BUILDERS · 2026-09-04 · 26 min
Pennylane spent its first two years operating an accounting firm to experience the workflows it intended to fix. It then sold the profitable business, removed the channel conflict, and went all-in on software. After three years of deliberate customer development, growth accelerated to more than one million SMEs on the platform. In this episode of BUILDERS, Tobias Janiesch , Managing Director - Germany at Pennylane, breaks down the accountant-led distribution model, the trust-building behind its growth, and why entering Germany required both a product rebuild and a startup-style local team.