Such a long period of time, I have never worked for so long for the same employer. A fifth of my life I dedicated to this company and definitely not the easiest fifth . Obviously it’s not the company that the team and I were so loyal to but a concept of daring to build a business from the ground up that explains this level of dedication from the whole team behind this success story called Clear Junction.
When I look back, what a reckless idea it was to start it and what a crazy journey it’s been! When I ask myself if I’d do it again, I doubt my honest answer would be positive. Building a business is not for the faint-hearted. One of my conclusions is that one shouldn’t try entrepreneurship unless there is no other choice. Ten years ago I thought that I had no other choice but to start a business of my own. During these ten years I found myself in too many situations when I had no other choice but to keep going. In the beginning the motivation was that I just had to earn a living and support my family. At a later stage I was thirsty for more of that success. After that I felt that all my team (which I learned to respect so much in these years!) was looking at me and I just couldn’t show them I gave up. I’m glad I can think and speak about it freely now having stepped down from the CEO role and taken a little distance from the daily intensity of the business as Chairman.
It started as an idea to serve clients with large-scale payout needs. I saw the advantages of acting as a wholesaler. With time it migrated to serving PSPs. This crystallisation of the vision behind Clear Junction took us about 3 years. That vision was a huge part of our success alongside our determination to stick to it. We identified a major pain in the market and crafted a robust solution addressing this pain. Emergence of crypto trading helped us because it increased our target audience significantly. Our fourth year of operations made us the fastest growing founder-led company in the UK. In the subsequent years, our names appeared on nearly every possible list of the fastest-growing businesses.
Many ask me about bootstrapping. It wasn’t a deliberate decision. On the contrary, there was no single day during the first several years when a thought about raising an investment didn’t cross my mind. Each time I modeled my conversation with a VC, and I thought they would ask me about my next milestone. In my mind these milestones have always remained very practical and achievable. So, I’d answer that the next milestone is getting a payments license. They would ask: “Do you really need millions for that?” Obviously, that could be (and was) achieved with just thousands of euros of my own savings. A few months later, I would answer: “My next goal is to complete integration with that new bank”, which in my view would end with the same question and same raised brows. My next milestone was winning a few first clients for which we definitely didn’t need capital. It sounds naive, but that’s how I ended spending 100% of my time on building the product and selling and not on managing my cap table and chasing money.
Now about the mistakes. I can think of two main types of them.
The first is losing focus and yielding to the temptation of pursuing some other opportunities. As we progressed the amount of opportunities that occurred on our way was tremendous. Each time we pursued opportunities that were not aligned with our vision we paid dearly for that. And we still pay for some of these mistakes.
My second mistake that unfortunately happened numerous times was letting wrong people stay for too long. Hiring mistakes can’t be avoided, but there is no excuse for continuing with the team members who are not a perfect match. I’m asked a lot about advice I wish someone had given me before I started, and that’s what I wish I realized better: if it’s not working, stop it, giving a second chance doesn’t help. Quite often I see our former colleagues thriving in other firms and feel happy for them.
Handing the day-to-day management of the company to the strong management team we have built was the right decision. It was super important for me, as a person responsible for the vision behind the business, to be involved in all the tiny operational details (and we know that no detail is tiny!) during the first years. Over time this level of involvement becomes counter productive as it prevents dedicating enough time to strategy. I’m totally happy now about being tasked with strategy. When I think of the potential of this professionally strong, ambitious, and well-oiled business machine, my breath is taken away.
Happy 10th anniversary, Clear Junction!
