As Director and co-founder of Capitalixe, Lissele Pratt helps companies in high-risk industries obtain the latest financial technology and banking solutions. 

With 6+ years of experience in the financial services industry and her global perspective, the entrepreneurial-minded Lissele is a recognised expert in foreign exchange, payments, and financial technology. 
Lissele was the first-ever female to be awarded top salesperson at her previous company and was recently listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Finance 2021 list. 

Can you tell our readers about your background?  

As a child, I often moved around a lot. I was born in London, then moved to Spain, then to Thailand, and finally settled in London when I was 15. Because of this, I missed a lot of schooling. I never really enjoyed school and knew that university wasn’t the right path for me. So after finishing school, I went straight into a career as a Junior FX broker in the city. Finance was always something I was highly interested in pursuing. I was passionate about learning about the financial market and loved the problem-solving elements of my role. 

What inspired you to start your business?

I have always been very business-minded. My father and grandfather are both entrepreneurs and, growing up, I always admired their work ethic and commitment.

I set up my first business when I was just 16. Here, I sold jewellery in markets across London. At 20, I launched a business selling vintage clothing on eCommerce sites like eBay and Depop. However, I quickly realised that utilising my experience in finance and launching a business in this industry was the ideal choice for me.

In 2018, I backpacked through South East Asia for four months. Whilst travelling, I noticed that I preferred to have more freedom in life and have the opportunity to work and live wherever I wanted. I began discussing the possibility of launching my finance business with my life partner Ivan. These talks quickly accelerated into action, and we founded Capitalixe.

 Where is your business based?

We registered our company in the United Kingdom but immediately knew this wasn’t where we wanted to operate. I’m lucky enough to have the privilege of being able to run my business entirely remotely. Because of this, my partner and I moved to Portugal and now work from our home in Lisbon. My team are also based all over the world. I have employees in the Philippines and some in London.

 How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took? 

Firstly, I mapped out a business plan with my partner Ivan. We ran through lots of different ideas on how we wanted to operate, our brand name, who our target audience would be and so on. We then set out goals we wanted to achieve and discussed what steps we needed to carry out these goals. Once I had all of the planning in place, I registered the business on companies house and Capitalixe was officially born. After that, I networked like crazy to raise awareness and utilised my existing contacts to create mutually beneficial partnerships. 

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

My biggest priority in the first year of launching my business was finding new clients and diversifying my network. I knew that it was pivotal to raise the brand’s awareness and position it in front of our target market. So I spent the majority of my time networking. I attended business events I knew my target clients would attend, joined networking groups such as the Athena Network and BNI, and engaged with potential clients on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. Networking should be in any entrepreneur's marketing strategy. Not only is it a great way to find clients directly, but the more people who know about your business, the more likely it is that you’ll attain referrals. Plus, you’ll also gain so much confidence in speaking about your business and valuable insight from other business owners. 

 What have been your biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?

When I launched Capitalixe, I experienced a lot of rejection in the first few months. I was going up against more established companies. I was also a female founder in an extremely male-dominated industry. Many of my previous colleagues laughed at the idea of me starting my own company. Some even said I didn’t belong in the industry. So when these rejections occurred, I experienced a lot of self-doubts. I’ve found that founders, particularly female founders, need to have a lot of resilience and thick skin. It’s important to understand and accept that things will go wrong. I turned every rejection into a lesson and constantly adapted my approach. I persevered through the tough times and am now running a successful business. 

 How do you stay focused?

One way I stay focused and motivated is by constantly reminding myself of my goals. I have a collection of affirmations, future plans and inspirational quotes stuck to my wall in front of my desk. Whenever I feel unmotivated, I simply look up and read these. This reminds me of why I started and where I want to get to. 

 How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Capitalixe has an extremely niche and focused target audience. We work with companies that are considered high-risk such as cryptocurrency, financial services, and the gambling industry. We also work with companies that experience high chargeback ratios. Therefore, these businesses need more enhanced due diligence and opt for us due to our ability to understand their industry and our specialised skill set. For many of our clients, it can take months to find a provider who offers all the capabilities they need. Capitalixe has all the solutions readily available, saving them time and money.

 What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? 

I implemented an excellent referral scheme that has proven to be a really effective way to market my business. If one of our partners refers us to a client who decides to use our services, they’re rewarded with a commission. It's a win-win situation that incentivises people to promote our business.

I am also very big on personal branding, especially on LinkedIn. I believe building a good personal brand is an excellent marketing strategy for your business. 

 What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Believe in yourself! One of my favourite quotes is from business magnate Henry Ford. He says: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.” When you launch a business, you’re inevitably going to experience some self-doubt. Imposter syndrome is terrible, but it happens to the best of us. It’s essential to believe in yourself and your efforts. I like to remind myself of everything I’ve achieved so far. Sometimes I write this down in list form. This helps tackle that self-doubt.

 What's your favourite app, blog, and book? Why?

One of my all-time favourite books has to be Girl Boss by Sophia Amoruso. Sofia is the founder of the clothing brand Nasty Gal and this book tells the story of her journey to entrepreneurship. I read this book when I was 16, and can honestly say it changed my entire perspective on life and business. Like me, Sophia was a rebellious teenager who left school early. She began selling vintage clothes on eBay, and this small business expanded into a multi-million dollar fashion label. This book really inspired me. It proved that you didn’t need to go down the traditional schooling route or be the brightest kid in the classroom to succeed. 

What's your favourite business tool or resource? Why?

One of the best tools I use in my business is the reMarkable digital planner. I’ve always been the type of person who likes to brainstorm and map out my ideas on paper. Writing tasks down helps me organise my thoughts better and gives me a more robust conceptual understanding of what I do. Plus, as a busy entrepreneur, I find that planning out my week on a phone or laptop can be highly distracting, with email and social media notifications often popping up. However, using actual paper to do this meant I was at constant risk of losing important information. When I started using reMarkable, this risk went away. It’s essentially a digital planner that allows you to take handwritten notes in client meetings, read and sign documents with ease, and create mindmaps and lists. 

Who is your business role model? Why?

Barbara Corcoran is one of my most significant role models. She may not work in the same industry as I do, but I connect with her story, and she motivates me. Barbara launched her business with her boyfriend and caught him cheating on her with one of their employees. When she ended it with him, he told her that she’d never succeed without him. She proved all of the naysayers wrong through hard work, determination, and pure resilience and became a real estate mogul, and not to mention a long-standing Shark on Shark Tank! She’s a fantastic businesswoman, and I truly admire and look up to her. 

How do you balance work and life?

I believe in the work hard, play hard attitude. I’m a young entrepreneur. I started my business when I was 23 years old, and I’m only 25 now. So even though I put a lot of hard work and effort into my job, I also spend time enjoying myself. I love attending yoga classes, keeping fit, reading, meditating, spending time with my loved ones, and the occasional night out. There’s this huge misconception that you have to spend all of your time working on it when you start a business, or it won’t be successful. I disagree with this entirely and think this is a sure way to burn out. 

 What’s your favourite way to decompress? 

I’m a massive fan of yoga and meditation. I believe in starting my day as I mean to go on. So, Every morning before work, I meditate, and I practice yoga or some form of exercise every day. This prepares me for a busy workday and helps me feel calm and ready to take on the challenges ahead. 

 What do you have planned for the next six months?

In the next six months, I’m really focusing on the business’ growth plan. I want to secure even more clients and partners and extend our capabilities and offerings to our current clients. To do this, I plan on scaling up my team, particularly on the business development side. I also plan on expanding to new jurisdictions and target sectors. So, I’ll be carrying out internal training sessions so that everyone in my company is up to date with the recent trends in the payment sector. 

How can our readers connect with you?

You are more than welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisselepratt/. Or even give me a follow on Instagram - @lisselepratt