345: $15B Payments Processed A Year: GoCardless’ Hiroki Takeuchi

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

In 2011, Hiroki Takeuchi launched his first business GoCardless with his co-founders. Just under one decade later, they are processing over $15b in payments every year!

Takeuchi’s first business began as a service to help streamline the messy process of collecting payments informally. Over the next several years, funding, scaling, and pivoting led him to create a simple service that helped collect recurring and one-off payments from customers.

Takeuchi’s approach to business is inspiring. Not only was he a first-time entrepreneur scaling a global business without experience, but he also knows the pains of imposter syndrome and anxiety over hiring overqualified experts. This interview with Nathan Chan serves to remind us all that greatness isn’t just past experience, it’s the willingness to learn that makes someone a great entrepreneur. Key Takeaways

• How Takeuchi launched GoCardless in 2011 as his first business, and how he developed the idea
• Evolving the initial business idea from something that sought to solve the problem of collecting payments informally, to a global fintech empire
• The importance of having a complimentary co-founder, and how Takeuchi first began planning with his co-founders
• Why Takeuchi decided to leverage existing services in order to streamline launch
• Demo day, and overcoming getting 64 “no’s” before they got a “yes”
• The importance of focus on a singular product, especially in a global powerhouse like finances and payment
• How Takeuchi approached scaling, planning, and proactive growth in a high-demand industry
• The challenges faced by an international business and scaling
• How Takeuchi tackles imposter syndrome, and how he continues to focus on learnings
• The importance he places on his team and the people Takeuchi surrounds himself with
• What you need to ignore if you want to hire the best of the best for your business
• Why you should never underestimate the length of the journey ahead of you, and why you need to be ready for the challenge of being an entrepreneur