Highlights

1. As a former small business owner, I know hard it can be when you are all alone.
2. We want to create a network effect of small businesses helping each other to succeed through our platform and community.
3. The one thing Europe desperately needs is a new generation of tech growth experts, if not we will all cannibalize ourselves.

This is the fourth in a series of 15 episodes in which we asked Notion founders to answer four questions in the context of this new decade, describing their challenge in terms of going to the moon:-

1. What is your ambition for the coming decade?
2. What do you consider your biggest challenges?
3. What is success?
4. What is your greatest wish for the European tech ecosystem?

What is your biggest ambition for this coming decade?

Futrli wants to be the leading execution business for small businesses globally. It’s a big ask and a big old mountain to climb. But we really want to help stop 50% of small businesses fail in their first five years, which they do despite all the technological advances. We have built a platform to address this because this failure affects people and communities.

What is the biggest challenge to achieving that vision?

Making sure we can reach small businesses is a big challenge, as they are notoriously hard to get to. So having rich partnerships with companies and organisations that serve those communities is critical and provide real impact. We want to create a network effect so that our customers refer other customers and help each other through our hive. Selling to small businesses is very different to enterprise, many small businesses are very alone, and the last thing a small business owner will do is to talk to a competitor down the road who may well have the answer they need. So hive is the small business community we are constructing now and it is a place where small businesses can have a voice that feels friendly and supportive. Whether it is a question you want to be answered or a task you want to be completed. That may be for legal tasks, financial advice, building a web site or support on digital marketing - incidentally, one of the most frequent questions from small businesses is about digital marketing - and that is what the hive will offer.

What is your definition of success?

We have a massive drive to impact the 50% failure rate in small businesses. If we even come close to that in a way we can measure in ten years, that is something I would be incredibly proud of. I hope also that the success we have is a success as a family for me and all my team. I have a hugely supportive husband and three - 12, 13 and 17 - it’s hard doing what we do, and without their support even harder.

What is your biggest wish for the European tech ecosystem in the next decade?

We have a good talent pool now, let’s make it a great one. Being able to hire experienced growth functions would be amazing so that we don’t cannibalize ourselves by being unable to hire the expertise we need. That is my biggest wish, that the skills and talents grow to support this amazing country. And why not? We have some great investors, like Notion, so why shouldn’t Futrli be the next unicorn.

This podcast series was recorded at our annual Founder Retreat in October 2019.