When Swan launched in 2020, we were just a small team of developers with a dream to make the embedding of banking services easier for European companies. 🇪🇺
Just two short years later, we’ve seen amazing growth and today celebrate being a team of 100 operating across 30 European countries, with offices in Paris and Berlin.
Right from Day 1, Swan has always stayed true to our open and friendly culture with an ambitious product vision. In spite of growing bigger (and I suppose growing up!), we continue to be ourselves. Our focus these days is European expansion: localizing our product, and internationalizing our team and our customer portfolio.
Earlier this year, we set an internal company goal that 40% of new hires would be international folks. We know that building a team that represents European diversity is crucial in order to best serve our customers all across the European Economic Area. Well, we’re happy to report we’ve exceeded that goal: Swan’s team now represents 17 different nationalities!
Introducing Swanee #100!
We are delighted to welcome Ifane Auvity into the Go-to-Market team at Swan. After a first taste of the embedded finance business at another fintech in Berlin, Ifane will be continuing his career as a Sales Development Representative at Swan. SDR’s at Swan are a key link between marketing and sales to drive top-of-the-funnel interest and help crack the European market.
How did you end up in Banking-as-a-Service (and did you even know what it is?)
”I studied Economics, not banking or finance, actually. And I knew I didn’t want to join the corporate world. I didn’t want to do the whole suit and tie thing. I moved very naturally towards Fintech — it was an appealing alternative. I remember I was looking for something challenging. BaaS was something I didn’t understand at all at the time, and I found it very exciting. Back then, no one really knew about BaaS. When I joined my previous company, it was very cool to go through the process of figuring out potential industries we could go into, to try to find creative solutions for companies where embedded finance really gives added value.”
”And I was intrigued by the tech side too; working in BaaS keeps you up to date with what’s happening in the tech world. My goal was to keep using what I learned. I wanted to keep going in the BaaS space.”
Why Swan?
”Specifically, I was looking for international exposure. Seeing as Swan opened branches in France, and Germany, with another branch in Spain coming, just 3 years after its founding, I thought this is a good time to come in and join the dream that would be expanding internationally. That was a big thing.”
”And from everything I heard about Swan before, I knew how easy and fast it was to implement these products, so I thought it would be a much easier sell. A lot less headaches. Seeing how things are set up here, there’s a huge difference between Swan and other players. I know it’s one of the unique points of Swan to be able to offer so many services with ease. Swan eliminates many steps. As a salesperson, you have to feel it internally, and really be convinced by a product in order to sell it. It makes a big difference.”
What are you excited about in your work at Swan?
”An SDR has to find creative ways to go into different industries. Brainstorm and think quite deeply about what we could offer, and find ways to create added value for our customers, added revenue etc. Hunting is fun - if, after a first call, you see there’s a match, you get an adrenaline rush. It’s a nice feeling to catch one of those, see where goes, and hopefully sign them!”
“What I’m really excited about, is to catch that first big fish. Clients come in with these really brilliant ideas, and if you’re lucky, they can really grow and make something huge."
"For me, it’s going to be cool to see how much we can help other companies get really big, and help them become a big player in Europe.”
🐣 Ifane joins us this month along with 5 new Swanees, in Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Payment Operations, and more! Welcome to all new joiners! We’re excited to have you along for the ride.
Scaling a tech company is an art — building a product, a client base, and a brand, all while keeping an eye on diversity and inclusivity! It’s a lot to handle at once, and we need a wide variety of talents and perspectives (like Ifane!) to do it thoughtfully.
Would you like to join our team?
At Swan, we’re making embedded finance easy, so European companies can grow big and healthy. Want to join the adventure? Check out our jobs!
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