We almost met Adam at our #FinTech dinner but despite a admirable effort, he was beaten by the Tube strikes. We still wanted to find out more about him and his Startup Satago:

What’s the elevator pitch for your startup?

We believe businesses have the right to Get Paid On Time. That’s why we are building Satago: automated credit control that takes the hassle out of chasing debtors. We’re committed to helping companies get paid faster so they can spend more time chasing new customers and doing the work they love.

What were you doing before you launched your startup?

Prior to Satago I was the first employee in the UK at Palantir Technologies, helping the European presence grow from a few people to over 80 engineers and analysts when I left in October 2013, some 3 and a half years after joining the team. Prior to that I was working at Detica on large Government projects

If you have co-founders, where did you meet them?

I met Steven, Satago’s founder, via an online advert during his six month long search for a technical co-founder, which he blogged about here.

What’s your biggest ‘hindsight’ moment?

We’ve had many hindsight moments to date but the most practical tip we can give as a result of our hindsight is to understand the size of your fund-raising round in relation to the market. Make sure you pick the right people to pitch to, whether that is Angels (small size), syndicates (medium size) or VCs (large round), you can waste a lot of time pitching to the wrong people!

What will the rest of 2014 bring?

2014 should see some rapid growth for us, we will be exhibiting at the Great British Business Show on 15th & 16th May, plus we have a great revision to our core product in the works which will be released between now and the show. We are also in the process of hiring our first employees, currently interviewing for a developer, a designer and a business development position.

1 piece of advice for someone starting a business in the sector?

For somebody getting in to the FinTech sector in general I would strongly advise people to really do their research on competitors, customers and opinions on the current market. As a mentor in the arena I have seen so many great ideas that have suffered from potential founders not properly checking out the competition and the current appetite for solutions (or lack of it) in the market.

Convince someone to use your product/service in under 50 words.

If you spend time chasing your customers for overdue invoices, then you should check out Satago. From automated, escalating email reminders, through letters in the post, to getting an experienced credit manager on the phone to your customer, Satago can take the pain out of keeping control of your cash-flow.

What’s your favourite startup in the sector (not including your own)?

There are so many other great startups in the fin-tech arena, but one that has impressed me recently from an end-user perspective is TransferWise – they may not be the most innovate or the most ground breaking, but it is a well presented product that is easy to use and does exactly what it says on the tin.

What’s your favourite London restaurant?

Aside from the Michelin starred restaurants in London, which I rarely go to but relish visiting, a recent favourite is the roof garden restaurant Babylon, next to High Street Kensington tube station. Being able to watch the sunset over a rooftop garden while eating great food is pretty cool.

We hope to meet you next time Adam!

See what’s coming up soon here or read more startup spotlights here.