32| Thomas Helms / Crispa: The Art of Fundraising: Strategies for Success in Today's Market

🎙️ From Farm to FinTech: Building the Future of Accounting with Founder Thomas Helms

Episode Overview

In this episode, we sit down with Thomas Helms, serial entrepreneur and founder of Crispa, a modern accounting platform rethinking how startups manage their finances.

Thomas shares his journey from growing up on a Danish farm — where hard work, ownership, and problem-solving were daily realities — to management consulting, and ultimately into entrepreneurship. Along the way, he reflects on the mindset shifts required to move from strategy decks to building real products, teams, and companies.

We dive deep into the inefficiencies of traditional accounting, the role of automation and AI in modern finance, and what it really takes to build and scale a FinTech company across borders. This conversation blends personal story with highly practical insights for founders navigating fundraising, team building, and fast-moving markets.

💡 Key Takeaways

Entrepreneurship demands relentless effort, resilience, and curiosityDeep understanding of financial operations is a superpower for foundersAutomation and AI are essential to scaling modern startups efficientlySmall, empowered teams can outperform much larger organisationsFundraising works best when treated as a structured, intentional processFlexibility in technology and workflows enables long-term scalabilityAuthentic leadership builds trust with both teams and investorsExperimentation and iteration are critical to sustained innovation

🗣️ Sound Bites

“You need to be so much on top of those things.”“Every no brings me closer to a yes.”“Do things that don’t scale.”

🧭 Chapters

00:00 – Introduction to Thomas Helms and Crispa

01:48 – Childhood Influences on Entrepreneurship