Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Arthur Waller, one of the sharpest French founders of his generation.
He sold his first company to Booking.com in his twenties — and instead of retiring, he came back to build Pennylane, a fintech that turned accountants from enemies into growth partners and became one of europe fastest-growing unicorn.
In this episode, we will discuss how six co-founders actually share power, what founders get wrong about fundraising terms and dilution, and what Arthur thinks about secondaries, freedom, and building a company that lasts twenty years.
If you want to understand what it really takes to scale, cash-out without selling out, and keep your ambition alive after success - then this episode is for you!
TIMELINE :
00:00:00 - 00:03:37 : First exit to Booking.com at 25 - the $80M deal structure
00:03:37 - 00:08:08 : Why the earn-out worked and 3.5 years at Booking
00:08:08 - 00:13:58 : Coming back stronger - choosing accounting as the next battlefield
00:13:58 - 00:18:12 : Seven co-founders sharing power and equity splits
00:18:12 - 00:24:01 : Fundraising strategy - diluting less than 10% early rounds
00:24:01 - 00:30:34 : Making accountants allies instead of enemies
00:30:34 - 00:36:08 : European expansion vs US market strategy
00:36:08 - 00:41:56 : Secondary transactions - $30M for employees, $70M for founders
00:41:56 - 00:46:38 : Staying private vs going public - the Stripe model
00:46:38 - 00:48:43 : The one advice for young founders
REFERENCES :
- Booking.com
- Felix Blossier
- Tancrède Besnard
- Alexandre Roquoplo
- Charles-Philippe Letellier
- Brian Halligan
- Partech
- PayFit
- Alan
- Qonto
- Indy
- QuickBooks
- NetSuite
- Salesloft
- Outreach
- Sequoia Capital
- Carta
- Cegid
- Shine
- Stripe
- Revolut
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
