fnGlobal Keynote & Roundtables with Björn Goß (January 16, 2024)

Björn Goß came into entrepreneurship as many do – with an idea ready to disrupt the way customers do business.

The year was 2011 and Björn had just finished his bachelor's degree at the University of Mannheim in Germany. He and his friend David Handlos were exploring what the next chapter of their life might look like and spitballing ideas for their own venture.

“David’s girlfriend had the problem of carrying around 20 different plastic cards which was pretty clunky. All people were talking about in relation to mobile wallets were payments. We said ‘Well actually it should be way beyond pure payments and focus on the whole shopping journey including loyalty cards, coupons, gift cards, mobile payments and more,’” says Björn.

It was then that the early vision for Stocard – an app that allows users to declutter their wallets by organizing all their loyalty cards into one central location – was created.

Fast forward 12 years and 70 million users and Björn’s startup has become one of Europe’s most used apps. The company was acquired in a €140 million deal by Klarna in 2021.

In a global keynote for Founders Network on January 16, 2024 Björn will detail the story of how he built a successful fintech company and his tips for finding product-market fit.

His keynote will cover:

• How to find your product market fit
• Strategies for scaling internationally
• Methods to use to build a successful advertising model
• Scaling to 70 million users and exiting a company

Opening Remarks @ 9:30am PT

Join us for opening remarks with Dina Fattom, Member Success Manager at Founders Network, to get the latest updates from the Network and opportunities for getting involved.

Keynote Speaker @ 9:40am PT

Björn Goß is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stocard. Before starting Stocard, Björn worked for McKinsey & Company and discontinued his PhD studies to start Stocard. Björn holds a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a bachelor's degree from the University of Mannheim.

Stage-Based Roundtables @ 10:30am PT

Community Partners:

Jeff Erickson

Jeff leads the Partnerships Team at Forecastr — a leading FP&A software company that helps startups create kick-butt financial models to impress investors, confidently raise capital, and effectively run their businesses better.

Jeff serves on the advisory boards of several startup companies and is an active angel investor. He's passionate about startups and enjoys working with founders and mentoring entrepreneurs.

Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and was the founder and CEO of a successful consumer goods company that he rapidly grew from $1M in sales its first year to over $40M in annual revenue in its fourth year of operations and was ranked #138 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies.

Prior to founding his own company, Jeff was a partner at Beanstalk Partners where he led the sales and business development activities. He also served as the National Sales Director for a venture-backed tech startup where he generated over $45M in client contracts and developed the company’s channel partner program.

Jeff has a degree in accounting and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah. After receiving his MBA in Finance from the University of Utah he served as the Vice President of Investments for Sentry Financial Corporation.

Cathy Keeler

Cathy is the Managing Partner at FullScope Growth, a global consortium of elite Fractional Executives and Business Acceleration Partners that provide the exact combination of experts that organizations require.

She has cross-functional experience in sales, management, marketing and business planning, client services, network development and operations. Delivers strong results within highly competitive markets.

Guests Are Welcome!

Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.

All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.

Confidentiality Reminder

All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.