I run business operations for Plain. We’re building a customer support tool for modern product teams- lightning fast, API-powered, and deeply integrated in the way you work. 

One of my responsibilities is to manage day-to-day finances - invoicing customers, paying bills, updating financial models, etc. As someone who loves fintech, it’s the perfect setting to try new tools and learn more about the start-ups in B2B fintech from the perspective of an operator who is working in SaaS.  

If you had asked for my opinion of B2B fintech prior to my becoming an operations manager at a start-up,  I would have said that the industry had already solved most of the financial needs of start-ups. Today, I believe that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  

In particular, there are three critical areas in which B2B fintech needs to evolve - consolidation, globalization, and simplification- to fully serve the needs of start-ups and small businesses.  

I’ll dive into each of these with examples from my own experience. First, some context about Plain might be helpful– mostly, to emphasize the amount of complexity we have relative to our stage. 

• Plain is a seed stage company– we raised $6M at the end of 2022. 
• We have 12 full-time employees– we’re fully remote and split across Europe and the UK. 
• We have customers in the U.S., Europe, and the UK. 
• Our expenses are seemingly simple– on a monthly basis, we pay for software, payroll, a few ad-hoc expenses, and not much else. 

Our financial operations are identical to those of most SaaS start-ups of our size– no large capital expenditures (no office space), a small team, consistent monthly expenses. And yet, at the end of each month, I still find myself spending multiple days closing out our monthly finances and preparing for the upcoming month. 

Some of this effort is due to our stage as a business, as we continuously iterate on pricing (usage-based vs. seat-based), issue invoices to new customers, etc. But a lot of time is also spent doing basic financial management that feels overly burdensome because of our tooling. 

This is where I think fintech can do a lot more to help early-stage companies.