AI Accounting Software: The Swiss Startup Automating Bookkeeping with Sequence ERP
- Jörn Menninger
- 2 days ago
- 31 min read
Management Summary
Blas Pegenaute, CEO of Sequence ERP, shares his journey from nightlife promoter to fintech innovator in this Startuprad.io podcast episode. In this blog, we unpack the episode and explore how his Swiss SaaS startup is redefining AI accounting software for freelancers and SMEs. Discover how Sequence is building a full-stack platform that blends banking, bookkeeping, and compliance—all with automation at its core. This blog is perfect for founders, SaaS builders, investors, and anyone intrigued by the future of AI-driven ERP.
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What Is AI Accounting Software and Why Does It Matter?
AI accounting software leverages artificial intelligence to automate and streamline bookkeeping, invoicing, and compliance. Unlike traditional ERP platforms, modern AI tools are designed to eliminate manual data entry and reduce costly errors.
Featured Snippet Optimized Answer:
AI accounting software uses artificial intelligence to automate financial tasks such as invoicing, tax calculations, and expense tracking, reducing human error and saving time for SMEs and freelancers.
For small business owners, especially in regulated markets like Switzerland, this is not just a convenience—it’s a game-changer.
How Sequence ERP Turned a Back Office Tool into a Full-Stack Fintech Solution
What started as an internal tool evolved into a powerful SaaS platform. Sequence ERP now:
Integrates AI-driven automation for invoicing and accounting
Serves SMEs and freelancers in Switzerland
Recently received a license from FINMA to become a licensed fintech entity (1B light bank)
Sequence aims to combine banking, accounting, and automation into one unified tool.
What Makes Sequence ERP Different from Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks?
While global competitors offer strong platforms, Sequence ERP is tailored to:
Swiss compliance standards
Multilingual support across Switzerland
Embedded AI agents to minimize human input
Embedded fintech capabilities for multi-currency accounts and virtual cards
The result: a full-stack fintech solution for SMEs that eliminates the need for three separate platforms (ERP, bank, and accountant).
What Are the Key Metrics That Matter When Raising VC as a SaaS Startup?
According to Blas, forget vanity metrics. What matters:
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Churn Rate & Lifetime Value (LTV)
Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU)
Cost of Acquisition (CAC)
AI-specific metrics: agent accuracy, pass-through rate
In conservative markets like Switzerland, traction and unit economics often matter more than storytelling alone.
How Can Founders Bootstrap an AI SaaS in a Conservative Market?
Switzerland's funding landscape isn't Silicon Valley. Blas advises:
Bootstrap to validate product-market fit
Build metrics before chasing investors
Seek smart money that aligns with your long-term vision
In markets like Switzerland, facts beat hype.
Will AI Agents Replace Accountants?
Blas sees AI's impact on accounting akin to the industrial revolution:
"Accountants won’t disappear, but they’ll stop number crunching and start delivering value."
Expect AI to automate repetitive tasks, allowing human experts to focus on financial strategy, forecasting, and advisory.
How Do You Build and Retain a High-Performing Startup Team?
At Sequence, team culture is built on:
Radical accountability
Curiosity and continuous learning
Support systems: mental coaching, therapy, insurance, gym access
Only the hungry survive. If you’re not learning and growing, you're out by month one.
Vision 2026: The Future of AI Accounting Software
By 2026, Sequence envisions:
A fully AI-powered operating system for freelancers and SMEs
Automated accounting, invoicing, and banking
A single pane-of-glass experience
"We're building a bank, an accountant, and a software into one platform."
Further Reading
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🧠 General Conceptual Questions ("What/Why")
1. What is a SaaS-based ERP system for SMEs?A SaaS-based ERP for SMEs is a cloud-hosted software platform that integrates business functions like accounting, HR, and inventory into one system, accessible via the web with no need for on-premises infrastructure.
2. Why do SMEs need cloud-native accounting software?SMEs benefit from cloud-native accounting tools because they reduce IT overhead, offer real-time financial visibility, and easily integrate with other SaaS platforms for automation and compliance.
3. What makes Sequence ERP different from traditional ERP systems?Sequence ERP is API-first, modular, and tailored for SMEs. Unlike legacy ERPs, it focuses on fast deployment, modern UI, and seamless integration with modern business tools.
🛠️ Actionable “How-To” Questions
4. How can I migrate from legacy ERP to Sequence ERP?Migration to Sequence ERP involves data export from your old system, API-based data import into Sequence, and setup of key modules like accounting and invoicing. The platform offers onboarding support.
5. How do SMEs integrate Sequence ERP with existing tools?Sequence ERP supports API-based integrations, allowing connection to CRM systems, payment processors, and e-commerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce with minimal technical effort.
6. Can I customize Sequence ERP for my business needs?Yes. Sequence ERP is modular and API-driven, enabling customization of features, reports, and workflows to suit specific SME requirements.
🌍 Regional + Compliance Questions
7. Is Sequence ERP compliant with Swiss accounting standards?Yes, Sequence ERP supports Swiss GAAP FER and is designed to meet regional compliance and tax regulations relevant to Swiss SMEs.
8. What ERP features do startups in the DACH region need most?Startups in the DACH region typically prioritize accounting compliance, VAT support, payroll integration, and cross-border invoicing capabilities — all supported by platforms like Sequence ERP.
🔄 Comparison / Decision-Making
9. How does Sequence ERP compare to SAP Business One or Odoo?Unlike SAP B1 or Odoo, Sequence ERP is built from the ground up for modern SMEs — offering a lighter footprint, faster deployment, native cloud hosting, and more flexible APIs.
10. What are the pros and cons of using a SaaS ERP vs. on-premise?Pros of SaaS ERP include lower costs, easy updates, and mobility. Cons may include dependence on internet connectivity and third-party hosting. On-premise offers more control but higher overhead.
🚫 Myth Busting
11. Is ERP software only for large enterprises?No. Modern ERP platforms like Sequence are built specifically for SMEs, offering affordable, scalable solutions without the complexity of enterprise systems.
💡 Pro Tips & Insights
12. What’s a common mistake SMEs make when adopting ERP systems?A common mistake is over-customization early on. It’s better to start with standard modules, then adapt based on real usage patterns.
13. What KPIs can Sequence ERP help track?Sequence ERP helps SMEs track KPIs like cash flow, invoice aging, burn rate, revenue recognition, and customer payment cycles in real-time.
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About the Author
Jörn “Joe” Menninger is the founder and host of Startuprad.io — one of Europe’s top startup podcasts that scored as a global Top 20 Podcast in Entrepreneurship. He’s been featured in Forbes, Tech.eu, Geektime, and more for his insights into startups, venture capital, and innovation. With over 15 years of experience in management consulting, digital strategy, and startup scouting, Joe works at the intersection of tech, entrepreneurship, and business transformation—helping founders, investors, and corporates turn bold ideas into real-world impact. Follow his work on LinkedIn.
📄 Automated Transcript
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:00:00]:
I would have bought Bitcoin at $0.01 or at €1. The rest of the things, all the mistakes that I've done as a founder, I would redo them the same. They are what I am right now. And I am grateful for all those mistakes and for all those failures. No matter how hard they have been, every one of them has been a teaching moment.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:00:25]:
Welcome to Startuprad IO, your podcast and YouTube blog cover covering the German startup scene with news, interviews and live events. Hello and welcome everybody. This is Joe from StartupRate IO, the authority on German, Swiss and Austrian startups. And today we've got a powerhouse episode for founders, SaaS, builders and tech investors alike. What if the next breakout SaaS company for accounting firms came from the back office of a bookkeeping firm in Switzerland? We're sitting down with Les, but way he spared me pronouncing his family name. A serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped his first company at just 18, made a few successful exits, learned for failure and is now sailing scaling sequence, a B2B SaaS platform turning hats across Europe. Sequence started as internal accounting software evolved into robust AI enabled air ERP system for small companies and recently caught the attention of several major investors in Switzerland. In this episode you'll hear how Blass turned a back office tool into venture backed.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:01:42]:
Scale up what it takes to build SaaS products with product market fit in a conservative industry. His most painful lessons on entrepreneurship failure and bouncing back and the playbook for scaling from Spain to Switzerland to global relevance. If you found a VC accounting tech innovator or just love stories about building software that actually solves boring but critical problems. This one is for you guys. Don't forget to subscribe and blast. Welcome.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:02:13]:
Hi Joe, very happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:02:16]:
Totally my pleasure. For our audience, can you first once pronounce your family name?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:02:21]:
Yes, yes, I'll go ahead. It's Perranoute. It's a Spanish name. Not easy to say.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:02:27]:
Okay, Muchas gracias. You saved me from pronouncing that.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:02:31]:
Gracias Joho. Yeah, I know. You know. No, it's a hard one. In French they say Peugeot. Not so. You know, I kind of have both versions there going for me.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:02:39]:
Yes, especially since you have three languages in Switzerland. I think that the French speaking area would prefer that one. Talking about you founder journey and origin story. You started your first company at 18. What sparked your interest in entrepreneurship?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:02:58]:
Listen Joe, I've always been that way. I started really working when I was very young. I started in the night industry. I started Creating parties. When I was 16 years old, I couldn't go to the nightclub and I was already organizing stuff. So that was a pretty fun moment for me. And I've always wanted to do things in a very particular and peculiar way, which was my own way. And at 18 I found that artists, namely electronic music, artists were very good at creating music but very bad at telling themselves.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:03:37]:
And I was very good at sales and very bad at creating music. So I created my first company called Fresh and Blunt. And it started like an artist management agency. We were taking local artists and giving them national or international exposure. And then we started organizing festivals and helping running a couple of clubs.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:04:02]:
Let me understand this step from doing parties, electronic music to an internal accounting tool. How did that happen?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:04:12]:
It's been a fun ride, to be honest. So I started managing, as I said, artists and electronic music parties. Then I moved out of Spain into the uk. I kept in working on the night industry and at some point I hit a wall. I couldn't do really what I wanted to do into the industry. And I went into plain hospitality. I started managing a cocktail bar and a restaurant. And then from there I got scouted by Chinese company to introduce in Spain and Portugal electronic cigarettes.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:04:53]:
I'm talking early 2000 and tens where there were no E6 anywhere. So actually if you vaped in Spain in between 2010 and 2012, there's a big percentage of chances that I did that input and that distribution. And then from there I got recruited by a Swiss entrepreneur who wanted to build a startup on electronic cigarettes. And that's who brought me here to, to Switzerland. All around these years I've always faced the same issues, admin and accounting. It's a pain for every single entrepreneur out there. Myself the first. So when I was, when I, when I came into Switzerland, I faced the hard truth of the Swiss market.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:05:41]:
It's a fantastic market, but everything is very open minded and in accounting as well. So there's no real instructor. Everyone can do it in different ways. You obviously need to be compliant, but to get to compliant you can do different ways. So I was struggling a lot and that company got acquired and that was great. But at some point in 2021, a very good friend of mine, he showed me this accounting software that he was building and I was like, hold on a minute. This is exactly what I've been looking for my whole career as an entrepreneur. Let's take this stuff from an accounting software and building on an automated and AI accounting software for SMEs.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:06:29]:
So that's the whole, that's the whole trajectory up until accounting.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:06:37]:
Before we go into the next questions, you ran a bar. What was your favorite cocktail?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:06:42]:
Oh, wow. I used to love Ponza Martini. If I don't mind that the bartender looks weird at me, a good Old Fashioned, it takes a little bit of time to make. So when you ask that, when you go to a cocktail bar and you ask for an Old Fashioned, the guy's not gonna like you very much because they need to stir it for a long time. And I'm a whiskey lover, but yeah, I even got certification to make cocktails. I know, I knew. I don't know them anymore, but I knew how to make 120something cocktails was pretty fun. It was pretty fun.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:07:16]:
Joe, what is, what is your, what is your favorite cocktail, Joe?
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:07:22]:
I like Planter's punch.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:07:25]:
Nice, nice, nice. When was the last time that you drank a plant? A good planter sponge. And where?
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:07:34]:
Last weekend here in the balcony with my wife.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:07:38]:
Oh, fantastic, fantastic. What was the name of the place? Let's give them a shout out.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:07:45]:
No, here, just on our balcony.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:07:47]:
You made it. Yes, you are master. That's great. So you know your way around cocktails.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:07:55]:
Maybe.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:07:56]:
Ah, fantastic. I hope we can, we can meet one day and I can taste your planter sponge. I will make you an amaretto sour that you may like. That you may like as well.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:08:07]:
I also like Negroni.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:08:09]:
Oh yeah, Negroni. Very nice. Next time you go and ask for a Negroni, check a Negroni Svaliato. So it's a regular Negroni, but it has a top of a top of soda, a little bit of sparkling wine, like Prosecco, you know. So it's a Negroni with a little bit of Prosecco. Try it out. Very nice. Negroni's Valiato.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:08:35]:
I also do have my personal recipe on this, but that would lead a little bit too much astray. I was originally trying to ask you, you've been working with the back office accounting software. What was like the aha moment that convinced you you could really scale this?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:08:57]:
Listen, the first one was very much internal. It's, it's when, when Jonathan, the real founder of Sequence, show me what he was building, when he showed it to me, I was the first aha. Like I've been looking for this my whole life, you know, I've been looking for a software that can allow me to automate my accounting. So that was the first aha moment. Then when we reworked that internal tool into an external SaaS and we went into the market the market's aha moment was when a client of ours, one of the first clients, his payment on the car didn't go through. And the guy was calling me on a Sunday saying, please, please, please reactivate the software. I cannot believe without sequence, I need to do the invoices, I need to get back the subscription. And that was when we said, hey, maybe we got into something that really is helping SMEs and freelancers out there to do their invoicing and accounting much easier.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:10:01]:
I see. I was wondering for our audience, what's one thing you wish you had known when starting your business? Share your wisdom in the comments. We might feature you in a future episode. Talking about transition and resilience here. You've had exits and setbacks. Tell us about the failure that changed your approach.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:10:23]:
Any failure, Any point in my career.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:10:28]:
One that was. That had special importance for you.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:10:32]:
Yeah. So my first company, okay, Fresh and Blunt, I had to shut it down in 48 hours very abruptly because I was very bad at selling an event that I didn't follow up correctly with the owner of the nightclub that I was selling that to. And he was so powerful and he gave me a call and he said, you did such a bad job that you're not going to be able to work in here anymore. And I couldn't believe it. And 48 hours later, all my artists had to leave the agency, otherwise they couldn't be playing music anymore in the north of Spain. And that taught me a lot about facing conflict and issues. I was running away from saying from. From saying to this guy that I couldn't deliver on the talks that we were having.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:11:27]:
And because I didn't do that, by the time I did it, he took it so, so badly with. And he was right that. That thanked my company. That absolutely thanked my company. Yeah. So that was a bit. That was a big one. Yeah.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:11:46]:
I see, I see. Even though many are usually doing over promising and under deliver, but for some, it just doesn't work out. How did your relocation to Switzerland shape your mindset as a founder? And by the way, do you already love fondue?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:12:07]:
I love fondue. Swiss are going to kill me. But my favorite fondue is tomato fondue. I know sweets are that I absolutely going to kill me right now because they hate it. But I love it because for me it's like drinking pizza. And pizza is one of my favorite.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:12:23]:
Drinking pizza.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:12:26]:
It's like drinking pizza, man. It's fantastic. So coming to Switzerland was. Was a very big change for me. I was coming from pure high pace environment and countries. I was living, you know, at the time I was, I went from London to living half in Marbella, half in France, traveling all over the place and into France, into Switzerland. Sorry. And it was so calm and peaceful and everybody was so respectful, you know, I really, really, really liked it a lot.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:13:05]:
I know a lot of people, they don't. They say it's too slow for them. For me, the great balance because it allows me to be calm when I'm in Switzerland and high pace when I'm outside. As a founder, the mentality of the market is much different than anywhere in Europe that I've been doing business before. It's a very conservative market, very risk adverse market. If you want to raise funds in here and you're not in biotech, good luck to you. That has changed a little bit in the last 12 months thanks to AI and the hubs that they're doing in Zurich and thanks to crypto in the crypto valley in the hotel. And I get that.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:13:46]:
But historically it has been a little bit complex to raise funds in here. So it made me a founder more based on facts with a little bit of storytelling. Always a storytelling is always important to, to do storytelling. But you cannot bullshit your way around Switzerland if there's no facts and that they are not unit economics. Back in your, back in your business for sure.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:14:11]:
Talking about a little bit your product vision and market positioning. What's broken in current ERP and accounting software.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:14:21]:
It's so goddamn hard to use. That's it. That's it.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:14:25]:
Yeah. I have to admit I've been working for quite some consultancies in the past and I'm dramatized by SAP.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:14:34]:
Yeah, that is. Wow. Yes, that's a big one. That's a big one. And yes, if you have a gazillion bucks lying around or you're a big company, you can pay a consultant to run SAP for you and customize it for you. It's still going to be hard to use, but you know you're going to have a full team of people doing it. But when you're a freelancer and you need to be looking at your numbers right now, there's not many things out there that can work for you in Switzerland. In Europe there are good initiatives in the States, fantastic software being created, but here in Switzerland firsthand, I can tell it's very hard to find one that is easy to use and that you prefer to use the software rather than doing your invoices on Word or on Excel.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:15:18]:
Yeah. So I think that's an issue. And then even if you're using a software and you're doing it ourselves, then you need to go into an accounting firm and pay a small fortune to do your taxes and run your books. So that's quite inefficient, I believe that is quite. We believe that is quite inefficient, yeah.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:15:39]:
Also here in Germany you have the duty by now to have electronic invoicing also depending on how and where you invoice. Also electronic invoicing, machine readability and so on and so forth. So you cannot use any software. Talking about any software, how do you guys sequence ERP stand out from competitors like Sage Zero or QuickBooks?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:16:04]:
Well, we are going in the direction of becoming a full stack company. Okay. Sage Zero and QuickBooks are fantastic pieces of software. I cannot say it again, I cannot say it enough. They're very good softwares. You may Want to run QuickBooks now. QuickBooks in Switzerland, you cannot be running it. Sage you can, but then the adaptation is going to be hard.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:16:28]:
Share is the same so you're going to have a hard time getting those to work in the Swiss market out of the bat. Now I said we want to become a full stack company and that's where we're really seeing us in two, three years. Accounting software is hard to use. Accountants have a lot of manual work. Our mission is to blend both into an AI operating system where SMEs can run their books by simply uploading documents and the software does the rest with very minimal human interaction. I don't think any of these guys are going in this direction. We certainly are. And if I may, just a little scoop for the guys that are listening us out there.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:17:19]:
It's not yet public, but three weeks ago we got a license from Finma to be a 1B light bank or a fintech company. Which means that by the end of the year we will be able to open multi currency accounts and gift cards to sequence users. And that means that as an SME, you're going to have in the same platform your bank, your accountant and the software all included and all built on AI.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:17:54]:
That is actually pretty cool. Exclusive announcement here on Celebrated O. Pretty cool for our audience because we've been talking about accounting systems and they are not, let's say, the most intuitive to use most of the time. I was wondering what is the most frustrating software our audience has ever used to work at or you could never get to work? How would you redesign it? Actually I have a mission to make blast for me it was a kind of printer software. Not going to tell the name of the company who produced it, but it's now two years, about a dozen friends who, some of them studied computer science, master's PhD degrees and nobody could get it running. Anyway. Let's talk a little bit about your growth strategy and gtm. How did you acquire your first external customers?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:18:51]:
Yeah, going to the street. Outbound, pure outbound. Reaching out to people. So the founders of Sequence, they own accounting firms. So the first clients that we brought in actually are their clients, obviously. And then we went out there into the market with Outbound. We started emailing people, calling people, asking about their issues, asking about the pain points, understanding what they needed. And once the answer to what they needed was what we had, then it kind of fell into place.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:19:25]:
What is your current go to market strategy and how is it evolving?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:19:34]:
Our current go to market strategy, and I wish I could call Mercedes, our chief product and growth officer here into the call to get that one. It's a blend of inbound and outbound sales. Okay. We do a lot of inbound generation that then led outbound contacts and we do as well outbound contact. So we have called cold calling people. We love cold calling. We're hard cold salespeople. So we pick up the phone and start calling people and asking about their pains and asking about their day to day and what works and what doesn't work on their day.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:20:14]:
And as I said, if one of their pains is something we can give a solution to, then hey, that's fantastic. And if it's not, then we try always to give a solution with other products out there. And then on the inbound side, we run ads, a lot of ads. Content strategy, LinkedIn content. And then, yeah, it's kind of a blend. It evolves constantly. We do a lot of, a lot of iteration. So we have a marketing team that they iterate every month.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:20:43]:
So on a rolling basis, we plan, we execute, we analyze, we improve, we repeat, we go on and on and on and on. Things that work, we keep them. Things that don't work, we change them or we just remove them.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:21:02]:
Sounds like a steady improvement cycle. We'll be back with some insights about fundraising, investor relations, team and culture, vision and future outlook after the small ad break. Welcome back to us. You're a serial entrepreneur currently leading a SaaS accounting software from Switzerland. You've done a lot in the past and we talked about this already. Let's go a little bit into fundraising and investor relations. You've raised VC before. What's your best tip for early stage founders to prepare for SAS fundraising rounds.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:21:46]:
Some investors out there are gonna kill me. But don't race, you know, bootstrap as much as you can, get your metrics in place and then race. Europe and especially Switzerland is very different to the states. In the States you can definitely go out and race with a fantastic plan. In Europe you gotta have some metrics locked in. And in Switzerland, those metrics need to be even better. Either you have a successful background behind you and you know what to do, or if it is the first time, you really need to get those metrics locked in so you can lead the conversations with, okay, this is our metrics, this is what we're capable of doing now. This is what we want to get.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:22:32]:
And to do that, we not only need cash, which we're raising right now, but we also need a partnership that is going to enable us to to get there and always look for that smart money. Don't only look for the cash. Cash only is not going to get you as far as cash plus partnership plus help. Look for those investors that really believe in your business and that they're going to help you get and fulfill that vision that you together with them have for your business.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:23:03]:
You talked about metrics. I was wondering what traction metrics or storytelling techniques helped you win over investors who sequence. I would assume right now important roles play number of paying customers, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value. So basically the VCs can make a calculation. If we invest X, we should get Y. Something like that.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:23:29]:
Exactly. So revenue, revenue, growth, very important. Both out of that revenue, what's recurring and what's not recurring. And at that growth, what kind of historic can you show? Have you been growing double digits every month? Is there any spike? Why not cost of acquisition, obviously. And lifetime value of your clients? If you know your lifetime value, then you must know your churn. That's very important to know your churn. And if you're in SaaS, Daily Active Users and monthly active users may be very interesting. Now on top of that, if you are on AI and you are on agents, if you are on human in the loop agents, that most of them are right now, then you need to have your first pass through rate.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:24:17]:
You need to understand how many of the proposals that your agents are making are right from the bat and they are accepted, how many are slightly modified, how many are rejected and if you are an autonomous agent, what's the accuracy of those agents? At the end of the day a lot of people are kind of selling AI right now but then they don't include any AI metrics in their deck, which is kind of crazy. So I think that's very important right now if you are an AI, if not just skim that stuff.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:24:54]:
I was wondering from my experience I was in capital markets during Medoff happened and the meta of the funds have been used as entities headquartered in Luxembourg and so basically a lot of those companies said yeah, would have never happened to us but you have so much, so much straight to processing, automated processing at the time in the funds that basically one usage funds would have been treated like another usage fund. Do you see any potential for future scammers and how to prevent it with the application of a lot of AI agents in accounting and bookkeeping?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:25:31]:
Definitely there is a risk in that of course in the same way that there was a risk when computers came and invoices started to be done by hand and everybody started to do them. You know on a, on a computer there is risk and it is the responsibility, it's a shared responsibility to avoid, to stop that from happening. But yeah, of course it is a risk. I've seen articles going around LinkedIn of people that they can create tickets, expense tickets just asking to chat GPT to do that. So there's definitely going to be, there's definitely going to be scammers out there. Definitely.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:26:16]:
Going back to my last question about VC in your experience, what are VCs really looking for in the next generation of SAS platforms?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:26:28]:
I think we should ask that. Two VCs? No, listen, that's a great question Joe. I hope they're looking stuff like sequence. To be honest what I'm reading right now is that they're looking for full stack companies, companies that can replace verticals on its own. There's no longer such thing as the niche stars like you can just do one thing. What they're looking for right now is to companies that they can replace a whole vertical US Y Combinator saying this a month and a half ago. They're right now looking into that kind of traction and interaction and automation from AI that can come in and say okay, this has been done manually for years now thanks to AI can be almost fully automated. So I think that's really what they're looking for.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:27:24]:
These companies that can kind of revolutionize how the status quo is and how human labor is being done into automation.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:27:37]:
Talked about labor here. Team and culture. What values define the sequence? Team, how do they guide hiring and leadership?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:27:48]:
Ah, in hard work we believe in hard work we believe we have a We have all our jumpers are marked in hard work. We believe and when you come to our digital office is the first sentence that you're going to find. And it's not me who said it, but that's really us. We are a team of people that are very unconventional. We believe that there is a better way and we always ask the best of ourselves and, and that's the kind of person that comes in and works with us. You have to be extremely curious. You have to be eager to learn, you have to be eager to share, to give feedback and to receive it. And when we hire someone, one of the things we tell them is look, when you come into sequence, you're going to be facing issues and challenges that you've never faced in your life.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:28:38]:
And that's totally okay. What is going to be the difference is that you are capable of finding the right tools and the solution and learning new things that allow you to do the best that you can your work. None of us knew how to build a bank, yet here we are building a bank altogether. None of us knew how to build an accounting software, yet here we are changing how accounting is done thanks to artificial intelligence. And most certainly none of us knew anything about AI four years ago. And here we are using it on our day to day basis. And that's because we have that knowledge, hunger, continuous drive to learn more and to get better every single day. And that's the people that they stick with our company.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:29:31]:
The rest that don't make it past month. One.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:29:35]:
Talked about not making past one month. How do you build high performing startup teams and maintain them?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:29:44]:
That's a great question. I don't know, I'm trying to do my best on that, on that point. Maybe, maybe the team is the best person to, is the best one to answer that question, whether if I'm doing a good job or not. But for me it's about giving a place where the team can be the best out of them. Giving them accountability, delegate effectively and giving them a space where they can learn, they can grow, they can shine and where their work really impact the company itself. At sequence, we're not only looking at the team as individuals that they come in and do a work and then they leave. We look at the full lives that they have. We finance the gym, we finance, we have a corporate psychologist, we have a mental and performance coach.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:30:40]:
We just hired a corporate hypnotherapist so they can also go into that. We help them with private insurance. You know, we're just trying to give them the best possible scenario so they can do what they love. What to do. If one of the people in team wakes up in the morning and says, fuck, I don't want to work in the morning, that's a failure from leadership because we didn't give them enough room and enough place to shine and to do what they love, they need to really do what they love. Now if, now, if, if we're going to maintain them, then they're going to get a piece of the cake. That's always, that's always, you know, very, very classical. But it's just an ongoing challenge.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:31:37]:
It has to be an ongoing challenge. We have to keep those minds, myself as well. We have to keep those minds going and learning and growing and yeah. Impacting the world every day. What do, what do you think, Joe? I'm sure you've talked with a lot of entrepreneurs out there. How do you think that you can keep high performing teams? You know, I would love to have your input on that one so the people out there can, can hear what you think from all your conversations that you had.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:32:15]:
Turning the tables here. Okay. Oh, well, I, I think at first it's important to get the best people putting a lot of effort into acquiring talent. Secondly, I've just talked with Christian Conrad about how to build and maintain a corporate, corporate culture and one of the best approaches I've seen from him, he Talked about giving 100% trust first and then if the person doesn't use the trust responsibly, he'll deduct. And that was actually a really amazing approach that I've seen there. Plus, it's very, very difficult to get really talented people. I've been talking to a lot of people about hiring headhunters and so on and so forth and I do believe especially like the first dozen people you hire from your startup, they make an essential impact on the growth, on the survival on the bear, survival of the company.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:33:18]:
Yeah, crazy. I agree with you 100%. Thank you for sharing, Joe.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:33:22]:
Totally my pleasure. Now it's up for you to share again vision and future outlook. Where do you see Sequence and the industry heading over the next five years?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:33:33]:
Yes, we see Sequence as an AI operative system for small and medium businesses where they can do banking, run the company and accounting all at the same time. Right now, if you look at SMEs and freelancers, they all have three main points. The first one is you need an accountant. You don't want to do the books yourself. If you do them yourself, it's hard and it Takes time. And if you get someone to do them for you, it's expensive and it's slow. So that's like a compulsory pain that you have to have. Okay, fine, then you need to have a bank, but the bank doesn't care about you.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:34:22]:
And the bank at some point may decide that the relationship with you is no longer profitable for them. So you may find yourself not having a bank. And the third one is that you need to look to your cash flow. But to look to your cash flow and to look to know how much money you are owed and how much money you owe, you need to have a software. And using that software, as we said earlier before, is very hard and very time consuming. And you didn't launch a company to do that stuff. We believe that Sequence can come in and replace those three into one only software that automates across the whole of them, thanks to the power of AI. So we see ourselves in three.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:35:06]:
In five years. In three years, even by the end of next year, by the end of 2026, already automating the work of the accountant almost completely by allowing people to open accounts with us and by having a software that is already on the market that is so damn easy to use that when you go into other software, you just wish you never left Sequence. And that's where we see us already.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:35:36]:
Kind of takes my next question away. What trends or AI you believe will redefine SaaS and accounting software by 2030? My understanding is most of the stuff that right now accountants do will be automated with AI agents.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:35:53]:
Yes, I believe we are seeing a change similar to the Industrial revolution. In the Industrial Revolution, machines had humans to do stuff and humans were focused on more, you know, value generated positions. And I think thanks to AI in some positions, we're going to have the same things. So accountants are going to be focusing on generating value for the clients and not on number crunching on the screen. Number crunching on the screen is not fun for the accountant. And it's not, and it's not efficient for the, for the, for the, for the, for the client because it's a high cost. Right. There's no one that is going nowhere.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:36:42]:
So I believe that that is definitely going to be automated and accountants going to be focusing on other value services. Yeah, definitely.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:36:50]:
Do I interpret this right that you say the introduction of AI agents will have for white collar workers the same effect as the Industrial Revolution had for blue collar workers?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:37:02]:
You tell me why not?
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:37:03]:
Joe, Interesting thought. I need to think a little bit about it, but it's Definitely an interesting thought. Never thought about that. This way. We already a little bit into reflection. What is the hardest decision you've had to make on this journey?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:37:24]:
I think one of the hardest ones was closing one of the startups I was running here in Switzerland before taking over Sequence. It was a very hard startup. I invested a lot of capital myself, but I. I proposed the startup to some family members and some friends and as much as I tried to make it work, I couldn't. I tried to pivot all that I could and the day I took the decision and having to make that call to that people and saying, I am so deeply sorry, I just couldn't make it work, that was a very hard moment. That decision was extremely hard. And at some point I had to do it because it was dragging everything and everyone down with it. And the unit economics were not there.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:38:15]:
As much as we were increasing sales, the costs were growing and we could never reach profitability. And the moment we realized that, we tried to do all that we could. But deciding to close that company was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:38:34]:
If you could redo just one thing as a founder, what would it be?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:38:39]:
I would have bought Bitcoin at $0.01. I would have bought Bitcoin at $0.01 or at €1. The rest of the things, all the mistakes that I've done as a founder, I would redo them the same. They are what I am right now. And I am grateful for all those mistakes and for all those failures. No matter how hard they have been, every one of them has been a teaching moment. I wouldn't have done things different because I wouldn't have learned in the same way. Yes, they might have led to different outcomes, but I don't know that.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:39:13]:
So honestly, if I could relive it again, I will go all over again in the same way. The only thing I would do is buy bitcoin when it cost $0.01. So, you know, money wouldn't be an issue right now in that case. Yeah.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:39:31]:
I know where you're going with that. Where can people follow you and learn more about Sequence?
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:39:38]:
Yeah. So I am not a believer on Instagram. So I'm not on Instagram. There is an account of my name, but I don't have it on my phone and I never logged in. So Instagram is not a good place. Neither is Facebook. Sorry, that's going to be LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, people can find me.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:39:53]:
Definitely. It's blast. That's very difficult to say, but I'm sure we can pop it down there on the screen and then the company, you can definitely follow them on LinkedIn. Sequence, ERP. Many, many great things are being announced there. We have a blog, fantastic blog if you're into business. I like to share a lot of stuff on my Paco and everything that I've done. And the team at Sequence also, they share a lot of stuff on LinkedIn.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:40:21]:
They're very active. So I think LinkedIn is our network.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:40:24]:
Yeah, we'll definitely link that. And for our audience. I was wondering what questions you would have asked. Blast. Drop it in the comments below and we might ask him next time. Thank you very much, Blaz. It was a pleasure talking to you guys out there. Don't forget to like share, subscribe and review.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:40:43]:
This is Joe from Celebrate IO. See you next time.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:40:46]:
Thank you, Joe. It was a pleasure being here very much. Thank you for having me.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:40:51]:
Pleasure was all mine. Thank you.
Blas Pegenaute | CEO Sequence ERP [00:40:52]:
Thanks.
Jörn 'Joe' Menninger | Founder and Editor in Chief | Startuprad.io [00:40:58]:
That's all folks. Find more news streams, events and interviews@www.startuprad.IO. remember, sharing is caring. Sam.
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