Tips From a Trailblazer: From Startup to Scale Up

Hiroki Takeuchi knows a thing or two about the process of scaling up a business. When the CEO of GoCardless founded the company at age 23, he entered the fintech industry with little experience, relying on his fresh perspective and hunger to innovate to drive his ambitions forward. In the decade since, he has become an industry pioneer, scaling GoCardless internationally, which now serves more than 55,000 businesses around the world.

Hiroki’s entrepreneurial journey has been one of unforeseen challenges and constant change, something he considers a key factor in accelerating business growth. His ability to view set-backs as opportunities to redesign and re-energise the way a company works has been a pivotal part of his success.

The industry leader joined us on the Trailblazing Entrepreneurs podcast to share what he has learnt about leading a business during the process of rapid growth.

How did you cope with the transition from startup to scaling up?

It’s a gradual process. Over time, you get used to giving up control and being involved in much fewer things. It’s not always been a smooth journey — there have been times where I’ve looked back and thought, okay, I made some mistakes here, and I’ve learned from them. You never think that you’re micromanaging something until you realise, in hindsight, that you were.

As the business scales, the challenges are constantly changing. In the early days the focus is on specific elements: how can we make a great website, or build this product, or sell to these customers? As it grows, it becomes more about how to create the right environment, and find the right people that can take the business to the next level of scale.

I always say, I’m the least experienced person in the business. At any point in time, this is the largest team I’ve ever managed. I’ve never been at this level of scale before. So, I’m constantly learning, and that learning is what really excites me and keeps me energised throughout the journey.

What is your experience of dealing with imposter syndrome?

I’ve definitely been on a learning curve in that regard. One of the big lessons that I learnt along the way is the value of experience. It’s important to find a balance between that and the fresh perspective and the energy and hunger that someone without experience can bring.

When I embraced that balance, that was when I felt like we really chartered the next path in our journey, and were able to accelerate our speed of execution and what we could deliver as an organisation.

The main way I’ve learnt to combat the lack of experience I have is by getting very comfortable with hiring people that are far more experienced and capable than I ever will be. I work with people that I feel very, very lucky to work with and learning from their experience is definitely a way I’ve been able to accelerate my own development.

In 2016 you were involved in a life-altering cycling accident. Did this impact the way you ran your business?

Yes, I think it did. From a purely professional perspective, it was actually quite a positive experience for me. It was a unique opportunity to take time out and rethink my own personal priorities, and reflect on what was going on at work and with the business we were building.

I had to decide whether to go back to work and, initially, it wasn’t an obvious choice. But then, as I started to readjust to the reality of what life would be like living in a wheelchair, I started to look forward to going back. It was a great opportunity to redesign my role. It gave me more energy to consider what I wanted to achieve on this journey and be bolder in what we were trying to do.

It definitely accelerated the trajectory of the business. It gave lots of people the opportunity to grow and step up and contribute more meaningfully. I’ve learnt now, the fewer things I’m involved in the better, in some ways. For me, it’s more about focusing on creating an environment for people to thrive in and enabling people to do great work. That seems to have been a really positive step for us.

Hear more about Hiroki Takeuchi’s journey in this episode of the Trailblazing Entrepreneurs podcast.

Find the full transcript of the conversation here.

To hear from other trailblazing entrepreneurs and their journeys to success, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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