into her
entrepreneurial journey, howshe's using digital marketing to
drive results in the financialindustry, and her thoughts on
building and scaling a business.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thanks for listening and let's get started hiring the
(01:41):
right people and more Subscribeand listen in for new episodes
and enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
All right.
Well, nikki, welcome on,excited to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely so lots to get into today.
You've had a super interestingcareer thus far.
You've done some amazing thingswith Fintel Connect.
I'm just curious, for those notfamiliar, what is Fintel
Connect and what was yourinspiration to start the company
?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I think, like most companies, it came because I
stumbled across something that Ithought I could do and that no
one else was doing, like itnormally happens.
Fintel Connect is a scalingplatform for financial services
in the growth area.
Now, that was a whole lot ofwords.
What does it really mean?
It means that we help financialinstitutions, banks, credit
(02:29):
unions and fintechs get morecustomers online.
That's what it means.
So we sit, as a technologyplatform, between the banking
product mortgage, credit card,high interest savings or the
rest of it and these third-partypublishers.
And the third-party publishersare the nerd wallets, the bank
rates, the credit commas, all ofthose you know Wall Street
(02:51):
Journal that talk aboutfinancial services and where the
technology that stripstreamlines their growth element
.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So you mentioned that no one else was doing it, which
sometimes is a good thing.
Sometimes it's not.
You know, it's nice to havethat speed of first to market,
but then oftentimes you know,when you're going into a blue
ocean, then there's the businessmodel.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So let me actually let me be a little bit more
specific on that.
We're the first ones to do itin the financial services market
.
So, the fact is that there is awhole lot of generalist
platforms out there that doexactly the same as us.
Competitors are ImpactCommission, Junction, Rakuten
for people that are in thedigital marketing space but what
(03:35):
we've decided to do I'm a nicheplayer.
I love getting really deep intothe niche because I think you
create not only increasedefficiency and utility, but you
also can solve the real problems.
So this is my second businessin a niche area in this type of
technology, which is calledaffiliate marketing, and other
(03:57):
people are doing it.
We didn't create the widget.
We're just making the widgetreally, really streamlined for
financial services.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What are the complexities of doing this for a
financial services business asopposed to other types of
business verticals?
I imagine compliance wouldprobably be one component,
anything else.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah.
So what the really interestingthing is is that in retail
you've got things.
Things like returns need to betaken into consideration.
You don't have that infinancial services.
Compliance is a really bigelement, and as it should be.
Those regulations are in placeto protect people and we need to
make sure that, either throughknowledge, negligence or
(04:39):
whatever else, those rules andregulations are being followed
and followed properly.
But again, what we've done infinancial services is that it's
looking at not only the volumeof customers we can drive, but
it's looking at the value ofthose customers and the quality
element of it, and this is whereI think we're uniquely placed.
(05:02):
Not that other business aren'tlooking for quality clients as
well, but this is an ongoingrelationship that you have with
your financial institution,which makes it very different
than my relationship with BananaRepublic as a clothing store.
So it's just a different typeof relationship.
Financial services requires ahuge degree of trust between the
(05:23):
consumer and the bankinginstitution, because finance is
important, whereas a retailrelationship may not be as
mission critical to somebody'squality of life.
So therefore, the bars areelevated in terms of what's
important.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So what did the early days of founding the company
look like?
You mentioned that you saw theneed.
I know you don't obviously, ofcourse, come from a technical
background yourself.
How did the platform get built?
How did you get your firstcustomer?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I first started in affiliate marketing in 2002.
Right, so let's put that intoperspective Google started in 98
.
Right, so we were pretty earlyon in the journey digital
journey and we did it.
We basically built it on theback of a napkin and it was for
(06:11):
another industry that we builtit, and so that really got me to
understand the nuances ofaffiliate marketing.
And then, probably in about2011, 12, we were approached by
one of the biggest banks inCanada to work on their
affiliate program.
They came to us we had twodifferent platforms and came to
(06:33):
us very practically.
We were a Canadian company, wewere able to integrate into
digital technology and we wereable to give them insight and
leverage that they didn't have.
So it was very, very practical.
So we first started working infinancial services 12 years ago,
something along those lines,but at the time, consumer intent
(06:53):
, bank appetite, were not therefor us to have done this
standalone business.
It was just there were.
The bigger banks were doing itabsolutely, but there wasn't the
same sort of like intensity forconsumer interest in it.
So I sold my first business in2016, took a bit of time out and
(07:14):
then, in 2018, 2019, I thoughtthe time was ripe to actually do
something completely focused onfinance, and hence Fintel
Connect.
We rewrote the technology, didall the plumbing, did all the
things that we needed to dobecause we knew what we were in
for and relaunched the companyat the beginning of.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Good timing to start a new business.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Oh my God, it's so funny.
I talked to publishers in thearea and digital, of course,
exploded in 2020 with COVID.
The difficulty is banking didnot explode at 2020 because what
there was was there was a wholelot of loan distribution that
was going on, but there was noreal appetite for credit cards
because adjudication becamereally tight, because people
(07:59):
weren't able to get work in theway.
You know like it was.
Just it was a really big timeof flux, and that's anybody else
who's done an entrepreneurialjourney will know.
Those times of flux create high, intense stress because we
didn't know what was happening.
We still had salaries to pay,we still had growth targets that
we were trying to get to, which, of course, we didn't reach.
(08:21):
So I was very, very thankfulthat I'd had a very successful
exit before, because then I putmore money into the business.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yep, well, yeah, I mean, you're talking to a guy
who was running a recruitingbusiness in 2020 and that was
wild.
It was basically the spigotturned off overnight.
That's it, yeah.
So, speaking of that previousexit, so your previous company
was called Income Access.
That was a SaaS company.
You bootstrapped that.
(08:49):
Did you ever take outsidefunding for that?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
We had partners that were involved, but extensively
we bootstrapped it.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
What were some of the biggest lessons from that exit
or that venture that helped youfigure out how to approach the
building of Fintel?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Um, I'd always looked at always from the very
beginning when we started incomeaccess to this business.
Now I am very clear that thisis an asset business.
It's not a lifestyle business.
So there's a very bigdifference when you've got an
app, when you build an assetbusiness, versus a lifestyle
business.
A lifestyle business absolutelyhas its place, no problem about
(09:30):
it.
Um, but I was building an, anasset, which meant that at one
point in time I was going tocapitalize on that asset, which
meant an exit.
So when you are very for me, Iwas very deliberate that this
business we were going to exitat some point, and I mean the
first first business was thatovernight success of 14 years.
Yep, right, so it was a longtime in planning, but what it
(09:54):
allowed me to do was start toevaluate what made the company
valuable and what I may perceivethe company's value is in the
weeds of the operation isn'tnecessarily what a buyer is
going to see as in terms ofvaluable.
So that ability to begin withthe end in mind allowed me to
(10:18):
start to put the reporting inplace, the metrics in place, the
systems and structures in placewhen we first started the
business at first.
We're running income access andwe talked to different people
maybe two or three years beforewe sold it.
Um, they were really concernedabout my profile and how mind
(10:40):
and management were in oneperson, which was me.
In actual fact that wasn't thecase, but that was something.
Then I was very clear about howwe manage that expectation
moving forward, like thebusiness had to survive without
me and, I'm glad to say, very,very pleased to say, the
business is still operating.
So now it's been operating for22 years.
(11:00):
I've been out of it for eightand so the business is still
there.
So putting those very deeprooted ability in for the
business to operate without ahighly high touch CEO or a
founder CEO was really one ofthe cornerstones of what I
started to do quite early on, asI discussed with people what
(11:22):
created the value of thebusiness.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So how did you do that, Did you I assume we're
talking about operating systemsin some way in order to be able
to remove systems and structures.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
You know like h, a really good hr, good job
descriptions, a good um careerplanning, good processes in
finance, good legal processesall of the things that are the
sort of like the backbone orplumbing elements of running the
business had to be independentof any personality so they had
(11:53):
to be very system structures.
There was a book that I read inmy 20s which, um, for my sins,
has been very influential for me.
Um, it was called the e-myththe entrepreneurial myth.
Um, yeah, and what it talkedabout was it talked about
franchising businesses, byMichael Gerber, and it was about
(12:17):
documentation.
It just meant that thefranchising system exists, not
dependent on any personality.
It depends on a skill set, butnot on a personal approach.
And that really made sense tome.
If you're going to build anasset that's separate from you
except it's your heart and souland energy that propels the
business forward, so how do youbalance that off when you're
(12:37):
building something that's anasset?
So that's the way that I did it, and I say I, it wasn't just me
, I had a brilliant team behindme, but that's the focus of what
we had was to build it.
So it was agnostic ofpersonalities, dependent on
skill sets, but agnostic ofpersonalities.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
How do you update those as time goes on?
Because as a business continuesto scale, you know what.
What may be in that SOP youwrote a year ago may not apply
anymore.
Just from a tacticalperspective.
How often do you think?
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I think where it comes down to it is that the
rigor.
So it is that the rigour, soit's updating the rigour of it.
What you need at 10 people andwhat you need at 20 people and
what you need at 60 people isall different, and the more
detailed, the more rigorous theprocesses are documented, the
(13:29):
more safety and securityeverybody feels that they have
meaning and purpose.
I mean, at the very beginning,when we were 10 people, we had
absolute job descriptions and wehad review processes and all
that sort of thing, but theyweren't the level of detail or
the level of intricacies that wewould have at 60 people, for
example.
And technology has advanced alot.
(13:51):
So it's like leveragingtechnology, like one of the
things that you know.
We use Bamboo HR, not a problem.
But we've also just implementedLeapsum, and Leapsum are about
goals and focusing and makingsure that everybody has some key
focuses and that's usingtechnology.
And then it's also got atraining library in it and all
(14:13):
of all sorts of things.
This is not my passion area,not at all, but I also see the
value of it.
It's just, it's just notsomewhere, it's not a place I
play.
I'm talking like I play in thatplace, but I don't do not.
I wanted to absolutely havepure transparency here.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So what is your passion area?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Growth opportunities.
I'm a sort of like I'm abuilder of businesses.
That's where I really love togo.
I love the problem solving.
I love the sort of like beingable to hear a client or
publishers because we've got a.
You know, we were a marketplacebusiness, so we've got two
sides to the equation.
I love actually hearing whattheir problems are and seeing
what we can do systematically,structurally, by focus and
(15:00):
intent, be able to help them.
Because my philosophy alwayshas been when you find a point
of pain, if you can become thesolution for that point of pain,
you've got a real purpose foryour business and you're not
constantly reselling your value.
Because it's obvious.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
What would you say, since your passion is growth?
What would you say have beensome of your most effective
growth strategies over the years?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Getting to the point of pain and understanding what
that really is not what I thinkit is and really listening, I
think more than anything else,because when I you have to start
, any entrepreneur will tell youyou have to start with a
hypothesis, you just have to.
But I think, really listeningto where the success comes from
(15:45):
and then doubling down on thatand seeing how much you can
scale through that what you hear, would be more than anything
else and, I think, always havinga goal.
I know that sounds sorudimentary.
Yeah, I always have each yearlike I started setting my
(16:08):
revenue goal for 2025 in May2024.
Right, so I have a goal of whatI want to do for 2025 and I've
been working for it, towards it,for the last eight months.
So it's not something.
Businesses take time.
You know, like you plant seeds,you have to see how they grow.
(16:30):
You know you've wantedsomething and it you drown.
It drowns because you've wantedit too much and you have to
move on.
So I think where it is isalways being very clear about my
yearly revenue goals and howthey look and then trying to
just backtrack.
To me it's just this problemsolving and I think when people
(16:50):
build businesses, they can tryto solve problems that are
actually symptoms, not theproblem.
I talk about problems in termsof like octopus Like if you've
got an octopus and you cut theleg off because you think that's
the problem and you've solvedit, in actual fact, you haven't
(17:12):
done anything because it'll justgrow back.
So, being very clear about whatthe real problem is, either
from an operational perspectiveor a scaling perspective for
your own growth, or how you areactually having utility in the
marketplace that you're tryingto grow in so I think those are
the things that I try to reallydo is solve the real problem,
(17:33):
not just solve the symptoms ofthe problem.
Really do is solve the realproblem, not just solve the
symptoms of the problem.
And that's where the powercomes, because you don't make
assumptions, you ask realquestions and you can talk
constantly um reevaluating tomake sure that you're on the
right track.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Love that.
So so really just getting infront of customers is is one of
the biggest keys, because thenthat way you actually and
industry.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So the really cool thing that I find about being
industry specific is, in thefinancial services industry,
you've got the top layer, you'vegot the guys that are talking
about the financial products andyou've got the brands right.
That's all very clear, butunderneath it, you've got a
whole range of different things,whether it be regulators.
The next thing is that you'vegot technology providers, then
(18:15):
you've got technology enablersand then you've got, you know,
digital account openingplatforms and loan origination
systems.
So I think what happens is thatwhere I feel like we have
stumbled upon real value is thatwe know who the players are.
So then customers are coming tous up at this level, which is
(18:36):
where we make money, but what wecan do is show them insight
into the different things from atechnological perspective or an
environmental perspective, thestructural environmental
perspective and I think that'swhere the value of the
speciality comes in.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
How important is it, do you think, for founders to be
deeply familiar with theindustries that they're
operating in?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
From a founder perspective.
I think it's crucial, becausewhat will happen is you will
find, I have found I shouldn'tsay you, I have found arterial
veins that I didn't expect,because of that intimacy.
I think, though, though, thatwhat happens is I forgot.
I forgot, I didn't recognize, Ididn't remember how difficult
(19:22):
it was when I started the firstbusiness, when I knew nothing.
I knew nothing about theenvironment, the context, the,
the.
You start off in a new industrynot knowing anything, who the
players are, how they interact,what's really crucially
important to each of the keystakeholders, and I forgot that.
(19:44):
So, when I jumped tracks, I knowI know the technology
incredibly intimately, I knowhow the platform works and how
we create the ecosystem and allthat sort of stuff, but when I
first started Fintel, I forgotabout how much institutional
knowledge I'd gathered over 14years that I now started in day
(20:06):
dot with nothing.
It was not only humbling, but itwas incredibly demoralizing,
and I think that's where thefounder knowledge about how that
all works is really cruciallyimportant, because now it
becomes Intel's institutionalknowledge right.
And so new people coming on,say, for example, if we got a
(20:28):
new CEO on.
New people coming on, say, forexample, if we got a new CEO on,
they wouldn't have had a lot ofthose trenches have already
been dug because we've alreadybuilt up that institutional
knowledge within the business.
And I think that's why it's soimportant for founders to have a
good, intimate understanding ofwhere they're operating is
because they almost spearheadthat institutional gathering of
(20:49):
knowledge for the business.
Yeah, yeah, and the reason whyI ask that is because they
almost spearhead thatinstitutional gathering of
knowledge for the business.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, yeah.
And the reason why I ask thatis because I mean, of course
it's very helpful to come inwith domain knowledge.
But I've seen oftentimes twotypes of founders.
There's the ones who have beenin their industry for 10, 20
years and know it intimately andknow some really small part
that needs help, and so theybuild a product for that.
And then oftentimes there's theother type who has never worked
(21:13):
in the industry before but theysaw some higher level problem
and they come in and they bringin a bunch of advisors who do
know the industry really well toget themselves caught up to
speed.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
That may have been more sensible than what I did,
so I did the last one, butdidn't have the advisors.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Oh, okay, got it.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
So what I just did is I just had a whole lot of
conversations with people, soyou know, like bootstrapping it
from the domain knowledge.
And I think, and I feel that infinancial services, I feel, on
the marginalized size of that, Idon't feel like there's a lot
of people that I've met.
A lot of them come in withdomain authority, which is
(21:52):
sensible, and but I think also,when you come in with domain
authority, you can not say thatyou do.
You can come in a little myopicbecause, you see it, you've
experienced it from one point ofview.
So, even though I feel likeI've taken the path less trodden
(22:13):
, I really do feel like it'sgiven me a pretty good ability
to see the landscape.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, I can see that, Like, if you have such deep
domain expertise in one thing,you may ignore the advice of
customers that they give youbecause, like, no, they're wrong
.
I know what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, or just not see it the way that really is now,
because, I mean, everythingadvances, right, Everything
changes over time and what youjust need to do is you need to
keep on asking those questions,because what was relevant two
years ago I mean even in thefunding environment, right?
So we raised a seed round in2022 and we got funded sort of
(22:51):
like February, March 2022.
So still sort of like where themarket was quite buoyant, and
then six months later, the wholevaluation framework had been
completely rewritten because themarket, there wasn't as much
money around or they wereconcerned about things or
economic tailwinds or headwindsor where you know, headwinds or
whatever else.
So it's like you can't.
(23:13):
Nothing stays the same.
Processes do high level at thehighest logical level.
That stays the same, but notpractically.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
So that was your first time doing a venture raise
, so you'd you'd bootstrappedincome access.
I know you'd mentioned some ofthe partners, but this was your
first your first.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
what was that process like for you?
I loved it.
I did I, I.
I loved it, I loved talking topeople.
I, you know, not only did Ilove it, we were successful, and
I really enjoy the people thatwe got to be involved in the
business.
So, um, yeah, I again, though Iwent into the process
incredibly thoughtfully, like Ihad done with the exit.
(23:54):
When we exited, I had fivethings that I wanted to achieve
and I achieved all five of them.
So, going into raising money, Iwas also very deliberate about
what I wanted and so and I gotit.
So I think that again goes tothat focus on the goal.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Can I ask what those five things were?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yep, I wanted to sell to a public company.
I wanted just 10 times multiple.
I wanted cash.
I wanted for all of my staff tostay.
You know, like I wanted it, Ididn't want it to be a breakup,
if I could possibly manage it.
And the last thing was that Ithink that I wanted to be able
(24:32):
to help with the transition.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Well, I think most companies would want you to stay
with the transition, but I mean, the other four nailed it.
So congrats on that.
How much would you say thatexit and the negotiation of that
term sheet and those termshelped you with the fundraising
component.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Not at all, really, yep, not at all.
The reason being is that whenyou're doing an exit, I found
that a lot of the attention wason reps and warranties and
making sure that they werebuying what they thought they
were buying, and diligence intothe business.
(25:10):
You know, diligence was verysort of similar, probably less
rigorous at seed than I was at acash upfront exit.
Yeah, but yeah, I just thinkthat there was probably a lot
more on the reps and warrantiesthat I hadn't experienced before
, whereas the seed stuff was.
What I found most interestingin that process was the.
(25:35):
It's the reason I enjoyed thatfundraising is, to me, it was a
sales process pure and simple.
it was just a sales process, soI had to find the right customer
, the venture-backed businessthat was going to buy what I was
selling, which was equity inthe business, and so that meant
that I spoke to a hell of a lotof people at Seed and Series A
(25:57):
and whatever else venturebusinesses that just had no idea
what we did.
So, therefore had no ability tosee our value or no ability to
appreciate what we had built orwere building or the role that
we played in the industry.
So it's really it was reallyfun I'd have all of these calls
with these people.
Like I was very fortunate I wasable to get a good list
(26:20):
together of people that wouldtake my calls and and whatever
else.
So I start the pitch and youcould just see that glaze over.
So okay, we're on one of them.
So then I just practiced andI'd ask them a question about
what was important to them andthen I could morph it for the
next place and all the rest ofit.
But I call it the kissing ofthe frogs.
(26:42):
So I kissed a lot of frogs.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
As one does when you're raising venture money.
Now you raised a pretty solidseed round and I've heard you
mention that you're not planningon raising another round.
Correct, correct?
Can I ask why?
Because we're profitable, Verygood.
So oftentimes, even ifcompanies are profitable which
granted the vast majority, arenot at the seed stage, but even
so they'll raise more money withthe intent to grow, Is that
(27:09):
something that just doesn't makesense for you at this stage?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
So we're a Canadian company and we have taken full
advantage of the funding streamsavailable through the Canadian
government.
So I've been able to puttogether a bit of a war chest
through those different programs.
So I have it, but I justhaven't done it through venture.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Got it.
That makes sense and that hasbeen a subject of discussion
that I've seen kicked around inquite a few different places
that you know companies aregoing to raise a pre-seed round
or a seed round just to get offthe ground, continue to then
grow a little bit more slowlyand profitably.
Do you think that's the way togo, or do you think there is
still room for the continue toraise and raise and raise type
(27:55):
of model?
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I think it depends on your business model and what
your end goal is.
I personally am a bit of acontrol freak, so therefore
would like to have as muchcontrol for as long as I
possibly can, understanding thatit's not going to last forever.
The other thing is that I'malso wanting to place the
business in the most valuableposition I can and people will,
(28:19):
as people go into raising money,you know, by sheer definition.
You've got C, you've got A,you've got B, you've got C,
you've got D, and then you'vegot sort of like in B and C.
You start to get in privateequity and growth equity as
opposed to venture and each andthen you've got strategic
capital, you know, strategiccorporate capital.
(28:41):
So I think what I've been tryingto do is I've been trying to
look at the best partnershipwith finance as I can, and my
perception at the moment I sayat the moment is looking at
probably private equity orgrowth equity, which means that
I need to get to a certainrevenue level for me to be
interesting in them, withcertain metrics Again, begin
(29:02):
with the end in mind, and sowhat I'm really doing is looking
at the best value for myshareholders and also the best
growth path for the business.
So I'm balancing upopportunities and value and I
(29:23):
think my job as CEO is to makethis business as valuable as it
can be at any moment in time.
Business as valuable as it canbe at any moment in time.
So that's why I definitely willraise again.
It's just I'm choosing the whenfor the purpose.
So, again, being very purposefulabout it, like, why am I
raising?
Because the thing that I haveheard and listened to is that
(29:49):
you don't raise unless you needto.
Because you're giving awayvaluable equity.
And if I already have a bit ofa buffer financially, then I'm
much better of self-funding mygrowth as long as my speed is
there, because you know thegrowth speed is also very
important, maybe not at any costand maybe not breakneck speed,
(30:13):
but still good, solid growth ona revenue, on top line revenue.
I just because Iself-bootstrapped the last one,
I am very, very clear on whatprofitability looks like and how
to get it.
And with the change in thefunding appetite, I'm looking at
(30:34):
how to straddle both directives, one directive being fast,
breakneck speed, the other beingprofitability and what that
means to an investor.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Love that balance.
So what do you do?
Does that make sense?
It does, yeah, absolutely so.
With that in mind, how are youspending most of your time now
as CEO?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
On growth, on getting that revenue up.
So, because the fact is is, andmaking sure that the trailing
operations of the business arescaling, so we've put 20 to 25
percent new additional people onthis year.
So that's things like officespace, because we're actually
also bums on seats.
(31:18):
So we have 100 of the staffcoming into the office, have
100% of the staff coming intothe office, or probably 97% of
the people coming into theoffice.
I just like that culture, alsobecause we do something pretty
unique.
It means that everybody isinstitutionally learning in the
company at the same time.
So job descriptions, pay equity, you know all of the things
that operationally need tohappen.
(31:39):
But you know, I'm spending alot of my time filling the
funnel in terms of industryrelationships, in terms of
raising awareness of who we areand what we do, as well as
helping the CRO get the goodconversations that we need to be
for the ideal client, and a lotof this time that I spent in
the last 12 months is workingout where we win and then
(32:03):
doubling down on that andlooking for more opportunities
in those areas.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So, over the course of the next couple of years, any
trends, any emergingtechnologies that you have your
eye on in your sector, thatyou're excited about, I am
looking at how we grownon-organically, which is also
the opportunity to see where wecan add value for our clients
through a transaction that we do.
I think financial services, asit becomes more digitally
(32:33):
enabled, I think there is areally big opportunity for
retention and CRM Very, very,very old conversation, but I
just think I don't thinknecessarily banks are there with
how they do it in the way thatI've experienced before, so I
think that's a really bigopportunity and I also think the
(32:53):
access to data and then howit's applied to the businesses
will be a really big opportunityfor financial services.
Fintech have got it nailed.
I'm not talking about FinTechsin this conversation.
I'm talking about credit unionsand community banks and banking
generally, and not to say thatall of them need to do it
because they don't.
But there are some businessesthat are coming up that are used
(33:18):
to doing, you know, branchtransactions and now are sort of
like moving more online.
I think that's going to be abig opportunity.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Awesome.
Well, you've dropped a ton ofexcellent knowledge already, but
I'm gonna ask you for one lastone any advice for early stage
founders or aspiring foundersthat you'd share?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Have courage, because I think to do this journey you
need to be courageous, but Ithink you also need to be
incredibly practical.
So you can have lofty ideas,but you need to make sure that
rubber hits the road in a verypractical way.
I create plans in my head andin paper about massive growth
and where I'll invest, and thenI put a line in the sand that
(33:59):
says by this date and this timeI need to have reached this
level for me to continue withthat plan.
So it's almost like I plan ontwo scenarios the positive
scenario that we win it, andthen the scenario that we don't
win it.
And I do both plans so thatwhen any trigger point comes, I
have, I've already thought aboutit and I already know what I'm
(34:22):
doing, so I don't get blindsided.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
So I love, that that's how I do it All right.
Well, this was a super greatconversation.
I'm really grateful for you tospend the time and thank you for
coming on.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
My pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Thanks for listening to See to Exit.
If you enjoyed the episode,don't forget to subscribe and
we'll see you next time.
I'm a sort of like I'm a builder of businesses.
That's where I really love togo.
I love the problem solving.
I love the sort of like beingable to hear a client or a
publisher because we've got a.
You know, we were a marketplacebusiness, so we've got two
sides to the equation.
I love actually hearing whattheir problems are and seeing
what we can do systematically,structurally, you know, by focus
(00:22):
and intent, be able to helpthem.
Because my philosophy alwayshas been, when you find a point
of pain, if you can become thesolution for that point of pain,
you've got a real purpose foryour business and you're not
constantly reselling your value.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Seed
to Exit.
I'm your host, Rhys Keck,founder at MindHire, a
recruitment firm thatspecializes in helping
venture-backed startups find toptechnical talent.
Today, I'm super excited tohave Nikki Senyard on the show.
Nikki is the CEO and founder ofFintel Connect and she's been a
powerhouse in performancemarketing for over 20 years.
She's built and exited a SaaSmarketing tech business and now
(01:05):
leads Fintel Connect, whereshe's helping financial brands
grow with smart, scalablemarketing solutions.
So today we're going to dive alittle bit more into her
entrepreneurial journey, howshe's using digital marketing to
drive results in the financialindustry, and her thoughts on
building and scaling a business.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thanks for listening and let's get started hiring the
(01:41):
right people and more Subscribeand listen in for new episodes
and enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
All right.
Well, nikki, welcome on,excited to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Absolutely so lots to get into today.
You've had a super interestingcareer thus far.
You've done some amazing thingswith Fintel Connect.
I'm just curious, for those notfamiliar, what is Fintel
Connect and what was yourinspiration to start the company
?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I think, like most companies, it came because I
stumbled across something that Ithought I could do and that no
one else was doing, like itnormally happens.
Fintel Connect is a scalingplatform for financial services
in the growth area.
Now, that was a whole lot ofwords.
What does it really mean?
It means that we help financialinstitutions, banks, credit
(02:29):
unions and fintechs get morecustomers online.
That's what it means.
So we sit, as a technologyplatform, between the banking
product mortgage, credit card,high interest savings or the
rest of it and these third-partypublishers.
And the third-party publishersare the nerd wallets, the bank
rates, the credit commas, all ofthose you know Wall Street
(02:51):
Journal that talk aboutfinancial services and where the
technology that stripstreamlines their growth element
.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So you mentioned that no one else was doing it, which
sometimes is a good thing.
Sometimes it's not.
You know, it's nice to havethat speed of first to market,
but then oftentimes you know,when you're going into a blue
ocean, then there's the businessmodel.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So let me actually let me be a little bit more
specific on that.
We're the first ones to do itin the financial services market
.
So, the fact is that there is awhole lot of generalist
platforms out there that doexactly the same as us.
Competitors are ImpactCommission, Junction, Rakuten
for people that are in thedigital marketing space but what
(03:35):
we've decided to do I'm a nicheplayer.
I love getting really deep intothe niche because I think you
create not only increasedefficiency and utility, but you
also can solve the real problems.
So this is my second businessin a niche area in this type of
technology, which is calledaffiliate marketing, and other
(03:57):
people are doing it.
We didn't create the widget.
We're just making the widgetreally, really streamlined for
financial services.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What are the complexities of doing this for a
financial services business asopposed to other types of
business verticals?
I imagine compliance wouldprobably be one component,
anything else.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah.
So what the really interestingthing is is that in retail
you've got things.
Things like returns need to betaken into consideration.
You don't have that infinancial services.
Compliance is a really bigelement, and as it should be.
Those regulations are in placeto protect people and we need to
make sure that, either throughknowledge, negligence or
(04:39):
whatever else, those rules andregulations are being followed
and followed properly.
But again, what we've done infinancial services is that it's
looking at not only the volumeof customers we can drive, but
it's looking at the value ofthose customers and the quality
element of it, and this is whereI think we're uniquely placed.
(05:02):
Not that other business aren'tlooking for quality clients as
well, but this is an ongoingrelationship that you have with
your financial institution,which makes it very different
than my relationship with BananaRepublic as a clothing store.
So it's just a different typeof relationship.
Financial services requires ahuge degree of trust between the
(05:23):
consumer and the bankinginstitution, because finance is
important, whereas a retailrelationship may not be as
mission critical to somebody'squality of life.
So therefore, the bars areelevated in terms of what's
important.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So what did the early days of founding the company
look like?
You mentioned that you saw theneed.
I know you don't obviously, ofcourse, come from a technical
background yourself.
How did the platform get built?
How did you get your firstcustomer?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I first started in affiliate marketing in 2002.
Right, so let's put that intoperspective Google started in 98
.
Right, so we were pretty earlyon in the journey digital
journey and we did it.
We basically built it on theback of a napkin and it was for
(06:11):
another industry that we builtit, and so that really got me to
understand the nuances ofaffiliate marketing.
And then, probably in about2011, 12, we were approached by
one of the biggest banks inCanada to work on their
affiliate program.
They came to us we had twodifferent platforms and came to
(06:33):
us very practically.
We were a Canadian company, wewere able to integrate into
digital technology and we wereable to give them insight and
leverage that they didn't have.
So it was very, very practical.
So we first started working infinancial services 12 years ago,
something along those lines,but at the time, consumer intent
(06:53):
, bank appetite, were not therefor us to have done this
standalone business.
It was just there were.
The bigger banks were doing itabsolutely, but there wasn't the
same sort of like intensity forconsumer interest in it.
So I sold my first business in2016, took a bit of time out and
(07:14):
then, in 2018, 2019, I thoughtthe time was ripe to actually do
something completely focused onfinance, and hence Fintel
Connect.
We rewrote the technology, didall the plumbing, did all the
things that we needed to dobecause we knew what we were in
for and relaunched the companyat the beginning of.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Good timing to start a new business.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Oh my God, it's so funny.
I talked to publishers in thearea and digital, of course,
exploded in 2020 with COVID.
The difficulty is banking didnot explode at 2020 because what
there was was there was a wholelot of loan distribution that
was going on, but there was noreal appetite for credit cards
because adjudication becamereally tight, because people
(07:59):
weren't able to get work in theway.
You know like it was.
Just it was a really big timeof flux, and that's anybody else
who's done an entrepreneurialjourney will know.
Those times of flux create high, intense stress because we
didn't know what was happening.
We still had salaries to pay,we still had growth targets that
we were trying to get to, which, of course, we didn't reach.
(08:21):
So I was very, very thankfulthat I'd had a very successful
exit before, because then I putmore money into the business.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yep, well, yeah, I mean, you're talking to a guy
who was running a recruitingbusiness in 2020 and that was
wild.
It was basically the spigotturned off overnight.
That's it, yeah.
So, speaking of that previousexit, so your previous company
was called Income Access.
That was a SaaS company.
You bootstrapped that.
(08:49):
Did you ever take outsidefunding for that?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
We had partners that were involved, but extensively
we bootstrapped it.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
What were some of the biggest lessons from that exit
or that venture that helped youfigure out how to approach the
building of Fintel?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Um, I'd always looked at always from the very
beginning when we started incomeaccess to this business.
Now I am very clear that thisis an asset business.
It's not a lifestyle business.
So there's a very bigdifference when you've got an
app, when you build an assetbusiness, versus a lifestyle
business.
A lifestyle business absolutelyhas its place, no problem about
(09:30):
it.
Um, but I was building an, anasset, which meant that at one
point in time I was going tocapitalize on that asset, which
meant an exit.
So when you are very for me, Iwas very deliberate that this
business we were going to exitat some point, and I mean the
first first business was thatovernight success of 14 years.
Yep, right, so it was a longtime in planning, but what it
(09:54):
allowed me to do was start toevaluate what made the company
valuable and what I may perceivethe company's value is in the
weeds of the operation isn'tnecessarily what a buyer is
going to see as in terms ofvaluable.
So that ability to begin withthe end in mind allowed me to
(10:18):
start to put the reporting inplace, the metrics in place, the
systems and structures in placewhen we first started the
business at first.
We're running income access andwe talked to different people
maybe two or three years beforewe sold it.
Um, they were really concernedabout my profile and how mind
(10:40):
and management were in oneperson, which was me.
In actual fact that wasn't thecase, but that was something.
Then I was very clear about howwe manage that expectation
moving forward, like thebusiness had to survive without
me and, I'm glad to say, very,very pleased to say, the
business is still operating.
So now it's been operating for22 years.
(11:00):
I've been out of it for eightand so the business is still
there.
So putting those very deeprooted ability in for the
business to operate without ahighly high touch CEO or a
founder CEO was really one ofthe cornerstones of what I
started to do quite early on, asI discussed with people what
(11:22):
created the value of thebusiness.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So how did you do that, Did you I assume we're
talking about operating systemsin some way in order to be able
to remove systems and structures.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
You know like h, a really good hr, good job
descriptions, a good um careerplanning, good processes in
finance, good legal processesall of the things that are the
sort of like the backbone orplumbing elements of running the
business had to be independentof any personality so they had
(11:53):
to be very system structures.
There was a book that I read inmy 20s which, um, for my sins,
has been very influential for me.
Um, it was called the e-myththe entrepreneurial myth.
Um, yeah, and what it talkedabout was it talked about
franchising businesses, byMichael Gerber, and it was about
(12:17):
documentation.
It just meant that thefranchising system exists, not
dependent on any personality.
It depends on a skill set, butnot on a personal approach.
And that really made sense tome.
If you're going to build anasset that's separate from you
except it's your heart and souland energy that propels the
business forward, so how do youbalance that off when you're
(12:37):
building something that's anasset?
So that's the way that I did it, and I say I, it wasn't just me
, I had a brilliant team behindme, but that's the focus of what
we had was to build it.
So it was agnostic ofpersonalities, dependent on
skill sets, but agnostic ofpersonalities.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
How do you update those as time goes on?
Because as a business continuesto scale, you know what.
What may be in that SOP youwrote a year ago may not apply
anymore.
Just from a tacticalperspective.
How often do you think?
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I think where it comes down to it is that the
rigor.
So it is that the rigour, soit's updating the rigour of it.
What you need at 10 people andwhat you need at 20 people and
what you need at 60 people isall different, and the more
detailed, the more rigorous theprocesses are documented, the
(13:29):
more safety and securityeverybody feels that they have
meaning and purpose.
I mean, at the very beginning,when we were 10 people, we had
absolute job descriptions and wehad review processes and all
that sort of thing, but theyweren't the level of detail or
the level of intricacies that wewould have at 60 people, for
example.
And technology has advanced alot.
(13:51):
So it's like leveragingtechnology, like one of the
things that you know.
We use Bamboo HR, not a problem.
But we've also just implementedLeapsum, and Leapsum are about
goals and focusing and makingsure that everybody has some key
focuses and that's usingtechnology.
And then it's also got atraining library in it and all
(14:13):
of all sorts of things.
This is not my passion area,not at all, but I also see the
value of it.
It's just, it's just notsomewhere, it's not a place I
play.
I'm talking like I play in thatplace, but I don't do not.
I wanted to absolutely havepure transparency here.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So what is your passion area?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Growth opportunities.
I'm a sort of like I'm abuilder of businesses.
That's where I really love togo.
I love the problem solving.
I love the sort of like beingable to hear a client or
publishers because we've got a.
You know, we were a marketplacebusiness, so we've got two
sides to the equation.
I love actually hearing whattheir problems are and seeing
what we can do systematically,structurally, by focus and
(15:00):
intent, be able to help them.
Because my philosophy alwayshas been when you find a point
of pain, if you can become thesolution for that point of pain,
you've got a real purpose foryour business and you're not
constantly reselling your value.
Because it's obvious.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
What would you say, since your passion is growth?
What would you say have beensome of your most effective
growth strategies over the years?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Getting to the point of pain and understanding what
that really is not what I thinkit is and really listening, I
think more than anything else,because when I you have to start
, any entrepreneur will tell youyou have to start with a
hypothesis, you just have to.
But I think, really listeningto where the success comes from
(15:45):
and then doubling down on thatand seeing how much you can
scale through that what you hear, would be more than anything
else and, I think, always havinga goal.
I know that sounds sorudimentary.
Yeah, I always have each yearlike I started setting my
(16:08):
revenue goal for 2025 in May2024.
Right, so I have a goal of whatI want to do for 2025 and I've
been working for it, towards it,for the last eight months.
So it's not something.
Businesses take time.
You know, like you plant seeds,you have to see how they grow.
(16:30):
You know you've wantedsomething and it you drown.
It drowns because you've wantedit too much and you have to
move on.
So I think where it is isalways being very clear about my
yearly revenue goals and howthey look and then trying to
just backtrack.
To me it's just this problemsolving and I think when people
(16:50):
build businesses, they can tryto solve problems that are
actually symptoms, not theproblem.
I talk about problems in termsof like octopus Like if you've
got an octopus and you cut theleg off because you think that's
the problem and you've solvedit, in actual fact, you haven't
(17:12):
done anything because it'll justgrow back.
So, being very clear about whatthe real problem is, either
from an operational perspectiveor a scaling perspective for
your own growth, or how you areactually having utility in the
marketplace that you're tryingto grow in so I think those are
the things that I try to reallydo is solve the real problem,
(17:33):
not just solve the symptoms ofthe problem.
Really do is solve the realproblem, not just solve the
symptoms of the problem.
And that's where the powercomes, because you don't make
assumptions, you ask realquestions and you can talk
constantly um reevaluating tomake sure that you're on the
right track.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Love that.
So so really just getting infront of customers is is one of
the biggest keys, because thenthat way you actually and
industry.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So the really cool thing that I find about being
industry specific is, in thefinancial services industry,
you've got the top layer, you'vegot the guys that are talking
about the financial products andyou've got the brands right.
That's all very clear, butunderneath it, you've got a
whole range of different things,whether it be regulators.
The next thing is that you'vegot technology providers, then
(18:15):
you've got technology enablersand then you've got, you know,
digital account openingplatforms and loan origination
systems.
So I think what happens is thatwhere I feel like we have
stumbled upon real value is thatwe know who the players are.
So then customers are coming tous up at this level, which is
(18:36):
where we make money, but what wecan do is show them insight
into the different things from atechnological perspective or an
environmental perspective, thestructural environmental
perspective and I think that'swhere the value of the
speciality comes in.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
How important is it, do you think, for founders to be
deeply familiar with theindustries that they're
operating in?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
From a founder perspective.
I think it's crucial, becausewhat will happen is you will
find, I have found I shouldn'tsay you, I have found arterial
veins that I didn't expect,because of that intimacy.
I think, though, though, thatwhat happens is I forgot.
I forgot, I didn't recognize, Ididn't remember how difficult
(19:22):
it was when I started the firstbusiness, when I knew nothing.
I knew nothing about theenvironment, the context, the,
the.
You start off in a new industrynot knowing anything, who the
players are, how they interact,what's really crucially
important to each of the keystakeholders, and I forgot that.
(19:44):
So, when I jumped tracks, I knowI know the technology
incredibly intimately, I knowhow the platform works and how
we create the ecosystem and allthat sort of stuff, but when I
first started Fintel, I forgotabout how much institutional
knowledge I'd gathered over 14years that I now started in day
(20:06):
dot with nothing.
It was not only humbling, but itwas incredibly demoralizing,
and I think that's where thefounder knowledge about how that
all works is really cruciallyimportant, because now it
becomes Intel's institutionalknowledge right.
And so new people coming on,say, for example, if we got a
(20:28):
new CEO on.
New people coming on, say, forexample, if we got a new CEO on,
they wouldn't have had a lot ofthose trenches have already
been dug because we've alreadybuilt up that institutional
knowledge within the business.
And I think that's why it's soimportant for founders to have a
good, intimate understanding ofwhere they're operating is
because they almost spearheadthat institutional gathering of
(20:49):
knowledge for the business.
Yeah, yeah, and the reason whyI ask that is because they
almost spearhead thatinstitutional gathering of
knowledge for the business.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, yeah.
And the reason why I ask thatis because I mean, of course
it's very helpful to come inwith domain knowledge.
But I've seen oftentimes twotypes of founders.
There's the ones who have beenin their industry for 10, 20
years and know it intimately andknow some really small part
that needs help, and so theybuild a product for that.
And then oftentimes there's theother type who has never worked
(21:13):
in the industry before but theysaw some higher level problem
and they come in and they bringin a bunch of advisors who do
know the industry really well toget themselves caught up to
speed.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
That may have been more sensible than what I did,
so I did the last one, butdidn't have the advisors.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Oh, okay, got it.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
So what I just did is I just had a whole lot of
conversations with people, soyou know, like bootstrapping it
from the domain knowledge.
And I think, and I feel that infinancial services, I feel, on
the marginalized size of that, Idon't feel like there's a lot
of people that I've met.
A lot of them come in withdomain authority, which is
(21:52):
sensible, and but I think also,when you come in with domain
authority, you can not say thatyou do.
You can come in a little myopicbecause, you see it, you've
experienced it from one point ofview.
So, even though I feel likeI've taken the path less trodden
(22:13):
, I really do feel like it'sgiven me a pretty good ability
to see the landscape.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, I can see that, Like, if you have such deep
domain expertise in one thing,you may ignore the advice of
customers that they give youbecause, like, no, they're wrong
.
I know what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, or just not see it the way that really is now,
because, I mean, everythingadvances, right, Everything
changes over time and what youjust need to do is you need to
keep on asking those questions,because what was relevant two
years ago I mean even in thefunding environment, right?
So we raised a seed round in2022 and we got funded sort of
(22:51):
like February, March 2022.
So still sort of like where themarket was quite buoyant, and
then six months later, the wholevaluation framework had been
completely rewritten because themarket, there wasn't as much
money around or they wereconcerned about things or
economic tailwinds or headwindsor where you know, headwinds or
whatever else.
So it's like you can't.
(23:13):
Nothing stays the same.
Processes do high level at thehighest logical level.
That stays the same, but notpractically.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
So that was your first time doing a venture raise
, so you'd you'd bootstrappedincome access.
I know you'd mentioned some ofthe partners, but this was your
first your first.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
what was that process like for you?
I loved it.
I did I, I.
I loved it, I loved talking topeople.
I, you know, not only did Ilove it, we were successful, and
I really enjoy the people thatwe got to be involved in the
business.
So, um, yeah, I again, though Iwent into the process
incredibly thoughtfully, like Ihad done with the exit.
(23:54):
When we exited, I had fivethings that I wanted to achieve
and I achieved all five of them.
So, going into raising money, Iwas also very deliberate about
what I wanted and so and I gotit.
So I think that again goes tothat focus on the goal.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Can I ask what those five things were?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yep, I wanted to sell to a public company.
I wanted just 10 times multiple.
I wanted cash.
I wanted for all of my staff tostay.
You know, like I wanted it, Ididn't want it to be a breakup,
if I could possibly manage it.
And the last thing was that Ithink that I wanted to be able
(24:32):
to help with the transition.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Well, I think most companies would want you to stay
with the transition, but I mean, the other four nailed it.
So congrats on that.
How much would you say thatexit and the negotiation of that
term sheet and those termshelped you with the fundraising
component.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Not at all, really, yep, not at all.
The reason being is that whenyou're doing an exit, I found
that a lot of the attention wason reps and warranties and
making sure that they werebuying what they thought they
were buying, and diligence intothe business.
(25:10):
You know, diligence was verysort of similar, probably less
rigorous at seed than I was at acash upfront exit.
Yeah, but yeah, I just thinkthat there was probably a lot
more on the reps and warrantiesthat I hadn't experienced before
, whereas the seed stuff was.
What I found most interestingin that process was the.
(25:35):
It's the reason I enjoyed thatfundraising is, to me, it was a
sales process pure and simple.
it was just a sales process, soI had to find the right customer
, the venture-backed businessthat was going to buy what I was
selling, which was equity inthe business, and so that meant
that I spoke to a hell of a lotof people at Seed and Series A
(25:57):
and whatever else venturebusinesses that just had no idea
what we did.
So, therefore had no ability tosee our value or no ability to
appreciate what we had built orwere building or the role that
we played in the industry.
So it's really it was reallyfun I'd have all of these calls
with these people.
Like I was very fortunate I wasable to get a good list
(26:20):
together of people that wouldtake my calls and and whatever
else.
So I start the pitch and youcould just see that glaze over.
So okay, we're on one of them.
So then I just practiced andI'd ask them a question about
what was important to them andthen I could morph it for the
next place and all the rest ofit.
But I call it the kissing ofthe frogs.
(26:42):
So I kissed a lot of frogs.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
As one does when you're raising venture money.
Now you raised a pretty solidseed round and I've heard you
mention that you're not planningon raising another round.
Correct, correct?
Can I ask why?
Because we're profitable, Verygood.
So oftentimes, even ifcompanies are profitable which
granted the vast majority, arenot at the seed stage, but even
so they'll raise more money withthe intent to grow, Is that
(27:09):
something that just doesn't makesense for you at this stage?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
So we're a Canadian company and we have taken full
advantage of the funding streamsavailable through the Canadian
government.
So I've been able to puttogether a bit of a war chest
through those different programs.
So I have it, but I justhaven't done it through venture.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Got it.
That makes sense and that hasbeen a subject of discussion
that I've seen kicked around inquite a few different places
that you know companies aregoing to raise a pre-seed round
or a seed round just to get offthe ground, continue to then
grow a little bit more slowlyand profitably.
Do you think that's the way togo, or do you think there is
still room for the continue toraise and raise and raise type
(27:55):
of model?
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I think it depends on your business model and what
your end goal is.
I personally am a bit of acontrol freak, so therefore
would like to have as muchcontrol for as long as I
possibly can, understanding thatit's not going to last forever.
The other thing is that I'malso wanting to place the
business in the most valuableposition I can and people will,
(28:19):
as people go into raising money,you know, by sheer definition.
You've got C, you've got A,you've got B, you've got C,
you've got D, and then you'vegot sort of like in B and C.
You start to get in privateequity and growth equity as
opposed to venture and each andthen you've got strategic
capital, you know, strategiccorporate capital.
(28:41):
So I think what I've been tryingto do is I've been trying to
look at the best partnershipwith finance as I can, and my
perception at the moment I sayat the moment is looking at
probably private equity orgrowth equity, which means that
I need to get to a certainrevenue level for me to be
interesting in them, withcertain metrics Again, begin
(29:02):
with the end in mind, and sowhat I'm really doing is looking
at the best value for myshareholders and also the best
growth path for the business.
So I'm balancing upopportunities and value and I
(29:23):
think my job as CEO is to makethis business as valuable as it
can be at any moment in time.
Business as valuable as it canbe at any moment in time.
So that's why I definitely willraise again.
It's just I'm choosing the whenfor the purpose.
So, again, being very purposefulabout it, like, why am I
raising?
Because the thing that I haveheard and listened to is that
(29:49):
you don't raise unless you needto.
Because you're giving awayvaluable equity.
And if I already have a bit ofa buffer financially, then I'm
much better of self-funding mygrowth as long as my speed is
there, because you know thegrowth speed is also very
important, maybe not at any costand maybe not breakneck speed,
(30:13):
but still good, solid growth ona revenue, on top line revenue.
I just because Iself-bootstrapped the last one,
I am very, very clear on whatprofitability looks like and how
to get it.
And with the change in thefunding appetite, I'm looking at
(30:34):
how to straddle both directives, one directive being fast,
breakneck speed, the other beingprofitability and what that
means to an investor.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Love that balance.
So what do you do?
Does that make sense?
It does, yeah, absolutely so.
With that in mind, how are youspending most of your time now
as CEO?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
On growth, on getting that revenue up.
So, because the fact is is, andmaking sure that the trailing
operations of the business arescaling, so we've put 20 to 25
percent new additional people onthis year.
So that's things like officespace, because we're actually
also bums on seats.
(31:18):
So we have 100 of the staffcoming into the office, have
100% of the staff coming intothe office, or probably 97% of
the people coming into theoffice.
I just like that culture, alsobecause we do something pretty
unique.
It means that everybody isinstitutionally learning in the
company at the same time.
So job descriptions, pay equity, you know all of the things
that operationally need tohappen.
(31:39):
But you know, I'm spending alot of my time filling the
funnel in terms of industryrelationships, in terms of
raising awareness of who we areand what we do, as well as
helping the CRO get the goodconversations that we need to be
for the ideal client, and a lotof this time that I spent in
the last 12 months is workingout where we win and then
(32:03):
doubling down on that andlooking for more opportunities
in those areas.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So, over the course of the next couple of years, any
trends, any emergingtechnologies that you have your
eye on in your sector, thatyou're excited about, I am
looking at how we grownon-organically, which is also
the opportunity to see where wecan add value for our clients
through a transaction that we do.
I think financial services, asit becomes more digitally
(32:33):
enabled, I think there is areally big opportunity for
retention and CRM Very, very,very old conversation, but I
just think I don't thinknecessarily banks are there with
how they do it in the way thatI've experienced before, so I
think that's a really bigopportunity and I also think the
(32:53):
access to data and then howit's applied to the businesses
will be a really big opportunityfor financial services.
Fintech have got it nailed.
I'm not talking about FinTechsin this conversation.
I'm talking about credit unionsand community banks and banking
generally, and not to say thatall of them need to do it
because they don't.
But there are some businessesthat are coming up that are used
(33:18):
to doing, you know, branchtransactions and now are sort of
like moving more online.
I think that's going to be abig opportunity.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Awesome.
Well, you've dropped a ton ofexcellent knowledge already, but
I'm gonna ask you for one lastone any advice for early stage
founders or aspiring foundersthat you'd share?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Have courage, because I think to do this journey you
need to be courageous, but Ithink you also need to be
incredibly practical.
So you can have lofty ideas,but you need to make sure that
rubber hits the road in a verypractical way.
I create plans in my head andin paper about massive growth
and where I'll invest, and thenI put a line in the sand that
(33:59):
says by this date and this timeI need to have reached this
level for me to continue withthat plan.
So it's almost like I plan ontwo scenarios the positive
scenario that we win it, andthen the scenario that we don't
win it.
And I do both plans so thatwhen any trigger point comes, I
have, I've already thought aboutit and I already know what I'm
(34:22):
doing, so I don't get blindsided.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
So I love, that that's how I do it All right.
Well, this was a super greatconversation.
I'm really grateful for you tospend the time and thank you for
coming on.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
My pleasure, thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Thanks for listening to See to Exit.
If you enjoyed the episode,don't forget to subscribe and
we'll see you next time.
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