Category Visionaries Klas Bäck, CEO & Co-Founder of Pagos: $44 Million Raised to Power the Future of Payments Operations
After 25 years in payments, including leading roles at Braintree and PayPal, Klas Bäck noticed a persistent problem: companies were leaving money on the table due to suboptimal payment infrastructure. Despite being data-driven in other areas, even billion-dollar companies made payment decisions without complete, accurate, or timely data. This revelation led him to co-found Pagos, raising $44M to build a payment operations platform that helps enterprise companies optimize their payment performance through better data and analytics.
Topics Discussed:
- Evolution of payments from a corporate banking afterthought to a product/engineering priority
- The opaque nature of payment operations and the industry-wide lack of data-driven decision making
- Why payment infrastructure optimization remains challenging despite technological advances
- The emergence of payment operations as a distinct category within enterprise companies
- Building a global enterprise SaaS company from day one
- The impact of market noise on B2B marketing strategies
- Community building through intimate dinner events and industry conferences
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
- Break into enterprise through brute force outreach: Bäck leveraged his LinkedIn network to systematically reach out to potential customers, focusing on companies with $50M+ in annual online sales. The key was having enough industry credibility to secure initial conversations.
- Adapt your MVP strategy for enterprise: When building features for early adopters, start with manual processes (like weekly data files) before investing in full automation. This allows you to validate value while managing development costs.
- Build community through peer connections: Rather than focusing on selling, create opportunities for prospects to meet peers facing similar challenges. Bäck found success hosting intimate dinners (10-12 people) where the value came from peer networking rather than vendor pitching.
- Embrace imperfect execution: In startup environments, waiting for perfection can be fatal. Launch quickly, stay close to early customers, communicate transparently about issues, and iterate based on feedback.
- Hire for curiosity and action-orientation: Look for team members who proactively take initiative in group settings and demonstrate genuine curiosity through question-asking. These traits are especially crucial in early-stage startups.
- Focus marketing on high-intent channels: Traditional demand generation tactics like Google Ads may not work well for new categories. Instead, focus on building presence in existing industry communities and conferences where your target buyers already gather.
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