How Float used 'customer obsession' to build the right products

Rob Khazzam, co-founder and CEO of the Canadian fintech company, enters the BBC's Executive Lounge to talk about how a laser-focus on customers breeds the innovation clients truly need.

The first step in figuring out what customers need? Putting yourself in their shoes. It wasn't hard for Rob Khazzam – he'd experienced the problem he needed to solve first-hand.

Before founding Float, which offers expense software and corporate spending cards, Khazzam served as Uber's general manager, first across Central Europe, then in Canada. Even at one of the largest tech companies in the world, he still spent hundreds of thousands of dollars out of his own wallet on corporate purchases, then struggled get reimbursed quickly.

After Uber, Khazzam set out to address that problem directly, focusing on small- and medium-sized firms, who struggle with even fewer resources. Beyond the pain points even executives experience with expenses, Canadian fintech Float set out how build the right product that also considered the unique concerns of small firms: high interest payments on loans, persistent inflation and tight margins.

"We've been looking at it and going, 'what is something we can do that will move the needle for the market, and our customers, in a time of need">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });