The SaaS Revolution Show Scaling Mollie: SaaS growth, AI & fintech with Koen Köppen
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Jul 17, 2025 Koen Köppen, CEO of Mollie and former CTO of Klarna, discusses his ambitious plans to expand Mollie from 6 to 31 markets by 2026. He emphasizes the importance of operational efficiency over flashy growth hacks and reveals how AI has tripled their customer contact efficiency. Koen offers key insights for SaaS founders on market expansion, the risks of premature scaling, and the significance of embedded finance in enhancing business models. His experiences provide a roadmap for navigating challenges in fintech and SaaS growth.
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Koen's Early Tech Journey
- Koen Köppen shared his early fascination with computers and entrepreneurship from a young age in the Netherlands.
- He also recounted studying marine engineering and starting an early SaaS company that did not succeed.
Why First SaaS Failed
- Koen explained why his early SaaS startup failed due to lack of product-market fit and challenges with go-to-market strategy.
- Customers preferred owning software licenses, and long sales cycles made growth unsustainable.
CEO Context Switching Challenge
- Koen described the brutal challenge of context switching in the CEO role transitioning from engineering leadership.
- He initially struggled with having to quickly switch between very different topics every hour.