By by Steve Anavi (https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveanavi/), cofounder at Qonto (https://qonto.eu/en/) Qonto is our beloved bank for SMEs & freelancers. From day one their value proposal has been a no-brainer: simple UX, customization, reactivity, smooth financial management… However, the new challenges they are facing now (after growing to a team of 150 people) is to create brand love. How they are dealing with that in a dusty industry where brand love is quite rare?

1. easy business banking

2. Steve Anavi 👋
2
Co-founder & President @Qonto

3. 3
SME banking
is broken

4. We are fixing
SME banking
(since July 2017)
4

5. We focus on 3 key aspects
5
Super sleek product
Outstanding UX
Real time
Web and mobile
Amazing customer care
15 mins response time
5 languages
7 days/week
Transparent pricing
Clear plans
No hidden fees
Cheaper than incumbents

6. We have a
significant
market share
6
1.7%French Companies
using Qonto

7. We also help
companies
incorporate
7
1out of 20Created companies
with Qonto in France

8. Sep-17 Dec-17 Mar-18 Jun-18 Sep-18 Dec-18 Mar-19 Jun-19 Sep-19
Our monthly revenue is growing fast
8
x125monthly revenue
over last 24 months

9. 9
Our game
Becoming the SME
banking leader in
Europe

10. 10
Our mission
Creating the bank
all businesses love

11. We have 3 key product challenges
11
Shipping quality fast
Design with “human touch”
Creating value that sells

12. Our model
Learning how to
become real’ strong
(while building a bank)
12

13. “Mastery” is one of core company values
13
🚀
Ambition
We tackle big
challenges no matter
what
🏉
Teamwork
We create magic by
collaborating at the
same speed
⛳
Mastery
We pursue excellence
through continuous
learning and by facing
challenges humbly
every day
💜
Integrity
We are transparent and
trustworthy with our
clients and each other

14. It’s not another
corporate “value”…
We have a system
to do it for real!
14

15. Creating value that sells 01.

16. Everyday Banking
+
Business Finance Management
We are building a full business banking stack
16

17. Everyday Banking
17
• Accounts
• Transfers & debits
• Cards
• Checks
And more to come :)

18. Business Finance
Management
18
• Bookkeeping tools
• Expenses management
• Team permissions and workflows
• API and accounting integrations
And (a lot) more to come!
Business Finance
Management

19. But where is the real value?
19

20. Perceived
value mostly
comes from
benefits!
(not features 🙃)
20
⏱ Reliable 🏄 Easy to use
🏎 Fast
🚀 Handy
🔎 Transparent

21. Our theory on creating value that sells
21
Feed.
.
Features
(NPS, Churn, requests,
competitors teardown)
+
Preferences/Benefits
(Promoters’ verbatims, vision,
quality/lead-time/cost)

22. 22
We are now
the most
loved “bank”
in Europe
4.8/5
(over 6k+ ratings)
4.8/5
(over 1.6k ratings)
4.7/5
(over 0.8k ratings)

23. Design with Human Touch 02.

24. +α
Smart and
delightful,
with a human
touch
24
How to translate
our mission into a
key conception
principle?

25. We draw jobs principles
25
Preferences
(as a proxy for
+α) =>
⏱ Reliable 🏄 Easy to use 🏎 Fast 🔎 Transparent 🚀 Handy
UX
- Compatible
- Safe / Secured
- Smooth first
impression
- Accessible
- Intuitive
- Real-time
- Mobile & Web
- No bureaucracy (UX
compliance)
- Clarity on flows
- Emphasis on “value-
for-money”
- Not limited to cashflows,
but focused on use-
cases
- To CFO stack
UI
- Elegant
- Consistant
- Readable
- Educative
- Right mix of
heritage/new
- Real-time feedback
- Easy to find CTA/
information
- Pricing
- Patterns to show
what Qonto Do /
Doesn’t
- Wow/stagging of key
features (à-la-Apple)
Brand design - Consistant
- Illustration
- To highlight a key
state/event
- Animated
- In the context (not a
placeholder)
- Playful (interactive)
- Delightful (metaphoric
themes)
Tone of voice - Straightforward
- No jargon: like
talking to a friend
you respect
- Highlight key points
- Only when needed
- What Qonto does /
doesn’t, and honest
about it
- Casual/Friendly but
not arrogant

26. We
craft
around
benefits
26

27. Our solution must capture +α
1. Current situation | what do we know?
2. Problem | which customer pain are we trying to solve?
3. Root causes | why does the problem occur?
4. Success | what is our (measurable) goal?
5. Preferences | how does +α translate on that feature?
6. Solutions | what can we do to match (1) to (5)
27

28. We create alignement between people
we care the most about
28
Team
members
Mastery
Pride
Happy
customers
Value
Joy
Proud
Shareholders
Revenue
Market share

29. Shipping quality fast 03.

30. The theory is easy
30
Needs definition Specifications Development QA Live

31. Practice is usually a mess
31
Needs definition Specifications Development Waiting
Live
Rework
Partner changeRework
Scope
modification
Rework
Scope
modification
Solution
redefinition
Rework QA Rework QA
ReworkQA

32. The Scale-up problem
Tech. companies spend
more time reworking/
aligning vs. building
things
32

33. 1.One-piece-flow
2.Stop & fix
3.Standards
33
We solve that
problem with
3 principles

34. 1. One-piece-flow
working on 1 thing at a time
34
Team Backlog Spec Dev QA Live!
Squad A
Squad B
Squad C
Squad D
We are trying the ship features
“right-first-time” doing “one-
piece-flow”

35. 35

36. 2. Stop-and-fix
analysing problems when they occur, then move on
36
(i) Problem
(ii) Causes’ hypotheses
(iii) Counter-measures
(iv) Check

37. 37

38. 3. Standards
capture re-usable knowledge to stabilise
38

39. We create alignement between people
we care the most about
39
Team
members
Mastery
Teamwork
Happy
customers
Fast
Frequent
Proud
Shareholders
Revenue
Faster

40. Wrap-up 04.

41. 41
Remember our mission?
Creating the bank
all businesses love

42. Remember our values?
42
🚀
Ambition
We tackle big
challenges no matter
what
🏉
Teamwork
We create magic by
collaborating at the
same speed
⛳
Mastery
We pursue excellence
through continuous
learning and by facing
challenges humbly
every day
💜
Integrity
We are transparent and
trustworthy with our
clients and each other

43. 💜 3 things to take home 💜
When we try to build value fast, we are actually…
1.Learning to connect benefits with functional levers
2.Learning to solve problems with +α
3.Learning to work at the same speed
43

44. Good products
come from good
thinkers
44