How to reach $1 billion in 8 months or making the impossible possible

Less than nine months. This is how long we’ve taken to double the total volume that was transacted on the Kantox platform in the company’s first three and a half years. We managed what may seem like impossible with unflinching focus, dedication and good old-fashioned grit.We took risks. We repaid the confidence placed in us by our first investors and clients, who are just as bold, daring and crazy as we are. And we made the sceptics, the lovers and the gullible followers of the status quo curious; to ask questions of it for the first time; to begin to doubt it and realise that it doesn’t have to be that way.Today, if we may say so ourselves, Kantox is deserving of congratulations. We have reached the symbolic symbol of $2 billion in total transactions. It is symbolic, as we will not be celebrating once we reach the 3^rd billion. Instead, now we are aiming our crosshairs on targets that are yet more elusive and difficult to reach. Close to impossible goals. Klose with a K for Kantox.Identifying our business idea, analysing how viable it could be, realising our vision for

an online platform in order to develop our idea, locating financing, and adapting to the essential financial regulatory frameworks were the first hurdles we had to jump for Kantox to see the light of day and enter the market. The real challenge however, was yet to come. To get our first clients to click on a button that sent their money from the online platform of the then completely unknown Kantox to the counter-currency provider, and not have a heart attack, was a formidable task to say the least. Now, I can tell you completely calmly that they have carried out this type of transaction countless times since. This includes more complex transactions, as through our platform many clients have become experts in currencies themselves. Our dream was, and continues to be, to change the finance sector; to initiate a financial revolution thanks to the new possibilities that technology now affords us. We were compelled to eradicate the feeling of dependency that we all possess regarding traditional financial institutions. Nobody said it was going to be easy. At this point in time, we celebrate our achievements as one, with 65 employees and more than 1,600 clients. Nobody looks at us anymore and thinks of an absurd, modern-day Don Quijote and his squire, Sancho Panza.Kantox is no longer even the company that my partners and I thought it would be. It is increasingly a company that belongs to each and every individual and client that helps it to grow further than what we could have dreamed of, and at a rhythm that I sometimes struggle to contemplate. The underlying foundation of our growth is the continued faith that our clients invest in us, coupled with the consolidation of a recognised first-class service that undergoes a constant, rigorous review for improvement and adaption to our clients’ needs. These clients are increasingly diverse regarding the sectors they work in, as well as their foreign exchange volume and the type of currency strategy they followed prior to coming to us.

How did we do it?

Many hours spent in the office, a great deal of effort, self-review, external review, exhaustive comparisons and optimised risk management are some of the keys in reaching the symbolic achievement that we are sharing here with you today.Today I am proud to tell you that one of our clients pressed that button to close an operation of 33.6 million euros on our platform. Yes, his finger may have shaken a little just before pushing it, but let’s leave that part out. Today I can tell you now that our clients are Kantox’s biggest fans, and their feedback motivates us to improve our platform’s capabilities continuously.Today I can say that, when I explain the power of Fintech in any part of the globe, and how it will change the world in the not so distant future, no longer do the listeners look at me like I have a screw loose, but rather, as a visionary. So much so that even global financial institutions are asking for our help in developing and growing their own digital strategy, and to avoid becoming stagnant. This is a huge vote of confidence for us.I continue not to sleep much. I continue to think incessantly about how to consolidate our business further; to see how to improve it further; to tend to the needs of a company that is now unrecognisable from what we created a little under five years ago with a computer, a whiteboard, and little else. I continue to believe that change is possible, and that it is Kantox who will make it possible.This article was originally published at Philippe Gelis' Linkedin Pulse