Philipp Povel On Building A $3 Billion Company And Now Raising Millions To Turn Payments Into Your Growth Engine

In a recent episode of the Dealmakers’ Podcast, Philipp Povel, a seasoned entrepreneur, shared his incredible journey from Brazil to Germany, and his evolution from investment banking to building successful businesses.

His latest venture, Mondu, has attracted millions in funding from top-tier investors like Valar Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Peter Thiel, and FinTech Collective.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Upbringing in both Brazil and Germany that taught him the value of adaptability and self-reflection in navigating different environments
• Detour into investment banking provided invaluable insights, emphasizing the importance of diverse learning opportunities.
• Success with Dafiti underscored the significance of comprehending consumer behavior and market trends for entrepreneurial triumphs
• The fundraising journey of Mondu highlights the importance of investors who not only provide capital but also act as true partners in an entrepreneur’s journey.
• Understanding the underlying drivers of a business, rather than just its outputs, is crucial for making informed decisions and achieving sustained success.
• The value of taking small steps, iterating quickly, and acknowledging that progress often arises from a series of small improvements.
• Mondu’s vision centered around streamlining B2B transactions, highlighting the transformative potential of simplifying intricate business processes.

SUBSCRIBE ON:

For a winning deck, see the commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400M (see it here). 

Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

About Philipp Povel:

Philipp Povel is a serial entrepreneur, with over 15 years of experience in business, administration, and online fashion retail in sectors in Europe and Latin America.

Philipp is or was, within the last five years, a member of the administrative, management, or supervisory bodies of and/or a partner in several companies and partnerships.

He started his career at Sal. Oppenheim and worked at JP. Morgan, in the Equity Sales & Trading division before becoming a technology entrepreneur. He co-founded the e-tailer MyBrands in Germany, which was sold to Zalando in 2010.

In 2011, Phillipp returned to Brazil and co-founded GFG’s Latin American e-commerce platform, Dafiti, the leading online fashion and lifestyle destination in Latin America.

Philipp was named Personality of the Year 2019 by the German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce alongside Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen – Founder of Transparency International.

Connect with Philipp Povel:

• Linkedin
• Crunchbase
• RocketReach
• PitchBook

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: Righty hello everyone and welcome to the dealmaker show. So today. We have ah an exciting founder a serial entrepreneur that has done it now. He’s on his third company and today very successfully. So we’re going to be learning quite a bit on all the lessons learn on the challenges that he faced from. Building a business in South America versus building a business now in Europe which is obviously different challenges that that he had you know in front of him. But again you know super inspiring for all of you who are listening who perhaps you know are also in the same journey of building something that is exciting so without farther do let’s welcome our guest today. Phillipe Powell welcome to the show. Thanks.

Philipp Povel: Um, thank you ajandro thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure to be on the show today.

Alejandro Cremades: So originally born in Brazil obviously you know it was a between Brazil and Germany where you were raised but give us a walkthrough memory lane. How was life growing up.

Philipp Povel: Life was good at least at the very beginning you know in Brazil it was also pretty sunny until I moved to to Germany I guess we I was born in I was born in Brazil in Sao Paulo um you know Brazil’s largest city. Ah, in the early 80 s and then at the beginning of the 90 s basically my parents decided to move back to Germany which was naturally a big cultural shock for me and also temperature shock but it was great. You know we I had ah an amazing childhood with ah lots of friends and also lots of brothers and sisters. Um, and you know I think I took away the best that I could from both cultures.

Alejandro Cremades: So now that’s a big move That’s a big move obviously completely different cultures too and you were 8 you know at that point you know you you really realize you know what what’s going on so you know obviously new friends. New places. You know lots of uncertainty How do you think that that shaped who you are today.

Philipp Povel: Ah, that’s a good question I mean I never really thought so much about this? Um I guess you know you’re you’re kind of used to you know having to adjust to new environments right? So you’re kind of used to um, having to reflect on your own actions and how that also might be. Perceive for other people. Um, and so I think I’ve become a person that um while I might not project this constantly question myself. How I do things and how I can to improve myself and I think that’s also something that I’ve taken um into the business and and the way that I um, um, you know, try to you know. Actually do business ah with people from around the world I think in today’s world where everything is changing extremely fast people like to call it the vuka world. It’s probably 1 of the most essential skills that you can have to constantly adjust constantly question yourself. Being humble and being open to learning.

Alejandro Cremades: Now for you. How did you get this drive for entrepreneur entrepreneurship I mean was say it is something that you were born with was it something that you were developed that you developed you know over the course of time did you have anyone in the family. You know how did you get inspired you know for you know, building and scaling stuff.

Philipp Povel: I I was born into a family of entrepreneurs I would say my father he was a business owner. Um you know his father was a business owner and as a consequence of this, you’re basically raised also with. Friends of the family that are business owner. So I really never knew anything different. Um I always felt it was the right thing to do to build a business I always wanted um the freedom that comes with it. The intellectual challenge. It also comes with it um to extend also the diverse scope of the work. Um, that you need to fulfill else as ah as an entrepreneur. Um I love the competition and you know to be transparent also love the financial prospects of a and you know great business or what it it can represent represent. Um, and so for me, it was always a natural path but it wasn’t the first thing I did. Right? So um, I’ve always been very um numbers and science driven I’m a veryrrational person and so after studying economics and then actually moving over to business administration i. Actually didn’t go entrepreneurship but I started to work in investment banking at Jpmorgan um, and the reason I did this um was because my father had died and I had this need for safety security. Um, and you know that was basically in 2007 and then I moved into investment banking to be fair in hindsight it’s probably.

Philipp Povel: The worst movie you could have done in 2007 um is to move into investment banking to be in a safe industry. But I think I was lucky I joined Jp Morgan who was a very good investment bank with great learning and also a company that navigated super well through the financial crisis of 2007 and 2009 and after having that learning for me was the right time to build a business and um I did that basically starting 2009 and and built my first business called myrants at that time.

Alejandro Cremades: And the quick question there because I see and I come across a lot of founders that have either been on the investment side private equity or venture capital or consulting or investment banking you know and there’s some pattern there you know on some of those that they come on and. And are pretty Successful. You know that have had those backgrounds. How do you think that the background in investment banking helped you you know later on as as you were building and scaling companies.

Philipp Povel: I guess in my case, there are probably 2 things. Um, the first thing probably is the fact that I’ve always thought very hard about macrotrends and about what I like to call megatres um, and um because that’s what you do when you invest. Um, or allocate your capital right? You have to think about trends asset allocation. Um, how businesses function. Um and market dynamics and that is something that I’ve taken with me. Um I’m a strong believer in investing my time in secular tailwinds and things that will work over a longer period of time. And that is something that it definitely learned also in investment banking and there’s a second aspect to it. Um I was for short periods of time. Um in sales. Um, and in sales who start thinking very hard about equity stories and how you sell and how you pitch. Um, and that is something that I always think very hard about because 1 thing is your execution and um, you know how you actually build a business but you need to sell you business constantly. Not only um to people that you hire but also to investors and we need to raise funds. And that’s probably something I learned also during my tenure at J P Morgan and how to do that and at least that has served me well um, during that time.

Alejandro Cremades: So ah, what point did you feel that because I mean you were for quite a little bit. You know they in Jpmorgan and doing the the different gigs that you did in investment banking but at what point did it feel right? You know the right time for. You know, taking the leap of faith and giving the notice and and going at it.

Philipp Povel: I mean ah it felt right I mean let’s be fair. Yeah at that time investment banking was probably slightly different from what it is today. Um, it was a time where the work hours were crazy. Um, and I didn’t really have a lot of time to reflect at that time you know I got up at. 5 ive thirty in the morning at some point it was working in trading and also doing some stuff for asia um, and going home quite late so it didn’t have a lot of time to reflect. But at certain point you feel like okay this is probably not it. Um, and not what I want to do in the long term and I had seen some of my friends. Building businesses successfully Um, and this is something I always wanted to and also probably came more from an inner feeling of um security I felt it was a right moment to take a leap of faith. Um, and and then I decided to do it. Um, as I pointed out. My father had. Died a few years earlier and um, you know that was to some extent digest it and then I was willing to run some risk and do it but and also to be fair when you were 53 um, you have an education. You don’t have huge debt. You know building a business is not a but risk from my perspective. You don’t have a lot of responsibility except for you know, doing your best and that’s what I tried to do at that time.

Alejandro Cremades: So why my brands you know out of everything that that that you could do why my brands felt like the you know first business that you wanted to tackle.

Philipp Povel: I Wish I had a very sophisticated answer to that that I had done you know tremendous market research it wases ah an opportunity that fell into my lap. Um I had spoken to my co-founder at that time who was looking into that business for me was a good entry point into that. Um I liked the fashion space. Um My my family had been in fashion in the fashion business before um, but I must say my family always told me don’t go into Fashion. That’s a business that is that is dying at Leasta was a feeling um at that time. Um, and. You know for me, it was a step into to entrepreneurship a step into learning and um and you know I was invested into internet and e-commerce as a whole and not necessarily into the specifics of that particular model at that time.

Alejandro Cremades: Now in your case here I mean what was the business model for the people that are listening. You know to get it. What was the business model of my brands.

Philipp Povel: Migrants was ah, an online fashion outlet right? So you can. It’s almost like a fashion e-commerce company with a big differences that we sold off-price goods so we bought those goods um across Europe typically in Italy Eastern Europe at that time. And sold them on our ah german website. Um, and you know there was there was a very simple business buying and selling no marketplace nothing particular there. Sorry sorry Alexandra let me turn off something.

Alejandro Cremades: So salon.

Philipp Povel: Apologize for that.

Alejandro Cremades: So sallanddo at what point does sallanddo come knocking at what point does salondo come into the picture because I mean obviously is the first company first exit you know is is amazing. You know the odds are always against you especially because you don’t have that visibility. You know as a firsttime founder so that you perhaps have now as a third time founder where you’ve seen the full cycle of how a business you know starts you know races scales and then exits so what kind of disability did this give you on that full cycle and how did it happen with salanddo.

Philipp Povel: So an exit always sounds beautiful and shiny. Um, but in that case I would say it was an exit and I wouldn’t particularly celebrate that exit. Ah hugely right? So I think for us it was a strategic. Um. Outcome that was possible at that time. Um, we saw a lot of competition popping up and we felt it was necessary to go that path right? and we knew the founders of Tolando we started engaging with them and they also saw some value with us because they were also starting to engage into the offize business with sallando lounge. And that was a natural fit. It wasn’t a very long process. It was something that basically took a few weeks to be completed and also drafted. Um, but it was an important step because we learned a lot in that process. Um, not only because of you know the sale process itself. But also the ah the. Um, the strategic aspects of that acquisition Tootallando and alt we were able to learn a lot with solando which we then later on used in order to build our business in um South America um that was for us probably the point at which we. You know we said okay, this is an amazing business. It’s better than what we were doing and the reason we came to that conclusion were a few nuances right? which I think sometimes go unnoticed. It sounds it sounds crazy when I say no a fashion outlet online fashion outlet is fundamentally different from.

Philipp Povel: A fashion ecommerce ah superficially speaking you could say it’s just the discounts. Ah, but that wasn’t it right? Um, there are many many more ah aspects to it that are um, different in particular the market dynamics with your supplier base How you source them. Ah, how they what kind of value they perceive in you. It also has huge implications on your cash conversion cycle and things like this and you know this was the moment that it was able to see all of that. Um, and I guess that’s also something that really um, allowed me to become a better founder. Um, over the course of time because. Um, the truth is I haven’t always ah just done Well, Ah, we’ve also struggled um mirants wasn’ an exit. It was a successful exit but it wasn’t a huge exit and to some extent it was also the result of some strategic um challenges that we had. Um, and you know that is something that will also accompanied us across this. You know many many years afterwards. Um, and so um, you know I think we learned a lot from that and that is something that made us better founders.

Alejandro Cremades: So the transaction happens and then you decide that it’s time to pack the backs and go to Brazil so walk us through what was the thought process there.

Philipp Povel: Um, a bit more sophisticated than mirants. um as you know I was I’m brazilian um and um I always had those those great memories from my childhood. Not only the weather and the beach. But you know when you’re small, you always remember the nice things. Um, and um, after selling. Basically my friends at Sallando. Um I felt it was time for a new adventure. Um, and in 2010 um, we basically decided to go there and I’m not sure you remember. Um, aleandro but Brazil was on the cover of the economists at the end of 2009 um, and the title basically said Brazil takes off ah Brazil was really hard. It had won the nomination to host the Fifa. Ah, world cup in 2014 had won the nomination to host the olympics in in Rio in 2016 those are just symbols of the success. The underlying drivers of this were that Brazil had become economically extremely strong more than 60000000 brazilians had had stepped out of poverty. Um, into an inspiring middle class. Um, and you know ah Brazil was ah on the top of the world at least in terms of perception and then I started to dive into some of the specifics of the fashion market. Um, which is actually one of the largest fashion producing markets in the world.

Philipp Povel: At the same time. Nobody was selling fashion online and I knew what the potential was also in the west in Europe and it kind of felt like a no-brainer and that that time um, ah it felt like the odds were against us because a lot of people in Brazil said you. Nobody does it. Why? Why people want to touch the goods people don’t trust the internet, etc, etc. But it turned out a right I guess so the feature became in the years two thousand and eleven and 2012 so basically the first two years off operations became one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies. Um, not just in Latin America but on but on the entire planet. Um and a huge success.

Alejandro Cremades: So you guys ended up taking the company public. But I guess for the people that are listening to get it I mean what were you guys doing at davici at davici and they also at Dafici there you know like what was the how are you guys making money.

Philipp Povel: Yeah, good question so we started dafici in Brazil um, and dafici is basically and still is by the way a fashion e-commerce company and marketplace the value proposition is relatively simple. We offer an inspirational so shopping experience.

Philipp Povel: Um, vast and relevant portfolio a high level of convenience and fair and accessible prices. Um, and that allowed us basically to grow from 0 to a business that generated hundreds of millions of um jimv in Brazil and later on in other countries in 2012 we started to expand into. Um. Ah, other geographies in Latin America we went to Argentina Chile Colombia Mexico Mexico was eventually sold off but all the other businesses still continue. Um and dafici is today. Um, one of the largest fashion e-commerce in Latin America

Alejandro Cremades: So what was the process of taking the company public I mean prior to taking the company public. You guys raised quite a bit of money. How much did you raise prior to the acquisition.

Philipp Povel: Ah, good question. Um I would have to dig deep but it was several hundred million euros at that time um and to be fair, we would have to look at the entire group since after founding dafici I think it was about 2015 we decided to merge also with other fashion businesses across the globe. Um, in southeast asia australia and india and also the middle east and so the funding was quite substantial at that time some of those businesses were later on sold off but we’ve still went public in 2019 on on the frankfurt stock exchange with the businesses in southeast asia australia. Also russia which I forgot apoies for that and um, the middle east now and you know we went public as ah as a group. Um, we basically built um headquarters in in london and luxembourg um, and. Decided basically that 2019 was the right? year’m. Not sure you remember but two thousand and eighteen nineteen saw quite a few tech ipos in particular in the e-commerce space. Ah some of those quite successful. Um, and this is when we started to go out. We had seen you know the business improve substantially with ah. Quite a few of our markets already being profitable being cash flow positive um, by the way including also um, dafffici in in latin america um and this was a strong indication that the group as a whole could become a viable business.

Philipp Povel: Um, and this was the moment when we basically went out and successfully ipo the business in 2019

Alejandro Cremades: And what was the yeah reasoning you know behind all these mergers that you guys did and and what did you learn about M and a but more on the on the buy side or on the merger side.

Philipp Povel: Well, as usually you, you learned the hardway home merges work right? and that wasn’t the first one we actually had acquired ah also 2 companies before in Brazil Canu inrikai um and powerpoint basically tells you 1 thing reality tells you a different 1 and it’s always very hard. Um in particular from a culture perspective to make the teams work together and realize the kind of business synergies that you um that you want to realize to justify that kind of deal and the prices that you’ve paid. Um, but. Ah, in the case of the global merger that we had between the different businesses. There was a stock transaction. Um, and I guess the hardest learning that we had there is that you know communicating across the globe is quite different and and leveraging synergies is also not that easy but we did we did manage to do quite a few right, especially around purchasing. Ah, tech collaboration and also just best pract sharing and how you also evolve your value proposition across across certain geographies. You see what one country is testing and working out. You apply that learning into your geography. So there lot of stuff you can do naturally economies economies of scales. Or something that are very difficult to to capture when you’re operating a cloth across the globe but that is something that we learned definitely um during that time.

Alejandro Cremades: So at the peak of the a market cup of the company was well over three billion ah now after the pandemic you know after such a successful um run you know with dafici you decide that it’s time to step down.

Philipp Povel: Yeah, yeah.

Alejandro Cremades: What happened there and then what what? what? let you? you know to mondo.

Philipp Povel: Well I mean those years were extremely extremely tense of the pandemic I think people look at ecommerce of this of this time and think it was ah it was must smooth waters demand just shifted digitally. But ah. It was actually quite stressful. Um, we were a stable profitable business before the pandemic hit the first reaction at the pandemic wasn’t that people were shifting demand 100% to digital. Ah, it was actually the opposite especially on something as a. Discretionary good as fashion. Um, as a matter of fact, demand collapsed by about seventy to eighty percent as a reaction to the pandemic that was the first thing that happened and then um, all of the sudden consumers started to shift behavior um to the digital sphere. And then things start start to ah turn out quite nicely for us right? So in 4020 and and also 2021 but it was an extremely stressful time. Um, and after navigating that um you know um I mean let’s be honest, you know we were thinking you know wow if. If if demand collapses by 80% you know how will we fund the business. How are we going to do that kind of stuff. We had huge working capital commitments. Um, and so but after things turned out very nice for us. Um, you know it came.

Philipp Povel: To the moment we say. Okay, we’re profitable. We’re generating cash ah market cap is at its ah ah max at that time it feels right? The right moment to step down. Um, we had done this and when I say we it’s also my my current cofounder mal and I we had done this for more the 10 years ah we had accomplished our growth. Ah, plans. We’ve become a profitable business. Um, and after so many years who feel like a new challenge. Um, and also for family reasons I wanted to move closer to Europe and and and do something else. Um, and so.

Alejandro Cremades: Even if.

Philipp Povel: The the decision that I took was not okay I want to do something that ah ah I believe is a bigger opportunity was like I just want to do something else and also in a different senior. We’re in a different space. Um, and that’s when I decided basically to step down at the beginning of 2021? Um, also with my cofounder Malta. Um, and moved back to Germany and the move to Germany was more really for family reasons than anything else. Um, and then ah why mondo right? So um, we wanted to do something. Naturally, that allows us to leverage. Um, our extensive experience in e-commerce um as well as tackle a meaningful for a problem I talked about this before when I said okay, um, my learning from investment banking is that invest your time in big trends right? and and that was something that we were looking into. Um, and so we very quickly following many discussions with you know, ah companies, vcs etc. We came to the conclusion. There are very few markets that are as massive as the b two b payment markets. Um, and at the same time. Um, it is a market that hasn’t seen really significant innovation nor to speak disruption for the last twenty to 30 years um it’s a market. Not sure you where it’s a market that transacts about 125000000000000 usdollars per year and which has processes that it remain pretty stable.

Philipp Povel: For long period of time and and the main reason um it is a process. It is a stable market is that b two b um contrary to b two c involves many many stakeholders. It’s much much more complex Every company is different in each market companies of different sizes have different processes. Different compliance requirements and so in order to be successful. You need to have very tailored solution for every company. Um, what is changing now is that um business-to- business transactions is moving into the physical to to the digital sphere right? so. You see businesses adopting ah more financial. Um saas ah, which provides an entry point for innovation from our perspective. Um, and we believe that that entry point for us is deferred payment and the reason for that is that? um. Businesses and that’s been the case for the last five thousand years transact through net terms right? So when you own a store. You don’t buy your goods paying in advance. You buy you buy that ah in order to protect your cash and to optimize your working capital ping in thirty days sixty days sometimes even more um and the problem with that is that this typically works super well when you have a longstanding relationship. Ah when you have a face-to-face encounter. Ah, but in the digital sphere. It doesn’t work and what we saw is that? um.

Philipp Povel: There is a need for that in particular within B Two B e-commerce and then the question is okay, how big is B Two B E Commerce ah and it turns out it is actually 4 times the size of B Two C which um I was quite surprised to find out because I was a merchant in the B Two C space for more than 10 years. It is a market that is. Um, 20000000000000 in size compared to about 5000000000000 um in in B Two C and it is a market that is extremely fragmented and hasn’t also seen the kind of infrastructure ah being developed ah to the extent. Um that ah that has been the case in the B Two C space and so we decided basically to build. Um, you could say an embedded deferred payment solution. Ah company. Um, it’s and the starting point was B Two B B Npl Um, but we’re going way beyond that with mondo.

Alejandro Cremades: Now with a Mondo You know you guys havehold So raise some money So how much have you raised and then also what did you look for in the investors that you brought in because obviously now third company. You know you’ve now raised in the past. So what were you really looking you know from them.

Philipp Povel: Now so we raised um in so in 2021 we raised our serious seat round we raised at that point about twelve Million Euros um from a fintech collective and and cherry ventures as well as a few ah very famous angel investors from Klarna Sallando sumop and you know a few other guys. Um, and at that time what was important for us is. Ah, to look for partners right? and that has been true also throughout the series a funding that happened last year round may we raised at that time series aran led by valar um of about now including also the top up. Fifty Two Million Euros I think this makes it the largest ah Sirius A In Fintech in Germany of 2022 so in total we’ve raised ah more than sixty four million Euros of equity. Um in less than two years right? So that was in basically one and a half years and on top of that we raise also some significant debt financing in order to to finance. Also um, our debt facility and our sbv structure now. Um what I always look for in in investors is actually a partner.

Philipp Povel: Um, I’ve been doing this now for a long time. Um, and I know that ah being an entrepreneur isn’t a straight line. It isn’t easy and everybody who’s built a business knows that you will struggle and things might get difficult and what I want is somebody that understands that. Somebody that um is going to have my bag when things get tough and I knew basically the 3 funds for a very long time. Um I’ve known fintech elector for a few years I had actually met them before the pandemic I love the guys. Ah, besides being. You know, fintech expert and something that I definitely could learn more about um at that time you know are you know, super fun to be with and I think you know given that background also as entrepreneurs were something that we felt was the right fit same thing with cherry ventures cherry is ah. Um, is a Vc built by people that build businesses before we’ve known them for a long time. Actually we’ve been ah friends also for a long time. Um at just felt right and they’ve been super supportive all along and and the vard guys. We are also known for a long time. We’ve met them actually in Brazil probably ten years ago ah we went out for for dinner and so that felt like a natural natural fit and I think this is extremely important in in the initial phase of a startup when it’s still trying to figure some things out um to look for for somebody that has you back and that is your partner.

Philipp Povel: Later on of course other things also become important but at this stage this was what we were looking for.

Alejandro Cremades: Now when it comes to raising money to there is vision vision that needs to be shared and and in a way that is compelling for for these folks that are jumping into share the journey with you know? So if you were to go to sleep tonight. And you wake up in a world Philip where the vision of mondu is fully realized what would that world look like.

Philipp Povel: Well I mean to to to work backwards and speak from a customer perspective and that means basically businesses businesses would have a much easier ah way of transacting and getting the kind of working capital support that they need right? um.

Philipp Povel: I I’ve been in a business before that does working capital needs a lot of working capital and sometimes I always want to know why? Why do I need to provide that kind of prepayment. Why is it so difficult to get those goods. Why do I need a credit insurance and that kind of stuff. Um and and that is that is our vision and ah. To turn this a little bit more tangible. We want money to become the deferred payment option along all the the payment steps of ah business to business transactions that starts with order management. What we’re doing right now which people call bnpl it continues With. Um, accounting system treasury systems ah procurement system ah systems um expense management systems. What we do can be embedded everywhere. It doesn’t just have to be um in order management and this is what I tried to say so every company has different needs and we need to find a way. To plug in our services at the point that they can access it and it’s just not one solution. We need to become a Swiss Army knifeive and that is ultimately our vision right to become this Swiss Army knifeive that facilitates business to business transactions and makes just ah allow businesses to focus. Really matters which is you know, um to improve um the value proposition grow the business and be financially sound.

Alejandro Cremades: So now let’s talk about the past but with the lengths of reflection. You know you see now you’ve been at it for 3 times you know a founder you know, 2 times you know already that you were able to achieve a liquidity event whether it was via an acquisition or bea going public. So you’ve learned a lot. You know over the past ten years so imagine I was to put you into a time machine and I bring you back to that moment where you were working at Jpmorgan you know and you’re able to put yourself right there you know next to that younger Philip. And you’re able to give that younger Philipp 1 piece of advice before launching a business but would that be and why given what you know now.

Philipp Povel: Um, ah quite a few things I guess um, one thing is probably that’s that’s the easiest thing you can do is just talk to as many people as you can and ideally with people that are smarter than you. Um, there’s actually surprising a lot of things to learn. Um, and I think people. Sometimes assume that others are not willing to share their pain and their learnings and that’s not the case right? So if I probably had spoken to more people I could have avoided certain mistakes that I made um and rather as too many times for help than thinking that this is a problem you need to solve alone. Um, that is something that I definitely learn and the other one is probably a very technical recommendation. Ah you know I’ve gone through a pretty ah rigid financial education at university and afterwards also Jpmorgan and to some extent. Um. I felt ah after I started my business that I don’t need to ah potentially think of certain aspects right? So and I can be a bit more about this right? So um, you really need to understand not just the output of your business. Um, you know meaning revenue. Profit, etc and cashflow. But you need to actually understand the underlying drivers of the business. So not just the output but the input kpis that’s how we like to call it It’s also a lot out of the business. Do it like this this sound sounds obvious and you would argue that most young companies.

Philipp Povel: Um, do this. But as a matter of fact, my experience is that most people focus on the output right? Not so much on the input. They don’t focus on leading indicators that are indicative of what will happen in the future. Such. As for instance, customer um, ah, net promoter score right. Um, or how your portfolios build all the kind of details are really ah, giving you an indication of what needs to improve and what will what your results will be um in in in the future right? Um I would argue that most founders don’t think in detail about the balance sheet. It sounds kind of off at the beginning. Ah, but if you think about this you naturally think also about um business dynamics cash conversion cycle and other things. Um, and then the other thing is probably and this is also common learning. But I also had to learn the right. The hard way. Um. You know do little steps iterate and learn faster. Ah do more iterations. Um, and that is something probably that I could have done better over the course of time. Um, and but this comes naturally to nowadays is probably a more common term when I started ah about now. Ah. Fourteen years ago um it wasn’t that common at least? yeah.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing Philipp. So for the people that are listening that will love to reach out and say hi. What is the best way for them to say to to to who so.

Philipp Povel: Probably the best way is through Linkedin im happy to connect happy to share. So my learnings also so also happy to get new customers at monu right? So if you own a ah b two b ecommerce company you any kind of business that wants to transact with others in and the digital sphere reach out to us.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing! Well hey Philip thank you so much for being on the deal maker show today. It has been an honor to have you with us.

Philipp Povel: Ah, open for business.

Philipp Povel: Yeah, it’s been a pleasure. Um, great. Great times we lift and well hope works out.

*****

If you like the show, make sure that you hit that subscribe button. If you can leave a review as well, that would be fantastic. And if you got any value either from this episode or from the show itself, share it with a friend. Perhaps they will also appreciate it. Also, remember, if you need any help, whether it is with your fundraising efforts or with selling your business, you can reach me at al*******@pa**************.com“>al*******@pa**************.com

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More