From selling his company to Booking.com to building a fintech unicorn! - Arthur Waller [Pennylane]

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Arthur Waller, one of the sharpest French founders of his generation.

He sold his first company to Booking.com in his twenties — and instead of retiring, he came back to build Pennylane, a fintech that turned accountants from enemies into growth partners and became one of europe fastest-growing unicorn.

In this episode, we will discuss how six co-founders actually share power, what founders get wrong about fundraising terms and dilution, and what Arthur thinks about secondaries, freedom, and building a company that lasts twenty years.

If you want to understand what it really takes to scale, cash-out without selling out, and keep your ambition alive after success - then this episode is for you!

TIMELINE :

00:00:00 - 00:03:37 : First exit to Booking.com at 25 - the $80M deal structure

00:03:37 - 00:08:08 : Why the earn-out worked and 3.5 years at Booking

00:08:08 - 00:13:58 : Coming back stronger - choosing accounting as the next battlefield

00:13:58 - 00:18:12 : Seven co-founders sharing power and equity splits

00:18:12 - 00:24:01 : Fundraising strategy - diluting less than 10% early rounds

00:24:01 - 00:30:34 : Making accountants allies instead of enemies

00:30:34 - 00:36:08 : European expansion vs US market strategy

00:36:08 - 00:41:56 : Secondary transactions - $30M for employees, $70M for founders

00:41:56 - 00:46:38 : Staying private vs going public - the Stripe model

00:46:38 - 00:48:43 : The one advice for young founders

REFERENCES :

- Charles-Philippe Letellier

- Brian Halligan

- Partech

- PayFit

- Alan

- Qonto

- Indy

- Carta

- Cegid

- Shine

- Stripe

- Revolut

- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

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