Boris Manhart: Lessons from a $1B Unicorn Co-Founder

Boris Manhart’s journey from a psychology student to the co-founder of a $1 billion fintech unicorn isn't just an inspiring story; it's a tactical playbook for founders. He had his first exit in his early 20s, built an agency that landed clients like Microsoft and BMW, and raised $130 million by mastering a compelling story.

We’ve cut the filler to give you the actionable lessons from each stage of his career—from spotting your first idea to achieving product-market fit and raising the capital you need to scale.

Lesson 1: Your First Venture Doesn't Need to Be a Unicorn

Before the billion-dollar valuation, there was Pulp. As a university student in Zurich, Manhart and his friends couldn't get into the clubs they wanted to. His solution was brilliantly simple: get in as unofficial photographers, take pictures of the party crowd, and post them on a website the next day.

This pre-social-media-era project solved a real problem for its users—seeing themselves online—and for Manhart himself. It was a classic "scratch your own itch" venture. He wasn't trying to build a unicorn; he was trying to solve a problem he understood intimately. The venture culminated in his first exit when the website was acquired by a large corporation.

How to Spot Your 'Pulp' Idea

Your first venture is for learning, not for a billion-dollar exit. The confidence and experience you gain from one full cycle—build, scale, sell—is the real prize. Look for simple, observable problems:

Solve your own problem: What's an annoying, repetitive, or expensive task in your own life? Manhart wanted to get into clubs. Your problem is the best place to start because you are User Zero. · Listen for complaints: When friends or colleagues say "I wish there was a way to..." or "It's so annoying that...", pay attention. These are startup ideas in disguise. · Find an offline process and put it online: Manhart put party photos online. This is a timeless strategy. What's something people still do manually, with paper, or with clunky spreadsheets that you could turn into a simple web or mobile app?

The key takeaway from Manhart's first exit isn't the money; it's the experience. A small, early win teaches you the entire lifecycle of a company and gives you the credibility and confidence to aim bigger next time.

Lesson 2: Stop Building Products People Won't Buy

After Pulp, Manhart co-founded an online agency, eyemedia/Compresso AG. This is where he learned a crucial, hard-won lesson during the dot-com bubble's burst: the danger of building products in a vacuum.

As Manhart notes, the single biggest mistake founders make is developing products they think customers will like, only to discover upon launching that nobody is interested. His agency eventually landed huge clients like Microsoft, Nestlé, and BMW because they learned to reverse the process.

The Founder's Cardinal Sin: Solution-First Thinking

You have a cool idea for a product. You spend six months building it, perfecting every feature. Then you launch and start marketing, only to be met with silence. This is the default path to failure. The alternative is to become obsessed with the problem, not your solution.

A Tactical Guide to Customer Discovery (Before You Build)

To avoid building a product nobody wants, you need to talk to potential customers first. Not to pitch your idea, but to understand their problems.

Your goal is to validate the problem, not your solution. Use open-ended questions:

"Tell me about the last time you dealt with [problem area]." · "What was the most frustrating part of that?" · "What have you tried to use to solve this? What did you like/dislike?" · "If you had a magic wand and could fix anything about this process, what would it be?"

Red Flags to Watch For: If they say, "It's not really a big deal," or they haven't tried to solve it themselves (even with a simple spreadsheet), the pain point may not be strong enough to build a business on.

Lesson 3: A Great Story Is How You Raise $130 Million

Manhart's experience culminated with Numbrs, a fintech venture that became a unicorn. When he joined, the goal was to aggregate different bank accounts—a novel idea around 2012, before mobile banking was mainstream.

They didn't just build an app; they built a narrative. They were creating "the first mobile bank," a platform to see and manage all your finances in one place. This powerful, simple story resonated with banking executives and investors, ultimately helping them raise an eye-watering $130 million.

Deconstructing a Unicorn Pitch Narrative

Manhart emphasizes that storytelling is everything, and that being able to capture your company's essence in 15-20 slides is key. While we don't have the exact Numbrs deck, a winning narrative for a nine-figure raise follows a proven structure, similar to the one prescribed by Peter Thiel.

A story that raises serious capital isn't just a collection of features. It paints a picture of the world, a conflict, and a resolution that you provide:

The Old World is Broken: Start with the status quo. For Numbrs, this was the fragmented, pre-mobile world of banking where every account was a silo. · The Inevitable Future: Articulate the change that is happening. The world is moving to mobile. Consumers expect elegant, all-in-one experiences. · The Promised Land: Describe the new world your company will create. A single app where users have a perfect overview of their finances and receive intelligent recommendations. · Your Magic: How do you make the promised land a reality? This is your unique technology, your team, your unfair advantage. For Numbrs, it was the ability to aggregate data from any bank. · The Business Model & Path to Victory: How do you make money and become the dominant player in this new world?

Being able to tell a compelling story is not a 'soft skill' in fundraising—it is the core skill. Manhart's experience shows that a world-changing vision, clearly articulated, is what gets investors to write generational checks.

From Founder to Investor: What He Looks for Now

Having been through the entire founder journey, from a fun side-project to a billion-dollar company, Manhart now funds and supports other founders. The lessons from his career directly inform what an experienced operator-turned-investor looks for:

Problem-Founder Fit: Does the founder have a deep, almost obsessive connection to the problem they are solving? (Pulp) · Evidence of Customer Obsession: Do they talk more about their customers' problems than their own solution? Have they done the work? (eyemedia) · A Grand, Believable Vision: Can they articulate a massive future and a credible, step-by-step plan to get there? (Numbrs) · A Plan for Distribution: How will they get the product into customers' hands? A great product with no distribution is just a hobby.

How to Apply These Lessons This Week

Map Your "Itch" Ideas: Write down three annoying, inefficient, or frustrating things in your own daily life. Could one of them be a business? · Schedule Two Customer Discovery Calls: Find two people who you think have the problem you're solving. Use the open-ended questions above to understand their world. Do not pitch them. · Outline Your 15-Slide Story: Even if you're not fundraising, force yourself to articulate your vision. What is the broken old world? What is your promised land? This clarifies your strategy. · Draw Your Distribution Channel: How would you get your first 100 customers if you launched tomorrow? Be specific. Write out the email you would send. Name the communities you would post in.