Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
01:24:00 · Pranav Sood, David M. Brear
[01:24:00] S7: Yes. I mean late payments are terrible. They're a nightmare. Everyone knows it. I could give you heaps and heaps and heaps of statistics that show the impact that they have on the ability to invest and your ability to grow as a business. But I think actually what resonates the most for me is the personal impact. It's the stress, it's the sleepless nights, it's the disturbed holidays, it's all the time worrying about whether you're gonna get paid, whether your business is gonna be viable next month or next year. I actually... I think that the stat that resonated the most with me was we just did some research and we found that I think 41% of SMBs are more worried about late payments than they are about Brexit. And given the given the delicate nature of our negotiations at the moment, I think that's saying saying something about how important it is. [01:24:49] S10: Is is that because we we understand the impact of late payments but we've got no fucking idea what Brexit means? Yeah. It's like... Yeah. Probably. Yeah. So so I I guess why do accountants feature so heavily in terms of the the stuff that you guys are doing right now? [01:25:04] S7: Do you mean apart from their devastating good looks and dry wit? [01:25:08] S10: What you charmer are you? That's impressive.
01:25:08 · David M. Brear, Pranav Sood
[01:25:08] S10: What you charmer are you? That's impressive. [01:25:10] S7: No. Listen. I mean accountants have... Cash flow is a huge problem for SMBs and if an accountant can solve cash flow for their clients, that is a gigantic win that allows them to focus on the value added, the interesting stuff that they really want to go and spend their time on. And so for us, if we can give accountants access to that kind of quick win, then, you know, that's brilliant. I think the other thing is that we sometimes forget that accountants are small business owners too. And, you know, accountants who are worrying about collecting their own fees, transitioning to value based pricing, you know, we actually offer them a tool that can help them to power their own businesses. So actually at Zerocon this year, we've also just announced our new partner program. So special discounts, training, support for accountants just because they are so important to how we go to market and how we do business. [01:26:00] S10: And that partnership's now global, is that correct? [01:26:04] S7: Yeah, that is absolutely correct. That's actually my day job. So we've just launched in Australia and New Zealand. It is going like an absolute rocket ship. We've already got, I think, 100 accountants collecting their fees and then a couple of... Well, actually several 100 more SMBs on top of that and we've only really been going for about six weeks. So super exciting and and Canada, The US to come in the in the very near future as well.
01:26:04 · Pranav Sood, David M. Brear
[01:26:04] S7: Yeah, that is absolutely correct. That's actually my day job. So we've just launched in Australia and New Zealand. It is going like an absolute rocket ship. We've already got, I think, 100 accountants collecting their fees and then a couple of... Well, actually several 100 more SMBs on top of that and we've only really been going for about six weeks. So super exciting and and Canada, The US to come in the in the very near future as well. [01:26:26] S10: Wow. That's that's pretty impressive. So what what do we think? Like how do we see the future of this space playing out because, you know, automation is one thing, but the the feels like there's a lot of opportunity and with the growth that you've seen, it feels like this is clearly something that people want. [01:26:41] S7: Yeah, I think massively. I think anything that you can give a small business owner that gives them the time and the space to focus on what they're doing best is going to be something that they value. And so for us, you know, our aim is to take the pain out of getting paid so that small business owners can focus on what they actually care about. I haven't met too many small business owners whose passion is late payments or payments in general. I have met a lot who are interested in chocolate making or wine or whatever it is that gets them going and our mission is to give them the time and the space to do just that.
01:26:41 · Pranav Sood, David M. Brear, Will Farnell
[01:26:41] S7: Yeah, I think massively. I think anything that you can give a small business owner that gives them the time and the space to focus on what they're doing best is going to be something that they value. And so for us, you know, our aim is to take the pain out of getting paid so that small business owners can focus on what they actually care about. I haven't met too many small business owners whose passion is late payments or payments in general. I have met a lot who are interested in chocolate making or wine or whatever it is that gets them going and our mission is to give them the time and the space to do just that. [01:27:10] S10: I think that's a real entrepreneurial ship is seen as such an amazing, you know, kind of standing on the front of a ship and being excited about it thing. But actually, to your point, it's pretty much terrifying on a day to day basis the thousand things you're trying to figure out and the thousand things you're carrying in your head. So actually anything that can simplify that process and make it easier definitely is a big win. Stuart, how do see this space kind of playing out? [01:27:36] S6: Yeah, I
01:27:36 · Will Farnell, Stuart Gregory, David M. Brear, Sarah Kocianski, Pranav Sood
[01:27:36] S6: Yeah, I [01:27:36] S15: I think if you look at international payments like they aren't gonna cost 3%. They're not gonna cost £10 a payment and they're not gonna take two or three days. Like, the the trend is towards instant international payments, international payments that are nearly free. There's no reason it should cost so much to essentially send ones and zeros, right, like around the world. So, I definitely think that that trend's coming and and we're excited about that because that's going to enable, small businesses around the world to do trade way more globally. [01:28:05] S10: And I think that will mean everything, right? You know, the amount of businesses that go out of business because of the inability to actually plan forward and see these things actually happening and you know, somebody paying late can happen for various different reasons but having all of these different processes in place to stop that cash flow problem becoming the death of your business is is a huge thing, you know? [01:28:26] S0: Yeah. I I think the key that that we've all agreed on here is it's all about choice. It's all about having the options to pay as and when you want and to receive money as and when you want. So that actually concludes the second part of our show. We are racing through [01:28:37] S10: time Thank here [01:28:39] S0: you so much to our guests. Where can people find out more about you? So, Pranav, can people find you on Twitter? [01:28:44] S7: At GoCardless or gocardless.com. [01:28:46] S0: Perfect. And how about you, Stuart?
01:28:46 · Sarah Kocianski, Stuart Gregory, Megan Caywood, Hannah Dawson, David M. Brear
[01:28:46] S0: Perfect. And how about you, Stuart? [01:28:48] S15: Yeah. Transferwise.com or if you're here at Zerocon, come and find us, stand over there, get some free transfers for your clients. [01:28:54] S0: Wait. Wait. Wherever transferwise are those... No? [01:28:57] S5: They're not hiding. No. [01:28:58] S0: They've run away. Alright. Thank you so much, gents. I a big round of applause? So, we're going to move on to the final part of the show. We're going to talk about access to credit and to capital. To talk about this, we have two fantastic CEOs who know what they're talking about in this space. So please welcome, Anil Stocker, CEO of Market Invoice, and Hannah Dawson who is the CEO of Futurely. Hello. Hi. You bought your own drinks? Do you need a drink, Anil? Are you good? [01:29:29] S16: No white wine. Don't want Wonderful. Put any pressure on [01:29:32] S10: So as the panel, and I'm sure many of the audience know today, 85% of small business lending is funded by UK big banks. However, the tide on that one is kind of changing, not one thing to do a pun around tide, but I'm sure the tide guys will appreciate that anyway. So, however, with the likes of the investment and the partnership that you guys have done with Barclays, this might start to see the tide changing, shall we say?