From selling his company to Booking.com to building a fintech unicorn! - Arthur Waller [Pennylane]

Today on BILLIONS, I’m sitting down with Arthur Waller, one of the sharpest French founders of his generation.He sold his first company to Booking.com in his twenties — and instead of retiring, he came back to build Pennylane, a fintech that turned accountants from enemies into growth partners and became one of europe fastest-growing unicorn.In this episode, we will discuss how six co-founders actually share power, what founders get wrong about fundraising terms and dilution, and what Arthur thinks about secondaries, freedom, and building a company that lasts twenty years.If you want to understand what it really takes to scale, cash-out without selling out, and keep your ambition alive after success - then this episode is for you!TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - 00:03:37 : First exit to Booking.com at 25 - the $80M deal structure00:03:37 - 00:08:08 : Why the earn-out worked and 3.5 years at Booking00:08:08 - 00:13:58 : Coming back stronger - choosing accounting as the next battlefield00:13:58 - 00:18:12 : Seven co-founders sharing power and equity splits00:18:12 - 00:24:01 : Fundraising strategy - diluting less than 10% early rounds00:24:01 - 00:30:34 : Making accountants allies instead of enemies00:30:34 - 00:36:08 : European expansion vs US market strategy00:36:08 - 00:41:56 : Secondary transactions - $30M for employees, $70M for founders00:41:56 - 00:46:38 : Staying private vs going public - the Stripe model00:46:38 - 00:48:43 : The one advice for young foundersREFERENCES : - Booking.com - Felix Blossier- Tancrède Besnard - Alexandre Roquoplo- Charles-Philippe Letellier- Brian Halligan- Partech- PayFit- Alan- Qonto- Indy- QuickBooks- NetSuite- Salesloft- Outreach- Sequoia Capital- Carta- Cegid- Shine- Stripe- Revolut- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)