Resilience and Reinvention in the Car Finance Sector Carmoola shows how innovation can thrive amid adversity in car finance

In an industry facing constant change, the journey of a growth-stage business, Carmoola based in London, reveals the crucial role of resilience. By learning from challenges, the company has developed innovative solutions that emphasise teamwork and a focus on customer satisfaction as key to thriving in a competitive market. Entrepreneur UK speaks with Aidan Rushby, CEO and founder, to explore these insights further.

What inspired you to start your business?
My mind is pretty restless, so I often scribble down business ideas spontaneously - as many as 20 or so a week isn't unusual. When there's an idea that I keep coming back to, or start exploring in more detail, I know that there's some potential there. And this was the case with Carmoola.

It may sound a bit odd, but I enjoy reading Initial Public Offering prospectuses and annual reports, and at the time I had been looking into the business models of companies like Cazoo and Carvana. They addressed a significant market - used cars - but I just wasn't convinced of their profit potential. However, I'd also been interested in the buy-now-pay-later concept and thought there was an opportunity to combine the two.

To me, by leveraging the app-based spending that Klarna and others had helped educate a younger audience about and applying that to a market with huge potential, but which had been starved of any real innovation, we could create a faster, easier, and more affordable car finance experience. The more I looked into it, the more it made sense, and that's what started it all off.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
Our CTOs, Roman and Igor, along with our engineers who were based in Ukraine, achieved remarkable feats to develop the technology behind our product, all while navigating the harsh realities of the war. The situation was incredibly challenging, with half of the tech team relocating to Warsaw to begin new lives, while the other half remained in Ukraine, facing ongoing uncertainty. I have never encountered a more resilient and dedicated team, but there's no denying the immense pressure everyone was under during that time.

At the same time, the business was gaining significant traction. Customers were enthusiastic about our app and the overall experience, but we were operating with limited financial resources, and that was a constant concern. This led us to start raising our Series A round just three months after launching. Given the strong early results, I initially thought the process would be straightforward. However, I was quickly proven wrong—what followed turned out to be one of the most difficult challenges I've ever faced.

Many venture capitalists (VCs) didn't fully grasp the intricacies of lending businesses, and on top of that, the macroeconomic climate wasn't exactly encouraging. I found myself hitting roadblock after roadblock, especially as the holiday season approached and time—and cash—was running out. In a fortunate turn of events, on the very last day before the break, I connected with QED Investors, a leading VC firm with deep expertise in fintech. That conversation changed everything, and from there, the story took a much more positive direction.

How did you secure your initial funding?
I and the other founders provided the initial capital, and I leveraged my network at the seed stage, too. Subsequently, I actively sought out partnerships with investors that I knew could provide more than 'just' capital. All of our investors have relevant geographic, sectoral or technical experience, which makes them hugely valuable as partners and board members, helping to steer the business and interrogate our plans.

How do you handle failure or setbacks?
You need to reframe failures as opportunities from which to learn and build resilience. There are some things you can only learn effectively by going through them first-hand. For instance, the setbacks I had in a previous business taught me many valuable lessons, like the importance of building a world-class team with the right expertise and experience. Doing this may take longer, but by being picky and setting the talent bar high, we can achieve far greater results, whilst keeping our headcount low.

There are no shortcuts or guarantees with anything, and certainly not in business, but having the drive and experience certainly helps to shorten decision-making and fact-finding. Having been through the process of setting up businesses before, I had a better idea of what works, and the pitfalls to look out for. But with a good team and a viable market, most challenges can be met.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?
Learn to become much more comfortable with yourself. When you truly believe in yourself you're able to be more conscious in how you think through the decisions that you're making, which makes you a better leader, and that it makes a huge difference. Also, make sure you're solving a real problem that can be monetised. Even with a great team and a great product, if the market doesn't want what you're offering you'll struggle to make an impact. So work on yourself, evaluate the opportunity, and find the right team to deliver. Get that right, and the rewards will follow.

How do you stay motivated during tough times?
It's important to remind yourself of your 'why'. Problems and distractions will always arise, but the reason you started your business is the foundation everything is built on - for Carmoola, that's a fanatical focus on the customer.

Our customer reviews are automatically fed into our company-wide Slack channel so we can all see how people are experiencing our product, customer service and brand. Maintaining our very high satisfaction scores is a non-negotiable for me as we grow, and reading feedback from our customers reminds me why we do what we do, and helps to put difficult times in perspective.

Share your tips for achieving success...
Know what you are strongest at and, just as importantly, know where your blind spots are. Then, find the best people who can plug those gaps and then get out of their way so they can deliver at pace and with accountability.

Never allow yourself to become complacent, especially when things are going well. You need to be relentlessly focused on improvement, to the extent that you're almost constantly unsatisfied. This doesn't justify pessimism or negativity - don't allow ambition or impatience to distract you from noticing and celebrating the success of the business and those within it. It's really important to enjoy the journey, just as much as the destination. Positivity and joy are far more sustainable methods of motivation.