They started before they had an idea - and built one of Europe’s leading fintechs | with Jeppe Rindom, Co-founder Pleo
Jeppe Rindom, co-founder and CEO of Pleo, joins Henrik for a walk through Copenhagen — starting at the cheap shared office where it all began, ending at the restaurant where Jeppe first convinced his co-founder Nico to move back from California and build something together. It's a surprisingly unglamorous story. They incorporated a company called "The Company of February 3rd, 2015" before they had a name or an idea, spent a few weeks on payroll software before deciding it was the most boring thing in the world, and onboarded 70 customers in a single day before having to call most of them back and ask them to leave.They also cover: Why you don't need the idea before you start What it actually costs to build a company — financially and personally How they expanded from Denmark to the UK, Germany and Sweden Why Europe struggles to produce global companies and whether that's changing What the first 15 employees meant to the culture Pleo has today How Jeppe thinks about AI and the next generation of founders Pleo: pleo.com Prehype: prehype.com 00:00 Copenhagen & The Beginning of Pleo01:34 Starting Without an Idea03:33 The First Pivot04:53 Why Most People Never Start06:02 Raising Money Early07:42 When It Almost Ended10:18 Luck vs Momentum12:41 Finding the Real Problem15:45 Validating with Customers19:00 First Breakthrough21:03 Growth Feels Like Chaos26:06 Scaling & Expanding to London29:27 The Reality of Being a Founder35:14 Building & Scaling in Europe41:06 Culture, Co-Founders & Full Circle Read the full transcript:
