Episode 155 · 19 December 2024 · 56:36
How I built GoHenry from an Idea to a £125M business, with Louise Hill, Co-founder and CEO
Featuring Louise Hill
How I built GoHenry from an Idea to a £125M business, with Louise Hill, Co-founder and CEO
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Introducing Louise Hill and the GoHenry mission
The origin story: iTunes bills and the value of money
interview#origin-story#itunes#value-of-money
How GoHenry works for kids and parents
interview#gohenry#kids#parents#debit-card
Building a fintech without a financial services background
Being a female founder in a male-dominated industry
The Little Red Book of GoHenry and workplace culture
The trap of rapid growth and single points of failure
Core values: dare to fail, embrace change, work collaboratively
interview#core-values#dare-to-fail#embrace-change#collaboration
Raising $125M and the 2% stat for female founders
interview#fundraising#125m#female-founders
Financial literacy, social mobility, and the future of GoHenry
Show notes
How I Built GoHenry from an Idea to a £125M Business — with Louise Hill
Guest: Louise Hill — Co-founder and CEO of GoHenry, the fintech empowering kids and families with financial literacy through a prepaid debit card and educational app.
What happens when your kids rack up a terrifying iTunes bill? For Louise Hill, it sparked a business that now serves over 6 million members across five countries.
Louise joins Al and Leanne to share the story of building GoHenry from a 2012 idea into a £125M business. She opens up about the "Little Red Book of GoHenry" that keeps culture intact through explosive growth, why she challenged her entire team to hunt down single points of failure, and the undoubted reality of being a female founder in a male-dominated industry.
They also dig into the psychology of financial literacy — how teaching kids money skills early can boost lifetime earnings, fuel entrepreneurship, and level the playing field for social mobility.
Top 3 Takeaways
Start thinking about culture on day one. Don't wait until you're scaling to decide what your business stands for. Louise's "Little Red Book of GoHenry" codified values like collaboration, embracing change, and daring to fail — and it's been the anchor through every growth phase.
Hunt down single points of failure. During a period of intense growth, Louise challenged her whole team to identify where the business was dangerously dependent on one person, one process, or one system. It's an exercise every growing business should run.
Financial literacy is a social mobility tool. Kids who receive financial education are 46% more likely to start a business. Teaching money skills early doesn't just improve personal finance — it changes life trajectories.
More From Louise Hill
- Connect with Louise on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork/ (placeholder — see note below)
Connect With Us
Get in touch, book a call, or find Al and Leanne on LinkedIn — all in one place: truthliesandwork.com/connect
Mental health support: findahelpline.com — UK: Samaritans 116 123 · Mind 0300 123 3393 — US: 988 — Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14
Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Full transcript
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Al ElliottThe dirty little secret is that most businesses think they know their customers. They have the data, the records, the history, but it's scattered across 3 teams and 4 systems. And in our case, it's about 216,000 spreadsheets, which means nobody can actually use it.
Leanne ElliottWhat you should be doing is using HubSpot, because why? HubSpot connects it all— every interaction, every support ticket, every conversation— into one platform every team can work from. So when sales talks to a customer, marketing already knows the full story. And when you know more, you grow more.
Al ElliottNice. Check out hopspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses.
Leanne ElliottHello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning psychology podcast Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. My name is Leanne, I'm a chartered psychologist.
Al ElliottMy name is Al, I'm a business owner.
Leanne ElliottAnd we are here to help you simplify the science of work and create amazing workplace cultures. And happy Christmas, almost.
Al ElliottYes, almost Christmas, almost Christmas. What, you got 4 days to go?
Leanne ElliottI think loads of people are going to finish tomorrow, right? Weekend before the older Christmas week. Holidays are coming, holidays are coming.
Al ElliottMakes perfect sense. I think we're going to be actually landing in the UK today. Um, I think this is the day we actually arrive in the UK. But, uh, anyway, different story for a different day. Welcome, welcome to everyone. Hello to you if you're brand new, and if you listened before, then welcome back. You know the score, but just give me 2 seconds to tell the newbies how this works. Every single Tuesday, apart from over Christmas, which we'll talk about in a second, we're going to bring you your weekly fix of workplace news, the spicy takes from the expert panel, and our world-famous weekly workplace surgery where I put your questions to Leanne. And every Thursday, like today, we sit down with someone who's an expert in the workplace and ask them the questions that most podcasters are afraid to ask.
Leanne ElliottYes, and today we are joined by an absolutely amazing woman and a powerhouse in the financial sector. Today's guest is Louise Hill, who is the CEO of GoHenry. And if you're not familiar with GoHenry, they're doing amazing work in financial education, helping kids and teens develop healthy money habits through their prepaid debit card and education app. It's a very good idea. Louise, co-founded GoHenry back in 2012 and spent a decade as COO before stepping into the CEO role last year. Under her leadership, they've grown to over 2 million customers across the US and UK and have expanded into Europe after acquiring French fintech Pixpay.
Al ElliottBut that's just half the story. Louise is phenomenally good at fundraising. She's been one of Crowdcube's most successful female fundraisers ever. I mean, we're talking about raising $136 million here, which for anyone who doesn't speak startup is a huge amount of money. And Louise is not content to dominate the UK and Europe. GoHenry recently merged with Acorn, um, an investment app in the US, and now they're helping over 6 million people with their financials. That's not just kids anymore, that's whole families.
Leanne ElliottYeah. And what's particularly interesting from a financial wellbeing perspective is how they're tackling financial literacy. It's not just about giving kids a bank card, it's about creating those positive money habits early on. But what you, the listener, are here for is the story of how she maintained an amazing workplace culture, even when regularly doubling or tripling her teams. Oh, and all of this across multiple continents and countries and cultures. If, as if it wasn't, as if growth wasn't difficult enough.
Al ElliottSo in this episode, we're gonna answer 3 key questions. The first one is, how is GoHenry changing the way that children and teens view money? The second one is, how do you maintain a culture when you grow as rapidly as GoHenry did? And thirdly, what's it like raising money and can you maintain the same culture post-raise?
Leanne ElliottSo let's join the interview where we meet Louise. Hear her story and learn why she thought the world needed an app to teach financial wellbeing to youngsters.
Louise HillMy name is Louise Hill, as Al said, and I'm the co-founder and CEO of GoHenry. GoHenry's a debit card and financial education app designed for kids aged 6 to 18. We have a very simple mission to make every kid smart with money.
Al ElliottI love it. Let's just stick with this kid thing for a second. What inspired the idea? Why did you niche down? to finances for kids?
Louise HillIt really wasn't a case of niching down. It was, that was the whole inspiration and reason for starting the business. I co-founded GoHenry. We launched to the public in 2012. And it was really because I'd realized that there was nothing out there that could help me as a parent teach my own children how to be good with money. And what was becoming an increasingly digital world. The trigger for it was my 2 kids had been lucky enough to be given iPods. Remember those? The tiny little square ones for, I can't remember if it was Christmas or a birthday now. My brother and sister gave them to them. And like most parents I've spoken to, I had foolishly given them the login to my iTunes account. And they were probably 7 and 9, that kind of age. And they were having a ball. They were downloading downloading songs without a care in the world. And I was trying to figure out as a parent, how do I make them understand that every time they click that download button, they were spending money? And I started talking to other parents at the school. It was actually stood on the side of a very soggy school football pitch and joking that I had started printing out the email invoices that iTunes used to send you and pinning them on the fridge. And then on a Saturday morning when my kids stood in front of me with their hands out expecting their pocket money, was having to explain to them that maybe I was going to give this, the younger child, £4 this week, but they'd only got 50 pence left because they'd spent the rest of the money on music. And Amazingly, every parent had another story. We were all having similar problems. You know, that might have been somebody shopping on eBay and spending crazy amounts of money, another child running up bills on a game box or buying their way through game levels without understanding really that that money has to come from somewhere. And that's where the idea came from. So it started with kids. It was to create a service That would empower young people with the freedom and confidence to use and understand money in a, but in a safe environment with parental oversight. And amazingly, when I started looking to see what was out there to help, there was absolutely nothing. So in launching GoHenry, we pioneered a new category, not only in kids' finance, but But in financial education too. And, and, and, uh, I guess that's something I'm, I'm really, really proud of.
Al ElliottJust so we fully understand the difference between the old way and the new way, the old way was they asked for the pocket money. Um, you then took their pocket money, you deducted what they'd spend on iTunes and gave them the balance.
Louise HillYep.
Al ElliottNow with GoHenry, what's the now? How does it work now?
Louise HillIf a parent opens a GoHenry account, their child has the child version of the app as well. That might be on a shared family tablet or it might be on their mobile phone depending how old they are. And a parent can set up regular pocket money. They can set up tasks and chores so that their kids can earn money and get jobs done around the house. The children can set up savings goals and save towards a big goal. They can micro-donate, so they can donate money to charity.
Leanne ElliottHmm.
Louise HillAnything from 2 pence upwards, all sorts of things like that. Grandparents, family members, friends can— there are gift links that they can gift money in if they want to top up the children's pocket money. And the product grows with the child and develops as they go through. We tend to think about our customers in— our child customers in 3 groups: 6 to 10-year-olds, 10 to 14-year-olds, and then 14 to 18-year-olds. And, and Obviously, the way that the app looks and the way that we speak to the customers and the features for a 16-year-old are very different to what is provided for an 8-year-old. You know, for teenagers, there's Apple Pay and they can have their part-time job wages paid in. They can do peer-to-peer payments, all kinds of things like that. So it really is about growing With the child. And just to give you an idea of size, we in the UK, 1 in 5 children between the ages of 10 to 12 have a GoHenry card, which, you know, that's just incredible for me that we've reached that level of penetration in the UK and across the world. We have nearly 6 million members across 5 countries. That's the UK, the US, and 3 countries in Europe, France, Spain, and Italy.
Al ElliottHow did you even get started in this if you've not got a financial services background? Did you have to establish a bank like on the Bank of Dave thing?
Louise HillYeah, that's a great, great movie, isn't it? Effectively, yes. So technically, we're not a bank. We use what's called an e-money license to provide the services. But there is a bank wallet sat behind the systems. No, I don't come from a fintech background or even a financial services background. My background was retail and then straight into what became e-commerce. So home shopping, as it used to be called before e-commerce. Yeah. I was part of the team that helped to launch the Next Directory when that launched in the UK. I've always been on the operations side of the business. So running the websites, running the customer service, the customer support contact centers and warehouses, and I've worked for a lot of the big retailers and e-commerce players in the UK over the years. I think What I learned as all of that was, as with that experience, is how to build a team, how to put a process together that works, how to get people on board and excited to work with you to develop something. And I'm also gonna say how to ask an awful lot of questions and be very dogged and persistent until you get the answer that you want. So really, I took all of those learnings from previous jobs and just applied them to the problem I was trying to solve, which was how do I, what do I build in the first instance, understanding what we needed to build, and then how do I build it? And I think one of the things that was really important to me, I'd always talked about learning by doing. I knew I didn't want to build, I'm going to use the word just, Without meaning, without denigrating in any way, shape, or form educational platforms. But I didn't want to build just an educational platform. I wanted a practical tool that kids could use in the real world. So it had to be a debit card. It had to be a money account. They had to be able to go out to the shops, to shop online, and to use that card or their Apple Wallet and use money the way that we were all using money. You know, in actual fact, if you think about it, we were leaving our kids behind. They didn't have access to debit cards. They didn't have access to contactless. They didn't have access to shop online. And, you know, if you, if we're going to prepare them for adult life, we have to teach them that in a safe way.
Al ElliottI have a question which you may be offended by, and I hope you won't be, but do you feel that as a female entrepreneur that it was You had to ask more, you had to be more dogged than perhaps if you were male? I don't know. What's your perspective?
Louise HillYes, probably. Yeah. In fact, why am I saying probably? Undoubtedly. I've always approached things, you know, I've worked all my life from leaving university. And yes, of course, I've hit all kinds of barriers as a woman. I remember my— when I first left university, I got onto a House of Fraser graduate program and went to Cardiff and worked in Howells of Cardiff, the big department store there. And I can remember at one point I was running one of the departments and all of the sales reps just used to walk onto the shop floor, walk straight past me and go to speak Automatically to an elderly gentleman who only worked 3 afternoons a week. And I used to be standing there going, hello, I'm the manager. Yeah, all kinds of barriers, but I prefer to approach that by pretending that they don't exist. You know, I think I've always tried to just ignore the fact that I'm female. You know, it shouldn't make a difference. It shouldn't make a difference at all. So as far as I'm concerned, you just keep going. If somebody says something crass, you call it out. Sometimes you just ignore it. Sometimes you work around it. I think it's a case of, yeah, I did use the word dogged, dogged determination and keeping going. And for me, that's worked. Um, and, uh, I commend it to anyone because I think, I think if you start predicting that there are going to be barriers and that you're going to find it harder and, and maybe not succeed, then it's— that almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Leanne ElliottAfter this very short break, we're going to get into the meat and potatoes, as I like to say, of the culture at GoHenry. You'll find out more about the Little Red Book of Culture, how you can maintain a culture when growing very rapidly, and Louise's strategy for raising over $100 million. Don't go anywhere. Did you know that the UK's number one management podcast— that's us, by the way— and the UK's number one marketing podcast are both on the same podcast network?
Al ElliottWe actually have a lot in common. We both use behavioral science to help people do better at work, and we both had to wrangle Rory Sutherland on an episode. And 2 out of 3 of us are devilishly good-looking. And you're not going to say It. Phil, host of Nudge, UK's number one marketing podcast. It's brought to you— we need to do this in threes—
Leanne Elliottthe HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.
Al ElliottSeamless, seamless. Tell us about your latest episode, Phil. Uh, we've just done an episode on fake fandom and how New York indie bands are paying agencies to create fake TikTok videos about how much they like their work. And we talk about the behavioral science behind fandom and how that encourages people to enjoy the music and all of that good stuff and do some big things about how this affects the world of politics, business, and brands as well.
Leanne ElliottIt is. It's such, it's such a good show. Of course, you'll hear all the stuff you want to hear about how to grow your business by using behavioural science in your marketing. But there's also just some really interesting episodes that'll be right up your street. Personally, I enjoyed Can Balsamic Vinegar Make Beer Taste Better?
Louise HillIt can.
Leanne ElliottAnd Are We All Just Status-Seeking Monkeys?
Al ElliottI am. Go and listen to Nudge wherever you get your podcasts.
Leanne ElliottBut come back.
Al ElliottYeah, come back. Definitely come back because Nudge isn't as good as this, so come back. I'll cut that out.
Louise HillKeep that in.
Leanne ElliottWelcome back. Let's look at the workplace culture at GoHenry. I'll ask Louise to tell us more about the Little Red Book of Culture, why the mission is so important, and how Louise manages teams in different countries with different outlooks on work.
Al ElliottLet's talk a bit more about this mission because You've been very clear when you explained to me what the mission was of GoHenry. But first of all, is that how it started? And secondly, as you expanded so quickly into so many countries, 6 million users outside the UK, you said, that must have been tough to keep that mission kind of centre in what you were doing.
Louise HillYeah, it was. I mean, we went through, we've had various periods of incredibly high growth. But there was one particular period where probably we went from maybe 40 people in the organization to 120 people in the organization across the course of a year. And we were hiring like crazy. And we'd reached a point where I couldn't hire everybody because I, in the early days, I was adamant that I needed to be the key decider in the hiring process because I wanted to make sure that we were hiring people who believed in what we were doing, wanted to be part of what we were doing. They weren't just joining us because they wanted a paycheck at the end of the month. And that became impossible because I had another job to do as well, running the company. And so I really tried to take a step back and think about— How do we define that ethos? How do we surface it in a way that it's not just coming from me? So I actually involved the whole company in it. We spent quite a bit of time working on this. And actually, I'm gonna dive in my bag here and wave something at you. See, always carry it with me. We produced The only physical thing I think we have apart from our GoHenry hoodies, the little red book of GoHenry. And it was a process. We took the exec team away, sat and worked with them on what were the things that were absolutely core to how we wanted to work, how we wanted to show up in the marketplace, how we wanted to treat our customers and speak to our customers. And then we invited anybody in the business who wanted to get involved to do some workshops to work those statements up into words that we were all happy with. And a huge number of people took part. It was fantastic. I thought we'd maybe have 2 workshops and we ended up having about 6 because there were so many people who wanted to be part of it. But we produced that little red book and— Then we went through a process of making sure that the work principles that are in there are fed into all of the hiring process, all of the way that we talk to our customers, all of the processes and things that we have within the business so that that ethos and that culture is kind of imbued through everything that we do. And that is still You know, that's really important. If you join us, you get this in the post. When you go through your onboarding process, a lot of the things that we go through with you are rooted in those work principles. And that has really helped us anchor to the company culture. And it's also something every time we build a new feature, every time we're taking a big business decision, Yeah. The question is asked, does this fit with our ethos?
Al ElliottYou said that mission was critical to ensuring the culture was right, but can you get a bit more granular? Can you tell me some of the challenges and what happened to that culture in that 12 months where you went from 40 to 120?
Louise HillI can tell you, I mean, a trap that I fell into without realizing it. I, it was in that period of kind of incredibly high growth, I realized, well, I was drowning. Bluntly, that's what it came down to. I realized I was sinking underwater and I was trying to, something I've learned I have to do about every 6 months is kind of step back and go, okay, am I doing the right things? Am I, you know, am I prioritizing my time in the right way? What does the business need for its next stage of growth? So I stepped back and tried to look at why was I drowning, and I realized that I'd become a roadblock. I really had created inadvertently a situation where too many things came back to me. It might be that I was the only person who knew who was the right contact at a company we were working with. Or I was the only person who knew why we did something in a particular way, or sometimes where, which folder something was in, in our systems. And that had to change because I was gonna go under and the business was gonna fall over. So I decided to, I set up a campaign that I called Single Points of Failure.
Al ElliottYeah.
Louise HillAnd challenged the whole business to identify single points of failure. And that might be where we had an individual who was the only person who knew how to do something that was pretty critical, or it could be something as stupid as filing systems that only certain people had access to. And embarrassingly, my name appeared in it a huge amount. But we spent a concerted 6 months trying to work our way through removing all of those single points of failure. And it meant I was able to let go of an awful lot of stuff and make sure that the knowledge was out there in the much wider business for how to do stuff and get on without needing me. Obviously, that then freed me up to concentrate on the things I should have been concentrating on. But it's, You know, I sometimes get asked for tips and I always think, who the heck am I to give anybody tips? But watch out for that. It's a really easy trap to fall into. Really easy.
Al ElliottThere's something special about the fact that people in your company were able to write on a piece of paper or an email or whatever that the problem was the boss. There's not many companies where you've got— people have got the courage to go, yes, there is a problem and yes, I'm going to actively Point to the person who pays me. What did you do? How have you built a team of people where they feel comfortable saying something like that?
Louise HillI, it matters to me to be, I'm trying to think how to say this without sounding incredibly grand. It matters to me to be part of the team. It matters to me to be approachable, to be involved, and to create a working environment where people can speak openly and be their real selves. And I sincerely hope that's what we've created. You know, we spend— now there are quite a lot of us— we spend time, energy, and money every year, every 6 months actually, doing engagement surveys and touching base and making sure People do feel they can speak up, not just to me, but to all of the managers, to anybody in the business. We really encourage open communication, and we work very, very hard to make it clear that if somebody tries something, I mean, I'm gonna anchor back to my little red book. Dare to fail is one of the work principles. And it quite often when people join us, it takes a little bit of time before they really accept that and understand that that's okay. So creating an environment where people are encouraged to try things, and then if it goes wrong, there is not judgment and retribution. It is very, very easy to say. It's much harder to put in practice that the way we approach that is to say, okay, well, that didn't work. What have we learned from it? What are we gonna do next time? How, you know, how do we build a playbook that avoids that happening? Or was there a little grain of good in what we tested that we can take and apply? The rest of it we'll never do again because it really didn't work. And it's creating that environment, I think. And it is massively important because it gives everybody in the company then the belief that they can change stuff and they can do stuff and they can have impact. And that makes the overall company so much more powerful.
Al ElliottLet's go back to the little red book of GoHenry. Can you pick me, you've already told me dare to fail. Can you pick something else out there that you're really proud that's in that book?
Louise HillGosh, I'm looking at some of the headers here. Work collaboratively, that's an obvious one. Embrace change. I think in our little bit of blurb that goes in front of every job advert, it says, has done for years, change is a constant. Change is an absolute constant. And, you know, somebody who doesn't feel able to regularly look at what they're doing and change it, is probably not going to be very comfortable with us. And as I said, it takes people a little while to genuinely take on board that we do mean that. We do mean that. It does mean sometimes we try something and it doesn't work, but it means we move quickly. You know, the business speak is we're agile. We try things fast, we succeed fast, we fail fast, but hopefully we learn, we move on, and we grow stronger. And that, I'm proud of that. And it matters to me that we retain that as we continue to grow and expand.
Al ElliottHave I remembered this correctly, that you are in France, Spain, and the US? Have I got those 3 right?
Louise HillFrance, Spain, Italy, and the US.
Al ElliottIn terms of work culture, what the differences, do you see differences?
Louise HillYeah, there are differences. Yes. Yes. We actually, we expanded into France and Spain first through an acquisition. So, back in 2021, '22, we acquired a French startup called Pixpay. And they were already, they'd launched in France. It was a French founding team. They launched in France and they just launched in Spain. And since then with them, we've expanded into Italy as well. We've retained the branding over there because they had a foothold. So there we're called Pixpay in Europe. Yes, there is interesting, our teams in the UK and in the US, we give the teams a choice about whether they work in the office, whether they have a hybrid working pattern, part-time in, part-time out, or whether they're remote. In our Pixpay unit, it's based in Paris and everybody is in the office. But yes, we have Italians, Spanish people, French people, all working because you asked about the culture, the work culture being slightly different in Europe. So is the customer culture. So we need to make sure we have individuals who are truly immersed and understanding of that culture so that the way we talk to our customers in those countries and the marketing that we do is culture-specific.
Al ElliottAt what point do you recommend that someone who's growing a business should start thinking about culture, about teams? Is there a point that's too early?
Louise HillNo, day one. What are you trying to build and why are you trying to build it? It's not just the product and the business model. It's how do you want to work? You know, actually, I'd not thought about this before. That's a good question. You've made me think about something else. If you're building a business, what other opportunity will you ever have? To build the place that you want to work and to surround yourself with the culture that you want to be part of and work in. I'd never thought about that before. That was a very good question.
Leanne ElliottThere are several inflection points of a growing business. The first comes around employee number 13, when the original team dynamic seems to shift. Then the next milestone is likely between 30 and 50 employees, where more management layers often need to be brought in. But Louise has moved past all of that and is now at over 200 employees, and a huge percentage of this growth was raising investment money. But would raising over $100 million change the culture at all? And did working with legendary entrepreneur and prolific fundraiser Sir Philip Green help as well?
Al ElliottI asked exactly that. So when you were at Next, was that Sir Philip Green era?
Louise HillYes.
Al ElliottYeah. So I don't know if this is a good question or not, but did he in any way inspire you in the way you've built GoHenry? Because he was very good at like low margin raising money. Any thoughts?
Louise HillYeah. I mean, an incredible businessman. Yes. Yes. I can, do you know what? I can remember, it's so long ago. Both of my parents have passed away now, but I can remember going home to my parents one weekend and saying to my dad that I'd been in a meeting with Philip Green and, you know, had proposed something, had put a put a proposal for how to do something to him. And my dad, you're always kids, aren't you, to your parents? He sort of looked at me and he went, but did he listen to you? And I'm like, yeah, Dad, I'm quite good at what I do, you know. Yeah. Yes. No, he absolutely was an inspiration. He is an incredible businessman.
Al ElliottLet's talk about growing and expanding because I've got a note down here. You raised $125 million as part of your funding rounds. I want to know, what are the tips for someone who does want to seek funding like that? Did you find it more difficult perhaps raising cash? Tell me your story. What happened?
Louise HillYeah, I think the stats last year were that only 2% of venture capital funding went to female founders, which is Tragic. There are so many good, strong, competent female founders out there, all looking for funding, or many of them looking for funding. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna go back to my answer that I answered to a previous question. You can't go into anything thinking you're not gonna get funding because you're female. Otherwise, you might as well Go home. So you have to approach it that you have a great business. It's got, you know, it's nothing to do with what gender you happen to be. You have a great business, you can articulate it well, and you're gonna go for funding. That figure you quoted, yes, we have raised $125 million over the years. It was achieved in several different stages. So I, the founding team, we raised about £750,000 to get the company off the ground. And I will always be grateful to those pre-seed angels who put that money in, their belief in what was basically a business plan and a passionate idea with nothing, nothing to show at that point. We really relied on angel funding for the first 3, 4 years. And then when we were ready to go for venture capital funding, I met the team from Crowdcube and they suggested to us that we should try some crowdfunding, which was quite a new thing back then. This was 2016. We had 2 very successful crowdfunds. In 2016 and 2018. And in the first one, we actually were the first company in the world to hit what was then the legal limit for equity-based crowdfunding, which at the time was €5 million. And then we went again in 2018 and raised another £6 million. Since then, we've done a Series A, which raised $40 million and a Series B, which was $55 million. I think the important thing, if you want to grow your business to scale, you need to make sure you're building for scale from day one. And you're always thinking about what is, what are the funding requirements going to be and when are you going to need to go out for funding? It's always sooner than you think, because the money goes through faster than you think. I don't think when I started this journey, I can't say I don't think, I absolutely did not realize how much of my time and the senior team's time would need to be taken up with fundraising. It's a major part of the company's journey, and it's a major part of my workload, or it has been up until a couple of years ago.
Al ElliottLet's talk about the culture implications of when you inject cash into a business. Um, you've said that your job changed and you were like, you know, spending a large percentage of time on the actual funding side of it. But what happened to the team?
Leanne ElliottWas—
Al Elliottdid any feelings in the team change now that you're a little bit more perhaps cash rich? I don't know. Talk me through the story.
Louise HillYeah, I think Only if you let it. There's a potential danger there that team members kind of think, oh, we're all right now, and take their foot off the gas, where really what you need to do is keep going. I think, you know, for a lot of the team members, certainly in the early days, people probably didn't realize how close to the edge We came and I think that's the same for most startups. You have days where you are genuinely wondering, can you make payroll in 2 months' time or in 3 months' time? And the pressure of that when you have a team of people whose livelihoods and mortgages and rental bills depend on you, the pressure of that is intense, and it's not fair to share all of that downwards with the team. But yeah, there is a risk that it can, I suppose, make people breathe a sigh of relief and step back, and you can't let that happen. But in terms of actually changing the culture, No, no, not if your culture is strong. Um, you know, you did— the, the risk would be people start spending foolishly, and, um, and you need to make sure that doesn't happen.
Leanne ElliottThe mission at GoHenry is so, so important to Louise and her team, and from a psychological point of view, it's actually one of the most important aspects of engaging employees and creating an amazing workplace culture. It's called reason, and it's one of the 7 foundations of a great work culture in the RX7 Blueprint that I use with my private clients. So reason at work is about finding meaning in what you do. It's what turns a job into something more fulfilling. When you see how your work actually contributes to something bigger, that's really cool, and it's easier to stay motivated and engaged. And that connection helps you focus, perform better, and feel a real sense of achievement. It's also a huge boost for well-being because knowing that our work matters can make stressful days feel worthwhile and give us strength to push through the challenges. For companies, it's a game changer as well. People are more likely to stay loyal when they feel aligned with their role and the organization's values. It also creates a positive culture where everyone feels part of something important and works better together. So whether you're building something new or supporting others, having reason makes all the difference. It's not just about getting the job done, it's about feeling proud of what you're doing. And when people feel that way, They're happier, they're motivated, and they're ready to tackle whatever comes their way. And GoHenry's reason or mission is to help younger people understand money better so they can craft the life they want. I'll ask Louise to explain why she's so passionate about this.
Al ElliottTalk to me more about how GoHenry is actually changing the way that the younger people are thinking about money.
Louise HillYeah, it's the links between financial literacy And wellbeing, general wellbeing are very close. Financial, if you wind it back, financial education is a key determinant in lifetime financial outcomes. So that's a grand statement. What do I mean by that? It's a really important tool when it comes to social mobility.
Al ElliottYeah.
Louise HillSo if individuals are taught financial literacy, financial skills to be confident with money when they're young, it has a massive impact on how much they earn in their working life, whether they set up a business themselves or not, whether they save for their future, whether they have a savings buffer for all of those You know, lumps in the road that happen when you're an adult, when your boiler blows up or your car breaks down. Even things like how much pension pot they have. If they learn about money when they're young, it changes behaviors that mean people are better insulated from the knocks that come in adult life. And that means it's also—
Leanne ElliottYeah.
Louise Hillreally important for social mobility. It can help disadvantaged young people, those from minority backgrounds, to have the confidence to succeed in the workplace, to start new businesses. And, you know, we did a piece of research with a group called Development Economics, which is a research consultancy, to look at the different life outcomes of people who Did have financial education as a child and those who didn't. And I won't blind you with stats, but those who didn't receive financial education as a child were more likely to be unemployed or learning less today than those who did. And 40% of them, just think about this, have no savings at all. No savings buffer at all.
Al ElliottWow.
Louise HillKids who do receive financial education, 46% more likely to start a business than those who don't, which all by itself would add 120,000 new jobs to the UK economy every year. And those individuals will be £70,000 richer in retirement. So they'll have £70,000 more in their pension pot. That's a sea change in people's life outcomes. You know, that really makes a societal difference. That's to the individuals. But when you wrap all of that up, it means that prioritizing financial education at an early age would inject an extra £7 billion into the UK economy every year.
Al ElliottIs Britain still an all right place, a good place to start a business?
Louise HillUK is a great place to start a business. Yeah. Yeah. The stereotype, I suppose, of an entrepreneur is still somebody who looks a little bit like Mark Zuckerberg. It does tend to be, the image does tend to be a late 20s white bloke. But no, the UK is a great place to start a business. There are all sorts of, there's an incredible angel network of investors out there looking for great business ideas to invest in. There's a large number of support networks and accelerators and things like that that entrepreneurs can seek out and get support and advice from. I think the angel funding and VC funding environment is really strong. I am going to say where I think there is a gap at the moment is in the later stage funding. So I'm going to call it growth funding. When you're talking about figures like $40, $50 million. Our experience at GoHenry was that that was harder to find in the UK. We found it successfully in the US. And that's something I've been quite vocal about in industry groups and with government. And I know I'm not the only one. There are things being put in place, not least the changes to the pension funds investment regulations to encourage more investment of that kind of size into fast-growing tech and non-tech businesses. But no, the UK is a great place to start a business.
Al ElliottHow are you gonna balance being a CEO and having a family? Surely that can't— you can't be good at both of them at the same time.
Louise HillI think anybody who's got a family, is a consummate juggler. And if you are working in whatever job you're doing and you have a family, you're an even better juggler. And maybe if you're a CEO, you're an even better— I don't know. I've always been the main breadwinner in the family. So, you know, I've grown up juggling and I think most parents do that all the time. My kids are now quite a lot older. They're 23 and 26, and that helps. So they are, you know, they're pretty self-sufficient. But yeah, at the start when they were 7 and 9 and I divorced, so it was just me, it was a struggle. You know, it was working nights, it was working weekends, working holidays. But if you believe in what you're doing, you, you know, you soldier on and you find a way to make it all happen. Yeah, in those early years, you know, I had a well-paid corporate job. And so to build this We had to cancel holidays abroad. I even sat the kids down and talked to them about getting rid of Sky, which we did for a few years. You know, we really cut back on household expenses and everything so that I could live on a much reduced— the family could live on a much reduced salary. But I felt It was really important to bring this idea to life and make it reality. I don't know whether this is just women, this first view. You know, after X decades, you know, somebody's in their 50s, they've probably had 30 years in the workplace. So after decades in demanding roles, I think people are taking stock and seeking opportunities that align with their values or allow them more time for personal growth. If I think about my parents' generation, they went to work, they had so many years at work, and then they retired and they were old when they retired. And they had their retirement and enjoyed it. If you look at today's generations, I mean, some of the life expectancy forecasts for my kids' generation is living to 100, 110, 120. If you think about how long that might mean in the workplace, I don't think the world is made up anymore of you go to work and you do a job and you kind of do that and climb the ladder. to the end of your career. People are reinventing themselves. So they might do one particular work in one particular sector for a period of time. But I think there is, yeah, I think there is in the 50s, there is kind of a stocktake. And I think more and more women, but men as well, are then thinking, okay, Am I doing what I want to do for the next stage of my life? And should I step off this hamster wheel or this corporate ladder or whatever it is that they're doing and do something that aligns more with how I want to live my life right now or my values? And the other view on that is You know, there is a very intense period, particularly for women still, when you have very young children and you become a super juggler trying to run a career and a household and young kids. But there's also another intense juggling period when your kids are much older and perhaps you have elderly parents that you're now having to care for, and you've got teenagers who need you a huge amount.
Al ElliottRight.
Louise HillAnd again, it is still the case that a lot of that falls onto women. So that's another pinch point where that I think can trigger women to stop and think about how they're spending their working time and if that is something that they want to continue doing. I guess so that I don't ramble on about this forever, what matters is That young girls and women see people like them flourishing in whatever career or work environment that they choose. And for me, that's the best way to empower women to succeed no matter what their age is. Every business wants good people, to state the absolutely obvious. So whatever it takes to support and encourage to succeed different groups of your team is important. So whether that is brand new graduates who are launching themselves into the work environment for the first time ever, you know, hell, that there are things you have to adapt and adjust as a people manager and as a business to help them. settle into a workplace environment, understand what's appropriate work behavior and what isn't, help them learn. People with young children, you adapt, you know, there are things that you adapt as an employer to help them succeed. I think that goes for every group. So I think that's the nub of how employers can make both make their business welcoming for those different demographics, I suppose, of employees, but also how you can help those individuals succeed. And of course, if they succeed, then your business is succeeding.
Al ElliottSo what's the future look like? What's it gonna look like in 5, 10 years' time?
Louise HillWe need to keep doing what we're doing. One goal we haven't achieved yet, we've been lobbying government for almost 2 years now to make financial education mandatory in every school in the UK, starting with primary school. So that work has to carry on. And we will continue listening to our customers and building out the services across the UK, across Europe, and hopefully remaining relevant and leading to kids growing up a lot smarter with money.
Al ElliottYou said sadly your parents are no longer around. What do you think they might say about you if they were looking, if they're talking to you right now and listening to this interview?
Louise HillGosh, I don't know. I don't know. I know when we were sorting out some things, my mum died a couple of years ago, and when we were sorting out some things, I found an envelope, and in that envelope, was, I think, every single business card I'd ever had since I first started work. I don't think— I don't have business cards anymore, but it's all gone digital. But they'd kept those, bless them. I hope they'd be proud. I'll make you laugh. The thing that made my mother the most proud, I can remember telling her that we'd had an article in the FT and she kind of said, well, that's lovely, dear. And then there'd been something in the Times and, oh, that's lovely, dear. And then we won an award. That's lovely, dear. And then there was an article in Good Housekeeping and she was beside herself. She went and ordered about 20 copies and sent them to all her friends. So obviously that was the pinnacle of achievement.
Leanne ElliottWhat a woman, what an entrepreneur, what a story, and also what a noble cause. We had Ruth Hancock, who's the CEO of Octopus Money, on the podcast last year, and she was also a huge supporter of better financial literacy and wellbeing. Same with the legend that is Professor Kerry Cooper. In fact, if you want to learn more about financial wellbeing, then make sure you subscribe so you don't miss episode 160 in early January where we interview Professor Sir Kerry Cooper on all aspects of financial wellbeing.
Al ElliottAnd if you want to find out more about Louise and her companies, and if you're in the UK, then go to gohenry.com. If you're in Spain, Italy, or France, search for Pixpay. That's PIXPAY. And if you're in the US, go to acorns.com. That's the investment business that Louise merged GoHenry with last year. Oh, and if you're on LinkedIn, go and find Louise and tell her how much you enjoyed listening to her story.
Leanne ElliottOver the next couple of weeks, it is of course Christmas and New Year for those who celebrate it, so we're going to do things a little bit differently because we are some of those people that celebrate it. Nobody wants to talk about work if they're off work, do they? So we're going to be doing something a little bit different. We are publishing never-heard-before interviews on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. One of our most popular interviews was with the amazing Rory Sutherland, the chair of Ogilvy Mather and also author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense. Al actually interviewed Rory for 2 hours in total, and I think we've used about 40 minutes of it so far, so we are going to bring you the full unedited interview on Christmas Eve. Merry freaking Christmas! And the following Thursday, we bring you part 1 of our now famous annual predictions episode. This is the 3rd one we've done where the top names in the industry give their predictions for 2025.
Al ElliottAnd a week later, on New Year's Eve, we bring you the full unedited interview with the king of workplace culture, the guy who puts the OG in organizational psychology, the ex-NBA player, the king of the Star Wars nerd club, the peanut Potter aficionado, the one and only Professor John Amici OBE.
Leanne ElliottNew Year's Day, it'll be part 2 of the predictions episode. I think it's actually the 2nd of January, but maybe you'll sleep through New Year's Day and that essentially will be your New Year's Day. We will be joined by even more workplace experts to share their predictions for workplace culture in 2025.
Al ElliottSo even though we'll be having a break and we're heading back to the UK— remember, we live abroad, so we're going to the UK to see family over the Christmas period. We're probably going to be eating pigs in blankets and drinking fruity red wine. Fun fact, my dad is a wine journalist, so there's always wine in his house. But we will still be there in your podcast app waiting for you to join us if you want to, of course.
Leanne ElliottI'm not saying that the fact that your dad is a wine journalist and has lots of free wine come his, his way is the reason I married you, but it certainly was a contributing factor. So until next time, make sure you have subscribed to the show on whatever platform you get your podcasts. I'm an Apple girl personally. I'll prefer Spotify. And if you really want to support us, it would be lovely if you could post on LinkedIn that you were listening, enjoying the show. Something like, um, I'm really enjoying Truth, Lies and Work podcast right now. Tag us in, we'll send you something lovely. Oh, and also check the show notes for my email address. It really is there, in there. People don't often believe me, but it is. Feel free to send me questions.
Al ElliottI do personally answer every single And if you're completely checking out of podcasts and work and everything over the Christmas holiday, then yeah, good for you. Good for you. Have a fabulous break and we will see you in the new year. Bye-bye.
Louise HillBye.