[00:00:00] Bertrand: When I started, people say, ah, you know, Thailand, it will be difficult, blah, blah, blah, for XYZ reason. I’m actually very happy to have this office in Thailand. Now we have, uh, I think a bit less than 60 people.
My experience with Phuket is the first day people are very enthusiastic, the second day they’re late, and the third day they don’t show up in the office because, you know, it was very nice weather and good waves and they wanted to do some surfing. So then that’s why we decided, okay, let’s go, let’s move to Bangkok.
~Uh, And then in Bangkok, no, I want to, uh,~ I want to have this office in Bangkok because~ depends on the business, but~ I think for our business, it’s key. ~It’s depends on the business, but I think for our business, it’s key.~ It’s crucial that we have people working together ~with, you know,~ in the same space because otherwise very quickly you run into trouble.
~We have set very, I would say simple rules, nine to six, you know, uh, lunch break, of course. And that’s the time that you dedicate to your, uh, to work during the day. Okay. After six, you do whatever you want. ~
We better go for a fresh grad or someone who, let’s say, has worked, has one year experience, maybe in a completely different industry, but has this hunger and has the right mindset and wants to learn.
[00:00:55] Scott: ~All right,~ Bertrand. So thank you so much, ~uh, ~for joining me on Made in Thailand.
[00:00:59] Bertrand: [00:01:00] Hello. Nice. Thank you for having me today, ~Scott. today, Scott. Now, let’s start. ~
[00:01:02] Scott: ~Yes. Perfect.~ if you can give a brief introduction of yourself, who you are and ~what you’re,~ what you’re doing here in Thailand.
[00:01:06] Bertrand: Okay. So, um, my name is, uh, Bertrand, Bertrand Theaud.
Uh, there’s a French way to pronounce my name. I’m French, obviously. I’m sure you can tell that by my accent already. Uh, so I’ve been in Asia for since 2001. So that’s what 23 years. And I worked in different countries in Asia, uh, mainly in China and then in Thailand. ~So I’ve done a few things, uh, in ~ four years ago, I set up this new company called Statrys.
Uh, it’s a payment platform offering, you know, payment solution to SMEs. Um, and we have an office in Hong Kong where we are regulated, but also a support office in Thailand. That’s where we’re, we are recording today. And we have around 60 people working in this office.
[00:01:48] Scott: Wow. Wow. So, um, for those who aren’t familiar with Statrys, could you dig a little bit deeper into what the company does and the types of services that you offer?
[00:01:59] Bertrand: Okay, [00:02:00] Statrys is a online platform offering, as I said, payment solutions to SMEs.
So, uh, the core product is a business account, and this business account can be used by any uh, company having an account with us to receive funds, uh, hold funds and uh, make payment. That’s number one. And we have associated to this account a number of features that we know are useful and interesting for a small and medium sized enterprise.
So that includes, you know, FX. Uh, I mean, the account is a multi currency account. That’s something I should, I should say. Uh, so a lot of our clients are, you know, trading companies. So they may get paid in one currency and that they have to pay the supplier typically in China in another currency. That’s important for them for them to have a multi currency account.
~So we associated to uh this multi currency account FX features with a spot and uh FX spot Shall I explain what is that and FX for what if people wouldn’t understand?~
[00:02:52] Scott: ~Yeah. Well, it’s okay We’ll dig a little bit deeper into the foreign exchange and things like this a bit later. But I think you kind of covered the basics The overview of what you’re offering.~ So it’s business accounts. It’s multiple, multi currency. So it’s helping these companies.
[00:02:55] Bertrand: Yeah, and FX and then payment cards. if you want to keep it [00:03:00] short.
[00:03:00] Scott: Perfect. Well, the main reason that I invited you on today was because while I’m based here in Thailand, even your, your marketing is hitting me. I know we, I might not be your target demographic, but still in Asia, it just, you guys are everywhere and you’re a relatively young company.
So I think there’s a really good story to tell about the growth that your company has had, and perhaps we can get some lessons from you on how you were able to grow and scale so quickly.
[00:03:24] Bertrand: Yeah, sure. Happy to share.
[00:03:26] Scott: Yeah. So before we dig too much more into the company, I do want to take one step back and talk more about your background.
So I understand, um, well, maybe we touch on your education, um, what you were doing before founding the company and just touch on the TLDR or kind of the shorthand of each of the significant steps in your career before you founded the company.
[00:03:47] Bertrand: Okay. So,
I started as a lawyer. So, uh, I have education. I was, uh, I went to the uni, uh, in, uh, in France.
I mean, very quickly, I knew I would not stay in France [00:04:00] because when I was, when I was young, I was a backpacker. Uh, I didn’t have a lot of money being a backpacker. And of course, then where do you go at that time? I’m speaking about, and I’m an old guy, so I’m speaking about 25 years ago, 30 years ago. So, uh, I traveled a lot in Asia as a backpacker, wasn’t aware when I was a student, I really enjoy Asia.
And I thought, okay, that’s the place where I want to go when I start my career. Uh, especially I wanted to go to China, I really enjoyed my first, um, you know, trip in China.
Um, to be honest, I didn’t think I would stay in China, I mean in, in Asia for almost, you know, what, uh, 30 years now. Um, but, uh, you know, one opportunity after the other, uh, make it, make it me stay here for longer than I thought at the beginning. So I started as a lawyer in the US firm in Paris. They transferred me to their Beijing office. I worked there for some time, then in Shanghai, and then I transitioned from a pure legal practice to business. First, I [00:05:00] had a short experience in a private investment fund, okay? And then at the same time I set up my own business in aviation.
That’s what I used to call my aviation business. And here what we, uh, what we used to do, multiple things, uh, but all, it was all focused on aviation services. So it could be crew leasing, um, maybe I should explain what is, what crew leasing is. So typically crew leasing is when you have an airline that want, uh, that want to recruit, Captain, first officers, instructors, uh, I didn’t know where to get this workforce.
So we were helping them to recruit this, um, this aircrew and, uh, and we will position this aircrew at the airlines, but we will be the one monitoring the, uh, monitoring what was going with the airline. Okay.
So that was one thing. Cruising, ferry flights. [00:06:00] training. I’ve had this business for a number of years, uh, until it collapsed because of COVID. Of course. Yes. So the, the whole business, you know, went dead three months. Okay. COVID started in June, 2020.
Everything was off, dead, nothing by, uh, April, 2020. And funny enough or luckily before that I started, uh, Statrys. Uh, initially, my idea was to work, you know, to divide my time, my work time, between Statrys and, uh, the aviation business.
Also because the aviation business used to pay the bill. Uh, and then eventually, after three months, I mean, by April 2020, aviation business was gone, so I focused exclusively on
So this has become my priority ever since 2020. everyone.
[00:06:55] Scott: Wow. Okay. Got it. Now, I’m curious about your, the aviation [00:07:00] business and why you decided to start in that market. So did you have any history with aviation? Did you ever, you know, think you’d become a, get a private license to be a pilot, anything like that? Or was it just a career focus and nothing to do with aviation on the personal side?
[00:07:13] Bertrand: No, I mean, I have a, I have an interest in aviation, obviously. Uh, but it was more like an opportunity when I was a lawyer, I work on our, I work on the case.
Uh, and then I met, someone that later on became my partner that person.
Uh, so I said hello to George, uh, and so George I already had a business in place Uh, I don’t know. We had a good connection. I started helping him on some legal matters I was interested in getting to know more about the business. So eventually, you know, we decided to partner. Set up a new company, both of us. Uh, the two of us, sorry.
And yeah, this is how it started. And I think what is very important for any kind of business is the momentum. [00:08:00] And there was a very good momentum at the time we started. Because there were a lot of new airlines. Um, you know, launching in Asia, um, there were more and more tourist in Asia, you know, the standard of living, this is also increasing.
So I’m not speaking only about international tourists, but domestic tourists, especially in China. So there were a lot of new airlines launching their business, but they had a lot of difficulties to find a pilot. And for those of you who don’t know, there is a permanent shortage of pilots on the planet.
So Boeing release, uh, a report every year, I think it’s in September, where they say how many, uh, pilots are needed in order to, uh, feed the growth of the industry. And we are speaking about hundreds of thousands of pilots. So this is where we were, you know, we, I was in Asia already, so we managed to have the connection with some Asian airlines.
My partner was a pilot, uh, had a connection [00:09:00] with a lot of pilots. So that was a good combination for us to fill a gap. And this is what we’ve done and we work a lot at the beginning with new airlines in India and in Indonesia and so on.
[00:09:10] Scott: So there’s huge momentum in the industry at that time. But it’s like there’s momentum and then there’s basically a brick wall, which is COVID, which just stops it quickly.
[00:09:18] Bertrand: Yeah, because the momentum never really stopped. Uh, and we were active in this industry when COVID started, we were in the industry for 15 years. So we managed to build kind of a name. In the, in the, in the industry and then yeah, as you say, COVID, uh, hit and then I mean everything about any aviation related, you know, activities got, you know, uh, dead after in three months time.
So there wasn’t, single, uh, single, uh, flight, you know, going on. So. Yeah. This is how it stopped.
[00:09:57] Scott: Right. Well, I guess it’s great that you [00:10:00] had another business that you had started. Right. And, and not only that, but it seems like Statrys also has a ton of momentum now.
[00:10:07] Bertrand: Mm-hmm .
[00:10:07] Scott: Uh, so maybe when you’re focused solely on that at this time mm-hmm right. Is that when you started seeing. Pretty great, good growth.
[00:10:14] Bertrand: Um, there was some time when I was working both, uh, at Statrys and, uh, the, what I call the aviation business, because we have different companies. I won’t give a specific name. Uh,
really at the beginning, Statrys was more like, let’s, let’s see what we can do. Okay. Uh, I will not lie and say that there was a vision, like, okay, this is where we, we are today in three, five, 10 years. Um, The thing is, with the aviation business, I had some problems with the banks. Okay, I mean, nobody would be surprised. It’s something you can hear from a lot of entrepreneurs. Uh, but I will also not do, uh, bank bashing.
I don’t believe in that. There are some reason why the banks, you know, they operate the business the way they [00:11:00] do and they have to, uh, you know, they have to take a lot of, uh, Let’s say cautious measures to make sure to add to because they have to understand what’s going on in an account But it can be painful for an entrepreneur because you know your business, you know, your business is legit and then they keep on asking questions So at some point you’re like, okay, what’s going on? Okay, and I had a number of accounts that get closed also And this I still don’t know why. But anyway, so I knew the difficulty for a SMEs and entrepreneurs to uh To build a relationship with the traditional banks. That’s number one through my own experience, but also when I was a lawyer, I advise, okay, large companies, but also small ones, especially those that wanted to enter into the China market, because this is where my focus was as a lawyer.
And you know, this is, I could hear from that all the time.
So I had this idea in the back of my mind, okay, maybe there’s something that can be done here. Uh, as I said, I’m French. I have [00:12:00] this European background. Um, the, uh, they were, I’m speaking only like five years ago, but there was already a lot of fintechs in Europe.
Some of them very successful. So I thought, okay, maybe there’s something we can do also in, uh, in Asia, uh, especially in Hong Kong. Uh, and having this legal background, I checked, you know, what was necessary to, you know, I mean, the requirements, the condition to get the payment license, because of course that this is a regulated business, I realized that, okay, it was not easy, but that was also not that difficult..
So this is our, uh, our embark on
[00:12:34] Scott: Yes. Okay. So you’d certainly saw the pain and you knew that there was, well, you at least thought there would be an opportunity anytime there’s a pain.
[00:12:40] Bertrand: There was a pain, whether there would be an opportunity. You, you don’t know, because at the end, something I learned is that this business is about trust.
Okay. Okay. That’s the key. Okay. Uh, anyone, any company opening an account with us, the entrepreneur, the owner of the [00:13:00] company, they want to know if their money is safe, what we do with their money and so on. So at the beginning, this is something I didn’t fully realize. I mean, I had it in my mind, of course, but at the beginning it’s, that’s what we knew there was an opportunity.
Whether this opportunity will translate into an actual business, very much dependent on whether we can build this trust, I mean, gain this trust from clients.
And I can tell you, the first year, I used to take a lot of calls with clients, I still do that. Each time I ask a client, okay, any question about Statrys? The answer was,
[00:13:33] Scott: ~no. No. No. Tell me about your history. Tell me about No. ~
[00:13:33] Bertrand: Is my money safe? Oh, okay. Yes. Is my money safe? It was coming again and again and again.
Is my money safe? Is my money safe? It was coming again and again and again. So But we managed to build that trust through our, I think, our online presence, and that’s something we will discuss. But, yeah, I think for me that was the, that was the key in turning this opportunity into a, into, I will not say a big success, but something that’s [00:14:00] successful enough.
[00:14:01] Scott: So it’s a, it’s a relationship business. You have to really trust who you’re working with, you know, you have to trust them, right? It’s a two way relationship.
[00:14:08] Bertrand: Yeah, exactly.
[00:14:09] Scott: Now, before we dig too much deeper into Statrys, something that I do find interesting is the fact that you left France and you mentioned being a backpacker.
And I also noticed on your website, I saw a picture of you at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Now I know that was relatively recently. That was after the founding of this business. Yeah. But if you were doing the climb of Kilimanjaro recently enough, uh, then I can only imagine some of the things that you did prior to that if you were a global traveler.
So is there any highlights that you can share? Um, either recently or in the past, uh, a country that you went to, a place that you visited that you, um, I don’t know, it was very significant in your life. Um, anything you can share.
[00:14:49] Bertrand: Yeah, I would say China. Um, I really, uh, I really love China. Uh, I’m no longer in China for different, different reasons.
It was not the right place to set [00:15:00] up this new business, but I lived in China for almost 15 years, and I had a lot of good experience in China. Um, especially the first one, the first trip where we were backpackers.
You know, there were not a lot of tourists at that time. So, a lot of funny stories, but also meeting with people, I couldn’t speak a word of Chinese, but people were really ready to engage, they were interested to know where we were coming from and so on.
So, no, no, we had a really, really good time. So, I don’t know, what can I say about, you know, yeah. I mean, it’s stupid things, but, uh, again, we didn’t speak the language at all, okay? So, and we were traveling from one city to the other by train, because it was less expensive, okay? And It was kind of difficult at that time to buy a train ticket.
So it happened a number of times where we bought a ticket. We have no clue when we will be arriving at destination So and then we spent like two i’m not exaggerating three days in the [00:16:00] train. Okay, and uh, I remember,
it was a train between Chongqing to uh, Beijing, okay, and then we boarded the train. I have no clue when the train will arrive in uh, in uh in Beijing and uh, I asked the passenger next to me when, you know, when will we arrive.
So trying to show him, okay, I show him my watch and the guy, I say, when, okay, the guy look at my watch and say, and many times I’m like, this guy must be wrong, but he was right. So a lot of funny stories like that. And then when I, when I started, you know, as a professional in China, uh, a lot of other stories like that.
[00:16:41] Scott: Yeah, so there’s no, uh, pull out your iPhone, check the GPS status.
[00:16:49] Bertrand: Nothing like that.
[00:16:50] Scott: Yes. Oh, that’s fantastic. I, I do wonder the, one of the reasons I asked you about your adventures is just because there is a common thread that a lot of entrepreneurs and people that [00:17:00] are willing to take the risk of starting a business, um, tend to be pretty adventurous in, in their lives.
And there’s different outlets for that, whether it’s traveling, whether it’s skydiving, whether it’s mountain climbing or mountaineering. Um, but it seems like you’re quite an adventurer. Would you describe yourself as such?
[00:17:13] Bertrand: Um, no, I don’t know. I mean, it depends, you know, who you compare to. Okay, uh, that’s true that I, I decided to come to Asia, but as I said at the beginning, I had no plan to stay for that long.
So, um,
as adventurer, I think the word is a bit strong for me, you know, this guy who are, Climbing the Mount Everest or things like that. I’ve never done anything like that. I like, you know, outdoor. Does it turn me into an adventurer? I’m not so But something I can share is that as we grow, we recruit more people.
And, uh, I’m sure you know that having an office in Bangkok, you have a number of, I would say, young guys or [00:18:00] girls that are interested to come to Thailand, you know, have a professional experience in Thailand. And I’m always amazed because these guys, let’s say they’re in Europe, they want to come to Thailand.
I’m speaking about people who are 22, 23, you know, they are fresh grad, right after they completed their studies, they say, yeah, I really want to come. Uh, yes, fine. Why not? You know, uh, And then when you start the discussion with them, they’re like, okay, what about my retirement plan? No, I’m not joking. This kind of question, frankly, maybe I’m all side, but I can’t understand.
If I had asked this kind of question when I wanted to go to China, I would have never gone. No. You get my point. Different world. So people will. In this part, if you consider coming to Thailand, an adventure, so people want to have the adventure part of it, but they still want to have the comfort that they have at home.
Like, okay, will I get, you know, uh, this kind of benefit that you have when you work in Europe as an employee? They say, [00:19:00] oh, I want exactly the same. That doesn’t work.
[00:19:02] Scott: You can’t have it both ways. Yeah, anyone that’s moving to Thailand, I’d say Thailand is maybe not as adventurous, to use that word again though, as China, or as Vietnam, or some neighboring countries, because it’s very developed.
But, you absolutely are going to have to get used to some differences here, right? Not everyone’s going to speak English, you’re not going to get a retirement plan, I mean, it’s just, it’s different, different world, right?
[00:19:24] Bertrand: Yeah, it’s completely different, so sometimes I have some difficulties to understand the mindset.
Okay, if you really want to do something and you want to try your, yeah, have a new experience, you know, you have to take some risk. And it’s not a huge risk when you are 22, 23, you have graduated from a good school in Europe, you come to Thailand or China or wherever, stay there for two, three years, what?
Okay? If things don’t turn out the way you want, you can always go back to your own country, right? This is what I had in mind when I first came to China.
[00:19:55] Scott: Yeah, it’s a great time to do it. I think people don’t realize how little of a risk it is [00:20:00] early in your career like that. And I know in Europe, it’s a little more common to have things like gap years.
And, and so it’s like, learn what the world is like, you can fall down probably three or four times and get back up and you’re still going to be okay. Right. So, um, totally fair. Now, getting back to Statrys, uh, you had mentioned a lot about the services. that you offer, uh, where you saw opportunity. We didn’t know if it was going to be business opportunity or if it was just a pain that was going to be hard to overcome given the trust that you have to build up with your clients.
But what about the unique value proposition? Cause I do assume you have some competitors and I’m wondering how you’re able to differentiate yourself and set yourself out, um, apart from them.
[00:20:36] Bertrand: Okay. So that’s, that’s a good question. And, uh, my answer to that is I will not say we have a unique, you know, selling proposition.
I don’t. I don’t know. For me, it’s more like a marketing concept. Okay. Uh, if you, uh, if you have a look at what we’re doing, okay.
But it’s simple. We process payment, whether it’s a payment, you know, originated from [00:21:00] a business account, whether it’s a payment process, a payment card. Okay. Uh, we process payment.
There’s nothing new here. I think we will all agree, you know, traditional banks have been doing that for hundreds of years. Then you have a number of fintechs. So the, in terms of product, I will be lying if I was to say we do something differently. Uh, that would be the case for, for example, if today we were more innovative.
In trying to process payment via crypto, you know, or stable coins, uh, that’s not, you know, what we’re doing today.
So if I look at the product, nothing very innovative, okay, um, what is more innovative is the tech for the clients is not that innovative. This is what I want to say. You know, you instruct a payment on our platform, the payment will be processed, okay?
What is more innovative is the way we have built our tech. Because we don’t have this, you know, this legacy that traditional [00:22:00] banks will have. So that helped us to, uh, build a core payment system, core banking system, uh, that is scalable. at a cost that is a fraction of what it will, the cost will be for a traditional bank.
So that’s the part, but I will not, I don’t think it’s very, it’s visible for the clients, right? So what is more visible for the clients is our marketing, who we are, the message that we want to convey.
And so since day one, we want to associate, you know, good tech. We have never lost a payment. That’s important. Okay. With this, Uh, human touch because at the end, especially if you work with SMEs, business is about people. Mm. That, that, that’s something, you know, okay. Uh, digital world fine. But I think business is about people. And when you are an SME, when you use a business account, they will be one day where you have a problem with the payment, uh, because the payment has not arrived on time.
Uh. [00:23:00] Whatever reason you make a mistake, you know, at the time you entered the account details. The payment was not properly processed It’s very important that you have the possibility to have someone on the line to answer your call and figure out What is the problem and how to sort it out and here I like to say that I think I think we’re the best to do that.
[00:23:20] Scott: Yeah. Speaking on that. I mean, I’m here in your office. I know some of the people that work here. They are, I literally, I just heard someone taking a call just a moment ago and it’s to the point of they’re talking to clients, they’re picking up the phone and you contrast that with, ~this is not FinTech, but you can trust us ~with people’s experience with Google.
Anyone who’s run some Google ads or done something with Google, you know, good luck talking to someone. You can maybe talk to a salesperson, maybe, but if an issue arises, There’s no one to talk to my goodness. You’re going through hoops to try to find anyone You’re not even probably getting a call robot to answer your questions.
It’s a little forum post and it’s basically good luck. Whereas in this case
[00:23:53] Bertrand: Yeah, exactly. So obviously, you know, we build I say we it’s our tech team. Okay, so we have [00:24:00] built, you know a good tech So we can, again, process payment, you know, in a way that we don’t have any problem, but I don’t think this is enough.
So, but that’s my personal opinion. Some of our competitors, they are really, they really focus on tech. You can, you can see the difference, you know, just by visiting our website and their website.
That website is, you know, very much into tech and everything is digital and you have this metallic, you know, blue and the green color was we, we try to have more, you know, woomy colors and, uh, and, uh, on our website, we also have the, uh, we show who is in our team, who are the, uh, we offer clients and account manager, no matter the size of their business.
I think that’s, that’s really the way we differentiate today. So of course, because of that, we. We may be slightly more expensive. Again, it depends on what clients are doing with their account. If they do FX, we’re not more expensive. But for example, we charge a monthly, a monthly fee to some clients. Uh, in my opinion, it’s not a lot we [00:25:00] speak about in US dollar, like 12 US dollars.
Uh, but you know, 12 US dollars. That’s fine. You know, uh, but we consider that consuming, um, Considering the support that we provide, of course, this comes with some additional cost and that’s, that’s what we charge.
[00:25:20] Scott: Right.
Everything has a cost to it. And if you want the human connection. What’s interesting too, is you don’t want the human until you need the human.
[00:25:27] Bertrand: Exactly.
[00:25:27] Scott: So, so it’s, uh, to your point, Trust is critical because it’s, am I working with someone that’s going to keep my money safe and then when something or if something goes wrong, which can happen not necessarily due to your side, but it could be due to other factors, right?
[00:25:41] Bertrand: Can I talk to them? We have a number of people applying for an account. Okay.
Then they realize that we charge this monthly fee, again, 12 US dollars. Although at the moment we, uh, I mean, not all clients are paying the monthly fee. If you are active enough with the account, there’s no reason for us to charge this monthly fee because we [00:26:00] generate enough revenue with, you know, your business, I mean, with you using the account.
So we don’t have to charge a monthly fee, but let’s assume that we charge a monthly fee. People will, you know, turn us down and say, no, no, that’s okay. I found another FinTech that doesn’t charge this amount. And you’ll be surprised. We have a number of them coming to us after three months, six months, one year, because they had a problem.
They could not sort out the problem because again, there was nobody answering their email, picking up their call, and they remember Statrys, and they come back to us. ~So, ~and each time that happened, frankly, for us, it’s a small victory.
[00:26:35] Scott: Yeah, well, it’s great that you’re there waiting. When something like that happens, they can move over to you. And you’re probably not saying I told you so, you’re probably
[00:26:44] Bertrand: No, no, no, we’re not here to brag, but if, you know, we don’t, we don’t argue with a client, if a client say, I don’t want to pay that monthly fee, then we tell them, you know, if you actually use the account, and you have more than five transaction a month anywhere, we, you know, we waive the monthly fee, if people say, [00:27:00] I’m not sure I will have this five transaction, whatever, and they decide to join one of our competitors, I mean, to onboard with one of our competitors, fine, you know.
That’s a business. You cannot please everybody. You have to, you know, you need to have some principle and that this is an, how you will run your business. And of course you will never have a hundred percent of the potential customers that will, that will consider the way you run it is the best way, you know, best aligned with their interests.
[00:27:26] Scott: Right. If you’re trying to appeal to everyone, you’re appealing to no one.
[00:27:29] Bertrand: Exactly.
[00:27:30] Scott: Uh, now, since we’re here in the Bangkok office, uh, I think it’s important to talk a little bit about the business structure in the sense of, I understand you have more than one office, and then maybe you can talk about that and about what the function of the Bangkok office is and what is focused on here.
[00:27:46] Bertrand: Okay. So, our business is regulated in Hong Kong. So when I speak about, you know, the services that we offer and all that, that’s Hong Kong based. Okay. So we have a company regulated in Hong Kong [00:28:00] having, let’s call it a payment license. Okay. Uh, And we have around a bit less than 20 people in that office in Hong Kong.
But from the beginning, I knew that if we wanted this business to be sustainable, we could not have the entire business based in Hong Kong, okay? Considering, you know, the rental price, the salaries and so on. So we decided, we looked at, okay, where can we go, okay? Uh, the thing is, I was telling you about my business in aviation.
At that time, I was based in Phuket. So, the transition, we made the transition from, with the family from Phuket to Bangkok. Uh, I heard a lot of things when I started. People say, ah, you know, Thailand, it will be difficult, blah, blah, blah, for XYZ reason. I’m actually very happy to have this office in Thailand.
Now we have, uh, I think a bit less than 60 people, a bit more, I can’t remember.
Uh, and, uh, Yeah. So there was [00:29:00] the idea was from the beginning that we will not be in Hong Kong only, but that we will grow in other jurisdiction, but we needed a support office in a place, you know, where first I’m happy to leave.
Yeah. That’s important. And, uh, where my family is happy to live and also will make business sense and Thailand will, uh, you know, satisfying these two requirements. So at the moment, I mean, soon we will have also operation in Singapore. Uh, and we will basically duplicate in Hong Kong, the business that we have in Singapore.
Uh, and next year we will do the the EU.
So eventually we will have. What I call three operating companies the one that are licensed and then can you know bring the revenue and serve the clients And then we have a support company. That’s the one you know where we are sitting here today in Thailand.
[00:29:47] Scott: Got it. So on the point of the front end client experience with they’re, the service that your clients are asking for right? So if they want to open a bank account with a Hong Kong, uh, location, you can do that. [00:30:00] And then you can also open a bank account with a Singapore location. Is that as, is that?
[00:30:03] Bertrand: Yeah, I would just correct you. ~Yeah, because I don’t want to have any problem with our regulator. ~
We don’t have a bank account because we are not a bank. So that’s what we call about a business account. So, but the, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s the way it is. So people, if you have a company in Hong Kong, you can apply for a business account with us in Hong Kong. Okay. But part of the, uh, part of the work that is needed to open this business account is actually done here in, uh, in Thailand. Okay, it will be the same in, uh, the same in, uh, in Singapore and to some extent the same that there will be, uh, in, uh, in Europe. Slightly different though because of the time difference and so on.
So a lot of things that we do today in Thailand to serve the Hong Kong and then the Singapore business. Mm hmm. That’s not completely complete. That’s not something we can do it. I would say at the same scale when we will start having your business in Europe.
[00:30:54] Scott: Okay, okay, but you focused on the fact that here in Bangkok you have a lot of operations, [00:31:00] right? And when you were mentioning that you used to live in Phuket, right? You moved here with your family, you moved to Bangkok with your family. And now you’re building out this team, which is quite large and continuing to grow in Thailand. Uh, why don’t you just have people working remotely on the beach? Uh, what is your opinion on remote work? Uh, when it comes to having a cohesive structure with the team?
[00:31:24] Bertrand: Okay, so yeah, we’ll start with an anecdote about Phuket. Because I was living in Phuket, so at some point the idea was, okay, why not have a support office in Phuket, okay? ~Um ~Plus you have a lot of, you know, this, I don’t know if you want to call them digital nomads, but people coming to Phuket, they enjoy Phuket, they want to spend some time in Phuket.
Uh, so I thought, oh, maybe it’s a good place. Okay. My experience with Phuket is the first day people are very enthusiastic. The second day they’re late and the third day they don’t show up in the office because, you know, it was very nice weather and good waves and they wanted to do some surfing So then that’s [00:32:00] why we decided, okay, let’s go, let’s move to Bangkok.
Uh, And then in Bangkok, no, I want to, uh, I want to have this office in Bangkok because
~depends on the business, but ~I think for our business, it’s key. It’s crucial that we have people working together with, you know, in the same space because otherwise very quickly you run into trouble.
When we deal with a client, there is a KYC part. Who is the client? Okay, what is his business? There is a, then the client will start using the account. So there is what we call transaction monitoring. Again, according to regulation, that’s something we have to do. Then you have customer support. You have operation, the client that process a payment.
As I said, there may be a problem with the payment. We want to sort it out. So the reality of this business is if you want to make the business grow, if you want to make the client happy. It’s very important that this different team that I’ve just mentioned, KYC, transaction monitoring, customer [00:33:00] support, uh, operation, that they communicate with each other.
Okay.
There are some information that are behind the wall, you know, compliance information that cannot be shared, for example, with customer support, but still customer support shall know, okay, this account at the moment, there may be a problem. They don’t know what is the problem. They know.
Okay. They know. So the thing is, if we, if we were to have all these people work remotely, you lose too much information on a daily basis. Uh, when we prepared, you know, this, this podcast, I told you, imagine at the moment we have, what, maybe, uh, let’s say 25 people working in those teams, maybe 30. Okay. I haven’t done the exact counting.
Imagine that each of this person, this member want to share five information a day. Okay. You multiply, let’s say by 20, that’s a hundred information a day. The reality is if you do, you, if you are at home, you may share the first information early in the morning, but do you really think that you will share the other four information [00:34:00] of, and when I say five in a day, that’s not a lot.
It’s more 10. You will spend the time to send a Slack message, uh, send an email, give a phone call, uh, WhatsApp, call, whatever, to all the other people. The information get lost, and after a while, it’s a big, big chaos.
[00:34:16] Scott: Right, so it’s a game of telephone and I think people can make the case for asynchronous communication, and but not if you need to literally collaborate on the spot and now you’re losing a ton of efficiency.
[00:34:27] Bertrand: Yeah, to a certain extent you can do that, but I don’t think you can do that, you know, on a regular basis, every day, a good number of times. You know, if you work in the same office, the reality is there is, uh, there is an issue and information you want to share. Okay, I just turn to you and say, Hey Scott, by the way, done.
Okay. And if I want to share the information with Scott and two other people, they are also in the same room. And then, Hey, Scott, X and Y, and then this is done. Okay. And if you have a, if you have a question, you can reply back. ~If you start doing, ~
~okay.~ sure, you know, uh, people watching this podcast will consider [00:35:00] them a bit old style and I don’t understand, blah, blah, blah.
But I have a strong opinion on that. I think it would be very critical to run this business and dangerous, I would even say dangerous. We will put the business at risk. If we not have, we will not have this opportunity. And here I’m speaking about only about the operation side of the business, but that’s the same with the tech.
You know, there is nothing that the tech team will do that is not, I would say, initiated by another team in the company. And having this possibility to, you know, discuss with, you know, people in our tech team, meet, you know, on a regular basis, face to face meeting, they can draw something on the board for those of us who are not tech and understand the problem.
I think it’s. That has a lot of value and I don’t think any of that can be replaced with still Okay, we have some remote work. I’m not like I’m not like an ayatollah against Remote work. So we have remote work every Wednesdays There are a few weeks a year that every employee can [00:36:00] you know can pick up and decide?
Okay, I will work I will work from home But I still want to keep the majority of the work to be done here in this office. Right,
[00:36:08] Scott: And you have a very strong rationale behind it. I think what people sometimes push back against is when it’s meeting for the sake of meeting, or in office for the sake of being in office. And as you’re saying, there’s a very good reason for being in the office. Additionally, when you use the example of people in Phuket, I don’t think your clients want to have some, you know, digital nomad sitting on the beach and surfing and then answering things on their phone, right?
[00:36:33] Bertrand: Yeah, for sure.
[00:36:33] Scott: So you, and I think that’s something also for people to understand who haven’t been to Bangkok, is that Phuket and Bangkok are very different.
[00:36:40] Bertrand: Completely different.
[00:36:41] Scott: And people, some people, I think, still don’t know enough about Thailand or Bangkok specifically to know how professional it is when it comes to, you know, the professional transportation, uh, the offices of, of major companies here and the workforce that you can build here, right? It’s, it’s very professional. It’s not the wild West.
[00:36:57] Bertrand: No, no, no, no, no, no, not at all. Right. ~So that’s why we managed to build this team very, ~
and [00:37:00] also, I mean, one of the reason why the, uh, we have many more, uh, members here in Bangkok than in Hong Kong. It’s also because of COVID. You know, when we started our operation being regulated in Hong Kong, we must have some people in Hong Kong and it makes sense business wise, no matter the regulation, but because of COVID, I was stuck in Bangkok.
So we started to grow, you know, uh, the team in Bangkok quicker than we could do it in, in Hong Kong. And, um, and yeah, once you start having, you know, uh, a number of people, Uh, they also know other people, so you,
~you know,~ so you, you know, some of the people that are from your previous company, okay, that work here.
So we have the first person joining us. ~Uh, ~Hello Guy. He was happy with us. So then he called Nestor. Hello Nestor. You get the point, you know, so,
so we make, it becomes easier to, uh, to build, you know, uh, to build a team.
[00:37:54] Scott: Right. Speaking of building a team, this kind of relates to office culture, I guess you could say, [00:38:00] but some entrepreneurs I talk to here say that they have adjusted their company culture to Thailand. And one way that they say they do that is, well, in Thailand, it’s more village culture oriented. So, uh, you know, you want to become more of like your employer, but you’re almost like a family and you’re staying late and you’re having parties and things are sabai sabai. And there’s some of this stuff where office life and work life and family life and friend life are like blended. And sometimes people are staying in the office all through the night and, and, and they’re, they’re meeting their friends and things like this. So I’m curious if you have any opinion on how, um, you’ve structured the culture here. Uh, if you have a line between work and play. Um, you know, what, what’s your opinion on how you structure the, the company culture?
[00:38:47] Bertrand: Yeah. So here we are very precise rules. Okay. So we work from nine to six. Okay. Uh, but when I say that, I really mean we work by nine to six. Nobody is [00:39:00] ever doing overtime because there are a lot of companies, as you said, where, you know, it looks like the, work hours are more flexible, but at the end, and I had this kind of experience, you stay longer to the office, because you don’t want to be the first one to leave.
So you may stay even if you don’t have anything to do. Okay. And, uh, and then someone, you know, will start later in the morning and we’ll be happy to, uh, schedule, uh, schedule a meeting at 7pm. So at the end, you have to stay until 7pm. If, and if it’s not your own schedule. So we have set very, I would say simple rules, nine to six, you know, uh, lunch break, of course.
And that’s the time that you dedicate to your, uh, to work during the day. Okay. After six, you do whatever you want. It doesn’t mean that, uh, Um, people at the office, uh, don’t meet with each other. You know, I know they are doing that quite often, you know, renting villas and they’re spending the weekend, but at least the, [00:40:00] I prefer that personally, the rules are clear.
So that’s, yeah, if I had to define our company culture, that’s definitely a strong point. Um, and I want to, we want to keep it that way. And again, we were speaking about clients and you cannot serve all clients at the same time, otherwise you don’t serve anybody. And I think it’s the same with, you know, the people joining us.
Some people will enjoy that. Okay. Nine to six, I’m done. Some other, you know, they will prefer more, more flexibility. There are also business constraints and constraints, right. For behind the nine to six schedule. But at the end of the day, uh, it works, it works fine for us.
[00:40:39] Scott: Yeah, I’ve experienced both of them and I think it’s a really great point that you have those, those rules, like you said, it’s when you say when you’re off at six, you’re off at six, uh, I’ve seen the more flexible one.
And one thing I find interesting about it is when you first join a company that has a pool table and has ping pong and has this and that, right, [00:41:00] then it’s cool for a while. And, and then it kind of becomes, well, you actually never have time to do that thing, or you never have time to enjoy that thing. So, from a business perspective, a business owner can probably do a good job attracting people with those fun things, but in the end, You don’t always benefit from those fun things.
They’re kind of a way to pull you in, but then when you’re actually working, they’re not as advantageous as you might first think. Uh, and I think another thing too, as you mentioned, you’re not maybe trying to attract everyone. Some people are at a point in their life where they realize they want work to be work and they want to have time, let’s say with their family.
So another thing that happens with those is that you might come in in your twenties or, uh, you know, early to mid twenties. And then later on you have a family, you have children. Well, now all of a sudden it’s not so great. And so I guess you’re just attracting people that understand maybe what they want and they are, are seeing the advantage of having clean lines.
[00:41:54] Bertrand: Yeah, I think, I think we’re trying people who, uh, have, want to have clear boundaries. Okay, they [00:42:00] know I dedicate that part of my day to work.
And when I say nobody stay after 6, literally, nobody has ever stayed after 6. I mean, people may leave at 6:10, but, and so there is no kind of, you know, How to qualify that.
I would even say some kind of a social pressure, you know, if at six, you close your computer, you’ve gone, nobody will look at you. Oh, well, it’s gonna, I’m sure you’ve experienced that in a lot of companies. ~Well, Japanese is one of those.~
So it’s a, yeah, it’s very flexible, you know, come when you, maybe not when you want, but you can also leave the office when you want.
But the reality is that if most of the people, or even a third of the people that’s there until eight. Then you start having some kind of social pressure, like, okay, why don’t you stay longer in the office? So I don’t want that. Um, so again, it’s a mindset. We have this company culture. People having a similar mindset, you know, will be very happy working here.
Those who want something very flexible, uh, there are pros and cons, you know, for [00:43:00] each, would say each
[00:43:02] Scott: Yeah. absolutely. Well, let’s dig a little bit deeper into some of the teams that are operating here because at the start of this, I talked about how I invited you on because of how much you’ve grown.
And it really seems like you’re doing a fantastic job with marketing. And I think a lot of younger businesses sometimes really struggle with growth and getting their name out there. And it seems like, uh, Statrys has done an amazing job with the marketing front. And so I’m curious if you can expand on how you think of marketing. Do you take it seriously? Did you just outsource it and then some company made it work for you? Or what is your opinion on marketing and the growth of your business?
[00:43:39] Bertrand: Okay. So there are multiple questions here.
So, uh, first one, the most easy to answer is do we outsource? Do we do everything in house?
We do everything in house. Okay. Um, that’s, uh, this has been our policy since day one, because I think that if you want to do good marketing, you must know the product and you must know the client. [00:44:00] And I find it very difficult to outsource, you know, uh, content writings, whatever, uh, I mean, the writing of a blog article and so on to someone who is not in the company.
And it comes back also to what we discussed before. We have a marketing team sitting next to the payment team. So they know what are the problems about payments and they know, they know what kind of content they should write and they should be posted on our website. Okay. So that’s, uh, I would say principle number one, uh, we do everything in house.
Um, number two, we, I mean, since day one, we decided to, uh, Google, you know, full stream on marketing and to be more specific on SEO because, uh, we haven’t raised funds. So we were not in a situation, you know, where we were raised like 20, 30 million us dollar. I’m not saying it was easy to do, but it was. It’s definitely easier to do it like a few years ago.
And that’s something I’ve noticed at [00:45:00] that time is that a lot of these companies will raise a lot of money. They will not focus on marketing, but all the way they will focus on marketing will be, you know, paying for, let’s say Google ads. But if you pay Google ads, the same as paying a rent, right? The day you stop paying that rent to Google, you’re nowhere.
So, uh, So we realized that, I mean, you don’t have to be especially smart and not to realize that, but we said, okay, we wanted people to find us. We want to be everywhere online because that will build trust. That’s number one. And two, they will find us. And if they find us, a number of them will apply for an account.
And the best way to do that was in my opinion is still SEO. So I had some SEO knowledge before starting Statrys because of the previous business, but that really, You know, uh, dive deep into SEO at the beginning because we didn’t have a big team. So I did, I was the one writing the first articles, you know, uh, checking different tools, you know, our ranking and so on.
And [00:46:00] progressively as the business was ranking, then, you know, we build an entire team. But definitely that’s a recommendation I will give to anyone building a business. It takes longer with SEO, but if you do it well, there’s no reason why you won’t succeed. And once you there. It’s very, you’re there for, you know, a long time because if you, if you refresh your content, you know, uh, often enough, there’s no reason why you will use your ranking with, uh, with Google.
Uh, and now we’re starting doing the same thing with, uh, LinkedIn, with YouTube. So we are really starting now, but, uh, everything around, uh, SEO with Google rank well with, you know, uh, Yeah, in the SERP, to use a technical term, we, I think we’ve done a good job.
[00:46:50] Scott: Yeah. Yeah. You show up for so much and it shows that you, well, you know what SEO means. I think that’s actually quite an important point. I think some owners [00:47:00] will stay away from it. They won’t even know what the acronym SEO stands for and they maybe want to push it somewhere else because It’s, uh, then you have someone to blame.
[00:47:10] Bertrand: Yeah, but I listen to a lot of podcasts and what I can hear from marketers, especially those doing SEO, they say that the problem they have when working in, uh, okay, let’s say in a startup, in any kind of company is,
~as I say,~ when you start and when you focus on SEO, you will start by producing content.
It will take some time before your website is recognized as an authority website by Google and before your content, you know, has know, uh, rank well on first page and even better, you know, on a first position on first page. And it looks like it’s not something, sometimes it’s not, it’s something not easy to sell for marketing guy to the founders because they don’t understand.
They want immediate result. And, uh, coming back to what I was saying, they raise funds. They have, you know, they have to do then this [00:48:00] quarterly reporting to their investors. And if they say, Oh, we’re spending on SEOs and we will see the result. We don’t know when exactly, maybe in one year. It’s not something very easy to sell for the founders and then for the marketers.
Right. But we didn’t have this problem because we didn’t have investors. And so we had more time and anyway, we didn’t have the money to do anything else in terms of marketing. So the choice was an easy one.
[00:48:24] Scott: Right, so you started by doing a lot of this, and then of course you’re hiring a marketing person, and then they’re hiring now a team, and it’s continuing that way.
[00:48:31] Bertrand: Yeah, because as the business grows, we started with a small team, and then another one, and another person, and another one, and so now we have a, we have we have a substantial team here at Statrys.
[00:48:40] Scott: Yeah, well, something that I love that you said there too, is that, You didn’t have the money so therefore you had to do it this way. I do think some founders do flip it around and they say, I’m so small and I’m so young, I can’t afford to take time, or I can’t afford to focus on SEO. And it’s interesting that you flip that around. It’s that, you know, you couldn’t afford not to, I [00:49:00] suppose, right?
[00:49:00] Bertrand: Yeah, that was the case. But again, I’m not saying that what we did is the, uh, the only way to, um, to start, uh, to start your business.
~Uh, then I think there are other~ There are other cases where anyway, you need to raise funds from the very beginning and then you have to push out also from the very beginning. So to get market share and things like that, that was not the case for us. So, uh. Um, yeah, so that’s the choice that we made and we’re happy with this choice and we, we will continue betting on SEO and now SEO Google, but now also YouTube and LinkedIn.
[00:49:31] Scott: Let’s talk about that. So YouTube and LinkedIn. So where we’re shooting this is in your office and it’s in the video studio in your office. So you have a video studio, no one can see it here, but we have lights over there. We have a light up here. You have a great tripod over there with a great, like you even have,
[00:49:47] Bertrand: I think the walls are soundproof.
[00:49:48] Scott: Soundproof walls. I, so some of your team said you speak loudly sometimes, so sometimes they can hear you through this wall, but, um, but beyond that, it’s a dedicated space. Is there a reason that you did that and set a dedicated space, which I think formerly was a [00:50:00] meeting room, and turn that into a studio? Why did you decide to do that?
[00:50:03] Bertrand: Because, I’m not an expert at YouTube, you know, building an audience on YouTube. Far from that. Okay, same thing with LinkedIn, but what we, what we know is that you need, then you need video content, right? I know. Video content is more difficult to produce than written content, for sure.
Uh, and one of the reasons is because you need a space when you can record these videos. And imagine if, if you want to be serious, it means that you will, you know, produce a number of videos every week. And imagine the time you will waste and lose if you, if each time you have to do the setup again and again.
If this was still a meeting room, then how long did it take you to do all the setup before our podcast? And you know, there are also the video.
[00:50:51] Scott: Yeah, 20 to 30 minutes. And then that’s, that’s assuming you can do it quite quickly. And there’s friction. That’s a big amount of friction.
[00:50:56] Bertrand: Yeah. So here, okay. Everything is set up already.
We [00:51:00] just have to turn on the camera, have the script and we can record. So that’s why we decided to do it this way. And I think, yeah, anyone want to go into video, that would be my recommendation because the cost of setting up a. Uh, a studio. I mean, you need a space, but you have, you have a space. Then setting up a, setting up a studio, you know, it’s, doesn’t cost a lot.
[00:51:20] Scott: Right, right. And now you touched a little bit on frequency because one thing I noticed was, I think the first time I saw the company was on LinkedIn and it was on video, I believe Nestor was, uh, you know, showing on video, doing a great, nice professional video. And when I kept seeing that in my feed over and over again, you know, I’m just like, wow, I mean, I’ve seen, I’ve seen some, you did the volume just seems to be so high that it’s constant reminders that you exist. And so, I think the frequency is quite important, but I’m curious if you have any opinion on, number one, how frequently are you recording these videos, and why so frequently?
[00:51:54] Bertrand: Uh, so, our objective is to record minimum two videos a week. Uh, [00:52:00] then it depends on how long is the video, blah, blah, blah, how much editing needs to be done, but let’s say two videos a week.
~Um, sometimes to have, uh, three released every week.~ Uh, and And the frequency is because if you want to be, if you want to have better chance to be noticed by the, uh, you know, YouTube algorithm or the LinkedIn algorithm, you have to publish frequently. If you publish, and I would say frequency is more important than, it’s better to publish frequently rather than publish a lot, stop for one month and publish again.
Because it’s because you feed, you know, the, uh, the social network with constant, you know, permanent, you know, additional content that they will see you as a player. Uh, well, we’ll see.
We’ve started with a video on LinkedIn. I mean, with YouTube and LinkedIn a few months ago. Uh, so we don’t have all this experience that we, uh, that we now with Google and SEO.
[00:52:54] Scott: Now, you overcame a common objection I hear, which is, well, I’m not a videographer, I can’t [00:53:00] afford expensive gear, whatever else. And as you said, you can do it relatively simply, so long as it’s always set up. The other barrier or challenge that can happen is getting people on video. So, uh, that can be tough as well. I’m curious, how did you go about making video part of the company and what gets done? What was your method for kicking it off?
[00:53:22] Bertrand: That’s a good point because when we, when we decided to, um, you know, record videos and post those videos on social networks, uh, that was kind of the first question. Okay, fine.
That’s a good idea. But who will put, uh, you know, their face on camera?
Uh, of course I volunteer, you know, um, but I must say it was, It’s kind of difficult at the beginning to find people who are ready to do that. So we were cracking jokes like your mother will be so, you know, so proud of you. So you know, don’t hesitate, come and you know, put your face in the camera.
Um, and the funny thing, [00:54:00] interesting also is we started with, uh, I don’t remember like three or four people including me that volunteers and now we have, I will not say everybody, but we have a a large number of people in the company that are okay to shoot a video whenever they have time. So if you have a look at our YouTube channel, you will see a lot of, you know, different faces.
So at the beginning, I think there was this feel like, Oh, I will look stupid on video, what other people would think about me. And then you see, you know, you are the people you work ~ with. I said, well, they’re not, you know, they’re not, they don’t look so bad. ~So why not me? So at the moment I don’t, I don’t have to push, you know, and people, people volunteer.
[00:54:39] Scott: Yes. Interesting. So leading by example, and then telling them that they’ll look good for their mom and they can feel famous. And, uh, you know, uh, no, it’s interesting too. I’m wondering if you saw any side benefit of getting videos out. Cause you mentioned things like ranking and traffic and being known as a, as a player in the market.
Right. Um, but what about for the people that come into the business prospects? [00:55:00] Um, are you noticing any trends with, Them having watched the videos before coming in or them knowing more about the company because they’ve seen some videos. Is that common or not?
[00:55:10] Bertrand: We I mean today we don’t have all the tools to track all that again We’re working on it.
But one of the reason why we decided to go on video is also something we’ve noticed is people will visit our website if that’s usually the way they find us. And that’s funny because after visiting the website, a lot of them, you know what they do? They check on LinkedIn. Yeah. They want to, they want to know who is the founder.
I mean, they find my name or they find the name of other people in our team and they visit, you know, our LinkedIn profiles. So that was for us, you know, a clear indicator that people wanted to know more about the team and kind of, you know, I will not say that people know us now, but they, they feel more, we kind of engage [00:56:00] with them better via video than through a pure written content.
Okay.
So that’s why we, the first people that we wanted to have on video where the one was LinkedIn profile received the largest number of visits. And because we thought, okay, that will be, it means something. People will see you on LinkedIn, but with video rather than just seeing your LinkedIn.~ Profile.~
[00:56:20] Scott: Yeah. No, it’s a great point. Uh, I, I curious if this makes sense to you too though, but when let’s say a client is calling or speaking with, um, maybe they want to decide about their account manager, maybe they’ve seen that person before. And I’ve noticed that with video, at least in my experience is they, they start to get to know you a bit more and they’re like, Oh, Nestor, like, Oh, Guy. Like, I mean, there’s a little bit of that. You’ve already gotten past first base with them. You already know who they are. They trust you a little bit more because you’re on screen. Do you think that there’s value in that?
[00:56:51] Bertrand: ~You want to stop because of the noise? No, it’s okay. Okay. Okay. I don’t know what they’re doing.~
~So, um, yeah, that’s~ for sure. You know, the, the more people can relate to you and then the better chance you have that they will, uh, they, they, you know, they will use your [00:57:00] services. It’s that simple. Okay. At the end of the day. Business is about people. So if they have a better chance to know who you are Yes, they will relate more
[00:57:12] Scott: ~Yeah, now You’ve been really generous genuine. Yes You’ve been very generous with your time. But~ I want to know if you have any parting words for any entrepreneurs who are like Maybe starting a business here in Thailand or have maybe an operational office here in Thailand like you do any other words of advice or things that you think impacted the success of the business that might help them as well?
[00:57:30] Bertrand: No, but starting a business in Thailand, uh, I remember when I started, a lot of people told me, Oh, you will see, it’s not that easy to find, you know, talent here in, uh, in, Bangkok. Um, I’m not saying it’s easy, but still you can find the right people. Um,
There are, now there are, I think, in the new generation, there are more and more, uh, young Thai people who speak, you know, uh, uh, very decent English.
Um, so that’s, that’s [00:58:00] the first thing for the kind of business in which we are. Uh, a lot of them, you know, they study at the uni in, uh, here in Thailand, but they also add some exposure to, uh, you know, uh, To the other world and because they spend some time in the US in Europe and China So you can find people who have interesting profile um and that’s the key and for And what I like here is it’s not always the case, of course, okay, but We recruit a lot of people who don’t have a lot of experience and the most important I would say is the mindset is really the mindset because A lot of these people working with us is different for marketing. Okay, but for KYC or customer support or even operation. The way we do it anyway is not the same as operation will be done at a traditional, you know, uh, Thai bank.
So there’s no point for us to recruit someone who has five, six years experience. We better go for a fresh grad or someone who, let’s say, has worked, has one year experience, maybe in a completely different industry, but has this [00:59:00] hunger and has the right mindset and wants to learn. That, that’s the key. And I’ve found that here in Thailand you find, you know, you can find these kind of people.
[00:59:09] Scott: Right. And you’ve made it so clear of how you operate the business, how the team operates, how you’re able to draw lines, how you’re able to have collaboration. So it seems like for someone who’s maybe starting off their career, they could learn a lot, uh, from, from joining Statrys just because it’s such a mature company in a way. I know it’s not super, you know, it hasn’t been around for 15 years, but it’s operating very. Uh, I have a feeling you have clear SOPs, you have, everything is very organized in the office from what I’m seeing. Is that fair to say?
[00:59:40] Bertrand: Yeah, that’s, you know, that’s correct. And also something I would like to say, I think if you want to build a business, when you know that the teamwork will be important, I think Thailand is a good place for that.
I don’t know whether you’ve been in Thailand for some time, but,
I think the, the mindset here, People, you know, they like to [01:00:00] work together. You know, you were speaking about family style and so on, but that’s, that’s a reality. And so I would say people, they will help each other, which is not necessarily the case in other culture where even within a team, there will be much more competition and it’s good to have some competition, you know, more emulation.
So people will say, okay, I will try to do my best to achieve a better result. But if that emulation turns into competition that can be also negative. And that’s definitely something that we don’t have here in town.
[01:00:31] Scott: Yes, absolutely. Well again, thank you so much for taking the time today I’d like to know if you could share what is the best way to find out more about the company or to get in touch With your team?
[01:00:44] Bertrand: Okay, so anyone interesting to joining us at Statrys? Okay, then you can I mean all the information is on our website whether you Uh You are interested in the services that we offer as a, as a potential client in business account or other payment solution, [01:01:00] or, you know, you’re looking for a job. So go on our website, visit our website.
If you’d like to feel in touch, feel free to contact us.
[01:01:10] Scott: Perfect. Well, Bertrand, thank you so much for the time. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Scott. Thank you.
