What would you do if you had to travel to another country to get paid for a job you have already delivered? Many people would stop working with clients from that country. Seb Haugeto built a cross-border payment platform.
In this article, we will see how Seb built Dealflow by leveraging his Computer Science background and marketing experience, why resilience gives persistence wings, and the most important ability for his success: accuracy in thinking, communication, and execution.
As a student freelancer working with international clients, Seb Haugeto kept running into the same frustrating problem: getting paid. What should have been a simple transaction often turned into weeks of delays, uncertainty, and follow-ups across borders.
That early frustration eventually evolved into Dealflow, a platform that has now processed over €10 million in transaction volume, supporting hundreds of companies managing cross-border invoicing. The growth reflects a clear demand for simpler, faster international payments.
A Fintech Start-Up Inspired by a Personal Story
One experience made the problem impossible to ignore. After months of delayed payment from a client in Venice, Seb eventually travelled there in person—only to collect the money in cash from the CEO.
It was a turning point. He realised the issue wasn’t isolated—it was systemic. Cross-border payments in Europe were fragmented, slow, and inefficient. That insight became the foundation for Dealflow.
Dealflow initially focused on freelancers and influencers, but later pivoted toward European companies managing international clients. By enabling local bank accounts in multiple countries, the platform significantly reduces payment friction and delays.
As Seb reflects, the product ultimately solved a problem he once faced himself—turning a personal frustration into a scalable solution.
A Hybrid Skill Set Built for Two Worlds
Seb’s path to founding Dealflow was shaped by an unusual combination of skills. With a background in computer science and a parallel strength in marketing and creative production, he was able to navigate both technical and commercial worlds—an advantage that later proved critical.
His early experience at another fintech startup, where he helped build the company from idea to product and raise pre-seed funding, gave him first-hand exposure to scaling a business. That experience became the launchpad for Dealflow.
Persistence is Key Because the World Doesn’t Really Want You to Succeed
The founder of Dealflow believes that the ability to stay resilient is very much what persistence is about. It is not about being resilient one day, but about keeping at it over many days, months, years, and even decades.
“The world will give you a million reasons why you won’t be able to do this,” Seb says. “People won’t reply; they will say that it’s a bad idea. People say no because they don’t think you have what it takes. Investors will say no because there’s someone better than you. And the only thing that stands in the way of you giving up and failing is your ability to stay resilient when the world knocks you down and when the world hits you in the face.”
The founder of Dealflow believes that the ability to stay resilient is very much what persistence is about. It is not about being resilient one day, but about keeping at it over many days, months, years, and even decades.
“Among eight billion people on the planet, those who can take the most pain before giving up are the ones who end up standing and getting what they want. So, persistence and resilience are key ingredients in succeeding in that journey,” Seb says.
Accuracy: the Crucial Ingredient to Adapting to a Volatile Market
A principle that underpins Dealflow’s operations is what Seb calls “accuracy” in thinking, communication, and execution. In practice, this means reducing ambiguity within teams, ensuring alignment, and avoiding assumptions that lead to costly mistakes. Clear communication, he argues, is not just operational discipline; it is a foundation for trust.
“If you don’t focus on accuracy in your thinking and in your communication, gaps will show up…which creates confusion and prevents people from being on the same page.” He notes that the only way to solve this is for both parties to agree that accurate communication is the most important thing and to reduce the communication gaps to zero.
Core Challenges and Lessons Learned
One of the biggest challenges in fintech, Seb explains, lies in the hidden complexity of building financial infrastructure. “You must have 99.999 accuracy and certainty in what you’re doing before making a decision, and this was one main challenge in the beginning.”
Small errors can have significant consequences for users and the business. Much of the early journey involved trials and errors—mistakes that were costly but ultimately necessary to refine the product and strengthen its foundation.
The process requires resilience and a courageous mindset as the only way to learn is to see the mistake, feel the pain and then use that to grow to get better and try the next day. “These mistakes are often the most valuable things because they teach something important about reality and why it doesn’t work, which leads to integrating the system and preventing communication gaps.”
What AI Will—and Won’t—Change in Fintech
Looking ahead, Seb believes AI will transform fintech primarily behind the scenes—optimising systems, reducing costs, and improving efficiency—while the user experience itself may remain relatively familiar.
One thing that will always stay competitive, which I think most people underestimate, is a story about a real, authentic human experience.
At the same time, he sees a growing importance in distinctly human capabilities, particularly storytelling and authentic experience. In an increasingly automated world, these qualities will become even more valuable.
“One thing that will always stay competitive, which I think most people underestimate, is a story about a real, authentic human experience. Personal experience, for example. Especially, the real courage of real people in the real world will always translate into a story people haven’t heard before. And this, over time, will bring us more towards being storytellers than anything else.”
What Gen Z Entrepreneurs Bring to the Fintech Sector
Seb believes Gen Z entrepreneurs bring a more direct and transparent approach to communication, shaped by growing up in a highly connected digital environment. This often translates into closer relationships with customers and a stronger emphasis on authenticity in product development and service delivery.
“Centring everything around customers’ needs and keeping a fresh approach becomes the bread and butter of Dealflow. We have most of our customers on WhatsApp, so I talk with them personally. Our communication is very direct, very open, very transparent. And I’m always on top of what’s important.”
Advice to Newcomers Seeking to Become Entrepreneurs
An entrepreneur’s life hangs on a very thin thread due to the risks that they take, both personally and professionally.
“My advice to young entrepreneurs is to treasure accuracy in your internal voice as the most valuable asset in your life,” he says. “It will connect you to God. It will show you how to overcome your demons. It will help you separate noise and signals by empowering you to build things that work in the real world. And it will forge strong discernment about what matters and what doesn’t matter.” Practices like daily reflection or journaling, he suggests, can help sharpen that clarity over time.
Ultimately, building a company comes down to making decisions under uncertainty and continuously learning how to make them better. “As a CEO, I make hundreds of decisions a day, and the only way to not mess up is to operate on accuracy and, over time, make sure that leads to great decisions and alignment, and then success.”
What began as a frustrating experience chasing payments across borders has evolved into a platform designed to eliminate that very friction.
For Seb, the journey is less about building a fintech company—and more about solving real problems with clarity, persistence, and an increasingly rare asset in today’s world: accuracy in how we think, communicate, and act.
