Demo home | Fast Growth Icons

“What an event!! Inspiring, pragmatic, insightful and also great fun! Many practical ideas to implement immediately.”

Andrea Reynolds
CEO & Founder, Swoop

What makes the ‘Icons experience’ unique?

It’s exclusively for founders and CEOs– means you’ll be surrounded by people performing the same role at a similar sized company, so discussion is at the right level.

All the speakers are founders or CEOs of accomplished scaleups themselves, the majority have valuations > $1b, and share their experiences openly and honestly.

There is no catch – with a strict ‘zero sales’ policy, you will only get practical insights about what worked, what didn’t and how they successfully scaled.

“I rarely, if ever, get to connect with founders who are also CEOs who are also at a similar inflection point or moment of scale in their business. Invaluable networking, personal development and learning.”

Kathryn Parsons
CEO – Co-Founder, Decoded

Creating the 100m+ revenue stars of the future

Fast Growth Icons provides the three pivotal things you need to deliver a breakout success

Motivation – Inspirational founders share their success and failure stories and prepare you for the realities of being a founder of a business valued over $1b

Knowledge – Open dialogue amongst peers about the issues that matter, our guests consistently feedback being blown away by the quality of discussion and energy in the room

Connections – everyone is the founder of CEO of an impressive scaleup because a strong network and knowing who to get help from is key to fast-tracking growth

“The practical advice I got from two founders was genuinely transformative to both my business and effectiveness as a leader.”

Zandra Moore
CEO, Panintelligence

THE ICONS EXPERIENCE

Speakers

Steven Mendel
CEO & Co-founder

Founded 2012 I Employees 286
Funding $483m I Valuation $2.4b

Bio

Margo Polishchuk
Co-Founder & Director

Founded 2017 I Employees 283
Funding $20m

Bio

Guy Podjarny
Founder & President

Founded 2015 I Employees 1000+
Raised $850M I Valuation $8.6b

Bio

Husayn Kassai
Co-founder

Founded 2010 I Employees 608
Funding $211m I Valuation $2b to $3b I Pre IPO

Bio

Martina King
CEO

Founded 2008 I Employees 400
Funding $109m

Bio

Julian Teicke
CEO & Founder, Wefox

Founded 2015 I Employees 508
Funding $921m I Valuation $3.0b

Bio

Nina Pütz
CEO, Ratepay

Founded 2009 | Employees 206
Funding $83m

Bio

Nicolaus Schefenacker
Co-Founder & Managing Director

Founded 2015 I Employees 1,000
Funding >$350m I Valuation >$1.0b

Bio

Florian Brand
CEO and Co-Founder

Founded 2018 I Employees 131
Funding $374m I Valuation $2.6b

Bio

Jonathan Anguelov
Co-Founder

Founded 2014 I Employees 634
Funding $226m I Valuation $1b

Bio

Eléonore Crespo
Co-Founder & Co-CEO

Founded 2019 I Employees 70
Funding $100m+

Bio

Oscar Höglund
Co-founder & CEO

Founded 2009 | Employees 505
Funding $510m | Valuation $1.4b

Bio

Jeronimo Folgueira
CEO & Director, Deezer

Founded 2006 I Employees 769
Funding $528m I Valuation $1.1b

Bio

Melissa Serfaty
Co-Founder & CMO, Artur’In

Founded 2016 I Employees 169
Funding $52.3m I Valuation $185—277m

Bio

Mathieu Nebra
Co-founder & CIO, OpenClassrooms

Founded 2013 I Employees 500+
Funding $226m I Valuation $1b*

Bio

Stephan Tilk
Vice Chairman & Group CEO

Founded 2012 | Employees 500
Valuation $1.8b

Bio

Sarah Al-Hussaini
Co-founder & COO

Founded 2016 | Employees 140
Funding $27.4m | Valuation $100m

Bio

Davis Siksnans
Co-founder

Founded 2013 | Employees 1700+
Funding $130m | Valuation $1b

Bio

Carl-Magnus Norde
Founder & Executive Chairman

Founded 2019 | Employees 373
Funding $323m | Valuation $490m

Bio

Ben Fletcher
Founder

Launch 2021 I Staff 40
Funding $22m

Bio

Testimonials

PREVIOUS ATTENDEES

Sponsors

Fast Growth Icons achieved a Net Promoter Score of 85

100% of people attending the 2021 London event rated it ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very good’ with over 80% rating it as ‘Excellent’.

Steven Mendel

NED & Co-founder

Steven founded Bought By Many, which is disrupting the world of pet insurance through the innovative use of tech, and is building a business to become an irresistible employer that is obsessive about customer service. (www.boughtbymany.com).

In April 2019 Steven was included in the London Business School Review of 30 People Who Are Changing The World.

Founded 2012 | Staff 408 | Funding 483 | Valuation $2.4b

Time off? You must be joking

Presentation

Margo Polishchuk

Co-Founder & Director

Margo Polishchuk is the co-founder and chief commercial officer at proSapient, a global expert network and primary research business. proSapient helps institutional investors and managers, as well as their consultants, gain access to critical knowledge with which they can make better informed investment decisions and complete the highest standard of due diligence. The firm's headcount has reached 283 people thanks to its triple digit annual revenue growth.

An expert network specialist by profession too, Margo started her career at Coleman Research. There, she set account management sales and revenue records within the firm’s EMEA business building a book of private equity, hedge fund and consulting clients. Most of these are proSapient clients today. Margo is also a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship and innovation at the London School of Economics.

Founded 2017 | Employees 283 | Funding $20m

Operating a distributed working environment at scale

Presentation

Guy Podjarny

Founder & President

Guy Podjarny is Snyk's Founder and President, focused on driving developer-first security. Guy was previously CTO at Akamai, following its acquisition of his web performance startup, Blaze.io, and prior to that led the first Application Security solution, AppScan. Guy is a frequent speaker, has authored multiple books with O'Reilly, and is an angel investor.

Founded 2015 | Employees 1000+ | Funding $850m | Valuation $8.6b

The value of experience

Presentation

Husayn Kassai

Co-founder

Husayn Kassai is the Onfido CEO and Co-Founder. Onfido uses AI to verify any government ID and then compares it with the person’s facial biometrics. Founded in 2012, Onfido has grown to a team of 400 across SF, NYC and London; received over $200m in funding from TPG, Salesforce, Microsoft and others; and works with over 1,500 fintech, banking and marketplace clients globally – helping them onboard more users while reducing risk. Husayn is a WEF Tech Pioneer; a Forbes Contributor; and Forbes' “30 Under 30”. He has a BA in Economics and Management from Keble College, Oxford.

Founded 2010 I Employees 608 I Funding $211m I Valuation $2b to $3b I Pre IPO

Creating the right team for growth: buy vs build

Presentation

Martina King

CEO

Martina leads a team of technology experts on a mission to make the world a safer place to transact. She has built a leading enterprise software business that protects millions of people and thousands of organizations from the threats of fraud and financial crime. Formerly MD of augmented reality company Aurasma, Martina held leadership roles at Yahoo! and Capital Radio and held numerous Non-Exec roles on PLCs and Not for Profit organisations.

Accolades include: Cards and Payments Industry Achievement Award, PaymentsSource, ‘Most Influential Women in Payments’; Silicon Republic, ‘Top 40 Powerful Women in Tech’; Cambridge News, ‘Businessperson of the Year’.

Founded 2008 I Employees 400 I Funding $109m

Adapting to change: how the CEO and the organization need to adapt to grow

Presentation

Julian Teicke

CEO & Founder

Julian Teicke is the CEO and co-founder of wefox, a full-stack digital insurance company driven by a simple purpose - to make people safe and prevent risk. This is achieved by reinventing insurance at scale using technology.

Julian launched wefox in 2015 as a digital platform connecting brokers to their customers and insurers. In 2018, Julian launched wefox Insurance which is Europe’s first fully-digital insurance carrier and Germany’s fastest growing insurance company. Since launch the company has doubled its revenues every year to reach USD$100M in 2020 and achieve profitability. wefox Group is Europe’s leading digital insurance company. The business has 600 employees serving more than 600,000 customers. In 2021, wefox raised a series C of $650m - a world record for an insurtech and giving the company a market valuation of $3b.

Founded 2015 I Employees 508 I Funding $921m I Valuation $3.0b

Navigating through the crisis. How FinTechs master the change

Presentation

Sabrina Flunkert

CFO and MD

Sabrina Flunkert is a result-oriented and commercially driven leader passionate about building sustainable businesses in fintech and retail. Currently the Managing Director & Chief Financial Officer at Ratepay, she oversees operational, finance, and compliance functions. With over fifteen years of industry experience, she has held notable management and investment roles. Before Ratepay, Sabrina served as Managing Director & CFO of LUMAS | Whitewall, an EQT portfolio company. Before that, she spent six years as a Director at EQT Partners, a leading private equity fund. She has successfully acquired and exited over 15 companies, including IPOs and carve-outs, arranged structured financing, built, and scaled teams, and drove digitalization and strategy efforts. Sabrina’s expertise and contributions have been instrumental in steering Ratepay toward profitability and implementing asset-light structures. Her leadership continues to fuel the success of Ratepay as a leading fintech company in the payment industry.

Founded 2009 | Employees 300

Setting goals and building accountability

Presentation

Nicolaus Schefenacker

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Nicolaus Schefenacker is Co-Founder and Managing Director of sennder, Europe's leading digital freight forwarder. Founded by David Nothacker, Julius Koehler, and Nicolaus Schefenacker, sennder connects enterprise shippers such as ABInBev and Cabot with small, medium-sized trucking companies, offering access to its network of 12,500 connected trucks. To date, sennder has raised more than $350m from some of Europe's leading investors and employs 950 employees across 9 offices.

Nicolaus originally started his career in strategy consulting at Roland Berger and venture development at Rocket Internet. He holds a Bachelor in Economics from Bocconi University as well as an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Founded 2015 | Employees 1000 | Funding $350m | Valuation $1b

How to change your engagement with the business during hyper-growth

Presentation

Florian Brand

CEO & Co-Founder

Florian Brand is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of atai Life Sciences, a global biotech company builder with the vision of ultimately ending mental health disorders. Prior to joining atai, Florian was the Managing Director of Springlane,
Germany’s leading online kitchen appliance retailer.

Although Florian suffered from anxiety in his youth, he was able to achieve remission through a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and a robust meditation practice. Nevertheless, his experiences seeing his friends and loved ones failed by the mental healthcare system inspired him to join the movement to transform the treatment landscape for patients who have been unable to find relief in currently available therapies.

“We know that mental healthcare is likely the single largest unmet medical need in the world. We know that what’s out there now isn’t working. And we know that there are better options. So, let’s bridge the gap together.”

Founded 2018 I Employees 131 I Funding $374m I Valuation $2.6b

Disrupting a boring industry without knowing it - debunking the myths of scaling

Presentation

Jonathan Anguelov

Co-Founder, Aircall

Jonathan has always had entrepreneurship in his DNA, with a particular passion for real estate. After working with La City in London, he joined Aircall in 2014 to build the sales organization. Jonathan studied finance at ESCP Europe.

Founded 2014 I Employees 634 I Funding $226m I Valuation $1b

Raising growth equity

Presentation

Eléonore Crespo

Co-Founder & co-CEO

Eléonore Crespo is the co-founder and co-CEO of Pigment, the multidimensional business planning platform. Pigment’s mission is to allow businesses everywhere to make better, faster decisions in a changing world – drawing on data analysis, intuitive design and sophisticated modelling to help leaders spend more time thinking and less time number-crunching.

Prior to Pigment, Eléonore was an investor at Index Ventures, working side-by-side with entrepreneurs and spearheading investments in Alan, Spendesk, Swile and Slite. Before Index she worked as a senior analyst at Google, reporting directly to the EMEA president and CFO on matters of strategy and planning.

Eléonore studied quantum physics and engineering at the École Normale Supérieure and the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines, two of the most competitive institutions of higher education in France.

Founded 2019 I Employees 70 I Funding $100m+

How story telling can help in the transition to a larger business

Presentation

Oscar Höglund

Co-founder & CEO

Oscar Höglund co-founded Epidemic in 2009 along with four other Swedish entrepreneurs all on a mission to soundtrack the world by enabling music to flow freely and fairly. His background is in television production and management consultancy. He was a part of the management team for the large corporation Zodiak Television, which has produced popular TV shows that were exported all over the world.

A decade later, Epidemic has become the number one music provider for storytellers and has over 400 employees and offices in nine major cities across the globe. The soundtracks are created by independent musicians from all around the world, who through the power of the Epidemic storytelling network are building fanbases and emerging as artists.

Founded 2009 | Employees 505 | Funding $510m | Valuation $1.4b

A message from the future: how to plan for the next stage

Presentation

Jeronimo Folgueira

CEO & Director, Deezer

Prior to joining Deezer, Jeronimo served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Board of Spark Networks (NYSE: LOV) in Berlin. During that time he led the transformation of Spark Networks through three strategic M&A transactions, quadrupling the size of the company in four years. He also oversaw the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2017. This made him the youngest European CEO on the NYSE at the time.

Jeronimo has also held a number of senior management positions, including at Betfair, Bigpoint and RTL Group. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Navarra.

He is a Member of the Board of Directors of Tio Tech, a Nasdaq listed SPAC that aims to help European unicorns access US capital markets.

Founded 2006 | Employees 976 | Funding $686m | Valuation $1.1b

The power of focus and understanding the trade-offs

Presentation

Melissa Serfaty

Co-Founder & CMO, Artur’In

As a young McGill graduate, Melissa began her career in social entrepreneurship, advising dozens of companies on their social impact measurement. In early 2016, she meets her future partners around the same willingness to have a scalable impact on the local economy and sells her social venture to co-found Artur’In, an AI-powered local marketing solution for SMB. Artur’In raised €42M in June 2021, has over 3500 clients across various industries (real estate, insurance, accounting, lawyers, automobile…) and 180 employees.

Founded 2016 I Employees 169 I Funding $52.3m I Valuation $185—277m

Growing a vision-led business

Presentation

Mathieu Nebra

Co-founder & CIO, OpenClassrooms Mathieu Nebra is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of OpenClassrooms, the leading online education platform in Europe with 355 000 visitors every month. Mathieu created the site at age 13 with the strong belief that innovation and technology can empower anyone to master digital skills. Mathieu is a key innovator in online learning and was selected as MIT Innovators Under 35.

Founded 1999 | Employees 500+ | Funding $149m | Valuation $480m

How trust enables speed of execution

Presentation

Stephan Tilk

Vice Chairman & Group CEO

NEVS is a disruptive mobility organization that develops vehicles and mobility solutions. NEVS has around 350 employees and innovators with solid industrial automotive experience and competence in Mobility as a Service. NEVS was established in 2012 with roots from the 1940s, and located in Trollhättan, Sweden’s automotive cluster.

Founded 2012 | Employees 500 | Valuation $1.8b

How to structure a product-led company

Presentation

Sarah Al-Hussaini

Co-founder & COO Sarah Al-Hussaini is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of ultimate.ai, the world's leading virtual agent platform, powered by artificial intelligence. ultimate.ai has been named by WIRED as one of Europe's Hottest 100 Startups and by Forbes as a Top 100 Most Innovative Companies. An expert in customer experience and AI, Sarah is passionate about diversity in tech and the power of technology to create a better world for people and planet. She was awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2019.

Founded 2016 | Staff 330 I Funding $28.6m | Acquired

A practical approach to international expansion

Presentation

Davis Siksnans

Co-founder

Davis Siksnans is the CEO and co-founder of Printful, one of the industry's largest print-on-demand drop shipping businesses with more than 1,700 employees and ten in-house fulfillment centers around the world. The company has fulfilled more than 47 million items since it launched in 2013.

Davis has over a decade of experience working for one of Latvia’s pioneering IT companies, Draugiem Group. He joined in 2009 and became involved in various ongoing projects, eventually channeling his efforts to develop the Group’s vision of a print-on-demand service known today as Printful. Davis’ IT background, business ambition, and determination have helped transform Printful into a global printing, warehousing, and tech company that's become the first unicorn company with Latvian roots and has been listed among the fastest-growing companies in the US. Davis has also had the honor of being ranked in the Forbes Latvia 30 under 30 list in 2020.

Founded 2013 | Employees 1700+ | Funding $130m | Valuation $1b

A return to reality

Presentation

Carl-Magnus Norde

Founder & Executive Chairman, Volta Trucks

Carl-Magnus Norden is Founder of Volta Trucks, a company that he started investigating in 2016 and founded in 2019, having previously worked in the electrification of existing commercial vehicles. He has over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience with a proven history of starting and scaling businesses in multinational settings, having lived in six European countries, and started business in most of them in industry’s as diverse as real estate, private equity, internet services, crowdfunding and now electrification of transport. He has extensive experience in Business and Technology Development, and Venture Capital markets. Carl-Magnus is a Swedish national who graduated from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and until 2020, was the Chairman of the Board of its Swedish Alumni.

Founded 2019 | Employees 373 | Funding $323m | Valuation $490m

Ben Fletcher

Founder, The Mothership

Ben is the founder and CEO of The Mothership, an acquirer of e-commerce businesses, he's also the host of the Velocity² community and the creator of the Fast Growth Icons events series.

Over the last 10 years, since he left his first business, he has been dedicated to helping other founders grow their companies through mentoring, investing, his events, and the community. He's now taking e-commerce businesses to the next level with The Mothership.

“What an event!! Inspiring, pragmatic, insightful and also great fun! Many practical ideas to implement immediately.”

What makes the ‘Icons experience’ unique?

“I rarely, if ever, get to connect with founders who are also CEOs who are also at a similar inflection point or moment of scale in their business. Invaluable networking, personal development and learning.”

Creating the 100m+ revenue stars of the future

“The practical advice I got from two founders was genuinely transformative to both my business and effectiveness as a leader.”

THE ICONS EXPERIENCE

Speakers

Founded 2012 I Employees 286Funding $483m I Valuation $2.4b

Founded 2017 I Employees 283Funding $20m

Founded 2015 I Employees 1000+Raised $850M I Valuation $8.6b

Founded 2010 I Employees 608Funding $211m I Valuation $2b to $3b I Pre IPO

Founded 2008 I Employees 400Funding $109m

Founded 2015 I Employees 508Funding $921m I Valuation $3.0b

Founded 2009 | Employees 206Funding $83m

Founded 2015 I Employees 1,000Funding >$350m I Valuation >$1.0b

Founded 2018 I Employees 131Funding $374m I Valuation $2.6b

Founded 2014 I Employees 634Funding $226m I Valuation $1b

Founded 2019 I Employees 70Funding $100m+

Founded 2009 | Employees 505Funding $510m | Valuation $1.4b

Founded 2006 I Employees 769Funding $528m I Valuation $1.1b

Founded 2016 I Employees 169Funding $52.3m I Valuation $185—277m

Founded 2013 I Employees 500+Funding $226m I Valuation $1b*

Founded 2012 | Employees 500Valuation $1.8b

Founded 2016 | Employees 140Funding $27.4m | Valuation $100m

Founded 2013 | Employees 1700+Funding $130m | Valuation $1b

Founded 2019 | Employees 373Funding $323m | Valuation $490m

Launch 2021 I Staff 40Funding $22m

Testimonials

PREVIOUS ATTENDEES

Sponsors

Fast Growth Icons achieved a Net Promoter Score of 85

Linkedin

Steven Mendel

Founded 2012 | Staff 408 | Funding 483 | Valuation $2.4b

Time off? You must be joking

Margo Polishchuk

Founded 2017 | Employees 283 | Funding $20m

Operating a distributed working environment at scale

Guy Podjarny

Founded 2015 | Employees 1000+ | Funding $850m | Valuation $8.6b

The value of experience

Husayn Kassai

Founded 2010 I Employees 608 I Funding $211m I Valuation $2b to $3b I Pre IPO

Creating the right team for growth: buy vs build

Martina King

Founded 2008 I Employees 400 I Funding $109m

Adapting to change: how the CEO and the organization need to adapt to grow

Julian Teicke

Founded 2015 I Employees 508 I Funding $921m I Valuation $3.0b

Navigating through the crisis. How FinTechs master the change

Sabrina Flunkert

Founded 2009 | Employees 300

Setting goals and building accountability

Nicolaus Schefenacker

Founded 2015 | Employees 1000 | Funding $350m | Valuation $1b

How to change your engagement with the business during hyper-growth

Florian Brand

Founded 2018 I Employees 131 I Funding $374m I Valuation $2.6b

Disrupting a boring industry without knowing it - debunking the myths of scaling

Jonathan Anguelov

Founded 2014 I Employees 634 I Funding $226m I Valuation $1b

Raising growth equity

Eléonore Crespo

Founded 2019 I Employees 70 I Funding $100m+

How story telling can help in the transition to a larger business

Oscar Höglund

Founded 2009 | Employees 505 | Funding $510m | Valuation $1.4b

A message from the future: how to plan for the next stage

Jeronimo Folgueira

Founded 2006 | Employees 976 | Funding $686m | Valuation $1.1b

The power of focus and understanding the trade-offs

Melissa Serfaty

Founded 2016 I Employees 169 I Funding $52.3m I Valuation $185—277m

Growing a vision-led business

Mathieu Nebra

Founded 1999 | Employees 500+ | Funding $149m | Valuation $480m

How trust enables speed of execution

Stephan Tilk

Founded 2012 | Employees 500 | Valuation $1.8b

How to structure a product-led company

Founded 2012 I Employees 286
Funding $483m I Valuation $2.4b

Founded 2017 I Employees 283
Funding $20m

Founded 2015 I Employees 1000+
Raised $850M I Valuation $8.6b

Founded 2010 I Employees 608
Funding $211m I Valuation $2b to $3b I Pre IPO

Founded 2008 I Employees 400
Funding $109m

Founded 2015 I Employees 508
Funding $921m I Valuation $3.0b

Founded 2009 | Employees 206
Funding $83m

Founded 2015 I Employees 1,000
Funding >$350m I Valuation >$1.0b

Founded 2018 I Employees 131
Funding $374m I Valuation $2.6b

Founded 2014 I Employees 634
Funding $226m I Valuation $1b

Founded 2019 I Employees 70
Funding $100m+

Founded 2009 | Employees 505
Funding $510m | Valuation $1.4b

Founded 2006 I Employees 769
Funding $528m I Valuation $1.1b

Founded 2016 I Employees 169
Funding $52.3m I Valuation $185—277m

Founded 2013 I Employees 500+
Funding $226m I Valuation $1b*

Founded 2012 | Employees 500
Valuation $1.8b

Founded 2016 | Employees 140
Funding $27.4m | Valuation $100m

Founded 2013 | Employees 1700+
Funding $130m | Valuation $1b

Founded 2019 | Employees 373
Funding $323m | Valuation $490m

Launch 2021 I Staff 40
Funding $22m