Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Geert Van Kerckhoven, CEO & Co-Founder of Oper, a mortgage tech platform that's raised over $15 Million in funding.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

• Oper’s Mission: Oper is revolutionizing the European mortgage process by digitizing the journey for both borrowers and lenders. The platform aims to improve the experience from initial contact to final contract, reducing paper-based processes and streamlining mortgage underwriting.
• Founding Story: Geert's 20 years of experience in fintech and banking, combined with frustration from a personal mortgage process, inspired the creation of Oper. He saw a clear gap in the market for a modern, scalable solution for mortgage lenders across Europe.
• First Customer Acquisition: Within three months of starting, Oper landed its first client who acted as a design partner, enabling the company to generate revenue from day one.
• Early Challenges: While securing a first client quickly, the challenge was to avoid building a proprietary solution for just one partner. The focus shifted to scaling the product and acquiring more clients to broaden its market presence.
• Go-to-Market Strategy: Oper focuses on enterprise sales with a team of experienced account executives managing relationships with banks. Additionally, they leverage partnerships with system integrators for larger, complex implementations, a key element of their growth strategy.
• Marketing Strategy: Geert emphasizes the importance of content marketing. Oper creates in-depth reports and thought leadership pieces that educate the market, helping them scale their knowledge beyond face-to-face meetings.

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