Blue Ocean Global Technology Interview Feature – Jacob Appel

Jacob is a tech entrepreneur and the co-founder of Binderr, a global marketplace connecting businesses with banks, lawyers, and professional service providers. Previously, he built Time-to-Eat into a €1M ARR food delivery platform and expanded Bolt across Malta, Tunisia, and Cyprus before exiting in an eight-figure deal. At Binderr, he’s focused on making it effortless for businesses to start, grow, and operate globally by simplifying how they access financial and legal services.

Blue Ocean: You’ve recently launched a marketplace – what’s the bigger vision behind it?

Jacob : The marketplace is really the product I always wanted as an entrepreneur. We’ve built businesses before and expanded to other countries. Every time you expand or set up a business in a new country, you need to go through the same process: find a service provider to help you incorporate the company, a banking partner, a lawyer, an accountant, an auditor– maybe even insurance. And every single time, you’re relying on people in your network.

So, let’s say you want to set up a company in Switzerland. You’d ask around, questions such as “Do you know someone in Switzerland who can help me?” If your network can’t help, you turn to Google: “How can I set up a company in Switzerland?” You then get a list of law firms, you reach out to, and you hope for reasonable service at a fair price. But there is no simple or easy access to it. What really boggled me for a long time was the question, why isn’t there a marketplace for this?

Today, we have marketplaces for everything. If we want to go on holiday, we can book a hotel in Sri Lanka by simply visiting Booking.com. Compare hotels, click a button, done. Need food? A taxi? Something fixed at home? You’ve got Amazon, Uber, and all the big marketplaces. But when it comes to financial and professional services, there’s nothing. We’re still left asking our network or Googling. The directories that exist are basically just static lists of law firms or banks. You can’t really do much. You click a link, land on their website, and have to start their onboarding process from scratch. It’s not accessible. And don’t forget– every time you engage with a new provider in a new country, you have to go through a lengthy due diligence process. The bank sends me a new application form, and I have to submit all my documents again. Every single time.

So I saw there’s a real opportunity here. Imagine a system where all of us, citizens or business owners, sign up to ‘Binderr’. You go through ‘KYC’ (Know Your Customer) once.

Once inside, you get access to all the banks, law firms, and accounting firms. You can compare who’s best for your needs– who’s cheapest, who’s most experienced, depending on the service you’re looking for. Sometimes, I just need the cheapest company incorporation. Other times, I need a full setup with a high level of expertise. This marketplace would make these services far more accessible. Even take me, for example. I run a startup with 30 employees and half a million in yearly revenue. If I wanted a €1M loan today, I’d be back on Google, searching “banks that give loans to startups in Malta”, and cold-calling to see who might be interested. Instead, with the help of ‘Binderr’, I should now be able to log in, see that these three banks already work with tech startups in Malta, answer a few questions, and send in a loan application to all of them at once. They come back to me with offers- or not. That is what we’re trying to enable with the marketplace.

Blue Ocean: How do you see Binderrr changing the way businesses access financial and professional services globally?

Jacob: Similar to how we access most of our services today through marketplaces, the same should apply to financial and professional services. Why shouldn’t it? Just like you’d never call a restaurant directly for takeaway anymore, there’s a future where you wouldn’t onboard directly with a bank either. You’d do it through a marketplace, because your KYC is already done, and you have access to all the banks in one place. That would make everyone’s life so much easier. Opening a bank account for a company in most countries is still such a pain.

Blue Ocean: What does success look like for you in the next 12 months?

Jacob: For me, the next 12 months are all about turning the marketplace from an idea into a product people can’t live without. The first phase is rolling out our concierge service, a high-touch solution where businesses and individuals can come to us for everything from setting up a company to opening a bank account or finding a law firm. Instead of navigating providers on their own, our concierge team connects them with the right banks, lawyers, and corporate service providers from our network and manages the entire process. The tech behind it is key: once your KYC is done in Binderr, we can reuse it to handle everything else, from company formation to banking and legal work, without repeating the same painful process each time. Our vision is that every business owner, no matter where they are in the world, has their own personal corporate concierge in their pocket, a single point of access to all the services they need to operate and grow globally.

Once the concierge is running at scale, we’ll open up the self-serve marketplace to the public, so anyone — individuals or business owners — can browse, connect, and transact directly with providers. Success will look like hundreds of new bank account openings a day and just as many legal or accounting engagements daily.

On the KYC/KYB side, what I’m hoping, and already starting to see, is that the marketplace becomes a powerful lead generator for our software. When we approach banks and say, ‘We’ve already got 40,000 KYC/KYB-verified individuals and businesses inside Binderr, and we’d like to start introducing them to you,’ it’s an easy yes. There’s no cost to be listed, and we only charge a fee if we bring them clients. That’s why we’ve been able to onboard 150 banks, EMIs, law firms, and accounting firms so quickly; it’s low friction and not intrusive. Over time, as they build trust with us, they start seeing the advantages of our tech and often decide to adopt our KYC/KYB platform as well.

By the end of the year, we aim to have 500 banks, EMIs, law firms, and accounting firms on the marketplace, with at least 100 actively using our software.

Blue Ocean: What types of companies use Binderr today, and how do they benefit?

Jacob: On the KYC/KYB side, it’s really for regulated firms. Our sweet spot is small and medium-sized corporate service providers, law firms, and accounting firms. We’ve also recently started working with some smaller banks, electronic money institutions, and even a couple of real estate agencies using the platform. So we can cater to any regulated firm, but our core focus remains on small and medium-sized accounting, law, and corporate service providers. On the marketplace side, it’s really for any business owner who needs a bank account, a lawyer, an accountant or needs to set up a business. So, there’s a much wider applicability and use case on that end.

Blue Ocean:  What is something unique you offer to your clients?

Jacob: Binderr is unique because it’s the world’s first true marketplace for financial and professional services and the first revenue-generating compliance platform for regulated institutions. On one side, we give individuals and business owners instant access to banks, lawyers, accountants, and other providers through a seamless marketplace experience, where services can actually be booked and activated, not just browsed. On the other side, our KYC/KYB software is used by banks, law firms, and corporate service providers. Unlike traditional AML/KYC platforms, which are pure cost centers, Binderr helps these institutions generate new business by connecting them with verified clients through the marketplace. That combination is what sets us apart in a crowded market of static directories and standalone compliance tools.

Blue Ocean: What is one trend in your industry that excites you?

Jacob: Well, there’s AI, which is really interesting. Especially when it comes to financial and professional services, I think AI is going to make a huge difference, particularly on the professional services side. It will make services much more accessible. Lawyers and accountants will be able to produce a lot more work efficiently. What we’re really paying for today is the hard work behind drafting contracts, preparing accounts, and similar tasks.

But now, with AI helping generate a lot of that foundational work, it’s going to become cheaper and more accessible for everyone. What’s exciting is that this also elevates the role of lawyers and accountants. Instead of spending all their time on manual work, they can now shift their focus to strategy, offering more high-level guidance and value. So it’s not just about getting the paperwork done, but also about helping steer the business in the right direction. It’s similar to how spreadsheets transformed the accounting world back in the ’70s or ’80s. Back then, you had entire buildings filled with people doing manual calculations. Spreadsheets made that process faster, more scalable, and more widely available. Suddenly, every small business could afford an accountant. I believe we’re about to see that same leap– AI will handle the basic bookkeeping and drafting work, while professionals will move up the value chain. They’ll help businesses access funding, cut costs more efficiently, or provide better financial insights.

Now, on the financial services side, the big unlock is still around accessibility; connecting people and businesses better. As I mentioned earlier, if we at Binderr wanted to get a €1 million loan today, I’m sure there’s a bank out there willing to give it to us. But the problem is, I don’t know which bank that is, and I don’t have direct access to them. That’s the real challenge. Creating that kind of matchmaking layer where businesses and financial institutions can connect easily is where AI and machine learning will play a big role. It might not always be the flashy kind of AI, but more in terms of smart algorithms and systems that help facilitate better matches.

For us at Binderr, since we’re also a due diligence platform, there’s some really exciting potential when it comes to background checks. Today, banks, law firms, and accounting firms have huge compliance teams doing manual background checks on their clients. We’ve now integrated with Perplexity, which allows us to conduct far more comprehensive and efficient background checks.

Some of our partner banks currently pay $20,000–$30,000 for an enhanced due diligence report on a single client. But with today’s tools- like deep research via ChatGPT or Perplexity- you can get very close to that same quality at a fraction of the cost and time. So on the compliance and due diligence side, there’s a huge unlock in terms of saving resources and boosting efficiency.

Blue Ocean: What does your typical day look like?

Jacob: I typically work from my basement, so most mornings I just head straight down and get started. Depending on how into it I get, I might come back up after an hour or so to have breakfast and spend some time with the family– just take it easy. Sometimes I get completely stuck and don’t resurface until later in the afternoon. During the day, I usually have a few meetings, either with customers or internal team calls. Then, around dinner time, I try to make sure I spend at least an hour or so being fully present with the family.

My fiancée and I have two kids, so it’s important to carve out that time. After dinner, once the kids are asleep, I usually stay upstairs. I’ll get a bit more work done while my fiancée relaxes on the sofa and watches a series or something. So yeah, that’s pretty much what a typical day looks like for me.

Blue Ocean: What were some early challenges you faced building the company, and how did you overcome them?

Jacob: We started five years ago, and for the first four years, we spent €150,000 a month, every month, without any revenue. We pivoted multiple times. First, we were an accounting app for self-employed people, then we became an accounting software for accountants. That didn’t work out. Through conversations with accountants, we ended up building compliance software. And from there, we started building the KYC/KYB software that we have today, which we went to market with at the end of last year. We started building out the marketplace, which is our latest big bet, right? It’s taking so many iterations and adjustments. You really have to start from scratch every time. You have to look at what you’re doing, be really honest: is this working? And is this the way we are going to achieve the ambitions that we have as a team? And multiple times, we’ve had to say, no, that is not the case, and we’ve had to start over.

I think that’s been the biggest challenge: keeping the entire team motivated while we’ve been looking for our space in this world—our niche where we could really find a fit.

Now, it’s incredibly exciting that we’ve found that fit, especially on the KYC/KYB side. And the marketplace is, at least, seeming to be a very interesting product that’s resonating with a lot of people. So yeah, I’m excited about where we are today. But it’s definitely taken a lot, we’ve overcome a lot of obstacles to get here, for sure.

Blue Ocean: How did your experiences as a business leader shape the person and professional you are today?

Jacob: I think the best founders are rarely balanced. They’re usually exceptional at one or two things and weaker in others. I’m more of a generalist, so I don’t fit that mould. I’m not a developer, though I understand technology, and while I’m passionate about product, thinking through how it should work, the logic, the specifications, even the design, I’m not formally trained as a product person. I’m also not a finance expert. I’m just pretty good across the board: leading teams, shaping product, understanding the business. Not incredible in any one area, but solid in all of them.

What really works for me is consistency. I’ve been building companies for years, and I just keep showing up. Progress compounds over time, even when it feels like nothing’s moving. That ability to stay focused and keep going, even through the slow and difficult stretches, is probably my biggest strength.

Blue Ocean: Outside of work, what passions and interests do you pursue?

Jacob: Between family and work, I don’t really have other passions. I like to go for walks. That’s my big thing. Recently, I’ve even taken that into running. So whether it’s walking or running, I try to get out there for an hour a day. It helps clear my mind. I got a lot of inspiration during that time. What I usually do is pick a topic I need to work on, whether it’s product, finance, sales, and by the time I’m done with that walk or run, I almost always come back with a solution. That’s probably my biggest hack. It really enables me to do better in my day-to-day life.

I also try to meditate. Though I’ll admit, that’s pretty inconsistent. I probably manage to do it three or four times a week. Ideally, I’d do it in the morning and evening, but it ends up being a few times a week instead. Still, I always come out of it feeling centered.

That said, the reason I meditate less now than I used to is that those walks and runs basically double as meditation sessions for me. And then there’s the hour I get with my family around dinner time. That really recharges me as well. It’s like a nice reset to the day. All the troubles and problems from work just disappear for that hour or so.

Blue Ocean: What is your favorite quote?

Jacob: I don’t have one, but what helps me a lot is gratitude.

We get so caught up in our own world and the challenges we deal with every day. And what always puts me back in my place is realizing how fortunate I am, in general. I have a good head on my shoulders, a healthy body, and a beautiful family. I was just telling my fiancée last night, as we were going to bed, “I can’t believe how lucky I am.” I get to work on something I’m so passionate about every single day. And I know that not everyone gets that. So many people out there are working on things that don’t really excite them.

So, whenever I’m in a place where I’m complaining or feeling like the world is a bit against me, I try to ground myself with that thought. Like, honestly, I have no reason not to be grateful and appreciative of my life. Whatever stress or challenges I’m dealing with at work, I just have to take a step back and remember that. Gratitude kind of became my internal compass mantra I try to live by.

Conclusion

Jacob’s journey is defined by persistence, clarity, and a deep understanding of what modern businesses truly need. With Binderr, he’s reimagining access to financial and professional services, making them simpler, smarter, and more connected. Grounded in consistency and driven by vision, Jacob is building more than just a marketplace; he’s laying the foundation for how global business gets done in the future.