In our most recent podcast episodes, we went on call with two founders tackling financial management for businesses from two different angles: treasury and B2B payments: Finmo’s David Hanna and Fluid’s Trasy Lou Walsh.

While we of course talked about the nuances of their industries and their businesses, what was just as interesting has been learning more about their journeys as entrepreneurs, from deciding to start these companies to securing their first customers and raising their first rounds.

These two stories are not the usual founder stories in popular media. They share similarities that go against the grain of the usual “tropes” of sartup founders and the stereotype of the young, lone outsider.

(1) When founder is an insider unlocking insight

Where more popular narratives have illustrated founders as outsiders “breaking into” an industry, both Trasy and David were no strangers to the industries and processes they were trying to revolutionize. Granted, building Fluid and Finmo are entirely different ball games on their own. But they would not have arrived at the conclusion of starting these ventures if they had not been in a BNPL company or a global fintech risk and compliance role respectively.

“I do believe that entrepreneurship has always been in my heart and in my blood. But I didn’t really have a good idea to start something until Fluid’s idea came to my mind. When I was working at Atome, the consumer Buy Now, Pay Later startup, we had some clients asking for a similar solution for B2B buyers. That idea really struck me, and I started researching. I realized that a number of similar startups were popping up in the US and Europe that had just raised a bunch of money.” – Trasy

“From my perspective, I spent the last 20 years in the regulatory space, as you mentioned, typically in global chief risk officer roles and the like. From my perspective, I saw the same problems in many different organizations and across various merchants that we were working with. Frankly, we have a kind of saying internally: everyone has a treasury problem.” – David

(2) When the founder’s catalyst is a co-founder

Entrepreneurship is often viewed as a lonely journey. While this can be true, it is a lonely journey that one doesn’t have to take alone. In both stories, David and Trasy ultimately decided to take the leap when they found their tribe — other equally passionate individuals who shared in their desire to build something together.

“The catalyst was meeting my like-minded co-founders. Coming together from a couple of former organizations that we had worked with, we thought, “Hey, instead of doing it for others, why don’t we do it for ourselves?” We’ve got the necessary skill sets, and Finmo was formed roughly four years ago.” – David

“Starting a company is always difficult without a co-founder, so I pretty much put the idea on the back burner until Steve, my co-founder, reached out. He’s in product and tech, and he was the head of fintech at Coupang in Korea at that time. He mentioned that he was pretty bored with his job and wanted to do something exciting, so he asked whether I wanted to build something together…I had a good idea and a co-founder with skill sets that complemented mine. That’s when I decided to take a leap of faith and do it together. It was really about the timing more than anything else.” – Trasy

(3) When the founder is not going through “coming-of-age” journey but culminating uniquely lived experiences

Popular culture has often framed founders as young upstarts in “coming-of-age” arcs. But there is merit to starting a company much later in life, even when the founding team have other priorities in life. For one, a longer life lived through could mean thicker skin, and more resilient mindset.

“The reality is that, as a founder with a couple of decades of experience, you develop a relatively thick skin for these things. You know that tackling certain problems comes with a kind of maturity and mindset. That’s what we bring to the table.” – David

It could also mean a more meaningful support system to juggle the demands of running a company, among other responsibilities the founder may have. In our Rapid Fire Round segment, Trasy also talks about the role of having a family as a support system has had on her entrepreneurial journey.

“When I first started, I thought I could control my time better as an entrepreneur. However, you quickly realize that there’s so much to do, and you end up having much less time. One of the key alignments among us co-founders is to go big or go home. We truly want to revolutionize the B2B payment industry with Fluid, allowing businesses to pay now, pay on delivery, or pay later seamlessly—anytime, anywhere.” – Trasy

Trasy’s full podcast:

David’s full podcast: