"Klarna cofounder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski's path toward leading a $16 billion company is a rags-to-riches story. His career began by flipping Whoppers at Burger King, hitchhiking across the world, and living off of food stamps. But without his struggles, he may have never sparked the idea for Klarna, which has now made 40 employee millionaires."
"Seeing no future in fast food, Siemiatkowski took jobs as a dementia caretaker, school teacher, and eventually an internet subscription telemarketer. It was the latter experience that sparked his interest in the hustle and grind culture-a mode the now-43-year-old said he connected with instantly. "Sales is typically seen as this kind of sleazy, lowlife thing, but I find it beautiful," he told Sequoia Capital. "I always loved polishing and refining my sales script; eventually I knew I got it perfect one day when I closed 16 calls in a row. This kind of thing-the art of convincing-it's just a fascinating skill.""
Sebastian Siemiatkowski rose from humble beginnings to lead Klarna, a fintech with a $16 billion market cap and the largest IPO of 2025 so far. He worked early jobs including flipping Whoppers at age 15, hitchhiking, and living on food stamps. He later worked as a dementia caretaker, school teacher, and internet subscription telemarketer, where sales experience cultivated a fascination with persuasion and script refinement. That sales background and a gap year during business studies at the Stockholm School of Economics helped spur the idea that became Klarna. Klarna has created about 40 employee millionaires and attracted investor interest in buy-now-pay-later.
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