When my co-founder Steve Anavi and I founded Qonto in 2016, we set out with a clear mission: to improve finance management for SMBs and freelancers across Europe. Our vision was born from personal experience as entrepreneurs, realising the glaring gap in financial services tailored to the unique needs of smaller businesses and freelancers.
Traditional banks were failing to serve this vital sector effectively, with products poorly adapted to their specific requirements. Not only were their processes slow and pricing opaque, but the costs were often prohibitively high and inaccessible for small businesses. Customer service was another pain point, with limited availability that didn’t align with the round-the-clock needs of entrepreneurs.
We saw an opportunity, and a need, to create a solution that would not just address these issues but transform how businesses interact with their finances.
The journey to establishing Qonto as Europe’s leading business finance solution has been both exhilarating and challenging. We’ve navigated complex regulatory landscapes, stayed ahead of rapidly evolving technologies, scaled our offer across eight European markets, built a talented team of 1,600 people across Europe, and gained the trust of 500,000 European SMBs and freelancers.
Throughout this process, we’ve learned invaluable lessons about technology, business, people, and ourselves. These insights have shaped our strategy, operations, company culture, and values.
In this article, I’ll share five key lessons that have been instrumental in our growth and success in the world of financial technology.
It’s easier to solve a problem that you’ve already experienced yourself
Being entrepreneurs ourselves with Smok.io, we realised that our finance needs were poorly served and were frustrated by the inefficient and time-consuming offers from traditional banks. Essentially, we were missing what became Qonto’s secret recipe: a great and complete offer, a highly responsive customer service and clear and transparent pricing.
Having experienced these pain points firsthand in our previous venture fuelled our passion and commitment.
Lesson: Your startup must address a real, significant pain point in the market. Your personal experience with that problem can be a powerful motivator and guide.
Put the customer at the heart of everything
At Qonto, customer obsession isn’t just a buzzword—it’s our first and foremost value, deeply ingrained in everything we do. Our product development is driven entirely by real customer needs, with every new feature addressing issues our clients have raised. We gather insights through various channels, including feedback forms, surveys, and in-depth interviews, aiming to always be in tune with our customers’ evolving requirements. Understanding that entrepreneurs often work long hours and weekends, we’ve extended our customer service support to seven days a week, adapting to their demanding schedules. We’ve also taken customer involvement a step further by launching a community equity raise two years ago, allowing our fellow entrepreneurial users to become part of the Qonto community as investors. From our product features to our visual identity, every aspect of Qonto is designed to resonate with and stay close to our customers, reflecting our unwavering commitment to serving the unique needs of SMBs and freelancers.
Lesson: Regularly engage with your customers, listen to their feedback, investigate how you can further develop your product to support their challenges, and be willing to iterate quickly based on their needs.
Build a scalable and adaptable platform
Europe is diverse, with varying regulatory environments and customer expectations. To succeed, we had to build a platform that is not only scalable but also adaptable to different markets. This meant investing in a robust technological infrastructure that can be customised to comply with local regulations while maintaining a consistent user experience and answering local needs. For instance, by developing a robust API layer, we can enable seamless integration with local payment systems, identity verification services, and other country-specific financial infrastructure. In addition, our user interface was built using a component-based framework, allowing us to quickly adapt the look and feel of our app to meet local language requirements and user preferences without rebuilding the entire front-end. Scalability and adaptability have allowed us to expand our services rapidly across multiple countries, including just this month Belgium, Austria, then Netherlands and Portugal.
Lesson: Invest in building a flexible platform that can easily adapt to different regulatory and market conditions, ensuring you can scale efficiently while maintaining a seamless user experience across regions.
Build a strong, diverse team
Our success has been largely due to the exceptional team we’ve built. We’ve focused on hiring not just for skills, but for cultural fit and diversity of thought. Today Qonto has a team of 1,600, comprising 78 nationalities, with women constituting 44% of our overall workforce and 43% of our leadership positions. In addition, we have 3 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Team Pride, Women@Qonto and Breaking Social Barriers As a result, our diverse team better reflects and understands our diverse customer base, allowing us to create more inclusive and accessible products; and as we expand across Europe, our varied cultural insights prove invaluable in navigating different markets. Building a strong, diverse team has allowed us to tackle complex problems from multiple angles and create a vibrant company culture.
Lesson: Your team is your most valuable asset. Invest time and resources in recruiting, developing, and retaining top talent that aligns with your vision and values.
Embrace the marathon, not the sprint
When we started Qonto, we were eager to disrupt the market and grow rapidly. However, we quickly learned that building a sustainable fintech company is more of a marathon than a sprint. While it’s important to move quickly and seize opportunities, we knew that long-term success requires patience, persistence, and a strategic approach to growth. We focused on building a strong foundation – robust systems, a talented team, and a culture of continuous improvement. This allows us to both reach new corporate milestones, and also work like a startup, depending on business needs. For example, for each new market launch, we built the foundations to build a localised offer, from our existing offices and centralised teams. As each market then grew, we were able to further develop, open offices locally, and continue strengthening our services in each local market.
This approach has allowed us to weather challenges, adapt to market changes, and consistently deliver value to our customers over time. We have learned to balance the need for quick wins with the importance of sustainable, long-term growth while staying agile.
Lesson: Focus on sustainable growth, building resilience, and creating long-term value rather than chasing short-term gains at the expense of your company’s future.
Building Qonto into Europe’s leading fintech for SMBs and freelancers has been an exciting journey. By staying true to our mission, focusing relentlessly on our customers, innovating responsibly, and building a diverse world-class team, we’ve been able to revolutionise business banking for SMBs and freelancers across Europe. As we continue to grow and evolve, these lessons will remain at the core of our approach, driving us towards our goal of empowering a million European businesses and being profitable by 2026.
Alexandre Prot is the co-founder and CEO of Qonto, a Paris-based neobank that provides financial services for SMEs and freelancers across Europe.
The post 5 founder lessons on building Europe’s leading finance solution for SMBs and freelancers appeared first on Tech Funding News.