Sebastian Siemiatkowski

About Sebastian Siemiatkowski

Sebastian Siemiatkowski is the co-founder and CEO of Klarna, Europe's most valuable fintech and one of the world's largest buy-now-pay-later providers, serving over 110 million customers globally. He has become one of the most prominent public company CEOs to aggressively embrace AI transformation, cutting Klarna's workforce from over 7,000 to below 3,000 while simultaneously expanding the company's product portfolio into full-stack banking.

Born in Stockholm to Polish immigrant parents, Siemiatkowski founded Klarna in 2005. He has steered the company through multiple transformations — from Nordic payment processing to global BNPL leader to AI-native financial services platform — and took Klarna public in one of fintech's highest-profile IPOs.

His willingness to publicly discuss workforce reduction through AI, the death of SaaS, and the compression of software valuations has made him a lightning rod for debate on AI's impact on business and employment.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded Klarna in 2005 in Stockholm
• Grew Klarna to 110+ million customers across 45+ countries
• Led Klarna's IPO, making it one of Europe's most valuable fintech companies
• Announced AI customer service replacing equivalent of 700 agents (2023)
• Cut company headcount 50% (7,000 to under 3,000) primarily through AI-enabled attrition
• Launched full-stack banking services (card, trading, peer-to-peer, remittances) without increasing investment
• Secured Sequoia Capital as early investor, with Michael Moritz as long-term board partner

Notable Positions

On the Death of SaaS

Siemiatkowski argues that AI agents will collapse the data switching costs that prop up SaaS valuations. When agents can migrate all your data between vendors in one click, software companies lose their moat. He predicts SaaS multiples could fall from 5-10x price-to-sales to utility-level 1-2x.

On AI and Workforce Reduction

Unlike many CEOs who hedge, Siemiatkowski is direct: Klarna shrinks 20% per year through natural attrition with minimal backfilling. He expects the company could operate with fewer than 2,000 employees by 2030. He balances this with a commitment to sharing gains — employee compensation per head grew nearly 50% during the reduction.

On Building AI-Native Infrastructure

Klarna abandoned siloed SaaS tools in favor of a unified, AI-native tech stack. The reasoning: AI needs maximum context to perform well, and data scattered across separate vendors cripples that capability. He personally prototyped "company in a box" — AI agents running on open-source accounting and CRM software.

Key Quotes

• "The cost of creating software is going down to zero. Everyone will be able to generate software at any point of time." (on SaaS disruption)
• "We've gone from 7,000 people, we're now below 3,000. We've shrank 50%. And I didn't ask for a single dime to do all this." (on AI-driven efficiency)
• "The future of VIP experience will be the human connection, the relationship." (on AI and customer service)
• "I'm more in Dario's camp. I want to be honest about the fact that I do think there's going to be a very big shift." (on AI and employment)

Related Reading

• AI Agents - The technology enabling Klarna's transformation
• SaaS-to-AI Transformation - The industry trend Siemiatkowski is leading
• Knowledge Work Disruption - The labor market impact he predicts