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Founder’s Story with Qonto
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00:00Bonjour à tous, merci d'être ici avec nous.
00:05Aujourd'hui je suis très heureux d'avoir Alexandre Proulx,
00:10qui est le co-founder et CEO de Conto, comme vous le savez.
00:14Comment vous définissez-vous maintenant ?
00:15Parce que vous avez changé, vous savez...
00:18Qu'est-ce que tu veux dire ?
00:20À la fin de l'entreprise, parce que nous étions étudiés pour longtemps,
00:24c'était une nouvelle banque pour SMBs, mais maintenant...
00:30Maintenant, une solution all-in-one pour solopreneurs et SMBs.
00:37Et Laura Pallier, vous êtes le co-founder de REGAT,
00:41qui est fintech, et c'est un financement management software.
00:47Nous nous définissons comme un financement cockpit pour SMBs.
00:54OK, great.
00:55So, vous êtes deux entrepreneurs,
00:57mais Alexandre, vous foundedz deux entreprises,
01:00et donc Conto est le deuxième.
01:02Est-ce que c'est plus facile pour le deuxième ?
01:06Pour sûr, il y a des étudiants.
01:08So, très long story short,
01:10nous avons commencé la première compagnie 10 ans,
01:11avec mon co-founder, Steve,
01:13qui a été créé 3 ans après,
01:15donc 7 ans.
01:16Et la raison pour laquelle nous avons commencé Conto
01:18est parce que, avec la première compagnie,
01:19nous avons eu beaucoup de pain
01:20en dealing avec traditionnels banks,
01:23bookkeeping, accounting et donc,
01:25et donc,
01:25nous voulions avoir une solution pour ça.
01:28Et donc, nous avons créé avec Conto
01:29la solution que nous avions aimé
01:31pour notre première compagnie.
01:33Donc, en ce sens,
01:34c'était plus facile pour trouver Conto,
01:36parce que nous avons commencé
01:36avec un problème que nous avons souffert.
01:39Donc, c'est la première chose.
01:40La deuxième chose, c'est que c'est plus facile,
01:42parce que nous avions la deuxième fois
01:45avec mes co-founders s'entend.
01:47Donc, si vous connaissez votre co-founders,
01:49vous connaissez votre co-fouder,
01:50vous savez vous avez un coeur
01:51d'argent et so on,
01:52c'est-ce que c'est facile,
01:53parce que le founding team
01:56est pour être donc vraiment important.
01:57Et, peut-être,
01:58c'est peut-être une troisième chose
01:58qui est plus oublée
02:00c'est aussi que,
02:02lorsque vous êtes une deuxième
02:03ou une deuxième entrepreneur,
02:05il est très facile,
02:06avec l'investiture,
02:08il est un petit peu facile
02:08de tâquer team,
02:10c'est plus facile,
02:10parce que vous avez un peu plus
02:12credibility. That said,
02:14you start from scratch.
02:16You have to start the product to convince
02:18your first client and so on. So it's
02:20a bit easier. You have a bit more
02:22experience, but still
02:24you start from zero.
02:26And it's a different sector.
02:28And it was indeed a different sector.
02:30And Laura, it's your first company,
02:33but before you worked
02:34at Mailjet, which is a marketing
02:36solution, and you were a CFO
02:38there. So you wanted to have
02:40an experience in a startup,
02:42before creating one?
02:45Actually, not
02:46at all. Previously
02:48to that, I worked seven years
02:50at KPMG, and then
02:52I was really picturing
02:54myself in a big company
02:56like
02:58CAC 40 and so on.
03:00But I had this opportunity, and I
03:02thought, okay, I don't want to get bored
03:04in my job. I want to
03:06have something that evolves very fast,
03:08that is as well fast learning
03:10and so on. So I had this opportunity
03:12to try to work in a startup.
03:14And once you feel
03:16you've experienced the thrill
03:18of being impactful on the business
03:20and taking big decisions
03:22for the company, it's hard to go
03:24back. So you move on in
03:26with some other startup, and that's it.
03:30And what was the pain?
03:32You mentioned the pain
03:33you wanted to resolve when you
03:36created Regat.
03:37So there were several pains
03:39we wanted to address.
03:41So the first one was really
03:43I was a CFO in a company,
03:45a small company.
03:46This was a startup.
03:47and so in a small
03:49finance department, I had like
03:51seven different tools
03:52to use. I have an expense note
03:55tools, I have a cash flow
03:56tools, I have a dining
03:57tools. Of course, none
03:59of them were communicating
04:00together, and it was not
04:03plugged to the accounting
04:04software.
04:05So it was creating a lot
04:07of frustration, some errors,
04:09some double tasks.
04:11And so we thought like,
04:12what the hell, for a small
04:14company, we should have like
04:15one unique tool that should
04:16cover like 80-90% of what we
04:19have to do, the matters we
04:20have to handle.
04:21And so we imagined Regat as a
04:23cockpit, as I was saying.
04:25And on top of that, I was
04:26working with internal
04:27accountant, but as well
04:28external accountant, so
04:30certified accountant for some
04:31subsidiaries abroad, and the
04:33collaboration was not an
04:34easy thing.
04:36So we had back and forth
04:37regarding analytical
04:39accounting. Did I give this
04:41document to you? No, yes.
04:42So we thought, okay, let's
04:44make something that helps
04:45SMEs and their accountants,
04:47internal or external, no
04:49matter, and that makes sense
04:50for the market.
04:51Okay, and so when did you
04:53create Regat?
04:54We started in 2020, February.
04:58So it was three years after
05:00Conto?
05:01Exactly.
05:02Yeah, and did you know
05:03Regat?
05:04Yeah?
05:05When did you discover Regat?
05:08So we've known Regat, I
05:09mean, we've seen Regat, you
05:11know, from the start, I mean,
05:13from the launch, just reading the
05:15news and so on.
05:15Actually, I've known Laura for
05:19seven years.
05:20Actually, we were just checking
05:21just before this session.
05:25I had some emails in February
05:272017, so exactly seven years
05:29ago, because we were starting
05:32Conto, and we were looking for
05:33some beta users, beta testers for
05:36Conto.
05:36And as you said, Laura was CFO at
05:40Mailjet at the time, and so I
05:42reached out to Laura to have some
05:44feedback on the product, and so we
05:47had, seven years ago, we had a, you
05:49know, first chat together, and then
05:52we, you know, stayed more or less in
05:54touch, and we, more recently, the
05:58teams also reconnected at some
06:02accountants' congress, National French
06:05Accountant Congress, because
06:07accountants are one key client
06:10persona for Regat, but also very
06:12key stakeholders and partners for
06:15Conto, and so very naturally, we
06:16reconnected at that congress, and so
06:19that was over the last couple of
06:20years, and so more recently, in the
06:24last two, three months, we decided to
06:28actually join forces, and so Conto
06:29acquired Regat three months ago, and
06:32so now we're working on the, on
06:34integration, and really making the, the,
06:37you know, the best of both worlds
06:38with more the, the, the banking, and
06:41the account parts that Conto has
06:42developed, and the financial tools,
06:45and the accountants' connections and
06:48integrations that Regat has developed,
06:50putting that together to serve
06:52freelancers, SMBs, and accountants in
06:54the best, best possible way.
06:56Of course, we're going to talk about
06:57that in details after.
06:59What did, what did you think of, what
07:01was your perception of Conto, at first,
07:03and what did, what feedback did you
07:06give at the time?
07:07So, my honest feedback, no, I thought it
07:12was a really a great product, and the
07:15first account I opened for Regat was a
07:18Conto account, so I'm a daily user of
07:21Conto, even before we discussed about
07:25this, about teaming up.
07:27Okay, so what's the story behind this,
07:30this acquisition?
07:32So, you wanted to have, yes, you said
07:35this, to target a content, so, and for
07:39you, why were you trying to, you know,
07:42raise fund, but you chose to, to be
07:44acquired, so, yeah, Alexandre?
07:48Yeah, so, I mean, exactly, actually, the, the,
07:50the answer is in your question.
07:51So, we, we, we started, uh, seven years
07:53ago, uh, Conto was the, the, the business
07:55account, account, cards, transfers, the,
07:58the banking side of things, and
08:00progressively, we added what we call
08:02financial tools, so, uh, invoicing,
08:06bookkeeping, spend management tools, and
08:08we wanted to go faster on those topics,
08:11and Regat, uh, has more, let's say,
08:14advanced or sophisticated tools, uh, on
08:16this, uh, on this side, so we were
08:18considering potentially a partnership or
08:20doing, you know, uh, looking at, at
08:23different opportunities, uh, or
08:24different options, and, uh, in the
08:26end, after, you know, a couple of weeks
08:28of, uh, discussion, it, it, uh, felt
08:30like the best thing to do was actually
08:32to, uh, to merge, to, uh, you know, to
08:34join forces for, for real, and so
08:36that's, uh, that's indeed what
08:37happened, uh, uh, very recently, and
08:40now we're working on the, on the
08:41integration, because we believe that
08:43having a really well-integrated
08:45product is what will, uh, you know,
08:47bring the most value to our clients, and
08:49so partnership would have been good,
08:51but, like, a real, uh, merger will be
08:53even much stronger in terms of product,
08:55uh, efficiency, so that's exactly what
08:57we want to do.
08:58So you didn't want just a
08:59partnership, you wanted more?
09:01I didn't want anything, I just, I
09:03wanted the best for Regat.
09:06Um, no, but, uh, indeed, um, this is a
09:09bit funny, because finally, the vision
09:12is really the same.
09:13um, we came from the accounting world
09:15thinking, like, there's no need to have
09:17accounting on one part, and bank on the
09:19other part, it has really a sense to
09:22gather everything in one unique
09:24platform, and Conto went from the bank,
09:27and thought exactly the same, so we were
09:30sharing this vision, and somehow it, we
09:33were at a stage where, um, we wanted to
09:36accelerate, to get bigger, we opened a
09:38new country, and so discussing together,
09:42they, we were thinking about the same
09:44country, Conto is already, uh, present in
09:47Spain, in Germany, in Italy, we just
09:49opened Spain, we had the same vision, so
09:52some, at some stage, it was like a
09:54nonsense not to merge a company and go
09:56together and go faster.
09:58Okay, and how long did it take from the
10:01moment you started the discussion until
10:03you, you know, you signed?
10:08Yeah, a few months, I think we, uh, we
10:11started discussing for real, uh, end of
10:13last year, end of 2023, uh, and took
10:16basically the, the first quarter of this
10:19year to, uh, let's say, have, like, proper
10:22due diligence, uh, legal and financial work,
10:25and so on, and we, uh, and we, uh, announced,
10:29and I even forgot, I think we announced the,
10:30the, the deal in, in March.
10:32Yes, end of March. Uh, and, uh, and then
10:35there were a few things to close, like,
10:37probably legally the, the, the, the, the,
10:40the deal, and now this is done, and so now
10:41we're really focusing on the proper
10:43integration, which is the, the toughest
10:45part, uh, but where we'll be really, uh,
10:48bringing value to our, to our clients.
10:51So what are the ingredients to, to succeed
10:54this kind of, uh, of deal?
10:57From your perspective, uh, and from yours.
11:01Okay, I'll start.
11:03So, this is actually my second acquisition.
11:06So when I was CFO at Meljet, uh, we've
11:08been acquired by Melgun, a U.S.
11:11company from Texas.
11:13Um, so I can compare both, both
11:17integration, and, um, the one thing that
11:19really struck me at the time of Meljet
11:22was the culture gap.
11:24I know that we keep saying that, but
11:26really from a Texan company with a
11:29Parisian company, I can ensure you that
11:31you get lost in translation, and so we
11:35even organized some workshop to learn
11:37how French people think, and how
11:40American people were thinking, in order
11:42to avoid frustration and so on, and it
11:44feels so much easier when it's with
11:47another company, a French company, you
11:50have so many culture gap fit, uh, culture
11:53fit, sorry, and so, I mean, it's really
11:57something that change, uh, the picture, and
11:59the last thing I would add is that I
12:03think it's really key, it's not an easy
12:05thing, but when you acquire a company to
12:07give some room to the management in your
12:10own organization.
12:11This is not something that is really easy
12:13because you've been working for years
12:16with people that you trust, that dedicated
12:18to the company, and somehow you have some
12:21duplicate positions in the other companies
12:23that you acquire, but the success of the
12:26integration is really about retention as
12:28well, and so getting these people inside
12:31your organization, showing them some
12:34potential evolution, and it's really key, I
12:38think, to make it a success, and I saw how
12:41it can fail in the previous integration,
12:44because this was very hard to get something
12:46that was meaningful for the management team
12:48inside the other organization.
12:51So, the integration is the hardest part, uh,
12:54part, uh, you mentioned?
12:57Yes, I mean, there are really three parts, like,
12:59the first part is, like, you know, uh, discussing
13:02and seeing what could make sense, then you
13:04have, like, the second piece, which is actually,
13:07uh, you know, working on the deal and signing
13:09the deal, uh, and negotiating the deal, let's
13:12say, and then the third part, which is indeed
13:14probably the most difficult, which is the
13:16integration part, um, uh, it, it may be a bit
13:20too early, uh, to talk about success for the
13:23Regat integration, because it's, uh, it's,
13:24it's, it's very, uh, recent, but we, we
13:27worked on one, I mean, we only did another
13:29one, uh, you know, acquisition two years ago,
13:32about two years ago at Contour, we acquired a
13:34company that was called Penta, which was our,
13:37uh, German equivalent, so German, uh, SMB, uh,
13:41finance service, and, uh, and there, uh, that
13:45we're very happy with the, the integration,
13:46the company has now been fully integrated,
13:49uh, clients have been migrated, and so on,
13:51uh, and I think the, the, the success, uh,
13:55was really, really linked to, uh, as Laura
13:58was saying, so having very clear and
13:59meaningful roles for the, uh, you know, um,
14:03top management of the, the company that is
14:05being acquired, so that's number one.
14:07Number two, I think being very clear,
14:09upfront on, you know, what the target is,
14:11some people, uh, might be disappointed, some
14:13people might not like it, and, but at least
14:15it's clear, and I think what people don't
14:17like, uh, above, uh, above everything is,
14:20like, you know, uncertainty and clarity, uh,
14:22and so you have to be, uh, very clear
14:24upfront, um, so that was, that was good
14:26learning, and then you have to go relatively
14:30fast, also, because again, if you're too
14:33slow, uh, you know, it's, it's, I mean, if
14:36you have two organizations running in
14:38parallel, it's complicated, so it's better to
14:40have maybe six months of, uh, let's say,
14:42intense work to, you know, merge and so on,
14:45and then after six months, it's one company,
14:47one team, and it's really, uh, uh, much more
14:50efficient this way, so that, that, these
14:51were, uh, some of the learnings, but of
14:54course, each M&A deal is very different.
14:57Uh, Penta was a German company, very
15:00similar to Conto, and more like a
15:02geographical expansion acquisition for us.
15:05Regat is a French company, much more for
15:08product expansion, uh, so tech and product
15:11aspects are even more important, let's say,
15:13uh, with the Regat deal than, uh, was for Penta,
15:16so, uh, I think, uh, there are some learnings
15:19that can be used, but also each deal is, uh, is
15:22pretty different. It's also very much a human,
15:24uh, human stuff that we have to, uh, you know,
15:28every time, look at very precisely.
15:30And what about the brand, uh, will Regat remain,
15:35or will it be, yeah, will it disappear, uh, at
15:39the end of the day, and, uh, and how do you
15:41feel about that, uh, Laura?
15:43So it's gonna be a progressive, uh, move, uh,
15:47we've announced, uh, this week that now it's
15:49Regat by Conto, so, uh, we really want to be
15:52one company, somehow, don't know the, the timeline,
15:57but it would make sense, uh, to be, uh, one
15:59unique brand. And for you?
16:03Yeah, I think it's, uh, it's, I mean, it's
16:06gonna be a transition, but indeed, uh, in the
16:09end, we want to have, you know, one company,
16:11and, and, um, the accountants using that
16:15product, and the SMBs using that product,
16:18are actually using the same product together,
16:20uh, as a, as a, you know, uh, as a
16:22collaboration tool, so I think, in the end,
16:25it will probably be, you know, a unique brand,
16:27called Conto. We don't know exactly, uh, when, but
16:29that's probably the trajectory. Uh, that said,
16:32uh, we want to make sure, uh, we have a very
16:34good, um, uh, you know, very good, uh, um,
16:38distribution and understanding from accountants
16:40of what we do, and the Regat brand today is
16:42very strong with accountants, so we're very
16:44happy for, you know, a couple of quarters,
16:47maybe a year, uh, to, to use, uh, that, that
16:50brand, and we'll also discuss with accountants,
16:52which, again, are key partners for us, what
16:54makes most sense for them, uh, and, and we'll
16:58do that gradually.
16:59And do you plan to do more M&A deals?
17:04No, no, no big news to announce, uh, right now,
17:06but, uh, but, uh, yeah, I mean, I think the,
17:09the, uh, um, the fintech scene in, in Europe is
17:13very, uh, is very ripe for some more consolidation.
17:16Um, we're, uh, we've, we've, we've announced a
17:19few, a few times that we're, we definitely see
17:21Conto as a natural consolator of, uh, of the
17:24industry in, in Europe, uh, and so we will, uh,
17:28uh, likely do, uh, do more M&A deals, uh, nothing,
17:31uh, nothing really short, uh, short term to, to
17:33announce, but, uh, but, uh, yeah, we're at least
17:36looking very much at opportunities, uh, and, uh, and
17:39to keep on serving our, our clients better, whether
17:42it's on product expansion, like with Regat, or maybe a
17:45geographical expansion to grow across Europe, uh, we'll
17:48be looking at, uh, at, at more opportunities.
17:51Okay. Now I just try, you know, always.
17:55You, you, you know, you'll, you'll be the first
17:56one to know.
17:57And, uh, would you say that the fintech market is
18:00consolidated right now? It's in movement?
18:04Yeah. Uh, it was funny because when we first started,
18:07uh, we were looking at the market and looking for
18:10competition, uh, is there some room available, uh, not
18:13too much competition and there are some actor that we
18:18discovered like one year later as it started at the
18:21same time, uh, as we did. And so several of them
18:24actually. So there's really something that happened four
18:28years ago, uh, in the accounting tech and, uh, and yeah, we
18:34see that progressively is the, the, the background is
18:38changing, is consolidating. So that's a fact and probably it
18:41will go on. Well, thank you very much for sharing, uh,
18:45your, your experience. That's what's a very insightful.
18:48Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
18:50Thank you. Thank you everyone.
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