Meet our Premium Member Dominique Rey – Co-Founder at Numarics

Please tell us about Numarics.

Numarics was founded in February 2020 with the idea to free SMEs in Switzerland from administration by performing accounting services such as bookkeeping, VAT, Taxes, Financial statements and audit in a more efficient way. 

From this idea, the product was developed by Swiss experts in finance, auditing, artificial intelligence and automation with a vision to seamlessly integrate business management into the lifestyle of today’s entrepreneurs. We launched our first product in September 2021 and won the Best of Swiss Apps award in October 2021.

Today, through acquisitions and organic growth, we have grown to over 150 employees in more than three countries. Of which more than 100 employees are experts in the area of Swiss accounting, tax, VAT, payroll, real estate accounting and audit.

Tell us more about your plans for 2023. What is your long-term vision?

In 2023, our focus is to further implement, integrate and acquire new accounting firms, as well as enhance and improve our SaaS. 

After our financing round last year in March 2021, where we raised CHF 2.1m led by Switzerland based Wingman Ventures and followed by SeedX Liechtenstein in pre-seed, we are raising a large seed round this year and plan to close the deal by the end of May 2023.

Our long-term vision is a world where our clients are freed from administration and therefore are more successful by focusing on their own business. To put that vision into reality, we are building an ecosystem that is servicing an SME from end-to-end with all important aspects relating to accounting, taxes, cash management, payroll, etc. We are especially proud to serve not only tech startups, but our advanced accounting technology also appeals to non-digital SMEs for its intuitive and integrated usability.

What has been the biggest success that you have achieved in your startup?

We have achieved several big milestones and successes since foundation. One was definitely the launch of our product in September 2021, only 18 months after we started the company. Another important milestone was certainly that within a short time after our product went live, we were the winners of the Best of Swiss App Award.

In 2022, we had two major milestones. One was certainly the fact that one of the largest accounting firms in Switzerland has decided to join Numarics. With this acquisition, we have not only become one of the largest players in the field of account management, but have also integrated excellent know-how into our company.  Another important milestone I would like to highlight is a collaboration that kicked off last year where we became part of the UBS marketplace for SMEs. Now we are looking to extend this collaboration. I think we will be able to announce more in the second half of this year.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently? What are your biggest learnings?

There are no major things we would really do differently. We already had an excellent team at the start of the company and the right vision.

There are two big lessons that every startup has to learn: One is the fact that fundraising is central to the story of any startup. Theoretically, we were aware of all this from the beginning. But when you are directly involved in fundraising, you realize how intense these times are and how much energy you have to spend in order to successfully raise money.  Secondly, client-centricity is absolutely critical. We ask ourselves in everything we do: Is what we are developing helping our clients? What added value are we creating and is there a market for it?

What motivates you to continue your business every day?

I left the safe corporate environment to create something meaningful, something new, something that would last and add value to society leaving a legacy.

The great thing is that every day we improve the company a little bit. Every day you build something better. It is like a constant improvement of what you are building. We work on our long-term goal to build a complete ecosystem servicing SMEs in a way that they have not seen before, that they don’t want to leave anymore because they love it so much. That is a strong driver for motivation. It is a long journey to build that, with daily efforts to make things better than they were yesterday. And I think that is the main purpose at the end. 

Just yesterday, my co-founder Kris and I were discussing how to improve customer success, and it is a fundamental discussion. It’s not like, “Okay, we should improve a little bit.” No, we have to think about exactly what the customer experience should be, how we can get there and how we can get the maximum output with limited resources in a short amount of time.

This job challenges me on all levels in a positive way. Time-wise, I had a lot of pressure before. But now, as an entrepreneur, I really have a whole range of topics on the table and decisions to make with my team. From Classic Operations to Customer Success, to Product, Sales, Legal, Marketing, HR Matters and PR just to name a few. This is a strong motivation for me, as it provides me with a steep learning curve, challenges me on all levels and pushes me forward.

One piece of advice for someone who is just starting out with their startup?

The one piece of advice I would like to share is what drives Numarics – the full focus on the vision. Never forget the vision, no matter what you do. What are we working on? We are working on freeing SMEs from the administration. Everything that helps us to head in this direction needs priority and focus. If you never lose sight of your vision and consistently work towards it, you will succeed.

What does it mean to you to be a member of the Swiss Startup Association? 

The Swiss Startup Association (SSA) provides excellent networking opportunities to meet interesting entrepreneurs, and like-minded people to exchange ideas and talk about solutions, obstacles and lessons learned. For example, there was the Big Founders Dinner with interesting presentations and everyone had the opportunity to network with many entrepreneurs. I found it really exciting to get insights from others on how they approach challenges. Everybody has to tackle many different items such as growth, marketing, PR, in product development in a short period of time with limited resources, and to hear their story on how they tackled it, is one of the many things I like about the SSA events. Professionally the Startup Nights organised by SSA are one of the yearly main signature events in Switzerland, where I recommend Startups to be present and where you can do business very well through the 1:1 meeting possibilities. 

Would you recommend joining the Swiss Startup Association?

Yes, I can absolutely recommend it! Swiss Startup Association (SSA) hosts very well organised meetups with other entrepreneurs, insightful presentations by senior people from the venture capital area and entrepreneurs who have a lot to share. You do not walk alone – others are struggling with and finding solutions for the same challenges that you are. The people I met at SSA events are very open to sharing their insights with you. What I liked most was getting in touch with startup entrepreneurs that you would not meet so easily without these events. On top of that, Raphael Tobler, President at SSA and Founder of the Swiss Startup Nights is an enrichment for the Swiss Startup Scene and a great connector. He is also an entrepreneur and started many initiatives that helped Startups in Switzerland to grow and connect. I am thrilled to know him.

Have you ever visited the events of the Swiss Startup Association?

Yes, absolutely I am recommending SSA events! Swiss Startup Nights is one of the best events of the year for me. It’s a spectacle. Also, I participated at the last SSA Big Founder’s Dinner and I enjoyed the networking, the atmosphere and the talks a lot.

Is there anything that we haven’t asked you that you would like to share with us/the community?

There will be times when you struggle and even ask yourself, why did I actually do all of this and should I continue? Especially then, I recommend you to meet up with the SSA community and feel the incredible energy. After such a gathering, you will be energized to keep going. You will find a room full of people who are determined, inspired and driven to succeed. They’re all hands-on, making tough decisions every day and feeling the pressure, yet they still move forward!

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