When Konstantin Dzhengozov turned down a corporate development role in the U.S., he wasn’t walking away from opportunity—he was running toward a different kind of growth. Having helped lead the FP&A function at a fast-scaling Bulgarian tech firm through its acquisition by a U.S. public company, Dzhengozov knew what came next if he stayed the course. But “the unknown… just felt right,” he tells us. So he stayed close to Bulgaria’s booming startup scene—and co-founded Payhawk.
In the early days of Payhawk, Dzhengozov was a one-man finance team, juggling everything from chart of accounts and payroll to fundraising and compliance. “You kind of become a bottleneck at some point,” he tells us. “The sooner you realize that, the better.” His approach: build ahead of need. His first finance hire brought Big Four audit expertise. Next came senior hires in FP&A and tax as the company expanded across Europe and the U.S.
Rather than compete as another card issuer, Payhawk positioned itself as a software company from the start, charging a subscription to solve real pain points Dzhengozov had faced firsthand: poor data visibility, lack of control, and disjointed processes. The company’s dual-revenue model and international-first mindset helped it raise $240 million and become Bulgaria’s first unicorn, he tells us.
Today, Dzhengozov envisions AI helping CFOs compress decision cycles and model complex scenarios instantly. Still, he remains grounded in principle: “Finance should be enabling the business to grow,” not just reporting on it.
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CFOTL: You mentioned how your co-founder articulated the original vision, and how that resonated with you. Clearly, Payhawk is gaining traction in the highly competitive spend management space. What are you doing differently? What are customers finding value in?
Dzhengozov: We built the company very differently. From day one, we decided we were going to be a software company—not just a payments company that issues cards. We wanted to help companies solve the real pain points they face. And I face those pain points myself as a CFO. You don’t have real-time visibility. Controls don’t always work. You get data too late to act on it properly. There are silos between departments, and there’s no single place to access all the information you need when you need it.
Read MoreSo, one of the key pillars of our software was to change that—to solve those core problems. Unlike some competitors, we chose not to give our software away for free. We charge a subscription fee because we’re solving a big issue, and we want to keep investing in our product. We want to bring in new features, move upmarket, and address even more of the CFO office’s challenges.
Early on, we decided we’d build two distinct revenue streams—one from software subscriptions and another from payment services. And one thing that truly set us apart is where we’re from. Bulgaria is a small country, about 6 million people. Some of our competitors come from big home markets like France or Germany, so they build their products to meet the needs of those large local markets.
At first, we thought coming from a small market was a disadvantage, but it turned out to be our biggest strength. From the beginning, we had to think internationally. We knew Bulgaria alone wouldn’t move the needle if we wanted to become a large company. So we designed our product to serve the needs of international businesses—not just one country or market. And that mindset helped us break through.
Payhawk | www.payhawk.com | London, England