The journey continues

It’s been over 12 months since my last update on the Carmoola journey, and what an incredible ride it’s been. The last time I shared our story was just after raising our Series A in March 2023. So much has happened since then, and it’s time to fill you in…

Let’s “Re-rewind, eh yeah, selecta” – thanks, Craig David.

After closing our Series A, the macro environment shifted dramatically. Interest rates skyrocketed from 0% to 5%. As a lending business, this meant our cost of capital increased significantly, which forced us to adjust our rates for new customers. We were concerned this would dampen demand for Carmoola, but how wrong we were. Demand just kept growing and growing… more on that later. 

Anyway, before launching Carmoola, we had lots of ideas about how customers would use our product. But as with many things, we had to adapt quickly based on real-world usage. We receive positive feedback daily, which motivates the team to keep pushing for an easier, cheaper, and faster car-buying experience.

My favourite recent quote from a customer:

“An absolute dream to use this service, faultless and seamless. The whole thing [buying a car] only took a few hours, including the dealer being paid! If you need car finance, look no further. I only spoke to one human, and that was a courtesy call to welcome me to the family!

“A few days after the car purchase, I received a gift from Carmoola, which was a really nice touch! The socks are comfy! But seriously, my experience was fantastic, and I will definitely be using them again for my next purchase!”

Demand has been crazy. We have had over two million people apply on the app since launching. While we are still unable to lend to everyone, we’ll shortly have some big updates that will radically change this. We have now helped over 5,000+ customers and are rapidly accelerating this and aim to have helped 10,000 customers buy their new car by January. 

I’m so proud that during this time we will only add a couple more people to the team, which means we can pass some of these cost savings to our customers.

Beyond the fantastic customer reactions, I’ve personally learned a ton. Lending is incredibly complex, data-heavy, and analytical. Coming from a non-financial background, I’ve had a steep learning curve, especially with my dyslexia. 

I see myself more as a Richard Branson than an Elon Musk type of entrepreneur. The interconnectedness of marketing, credit risk, and product functions has been a revelation. Every change impacts the performance of a loan – from the type of advert to the price quoted. It’s amazing and so interesting. I could talk for hours on this and feel free to reach out to me if you want to chat more.

Over the past year, the market has evolved significantly. Traditional lenders have been under fire for practices that rip off customers, such as paying higher commissions to dealers who charge more interest. This is one of the reasons we started Carmoola – to empower customers to get the best deal and have an amazing experience. Industry changes are opening up opportunities to serve more customers than ever. I really hope the FCA continues their drive to improve customer outcomes in the motor industry. 

Not everything has been smooth sailing. Recruitment remains one of the toughest parts of growing the business. We are very particular about the kind of people we want on our team, and finding those who share our values is challenging. As Steve Jobs said, when you are small, every person you add is a significant percentage of the company. It’s crucial we get it right. People sometimes think being a CEO is a glamorous life but the reality is different.  I spend 70% of my time recruiting, which I love and hate at the same time. Love, because you get to meet so many fantastic people, but hate because you have to speak to so many people before you find “the one”. I think this is an area that a lot of early companies get wrong and I believe in being a part of the recruitment process for most of the roles. 

Speaking of recruitment, we’ve added some world-class people to the team over the last 12 months, across marketing, operations, engineering, compliance, finance and capital markets. The quality of talent - and the drive and hunger they bring - has been really invigorating and is a big vote of confidence in the Carmoola story and mission.

As a result, we had to move to a new HQ to accommodate the bigger - but still modestly-sized - team, and which reflects the dynamism of the company. We’ve avoided the start-up cliches of ping-pong tables and nap pods, while creating an environment that people actually want to be in, and which supports collaboration and creativity.

While we remain small and nimble, we are feeling growing pains. We have around 36 people on the team and are still on track to deliver the “£billion book with less than 100 people,” goal, but organising and communication gets challenging with more people. Now we have four squads working on different parts of the customer journey, from marketing and acquisition to a team focused on customers once they have a loan. Getting the structure right in a lending business is so difficult and balancing getting stuff done with the discipline of lending a lot of money is a balancing act that’s equal parts art and science. 

One of the best parts of this journey has been meeting so many interesting and incredible people who have built businesses before. I underestimated the importance of picking the right investors. At Carmoola, we benefit from learning from the likes of Nigel Morris, Kevin Ryan, and our board members, including Apostolos, Nikos and Yusuf. 

Choosing the right investors has been one of the magic ingredients of Carmoola’s success. One standout moment was going to the QED CEO conference in Washington and then onto New York, where I met with Kevin Ryan. In the same month I was invited to Athens to speak at the VentureFriends LP event, which was an incredible privilege. 

A personal highlight of the year was marrying Amy. As a co-founder of Carmoola, she’s been instrumental in the company’s success and particularly in implementing the super-high standards that make our app, and service, world-beating. As a partner - in both business and life - I can think of no-one better. 

What’s next?

We plan to stay focused on building an incredible customer experience in the UK. We are exploring new ways customers can pay for cars and are very excited about the potential of additional services our customers are requesting, like insurance. The future looks bright.

I want to thank everyone at Carmoola for their hard work and dedication to our customers. The team’s efforts are truly remarkable, and I am extremely grateful. I also want to thank our investors QED, Venture Friends, AlleyCorp, and everyone else for their amazing support. If Carlsberg did investors, you guys would definitely be the best in the world. 

It’s also important to thank all the banks that have believed in what we are building and trusted us with tens of millions of pounds. But most important is our customers that have taken a risk, used Carmoola and tried something new…

Onwards and upwards! 🌟