Conversations with: Lucien, CEO & Co-Founder of Joiin

We sat down with Lucien, one of the founders of Joiin, to talk about the company’s origins, global growth journey, and the team’s experience working with Bishop Fleming. Here’s what he had to say.

How did Joiin come about?

It all started while I was consulting for a major UK-based media company that had acquired businesses across the globe. I brought Rob Lucas in to support some of the larger M&A projects and onboarding processes. One acquisition in particular, a £25m business in Seattle purchased for £7m, had a hard deadline: it had to be off the vendor’s books by the end of March. It was already December.

The business was running on SAP, alongside Salesforce and HR systems. Transitioning everything in three months was impossible. So we took a bold approach, especially in 2015 and moved the data to the cloud. We pulled out key financial and sales data and completed the deal on time.

That cloud-first move was how Joiin started. Working across platforms, Xero in the UK, QuickBooks in the US, and DATEV in Europe, we began building trial balances and profit and loss reports. We saw the potential for something far bigger.

We then brought in Tomek, our third co-founder, who rebuilt the initial concept using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and serverless tech in just three days. By 2018, we’d launched Joiin on the Xero and QuickBooks marketplaces. The product handled TBs, PLs, and balance sheets, and we charged a small monthly fee. Even while running other projects, our customer base grew to 100 organically.

The real turning point came with customer feedback. We realised the true value wasn’t just helping with M&A, it was financial consolidation and aggregation. That insight drove the next stage of our growth.

In 2020, we updated our pricing from £2–4/month to £15+, and ended the year with 250 customers. That year also marked our first official launch as a business.

Did you have other jobs at the time?

Yes. All three founders, Rob, Tomek, and I were involved in other ventures at first. But Joiin began to take off quickly.

Coming from enterprise backgrounds, we were frustrated with how complex traditional professional services could be. That’s why Joiin was built as a self-serve platform from day one; to simplify onboarding, reduce friction, and put control in the hands of our customers.

We ran Joiin part-time until 2021. That year, we hired our first support and commercial employees, followed by our directors. Today, more than 2 billion transactions flow through Joiin annually, and we’re trusted by over 50,000 organisations worldwide.

How did the founding team come together?

Paul and I went to school together, as did Rob and I. We all crossed paths through rugby, school, and later university. Tomek joined us later after we worked together at a construction business in Exeter. After leaving, we stayed in touch and collaborated on a number of projects.

How do your roles work within Joiin?

We lean into our strengths, which makes for a well-balanced leadership team:

• Rob leads on product and processes. He’s a developer at heart and still writes code.
• Tomek focuses on architecture and technical development.
• Paul manages finance, commercial strategy, and marketing.
• I focus on our customers and partnerships, connecting product strategy with real-world needs.

Tell us about your customer base

We’re based at Exeter Science Park and operate in a hybrid setup across Exeter and Exmouth. Joiin is used in over 200 countries across six continents, by organisations in sectors like energy, education, global franchises, and accountancy practices.

What sets us apart is our speed, cost-efficiency, and ease of onboarding. We’re well known for our deep integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and we’ve recently gone live with Pennylane and Puzzle, an AI-powered general ledger. 

We’re also exploring expansion into platforms like Sage Intacct and NetSuite, giving customers even more flexibility across complex, multi-entity environments.

What are some of Joiin’s core features and how do they help your customers?

We’ve just rolled out a major upgrade to our reporting and it’s making real difference. Our new Report Packs let customers build fully branded, presentation-ready reports that combine charts, financials and text, ideal for client updates, board meetings or investor packs.

We’ve added AI-powered commentary, automated delivery, and more control over layout and formatting. It means faster reporting, clearer insights, and less manual work.

Add to that our Excel Add-On and multi-entity support, and customers can report however they want at scale and with confidence.

How do customers sign up?

Joiin is built for both organisations and accountants. Getting started is simple: just head to joiin.co and sign up for a 14-day free trial  (no card required). You’ll get full feature access from day one.

Onboarding is automated, with in-app prompts to guide users through the process. We also run online demos and customer sessions regularly to help our customers get the most out of the platform.

Joiin was recently recognised by Xero. Can you tell us more?

Yes, Joiin was featured in Xero’s “Featured App” June 2025 collection, reflecting our strong partnership. We work closely with the Xero team, as well as our partners, including David Tuck from Mayday and the team at ApprovalMax, running joint webinars and participating in several Xero-led events.

Our Xero App Store profile now has nearly 360 five-star reviews, placing us among the top 10 apps globally.

What’s the future for Joiin?

Our core will always be financial aggregation, consolidation, and automation. But we're building on that to deliver even more real-time, intelligent reporting, powered by AI and with non-financial data. Our strategy supports smarter decisions and deeper insight across workflows.

And finally, how have you found working with Bishop Fleming?

Bishop Fleming has been a breath of fresh air. We always knew our previous setup was temporary. As Joiin grew, we needed more structure and strategic guidance. After a few great early conversations, it was clear they were the right fit and being local mattered too.

Since then, Bishop Fleming has supported us on tax, planning, and structuring, and has done so with genuine strategic input. There’s a level of clarity and openness in our discussions that we value highly, and that’s rare.

Bishop Fleming brought experienced people to the table who engage with us on our terms - flexible, candid, and commercially smart.

More than anything, we see Bishop Fleming as a key partner in Joiin’s next phase of growth. Whether we’re expanding our customer base, exploring future investment, or preparing for a potential exit, they’re the team we’ll turn to for strategic advice.

Our relationship is exactly what we hoped for in a true advisory partner.

 To learn more about Joiin, visit: https://www.joiin.co.