Philip Belamant: How Zilch scaled to $2 billion

Philip Belamant, Founder & CEO of Zilch, joins us to share the story behind one of the UK's fastest-growing fintech companies. We discuss his journey from learning to code in South Africa to disrupting consumer credit, scaling through rapid growth, raising capital, building company culture, and his vision for the future of finance.If you're interested in entrepreneurship, fintech, leadership, startups, and scaling high-growth businesses, this episode is packed with insights and practical lessons.00:00 – intro01:12 – builder and problem solver rather than founder01:39 – growing up in south africa 01:57 - getting into tech and computer programming02:25 – the draw of coding; possibilities are endless in code, you can fix anything02:47 – tangible vs intangible problems03:34 – burgeoning era of early mobile devices04:01 – influence of coding on pocket sized device04:55 – building first company05:30 – advancing to multiplayer gaming05:59 – convenient method of transacting, moving to mobile payments06:30 – falling into fintech07:00 – transposing lessons from gaming into fintech07:36 – moving away from the boring mobile money apps08:30 – connection to social welfare distribution09:00 – early launch of advanced airtime09:50 – technology changing lives11:20 – the move to the UK12:05 – the struggle to obtain a credit card 12:35 – sparking the question around consumer credit13:20 – initial findings: exclusionary, obscure & expensive13:52 – the credit card is fundamentally against people15:11 – the zilch product15:20 – distilling the product into something accessible16:22 – what is zilch?17:30 – relationship with advertisers19:19 – prioritising time as a founder19:50 – default position: just make it better20:03 – the lessons learned from challenges in Africa21:17 – keeping conviction21:48 – start something and finish it22:10 – importance of completion22:50 – selling the dream to others23:39 – sales is the key24:51 – missing first real fundraising round25:22 – balancing debt and equity partners27:50 – pivoting to family offices & HNW28:30 – covid accelerating the pitching game & ecommerce30:33 – coming out of covid with 135 more employees31:14 – a viral campaign 32:04 – the funding boom33:20 – building at pace34:00 – recruiting & the war on talent35:23 – adapting to a growing team and business37:40 – the founder struggle; getting out of the way38:17 – moving away from micromanagement38:42 – staying curious40:20 – the business as a team41:32 – unifying contrasting individuals42:55 – leading from the front43:36 – how friction can be beneficial45:25 – leave the ego at the door46:11 – consumer credit today47:40 – moving from manual to automatic48:30 – computers optimising for the consumer49:29 – removing the gearbox49:40 – the future of finance is zilch50:20 – importance of personal data50:55 – invisible payments52:00 – building trust53:45 – one piece of advice for entrepreneurs54:50 – the balance between personal and professional55:37 – be a dreamer Follow:Philip Belamant Luke Nihill