We take a
hyper-local
approach in each market
we expand into
This week we had the privilege of getting Up-Close with Ken Serdons, Chief Commercial Officer at Mollie. In this interview, Ken outlines the approach that his team at Mollie employs for expansion and entering new markets. Additionally, he analyses the ever-evolving FinTech landscape and shares his thoughts on the future of payments.
Can you share with us your path to becoming the CCO at Mollie?
What drew you to this specific role in the FinTech sector?
In 2018, an ex-McKinsey colleague reached out to pick my brain on payments as his investment fund was looking to invest in Mollie's Series A funding round. At the time, I hadn’t heard much about Mollie yet. I met with the founder Adriaan, we got along well and I was inspired by his passion and vision. A few months later, I joined Mollie as a Board Member. To prepare myself well for the Board role, I spent a month at Mollie getting to know the company and the people. Mollie’s enormous potential was obvious and its customer and product-centric approach was very refreshing, so I decided to join the business as CCO to help realise the company’s vision.
“Mollie’s enormous potential was obvious and its customer and product-centric approach was very refreshing”
Were there any unexpected elements – both delightful and challenging –
that came to light after joining Mollie?
Having worked in UK organisations that were powered by big sales organisations, it was surprising to learn that Mollie's small sales team of just five people was handling a large number of customers just through inbound leads. This made me realise that it was Mollie’s strong product that was attracting customers. In other organisations, commercial efforts usually need to compensate for gaps in product, but at Mollie growth was purely product-led. That’s where I could drive impact by building a strong commercial engine, which in combination with a strong product foundation, unlocked the next phase of hypergrowth.
Another surprise was Mollie's philosophy of not locking customers into contracts. This is different from my experience in the UK where customers of all sizes are often bound to minimum contract lengths and fees. Mollie operates differently. There is strong conviction in the product, we are super transparent on our pricing, and are driven by doing the right thing for the customer.
Ultimately, that’s why our customers are so loyal and choose to stay with us. It’s an excellent and refreshing business philosophy.
How have you charted out the commercial strategy that has propelled Mollie's success? What were the core principles you built upon?
The core focus is being product-led. There is no point building and investing in a commercial engine if the product foundations are not there.
Second, we take a hyper-local approach in each market we expand into. It again starts with the product, optimising local payment method integrations, building plugins with the various ecommerce platforms, localising the onboarding experience etc. We also service our customers in their local language and tailor our sales and marketing approach to the local market nuances. That’s where customer obsession kicks in. You have to listen to what a customer needs, which varies in every market. German customers typically need more reassurance on the technical side whereas a Dutch customer might be more used to switching providers and focus first on the commercial aspects.
The third commercial focus is partner-led growth. We work with an ecosystem of partners whether it’s developers, SaaS solutions like Chargebee and Klaviyo, or ecommerce platforms like Magento Open Source and WooCommerce. We ensure that our products and data easily integrate with our partners’ solutions through APIs and plug-ins. This makes it much easier for our customers to run their businesses. It’s important to leverage the power of the partner network to strengthen the overall offering to the customer.
Given how much you know the Up Group, we know that you have done a huge piece around building Mollie’s senior leadership team which has been a game changer for the business. When related to core principles and talent calibre, how did you approach hiring for Mollie?
When it comes to hiring for leadership roles in the various markets, I have a strong preference for collaborating with local leaders who possess the expertise and experience necessary to operate in an international company - even if they are not physically located at the company’s headquarters. The ability to cultivate a culture of collaboration is paramount in my view. It’s also important to bring on board “low-ego” leaders who exhibit humility, placing the company's mission ahead of personal achievements.
Recruiting leaders who prioritise people and aren’t afraid to dive into the intricacies of the business - and get their hands dirty - is essential. Whether it involves skillful delegation within the team or a thorough understanding of specific markets to discern what strategies work and what don’t, this is key.
Can you recount a time when a crucial decision you made shaped the course for Mollie? What guided your decision-making process?
Mollie operates across Europe and we have businesses using our payments in pretty much every European country. When I joined the company we had already had a great product-market fit in Belgium and the Netherlands. The initial plan was to quickly establish a strong presence in 20 new markets. That plan felt misaligned with our commitment to hyper-localisation, which is ultimately what sets Mollie apart.
I decided to allocate the vast majority of our investments to Germany. Customers were being poorly served by the incumbents in Germany and we saw the first signs of traction. As a result, we shut down our sales teams in other markets. Our focus on Germany paid off and it’s now a big part of our growth.
This success became a blueprint for our approach in other new markets, for example in the UK. The UK payments landscape is known for its fierce competition. However, in my view, many payment providers struggle in the UK because they lack a strong customer-centric approach. This is where Mollie excels, as customer centricity is deeply ingrained in our core values.
It's very rewarding to witness how the Mollie brand strongly resonates with UK merchants. Our customers and partners love us and are true ambassadors who help us bring other customers on board.
“I’m quite an impatient person so I think the ability to keep a wider perspective and patience at all times would be very helpful.”
Mollie operates in a dynamic and diverse FinTech environment. How do you ensure effective team management and nurture a cohesive culture across various markets, and what leadership attributes do you believe differentiate you?
I find that embracing cultural differences is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my role.
It's fascinating to observe the varying approaches. For instance, German teams tend to spend 80% of the available time upfront thinking and planning before starting their well-thought through execution plan. Dutch team members often start with execution and need to make changes along the way. These dynamics create an intriguing interplay. When you have a multicultural leadership team, it therefore becomes essential to anticipate potential frustrations and maintain open communication channels to facilitate discussions from different perspectives. Moreover, we uphold the principles of being "bold" and "authentic" throughout Mollie.
As a leader, it's crucial for me to strike a balance between having a broad perspective and the ability to delve deep into the details. This approach extends to understanding what our customers truly desire at all levels of the organisation. The power of collaborative problem-solving cannot be underestimated. I actively encourage open communication and healthy debates, which consistently lead to enriching conversations that move the business forward.
“As a leader, it's crucial for me to strike a balance between having a broad perspective and the ability to delve deep into the details.”
Could you share a significant learning experience or error you made as a leader and the insight you drew from it?
We've experienced several phases of rapid growth, fueled by our commercial engine, the expansion into new countries, moving upmarket to medium and enterprise customers and of course the COVID-19 pandemic driven boost to ecommerce. To manage that growth we increased our team from 150 to 750 members in just two years. One challenge we faced was maintaining our company culture during this expansion. In hindsight, we focused too much on assessing skills during the recruiting interviews and not enough on cultural fit. So we hired lots of smart people who brought their own ways of working and often preferred strategising over down-to-earth execution. During periods of hyper growth, it’s all hands-on-deck and great execution wins over creating the perfect strategy.
Additionally, as we transition to a more sustainable pace of growth, we're now able to create more internal opportunities for advancement. While external hires played a significant role in our growth, it's our internal team that has been instrumental in the execution of our vision.
Reflecting upon your tenure at Mollie, what achievement or moment fills you with the most pride?
What stands out to me is the remarkable way our team rallied together during the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic. We switched to remote working within 24 hours. We were flooded by requests from companies who were scrambling to switch their businesses to online. Our teams were doing everything they could to help these customers, working overtime for several weeks in a row and collaborating across various departments, including onboarding, compliance, commercial, and product development. At the peak we were onboarding more than 1,000 new customers a day. In one year we managed to double our market share in certain markets as we were just better prepared and much better at execution than our competitors.
During this already hectic period, we also completed investment rounds in September 2020 and June 2021 which were both remotely managed rounds and again, required the whole business to pull together as one team.
The FinTech landscape is ever-evolving, so two questions related to this:
We would love to hear your thoughts on the future of Payments, and within this the viability (and customer appetite) for crypto, web3, blockchain, etc.
The fintech industry witnessed significant growth during the Covid-19 pandemic, spurred fundamentally by the shift to digital. Now that there is less access to funding, fintech’s must think in a more creative way to build a scalable and efficient business. Being customer obsessed and taking a product first approach is now even more critical.
Of course, regulation is always changing. There is strong regulation in the UK and the Netherlands but, as Mollie has demonstrated, it is possible to be successful and innovative within these frameworks. The winners are those that can identify and capitalise on the opportunities within those constraints.
One promising yet underserved sector is B2B payments, which presents unique challenges. Bank transfers used to be the sole option, but now alternative payment methods like instant credit and virtual debit/credit cards are gaining traction. Mollie is venturing into this space with solutions such as Buy Now, Pay Later for B2B businesses and partnering with companies like Billie. For Mollie, the complexity of B2B processes offers ample room for innovation.
Unified Commerce is another area of future growth, focusing on creating a seamless customer experience across online and offline transactions. Mollie's introduction of Mollie Terminal addresses issues like refunds, ensuring that customers receive instant refunds regardless of the transaction's origin, simplifying the process for both consumers and businesses.
Additionally, the concept of embedded finance is gaining momentum. In this area, Mollie is expanding its financial services beyond payments, offering products such as Mollie Capital for cash advances and a 'banking as a service' platform for partners to provide to their customers. Here, Mollie is moving from simply being a payments company and into being a financial services provider.
Web3, cryptocurrency, and blockchain are fostering intriguing developments that are essentially reshaping the financial landscape. These technologies have the potential to streamline transactions, including efficient international transactions facilitated by central bank-backed coins. Although implementing such changes may be challenging, they hold the promise of reducing friction and enabling new use cases. However, consumer behaviour evolves gradually, and even in ten years, physical credit cards and cash are likely to remain popular. Mollie plays a pivotal role in simplifying the complexity of integrating with these evolving payment methods, ensuring that consumers have choices that suit their preferences.
How do you personally stay up-to-date with and ahead of industry trends?
Are there any influential books, podcasts, or resources that have steered your career or leadership philosophy?
FinTech is such an interesting space. There are always new trends, perspectives and competitors. I get a lot of insight from peers and industry experts. I try to dedicate time to keep up to date in this space, as it can have a huge impact on Mollie’s strategy and where we go next.
In terms of reading, a book that has really inspired me is ‘Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon’ by Colin Bryar. We’ve implemented a number of the principles laid out in this book, whether it’s the high standard of hiring or favouring detailed text based documents over endless presentation decks. This really helps structure one’s thoughts and makes room for efficient problem-solving in meetings.
The other book is ‘What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful’, by Marshall Goldsmith, which focuses on the consistent evolution as a leader. It’s important to remember that it’s never a one size fits all approach when it comes to leadership. Every team is different and that’s why one’s leadership style is a continuous journey.
If you were given a superpower, which would you pick and how would it resonate with your role at Mollie or your personal aspirations?
I’m quite an impatient person so I think the ability to keep a wider perspective and patience at all times would be very helpful. With a constant influx of information day in and day out, I often feel compelled to act right away, on all topics. However, I am working on patience.
I think that’s an important one, unless you were looking for a cheesier answer!
