10,000 Canadian Businesses Ditched Their Bank for Venn

Canadian businesses are getting left behind by their banks — and Saud Aziz is doing something about it. As co-founder of Venn, he's building the financial operating system that Canadian SMBs actually need: multi-currency accounts, same-day payments, corporate cards with real spend controls, and accounting automation that eliminates the admin pile.

In this episode, Saud walks through how he went from employee #5 at a Canadian fintech (after cold-emailing the CEO) to leading Revolut's Canadian expansion — and why watching that opportunity evaporate pushed him to build Venn from scratch. He shares the early grind of cold-outreaching thousands of businesses, how transparency became their best sales tool, and why they deliberately chose the hard path of becoming a primary banking relationship rather than a niche product.

We get into the real numbers — 90%+ of their customer base transacts in USD, why Canadian businesses are still getting paid by paper check in 2025, and what it means to close a Series A in two weeks without actively going out to raise.

Venn recently crossed 10,000 businesses. They were 10 people when they raised that Series A. This is what capital-efficient, mission-driven fintech looks like.

CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro — What is Venn? 02:00 From customer support to co-founder: Saud's origin story 07:30 Leading Revolut's Canadian expansion (and why it fell apart) 12:00 Why they chose business banking over consumer fintech 16:00 Getting the first 100 customers with honesty and hustle 22:00 The USD account problem most Canadian businesses don't talk about 30:00 Virtual cards, spend controls, and the receipt automation product 40:00 Go-to-market: word of mouth, performance marketing, and sales 48:00 Series A — $21.5M raised in two weeks, from a team of 10 55:00 Canada's entrepreneurial moment — and Venn's long-term vision

KEY TOPICS - Canadian business banking and the Big Five's gaps - Multi-currency accounts (CAD, USD, GBP, EUR) for SMBs - Cross-border USD payments and ACH adoption in Canada - Corporate cards, virtual card issuance, and spend management - Accounts payable and receivable automation - Accounting software integration (QuickBooks, Xero) - Early-stage sales tactics and trust-building with Canadian buyers - Startup founding story: CoHo, Revolut, and the leap to Venn - Series A fundraising — $21.5M led by Left Lane Capital - Canada's entrepreneurial moment and SMB succession trends - AI and predictive cashflow tools on Venn's roadmap - Growth strategy: word of mouth, performance marketing, sales