Alexandre Droual
Payments, from the counter up.
I'm Alexandre Droual, Staff PMM at Qonto. I write about how merchants get paid, and how fintech wins them.
9
years in payments
3
companies helped become acquirers
3
sides of payments: e‑money, PSP, neobank
2
years running my own brand
Topics
Four things I think about every day
Payments
How merchants get paid: cards, acquiring, fees, and the systems behind the tap.
Fintech
How financial products are built, priced and won in Europe.
AI
What AI changes for payments, products and the people who sell them.
Product Marketing
Positioning, launches and go-to-market for ambitious products.
How I think
Four convictions, earned on both sides of the counter
I learned these on a store floor, running a brand, founding a company, and helping payment companies become acquirers. They are the lens for everything I write.
The terminal is the least interesting part.
Merchants buy a device. They keep a system. The real cost of card acceptance lives between the tap and the bank account.
Price opens the door. Proof keeps it open.
A rate gets the meeting. What happens on the first busy Saturday decides whether they stay.
Every market pays its own way.
Cartes Bancaires, girocard, Bizum. A European launch is five launches wearing one name.
AI will not replace go-to-market. It will expose the lazy parts.
The busywork goes first. What is left is judgement, taste and knowing the customer. That was always the job.
The terminal is the least interesting part.
Merchants buy a device. They keep a system. The real cost of card acceptance lives between the tap and the bank account.
Price opens the door. Proof keeps it open.
A rate gets the meeting. What happens on the first busy Saturday decides whether they stay.
Every market pays its own way.
Cartes Bancaires, girocard, Bizum. A European launch is five launches wearing one name.
AI will not replace go-to-market. It will expose the lazy parts.
The busywork goes first. What is left is judgement, taste and knowing the customer. That was always the job.