Just Go Grind

Yacine Sibous is the Co-Founder of Parker, the financial stack for scaling your e⁠-⁠commerce brand faster and more profitably.

After studying Physics and Computer Science at McGill University, Yacine left to attend 42, a unique software engineering school in France. It’s there that he met his co-founder Milan Ray.

Yacine and Milan went on to participate in Y Combinator in 2019. They have since raised $157 million from investors and have processed more than $550 million on their platform, with customers that include brands like Caraway, Venus et Fleur, and Dolls Kill.

Topics Covered by Yacine Sibous in this Episode

• 0:00 Parker: A digital banking platform for internet-based companies

• 1:05 How a friend’s business selling phone cases on Instagram in college led to the inception of Parker

• 5:36 Attending Y Combinator and how COVID led Yacine and Milan to return to their original idea after many pivots

• 8:50 How Yacine met his co-founder, Milan Ray and decided to work together

• 10:08 Attending the unique school 42 in France

• 10:59 Early feedback on Parker that led Yacine and Milan to stick to their original idea

• 12:01 Understanding the fundraising game and raising their first round from YC

• 13:35 The mistake of under-utilizing funds and burning too little

• 15:09 What fueled Parker’s growth

• 17:19 Leveraging events for growth post-COVID

• 18:09 What differentiates Parker from its competitors

• 21:45 How customer feedback enabled them to build a credit model unique to e-commerce

• 23:58 The key to raising debt

• 24:49 Yacine’s best fundraising advice

• 27:03 Tips for building hiring both junior and executive team members

• 31:12 How a focus on growth has enabled Parker’s success

• 33:30 How Yacine invests in himself

• 35:21 What’s next for Parker

• 36:52 Parker’s target customer

• 37:10 Where to connect with Yacine

Connect with Parker and Yacine

Website: Parker LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yacine-sibous/ Twitter: @YacineSibous Email: [email protected]

Learn from other world-class founders: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon, the host, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/larry-ellison

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/shonda-rhimes

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/daniel-ek

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/estee-lauder

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/cesar-ritz

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/arianna-huffington

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/tobi-lutke

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/adi-tatarko

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe

Written version: https://www.justgogrind.com/p/izzy-rosenzweig 

More about the Just Go Grind newsletter:

• Learn the tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. I spend 20+ hours each week researching founders like Sam Altman, Melanie Perkins, and Patrick Collison, sharing the best insights with you every Sunday.
• Subscribe to the Just Go Grind newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe