ThinkOut

ThinkOut makes the business analysis and forecasting for SMEs easily accessible, providing a real-time overview of their performance based on the transaction history from their bank accounts.

ThinkOut is on the market since 2016 and after a MVP and a Beta version, we have released the current version of the platform, based on the discussion that we had with our partners and clients. Currently, there are approx. 300 businesses that are using the new version of the platform, launched back in December 2019.

We are operating in 3 different markets (Romania, Hungary and Poland), our landing being backed by some major accelerating programs like MKB Fintechlab (in partnership with MKB Bank from Hungary) and HUGE Thing (in partnership with Santander Bank in Poland).

We have started to work with different banks in order to find new ways of using ThinkOut as a solution for their SME customer segment. In Romania we are working with Banca Transilvania, which is the biggest bank in the country, in Hungary with MKB Bank and in Poland with Santander Bank.

Our target market is represented by small and medium sized companies In Europe.
Small and medium sized companies constitute 99% of enterprises in Europe, employ two-thirds of the total private sector employment in the EU and represent 85% of new jobs. As stated by the European Union through the last issued reports, SMEs are the backbone of Europe's economy, with a number of more than 22 million in Europe.

Our main SME verticals are: Software/IT, Marketing/PR, HoReCa

Cash flow issues are listed among top problems that entrepreneurs face when developing a new business. Due to the fact that they need to wear multiple hats and take care of various administrative tasks, cash flow management is most of the times a real burden, especially for those who do not have financial background. Moreover, a real and conclusive financial analysis and forecast is out of hand, especially because lack of time, money or expertise.
In this context, SME managers usually take important business decisions based on assumptions or intuition and therefore 80% of new companies close down within the first 18 months of activity.

ThinkOut helps managers of small and medium sized companies better understand how money moves their business.
Using the information fr om the bank statement, ThinkOut is building a fundamental financial analysis of the past, present and future performance of the company. Using this output, managers can rely on ThinkOut in order to make informed business decisions, based on real time data.

In order to work at its maximum efficiency, ThinkOut requires users to connect at least one bank account or manually add a bank statement. The data is categorized based on a predefined Income/ Expenses structure and assigned to a specific category.
For a better understanding of the company’s past and current performance, users interact with a series of graphics, charts and business indicators. They can filter data out and see exactly wh ere money do come from and how it is later used. Also, in updating the current balance, a special cash transactions section is available for users who need it.
As part of the financial analysis, ThinkOut also calculates a series of forecasts for the next six months, based on the already structured past transactions. At this point users are able to add, edit or delete projections in order to increase the accuracy and better plan their business activity.
After customizing the cash plan and setting the forecasts, users only need to come back from time to time in order to refresh the bank connection. New transactions and updated account balances will be thus imported in order to offer a real time overview whenever is needed.

Our competitors fall in three main categories:
- spreadsheets - Excel files or Google Spreadsheet documents internally designed and updates by managers;
- add-ons for accountancy platforms - Float (http://floatapp.com), DryRun (https://dryrun.com), Kashflow (https://www.kashflow.com) - they provide mainly data visualisation layers structured from a bookkeeping perspective;
- tools for start-ups - Runway (https://startuprunway.io), PulseApp (https://pulseapp.com/) - focused on startup metrics and guidance for the first years in business.

Most of the solutions listed above do use bookkeeping software integrations in order to design a proper cash flow plan. Therefore, they require yet another subscription and work with retrospective data rather than with real time business situations. Also, the traditional pen and paper or Excel documents are very time consuming and require constant user input.
The change that ThinkOut brings is that it offers a real time overview of the business in less than 10 minutes through a direct bank connection and transaction categorization. In this way, managers can start focus more on strategic, creative thinking instead on spending hours in compelling or updating burdensome reports and tables with numbers and transactions.

Revenue stream: SaaS subscription (15 EUR/month and 144 EUR/year) + investment

Cost structure: major percentage redirected to HR costs (developers)

ThinkOut is an online platform which applies the Software as a Service business model. The end user product package is based on monthly or annual subscriptions and a 30 days free trial. The value of a monthly subscription is 15 EUR, while the value of an annual one is 144 EUR.
Development plans for ThinkOut follow two important paths.
On one side, banking partnerships will create an alternative to PSD2 for fastly receiving the data, without relying on third party providers, and exponentially grow the customer base.
On the other side, based on its forecasting engine, ThinkOut is able to diversify its clients portfolio by providing analysis and forecasting services to a wide range of financial institutions, for invoice factoring processes, loans and other financial services which require precision in anticipating future trends and estimating the risk level.

Our main customer acquisition channels include social media and email.

The money will be spent on consolidating our current position in the key markets we are operating in (Romania, Hungary, Poland) and to enter new markets (Europe/US).

Due to the highly regulated environment we develop our product in (financial sector) the major risk is regarding the burdensome and time consuming licensing process.

MKB Fintechlab, in partnership with MKB Bank, in Hungary
HUGE Thing, in partnership with Santander Bank, in Poland