432: How “Recovering Accountant” Guy Pearson Built the Shopify for Services

At 24, Guy Pearson turned down a partnership to start an accounting firm. His early clients were digital companies, and Pearson was jealous that there wasn’t an online commerce system for his industry. So in 2013, he launched a new company called Ignition to simplify and speed up the transaction process for professionals like him. To date, Ignition helped facilitate more than 1M client engagements and over $2B in client payments. Ignition has offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, US, and the UK, with over 170 employees globally.

 

Listen to Nathan and Guy discuss: 

• How intrapreneurship transformed into entrepreneurship 
• The challenges of building the original software for Ignition 
• Expanding to new markets outside of Australia 
• Why he still sits in on candidate interviews 
• The heartbreaking moments of raising capital 
• Starting vs. scaling a business 
• The balance between an accounting brain and entrepreneurial heart 
• How to lead with an experimental mindset
• Transitioning from a founder to CEO
• And much more business growth advice...

 

 

 

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