LDC Top 50 2021

“I have a passion for taking people and companies beyond what anyone thinks they can achieve,” says Amanda Mesler, former CEO of Cashflows. She loves solving complex problems. Cashflows creates the technology used by thousands of business owners to get paid quickly and stay cash positive – a real game-changer in a post-crisis economy.

Amanda joined Cashflows after successfully turning cross-border payments firm Earthport into the darling of the fintech world, achieving UK tech deal of the year and selling the company to Visa. Her secret to scaling disruptive businesses? “Work at pace with high energy and keep going for growth.”

Q&A

Where does your ambition come from?

An early influence in my life, my dad loved team sports. I discovered ambition at age five when I began playing and competing. I developed a passion for winning and being the best I can be. As a leader and manager, I always want my team to be the best they can be.

Have you faced any setbacks in your career?

I remember being the only woman on an executive committee years ago and being treated poorly. It really knocked my confidence. But I found a mentor and managed to move forward and that’s when I started helping people, mostly women, as a coach and mentor. In the early days of Lean In, I met Sheryl Sandberg and brought Lean in to London. It’s all about showing women that ‘ambition’ is not a dirty word.

What did you achieve with Cashflows?

Cashflows’ technology and approach made the business different to its competitors. One out of five people at Cashflows are engineers and almost half are in data or technology, so innovation is at the heart of everything the business does. This year the company will double in size and within five years it will have grown to be one of the largest, most valuable payments businesses in Europe.