20VC: Klarna Founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Scaling Europe's Most Valuable Private Tech Company, How To Motivate and Challenge Your Team Most Effectively & The Biggest Lessons From Working with Mike Moritz
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch1 Maalis 2021

20VC: Klarna Founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Scaling Europe's Most Valuable Private Tech Company, How To Motivate and Challenge Your Team Most Effectively & The Biggest Lessons From Working with Mike Moritz

Sebastian Siemiatkowski is the Founder and CEO @ Klarna, the company that makes online shopping simple, allowing you to buy what you need today and pay later. To date, Sebastian has raised over $2.1Bn for the company from the likes of Sequoia, Silver Lake, Blackrock, DST, Northzone, Creandum and even Snoop Dog to name a few. Klarna has been an incredible 16-year journey for Sebastian with it now being the most valuable private technology company in Europe with over 3,500 employees.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

I. The Importance Of Learning To Learn Fast

What is the best way to learn fast?

"People talk about it like there's this learning curve, and the best spot is at the place where you're challenged to the precise point where you're almost giving up, but not entirely. That's exactly it.

"And I have this amazing swim teacher for my children, her name is Petra, and she's just fantastic. I just love watching her because she has this ability of taking my children in the pool and pushing them to that exact point where they are almost, almost giving up, and they're learning at such a pace. And if I can recreate such an environment in Klarna, if I can create an environment, if I can be part of creating an environment where we put people in that position where they just are exactly at that curve where they are challenged, supported, and kind of at the edge and being given the ability to learn really fast and really discover what it means to have an impact."

Does Sebastian compare his work to other companies'?

"I don't think that much about what other people or other companies or other things out there could have done different. And there's pros and cons to that. But the benefits of that is that it speeds up my learning. Because a lot of people – and I've realized that as I manage other people – is that because they're so obsessed with trying to think about what other people could have done differently, and why situations arose, and why it wasn't their responsibility and so forth, they spend a lot of time on that, because we've unfortunately been brought up in some kind of guilt that it's bad to do wrong, and it's bad if it's our fault, and you want to avoid that.

"And these psychological constraints, unfortunately, hinder people from developing much faster, because if you go into every situation and say, the only thing that's relevant here is what I could have done differently, what I could have learned from this – if that's the only thing, it's just like, whatever, I accept my responsibilities. What could I have done differently? If you only focus on that, you just learn much faster."

How does Sebastian transform his self-doubt into a positive?

"I think self-doubt is not nothing. It's not a bad thing, right? It's a very healthy thing, if it represents you continuously trying to understand, am I doing the right thing? Is this something that I want to do? Am I making the right decisions? So I think it's extremely healthy to do that. I'm not saying it's not painful or tough when you have it. But I think it's a very positive thing.

"I'm much more worried when people tell me they have no self-doubt. And then I'm like, uh-oh, because that means that you're not really reflecting on your actions, and you're not learning from them. So I wish I could give you something more comforting than that, but I would actually say enjoy it. Be happy that you have it, and it's gonna make you a better person."

II. Sebastian's Management Philosophy

What does Sebastian believe companies can learn from soccer?

"I love the fact that Michael Moritz wrote this book that I still haven't read, so it's kind of funny that I'm referring to it, but he wrote this book about Ferguson, that manager of Manchester United. And I think it's very relevant, because today, the saying is that for people to be motivated at work, they need to have a higher purpose, the company needs to do something good, and so forth. And I am not disputing that, that is very true that it contributes to people's sense of purpose, and so forth.

But before you even get to that level, we have to ask ourselves, what is it really that makes people motivated and enjoy themselves? And I think when I think about that, I often look at sports, because why do people love soccer? What's the higher purpose of winning Champions League? People say, oh, there's a massive higher purpose, but not entirely, you're not really making the planet better by winning. Still, people are massively engaged in these things. Why?

"Because it's a team effort, there are clear roles, you know exactly what you're supposed to do – I'm supposed to put the ball in that score. And then it's very clear how you win, there is a referee that stops people from cheating. And so there's a lot of things in that environment that makes it motivating, that makes people engaged, and those things are usually lacking in companies."

How do you know when someone is at that crucial point of the learning curve?

"The problem with a company is that it's a much more complex environment with a lot of other things going on in parallel in people's lives. And so I have definitely occasionally missed to see that people are beyond that point."

"In Sweden, there's this course called Situation Adopted Management, which basically means that there is no single management technique. You look into the situation, you try to understand it from multiple angles. And then depending on where that individual is, and how you perceive the mental status, and the mood of that individual, and so forth, you try to adapt. Either you coach or you challenge or you instruct or you do different things. There's not a single methodology that will allow you to deal with those situations. But a lot of it is empathy. It's the ability to look at people and read them, and try to understand, and ask them questions, and understand where they are."

III. How Sebastian Manages Complexity At Scale

What are Sebastian's biggest lessons learned from Klarna growing to 3000+ people spread across multiple offices across the world?

  1. It's the manager's job to deal with the complexity in a company
  2. It's not for everyone

What role does Sebastian believe a manager should play in a company as it scales?

"I think a lot of times as a company grows, what ends up happening is the thing just becomes so complex. So management tries to organize the company in a way that makes sense to them and that is easy to understand for them. But the consequence of that often, unfortunately, is it makes no sense for the person who's actually doing the job. So they lose the purpose. Why am I coming to work? What are we trying to achieve? All of these things get lost.

"So what we said is, we have to do the exact opposite. The critical element is that the people who are actually supposed to do something – not the manager – the people actually supposed to do something, if they program or to do a marketing campaign, or whatever they're doing, they need to come to work every day and feel I know exactly why I'm coming, I know how I'm contributing, I know who I'm contributing for, I know what value I'm creating.

"And if that thing creates tons of complexity for us, as managers, because the whole system becomes much more complex, then that's what we're getting paid for. That's the one. That's why we're getting a good salary. Because we need to manage that complexity."

What does Sebastian look for in talent?

"Keep very close on the recruitment … Especially in a country like Sweden, a country where a typical saying is, alla ska komma med, which means, everyone should come, everyone should join. And it's very nice. And I appreciate that with Swedish culture, I'm not trying to really call it. I think it's fantastic and it's a fantastic society. But as a consequence, it took us some time to conclude something which maybe in the US or maybe even in the UK as it would have been much more obvious, which is that it's not a company for everyone. It is a company for the people that want to have that challenge, that want to be in that environment, that think that's interesting, that want to learn a lot fast, and want to get a lot of things done. And that's not everyone, and that's okay.

"Like when you play soccer – some people play soccer for fun, other people play to win the Champions League. People do it for different reasons. And they have different ambitions with it and different objectives with it. And the same applies to us.

"So it took us some time to realize that we need to tell people, look, just so you know, this is not going to be your standard company, you're going to be expected to do a hell of a lot of things, you're going to be expected to be challenged, you're going to expect it to do your utmost. And we're going to try to support you and help you and grow. So just know what you're getting into, before you get into it."

IV. Retail Banking 10 Years From Now

What does Sebastian see as the future of everyday banking services?

"One thing I would say, it's going to be a much smaller industry. And that's because it is ridiculous that moving money back and forth is a trillion-dollar industry. That is ridiculous. There is no good reason for that whatsoever. This is going to be a much more cost-efficient, much smaller revenue business than it is today. But even though it would be much smaller than it is today, it's still massive, and Klarna has the opportunity to be one big player in that industry, similar to what Tesla is doing in cars or whatever, that's what I want to do. And I feel we have all the prerequisites to accomplish that."

"There's going to be this push that's going to transform this industry and the people are going to lose on it are the suits in the marble offices in the city centers. That's where the pain is going to be felt, but the winner is going to be the consumer."

What do the next five years look like for Klarna?

"It's a little bit like self-driving cars – we all know it's going to happen, the question is when. And based on what I've seen in the last 15 years, and I've seen how retail has gone from retail to ecommerce and all these trends, this decade is going to be the disruption of retail banking.

"At the end of this decade, there will be a couple of new total players that will be very dominating in this space, and the rest will either cease to exist, will merge and try to acquire some of the new ones, or maybe a few of them will manage to reinvent themselves. But this is going to be an extremely interesting time."

Sebastian's Favourite Book: The Neverending Story

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20 VC 023: The Recipe for a successful Crowdfunding campaign with Tom Britton

20 VC 023: The Recipe for a successful Crowdfunding campaign with Tom Britton

Tom Britton is Co-Founder and CTO of Syndicate Room, an equity crowdfunding platform that allows it's members to co-invest alongside professional investors. To date Syndicate Room have raised an incredible £20m for 30 companies. Prior to Co-Founding Syndicate Room, Tom was a professional football player playing in a number of countries including the US and UK. Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Nesta Report: Crowdfunding Page 52 Crowdcube Ego Airplanes Inn Style Salty by Simon West In today's episode you will learn: 1.) How Tom got into the technology industry and then moved into the very early concept at the time of, equity crowdfunding? 2.)How does SynidcateRoom operate and does their process differs from the likes of Crowdcube? 3.) How much of the £19m was invested by people on the Syndicate Room network rather than the anchor angels? 4.) Does Tom believe with the rise of crowdfunding in recent years, the crowd are a competing finance model to the traditional VC model? 5.) Having witnessed numerous successful campaigns to date, what does Tom believe are the recipes for a successful crowdfunding campaign? 6.) For startups contemplating raising funds for their business, what are the largest benefits of raising seed capital through SyndicateRoom? 7.) CrowdCube is the No 1 equity crowdfunding site in the UK, how does SyndicateRoom treat this competitive threat? The episode will then finish with a quick fire round where we hear Tom's plans for the next 5 years, the hardest obstacles Tom has faced in building Syndicate Room and the 3 companies that Syndicate Room has funded that Tom is most excited about?

30 Maalis 201522min

20 VC 022: Letting go of the life we planned and the Power of the Female Narrative with Matthew McCall

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Matthew McCall is a Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and was previously a Partner with DFJ Portage. He has been involved with investments with Feedburner (acquired by Google), Playdom (acquired by Disney) and EverDream (acquired by Dell), just to name a few. Matt has been named in Chicago's '40 under 40' and their Top Tech 25 list. He has been named as one of the Top 100 VCs in the US, a Media 100 and a Hollywood 100 Power Player. Items Mentioned in Todays Show: Matt's Blog: Beyond the Profit Line SMS Assist Bill Gurley predicts dead unicorns Steve Job's Commencement Speech Finding Joe with Joseph Campbell Hello Giggles with Zooey Deschanel Jessica Alba: The Honest Company BigFrame with Sarah Penna Eric Ries: The Lean Startup Stephen King:On Writing Robert McKee: Story, Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting Christopher Voglar: The Writers Journey Viv: The Global Brain In todays show, you will learn: How Matt got into the VC world? What is Matt's normal investment size? When investing does Matt have a mental timeline of the startup with a clear strategy of when a desired exit will take place? Matt has been named to the AlwaysOnTop 100 VCs list, leading me to ask how has Matt's investment strategy changed over the years? What were his early deals? What did Matt learn from them? What does Matt do differently now? Matt has written about the 15 year tech cycle and has quoted Steve Juvertson ‘if you can see it, it isn’t the revolution’, leading me to ask where does Matt stand on a ‘tech bubble’. Is it occurring and why does he say that? Has Matt seen a rise in the emergence of the female entrepreneur? Matt LOVES commencement speeches. Why is that and are there any Matt would recommend in particular? The episode will then finish with a quick fire round where we hear the resource that Matt would most recommend to an aspiring Founder and Matt's recent investment and why he said yes? *Shortly after the interview Matt strongly recommended to me Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

26 Maalis 201529min

20 VC 021: Gender Equality, Startup Valuations and 'Friend Raising before Fund Raising with Sharon Wienbar

20 VC 021: Gender Equality, Startup Valuations and 'Friend Raising before Fund Raising with Sharon Wienbar

Sharon Wienbar invests in Mobile and Internet companies at Scale Venture Partners, where she sits on the board of Actiance, Applause, BeachMint, Everyday Health, PlayPhone, Reply.com and uTest. Prior to working at Scale Venture Partners, Sharon was VP of Marketing for Amplitude Software and Critical Path. Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Applause Kate Mitchell National Venture Capital Association Why Software is Eating the World? CloudHealth What you will learn in Today's Show: How Sharon made her entry into the technology world and later the Venture Capital sector? Why is there gender misrepresentation in both the tech and the VC industry and what can be done to improve this gender inequality. What Sharon's views are on investing outside of the valley? What are the necessary aspects required for a startup located outside of the valley? With such large amounts of capital creating extremely high valuations, is it possible to make money investing in startups? With increasing competition between VC firms for startups, what else can VC's bring to the table other than capital? What sector is Sharon most excited about and why? We then move on to a quick fire round where we hear Sharon's thoughts on what Sharon likes and dislikes about being a VC? The most recent investment Sharon has made and why she said yes?

19 Maalis 201536min

20 VC 020: Revolutionising Investing with Luke Lang, Co-Founder of Crowdcube

20 VC 020: Revolutionising Investing with Luke Lang, Co-Founder of Crowdcube

Luke Lang is Co-Founder and CMO of Crowdcube, the world's leading investment Crowdfunding platform. Crowdcube enables anyone the opportunity to invest alongside professional investors in start-up, early-stage and growth businesses. They have raised over £67m for an incredible 207 companies and have an amazing 150,000 registered investors Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Escape The City JustPark Love Righteous | Salad Dressings EdenProject What you will learn in today's episode: How Luke got into the technology industry and really came to be Co-Founder to the world's 1st quit Crowdfunding platform in the world? Other than capital what else will Balderton bring to you to aid your growth and development? Does Luke believe Crowdfunding is a competing finance model to the traditional VC model? Having seen 207 companies experience successful Crowdfunding campaigns, Luke describes what he believes the formula to be for a successful campaign? For businesses thinking about Crowdfunding, what are the biggest benefits to businesses of raising seed capital through the Crowd? With the increasing number of Crowdfunding sites, how does Crowdcube treat the competitive threat? Is there an opportunity to attract more institutional style money to Crowdcube through retail bonds, which might appeal to income funds. As the interview comes to a close we engage in a quick fire round where we hear Luke's views on the hardest obstacle Luke has faced in building Crowdcube? Where Luke sees Crowdcube in 5 years time? 3 companies funded by Crowdcube that Luke is most excited about?

16 Maalis 201525min

20 VC 019: Funding the Future with James Wise of Balderton Capital

20 VC 019: Funding the Future with James Wise of Balderton Capital

James Wise is Principal at Balderton Capital, one of Europe's most successful venture funds. At Balderton, James invests and advises early-stage technology start-ups, holding board member positions at Crowdcube.com, Surnrise.am, 3Dhubs.com and many more... Prior to Balderton, James helped build one of the UK's first social venture funds and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, working with entrepreneurs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Items Mentioned in Todays's Show: Crowdcube.com JustPark Sunrise.am Chilango MyTomorrows.com An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin What you will learn in today's show: How James made his entry into the world of Venture Capital? How does James feel the VC model differs in the UK compared to the US? Does Silicon Valley deserve the plaudits it receives for producing revolutionary tech companies? Following Balderton's recent investment in Crowdcube.com, how does James believe the crowd will become more involved in the future? Is Crowdfunding not a competing method of financing to Venture Capital? What is Balderton's competitive advantage for winning deals? What James believes makes the perfect Series A round? Does James believe the mini-bond, introduced by Crowdcube.com have the potential to revolutionise funding for businesses? Which sector James is most excited about and why? When thinking of success who is the first person that comes to James' mind and why? We then move into a rapid fire round where we hear James' thoughts on his latest investment and why he said yes? Does James experience a fear of missing out (FOMO) when passing on investments? Finally, James' favourite book and why?

12 Maalis 201520min

20 VC 018: Seed Stage Investing with Stefan Glaenzer of Passion Capital

20 VC 018: Seed Stage Investing with Stefan Glaenzer of Passion Capital

Stefan Glaenzer is Founding Partner at Passion Capital an early stage VC fund who have invested in the likes of DueDil, GoCardless and CarThrottle. He is also Co-Founder of White Bear Yard, a co-working space in London's East End. Prior to Passion, Stefan was Chairman of Last.fm, an early investor in Wahanda and remains an active member of their board and founder of Ricardo, which went public in 1999. Items Mentioned in Todays Show: Passion Capital: The First Two Years Lendable Smava What you will learn in today's episode: How Stefan got into the technology industry and later pivoted into the VC world? What is Stefan's preferred stage to enter into an investment and what is the standard amount invested in a startup? How much equity Stefan would look for in an investment? What interaction is typical for VCs following investing in a startup? How individuals should pitch their idea to Stefan? How many startups does Passion typically invest in on an annual basis? Does Stefan encounter the fear on missing out on a startup? What is it about the Peer to Peer lending sector that excites Stefan so much? Does Peer to Peer have a brighter future than Crowdfunding? What sector is Stefan most excited about and why? How can an entrepreneur show their enthusiasm and make an awesome pitch? Is there a formula for making a successful pitch? What are Stefan's red flags when a startup pitches to him? As the interview concludes we ask Stefan some quick fire questions where we hear his thoughts on the hardest decision of his life? The best piece of advice Stefan has been given and his most recent investment and why he said yes? For all the resources mentioned in today's show head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com Likewise, if you have a suggestion for a VC that you would like us to interview please do let me know by emailing harry@thetwentyminutevc.com

9 Maalis 201519min

20 VC 017: Nektarios Liolios of Startupbootcamp on Fintech, Pitching and London's Tech Scene

20 VC 017: Nektarios Liolios of Startupbootcamp on Fintech, Pitching and London's Tech Scene

Nektarios Liolios is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Startupbootcamp Fintech, the leading innovation program in the financial industry providing access to a global network of investors and VCs for up to 10 lucky startups selected. Nektarios himself has more than 15 years in business, having spent the last three with InnoTribe, running the Innotribe Startup Challenge. Items mentioned in today's show: 500 Startups: How to Pitch investUP: The Crowdfunding Supermarket What you will learn in today's episode: How Nektarios got into the world of tech accelerators? How Startupbootcamp Fintech varies from the traditional VC model? What makes the best pitches at Demo Days? What is the selection process to get accepted at Startupbootcamp? What can startups prepare to do before pitching to Startupbootcamp? What is the most common reason Nektarios says no to startups? What would Nektarios advise someone who is looking to find a co-founder? What sector is Nektarios most excited about for the future? What Nektarios thinks about the future of bitcoin? We then complete todays interview by having a quicker round where we hear Nektarios' thoughts on his favourite entrepreneur? The happiest moment Nektarios has enjoyed in his career? A day in the life of a Managing Director of a Startupbootcamp? What was Nektarios' most recent investment and why he said yes? For all the resources mentioned in today's show, head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com For any suggestions about future guests or questions you would like to hear, we would love to hear from you. If so email harry@thetwentyminutevc.com

5 Maalis 201520min

20 VC 016: Y Combinator, Twitch.TV and Socialcam with Mike Seibel

20 VC 016: Y Combinator, Twitch.TV and Socialcam with Mike Seibel

Mike Seibel has enjoyed the most incredible career in the technology industry on both the Founder and the VC side of the table. He was Co-Founder and CEO of Justin.TV which was part of the Y Combinator Winter Class of 2007, and was later acquired as Twitch.TV by Amazon for $970 million. In that time Mike also created a spin off from Justin.TV, SocialCam, where he was Co-Founder and CEO, culminating in their acquisition in 2012 for $60 million by Autodesk. Items mentioned in Todays' Show: Twitch.TV SocialCam Y Combinator Dropbox What you will learn in this episode? How Mike got into the technology industry and later the tech accelerator business with Y Combinator? Why Mike did not learn to code? Mike's own experiences in Y Combinator. What is it that Y Combinator does to produce such amazing and revolutionary companies? What does Demo Day look like at Y Combinator? What is the selection process for choosing which companies to back and which not to? What do you look for in the interviews with the Founders? Are top level University degrees necessary for entry into the Y Combinator class? What are Mike's biggest red flags when looking at startups? Why Mike would never outsource engineering? What can startups do to prepare themselves for the Y Combinator process? What sector is Mike really excited about and why? What is a day in the life of a Y Combinator partner? We then finish todays episode with a rapid fire round where we hear Mike's thoughts on the best piece of advice Mike has received, the hardest decision Mike has had to make in his career, how can an individual start a company with no technical skills or experience? For all the resources mentioned in today's show, check out www.thetwentyminutevc.com Likewise, we would love to hear from you, so if you have any questions you would like asked or VCs you would like to have on the show, send an email to harry@thetwentyminutevc.com

2 Maalis 201522min

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