From a £2.30 Sale to a Billion-Dollar Business

<p>From a £2.30 first insurance policy to building a billion-dollar business. Sten Saar started his first business at just 17 in Estonia. By 21, he had a team of 22 and a business generating around $1 million in revenue.</p><p>Alongside the success came painful failures. After putting money into projects that collapsed, including money his father had raised against his own home, Sten bought a one-way ticket to London with no Plan B. Years later, while working at Deliveroo, he spotted a glaring problem: delivery drivers were being forced to pay £1,000 upfront for annual insurance before earning a single pound. That problem became Zego. </p><p>The first policy sold for just £2.30. Zego went on to achieve unicorn status and raise more than $300 million. But rapid success brought an entirely new set of problems:</p><p>• Tripling the team from 200 to 600 people in six months—and why Sten considers it one of his biggest mistakes</p><p>• Losing 80% of revenue in three weeks when COVID hit</p><p>• Metaphorically &quot;firing himself&quot; seven times as CEO as the business outgrew each stage</p><p>• Why reaching unicorn status is merely a &quot;petrol station on the way&quot; and never the final destination </p><p><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p><p>• Growth is only valuable if the organizational culture and quality bar underneath can support it</p><p>• How asking &quot;why?&quot; repeatedly uncovers multi-million pound market opportunities</p><p>• Why founders must continually &quot;fire&quot; their past selves to evolve with the company</p><p>• The power of defining the worst-case scenario: &quot;Nothing to lose. Let&#39;s do it.&quot;</p><p><br></p><p>🎧 Listen to the full episode of Screw It Just DO It</p><p>🎟️ Join us at the Festival of Entrepreneurs, November 3–4 at NEC Birmingham👉 www.festivalofentrepreneurs.co.uk</p><p><br></p>