How to scale as a startup ?
There are questions that startups would like to have answered. What is scaling? How to scale? In Startup SAFARI Virtual Experience, Romain Mazeries, CEO of Mangopay, provides us with answers to his company’s experience. He explains how his startup has scaled and presents tips you can apply to yours.
This article is a transcript of his passage, and you can follow the video replay with the link available at the bottom of the article.
What is scaling and what is Mangopay?
Mangopay
Mangopay is a payment API launched in 2013. An API is an online payment solution that allows marketplaces to collect money from customers directly on their website. So Mangopay, allows to have a payment interface on a website. It was born from Leetchi.com and has developed to the level of scale-up and helps its startup customers to reach the same level. What has made Mangopay successful is the flexibility of its solution. It has accumulated 15 billion cash flows and is experiencing great growth, especially in human resources. So don’t hesitate to send them your resume.
It is present in 7 countries and is used by more than 2500 platforms like Rakuten, La Redoute or Vinted.
Scaling
Scaling mean the idea of deploying something at a higher level. Going from a startup to a scale-up. When we scale, we try to produce more, while making savings. Scaling is growing and being able to cope with this growth.
How Mangopay helps startups scale
Mangopay was able to scale thanks to the concept of the FlyWheel. It is a mechanical part present in windmills or in tractors. It’s hard to start, but once it gains speed, it accelerates by itself. Every entrepreneur has a Flywheel. Every startup should know its own. Mangopay’s Flywheel goes through 4 stages :
- Connecting with contractors
- Knowing their needs
- Create their solution
- Industrialize the solution on a larger scale
It sounds simple, but each step takes time and internal work to make this process automatic. This principle is important to scale because it is the creation of value that is self-sustaining. There is a real notion of industrialization. You have to set up a system that generates value by itself.
As a credential, Romain takes the example of Vinted, which they have accompanied from their beginning, until their maturation. They helped them to grow their solution from being limited to Lithuania to becoming international. Crowdfunding platforms also trust them to benefit from this FlyWheel By Mangopay. This is also the case of Ulule and KissKIssBankBank.
Conslusion
The solution to scaling seems simple. It is the concept of the Flywheel. However it is not so easy to apply. It is an investment on each step and a follow-up to have. This principle was not invented by Mangopay but is something that can be found in other companies like Amazon. So get closer to Mangopay, to know all the secrets of this method.
Voici le lien de la vidéo la présentation de Romain.