Going Public, democratising Pensions and scaling to the USA with Romi Savova, Founder & CEO @ PensionBee

Riding UnicornsJan 29, 202537 min

PensionBee CEO Romina Savova makes a compelling case for why the £1.4 trillion pensions market rewards patient capital and long-term thinking over typical startup playbooks. She reveals how giving away their core pension search service for free built trust in a traditionally opaque industry, and why going public actually provides better alignment for retirement-focused businesses than private funding cycles.

Key takeaways

  • Focus on 'lost track of' pensions rather than truly lost ones to access a larger, more addressable market within the massive pensions industry.
  • Offer your core service for free initially in trust-sensitive industries like pensions to overcome customer skepticism and build market credibility.
  • Public markets provide better capital alignment for long-term businesses than private funding, which pressures quarterly growth over decade-long customer relationships.
  • Government pension support will decline over the next 30 years, creating massive opportunities for private retirement savings platforms regardless of policy changes.
  • Build an independent board early, even as a private company, to prepare for public market governance requirements and investor expectations.

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5:23· 40stactical advice

Why PensionBee's founder gave away their core service for free

5:23 / 6:02

your point is is absolutely right. And lots of entrepreneurs will find themselves in in the early days offering something for free. In our particular case, it was search. And so that was the free element of of of our offering that could really give customers something initially to to get going with, to encourage them to become customers who ultimately consolidate old old pensions with us. So we build trust by offering something that, you know, normally would not, you know, would not necessarily be offered by a commercial company for for free. But building trust is really a long term endeavor.

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