Navigating Unprecedented Volatility: QED CEO Summit 2023

Moubin Faizullah-Khan , CEO and Co-founder

I recently attended the annual QED CEO summit in Washington, organised by our lead investors, QED.?

It is wonderful to belong to a community of co-founders who share learnings and debate key topics relating to all of our businesses.

The key takeaway from most of our discussions was crystal clear: we are currently in a period of unparalleled volatility. The landscape has shifted dramatically, taking us from the longest bull run in history to a terrain marked by significant economic and political shifts.

Consider the economic backdrop. We've witnessed a staggering 500 basis point increase in interest rates in just 19 months—a monumental shift. Simultaneously, the geopolitical stage has been anything but stable, with events like the Ukraine war and the decoupling of supply chains between China and America adding to the turbulence.

This kind of change is akin to serious whiplash, and it demands an equally significant response. As business leaders, we must not only anticipate but embrace this change.?

We had an insightful fireside chat with one of the founders who has now reached an incredible revenue milestone with a large market cap. They shared the following thoughts on what is required to not only survive but thrive in these turbulent times:

1. Grit and tenacity: The journey of their company underscores the importance of grit and tenacity in building a successful business. It took them a decade to hit the inflection point, where scale, brand recognition, and a robust user base began to drive substantial revenue growth.
2. Build your problem solving capabilities across the business: they encountered numerous challenges along the way, from localisation across multiple countries to adapting to local payment systems, addressing fraud, and mastering metrics like CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) and CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value). The path to success was far from easy and they persevered through no BS problem solving across all functions.
3. Being smart helps, but focus and persistence beat everything - they believe they were not smarter than the rest; they focused on doing fewer things right versus their competition. They also kept trying longer than anyone else. Persistence! Focus!??

In the ever-evolving landscape of fintech, particularly in the post-zero interest rate period, these are some takeaways I took away relating to the realities of scaling a fintech business:

1. De-risk in Stages - in the past, companies often launched multiple business stages simultaneously when capital was readily available. However, today's environment requires a more strategic approach. De-risk your business incrementally and ensure that with each funding round, you become a materially different, not just a bigger, company. Diversify revenue streams and build stronger economic moats.
2. Relentless Transformation - startups must embrace relentless transformation as the new norm. We have to expect and actively drive change within our organisations because if it's not happening, something is amiss.
3. Valuation Realities: high valuations may feel like a victory, but they come with a price. The pressure to meet outsized growth expectations can be daunting. Focus on building a sustainable, robust business to avoid increasingly frequent downrounds.

The times we are in are testing every aspect of our organisations. The ability to pivot and persevere is the hallmark of great companies. At GetGround, we are embracing this period of unparalleled volatility with determination, innovation, and a forward-looking perspective.