From Asturias to the world: the history of OkTicket and the vision of Iván Rodríguez

The Bankinter Innovation Foundation’s “Coffee with Entrepreneurs” initiative brings you closer to leaders in the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem to learn first-hand about their trajectories, learnings and vision of the future.

Our latest Coffee was with Iván Rodríguez, CEO and founder of OkTicket, a startup that has revolutionized the management of expense receipts, transforming a tedious process into an intelligent and efficient solution.

In his conversation with José Carlos Huerta, our Director of the Startups Program, Iván shares his personal journey, the challenges and learnings he has faced and his vision on how to innovate in such a competitive sector. A journey through the story of an entrepreneur who decided to leave his comfort zone to build something new, with focus, honesty and a lot of determination.

Here you can see the Coffee with Iván Rodríquez:

Coffee with Iván Rodríguez

Below, we summarize the coffee with Iván:

The beginnings

Iván Rodríguez is the son of a computer scientist, a second generation that has lived technology for as long as he can remember. His father founded a small technology company in Asturias more than 50 years ago, when punched cards were the latest in innovation. Iván trained as a computer technician and for a time combined his work in the family business with university studies.

Although he enjoyed programming, he soon discovered that what he was really passionate about was the relationship with customers and the consultative selling process, that sale that, as he says, “allows you to sleep peacefully at night”. In his father’s company, Iván ended up taking on the role of commercial director, where he spent years selling technology and listening to customers to understand their real needs.

However, there came a point in 2016 when Iván felt that his concerns and his desire to do something bigger and more scalable did not fit with the philosophy of continuity and stability of the family business. It was then that he decided to take the leap and “burn the ships”, leaving the security of what he knew to undertake on his own. Thus was born the seed of what would become OkTicket, a project that, as he himself acknowledges, he chose and for which he does not regret having left behind the tranquility of the family business.

What OkTicket does

OkTicket is a tool for digitizing professional travel expenses. Its value proposition is simple and straightforward: when companies have employees on the go, they can take a simple photo of a ticket or invoice and the app pulls out all the relevant information. Iván explains that today it is no longer just a matter of reading the ticket, but of interpreting it: OkTicket’s technology can recognize a Japanese ticket, automatically translate it into the company’s language and detect inconsistencies (for example, when the ticket contains tobacco and the user tries to pass it as a meal expense).

This process automates the application of the management control rules of each company, integrating with ERP systems, human resources, Business Intelligence tools and even with the payment cards used by employees. In addition, OkTicket is not limited to being an add-on: its vision is to connect with everything that is technically and politically integrable, becoming a piece embedded in the core of the business.

Iván stresses that, for them, the challenge is to balance the satisfaction of all users: from the traveler who spends hours settling expenses to the back office, including the financial director and the controller. With its technology, OkTicket simplifies and automates the entire process, eliminating friction and saving time for each of the actors involved.

How OkTicket came about

The seed of OkTicket emerged in 2016, while Iván was still working in the family business. He had created an intrapreneurship: a mobility app for maintenance technicians. During a business process, a customer asked you to be able to attach expense tickets to work orders. That conversation made it clear to him that there was a room for a different product: “I don’t believe in ducks, a duck walks, swims and flies, but it doesn’t do any of the three things well,” explains Iván, convinced of the importance of specialization.

That was the starting point. She decided to leave the family business and, in 2017, she rented a “crappy office” to think about her next step. I didn’t have a clear project, only the certainty that I wanted to build something innovative. So he recovered that idea and analyzed the market, finding a space with little innovation and a lot of potential. He acknowledges that there was also a point of “audacity or ignorance”, because what seemed at first glance to be a form with a photo attached was actually a very complex and profound problem.

At that key moment, Eduardo, current CTO of OkTicket, joined him. Together they began to shape the product, convinced that something much better could be done than the solutions that were then on the market. Today, with a team of 70 people and a product in continuous evolution, Iván remembers those beginnings as a turning point. “This never ends; When you think it’s done, it’s already obsolete,” he reflects. That’s how OkTicket was born: from a mixture of focus, curiosity and the desire to do things right.

Entrepreneurial impulse

Iván reflects on the harshness of the beginning and how the lack of a safety net was key for OkTicket to move forward with determination. It coincides with what other entrepreneurs, such as Juanjo Mestre, have shared: that at first everyone thinks that it is easier than it really is. The difference, Iván points out, is that when you don’t have the security of being able to return to a previous job, it forces you to get the best out of yourself.

“Necessity sharpens ingenuity,” he explains, but above all the great engine is the focus. Iván criticises the fact that many projects are lost because entrepreneurs start making products but then are tempted to introduce services, losing energy and vision. He experienced it directly during the pandemic: suddenly his market disappeared because no one was traveling, and everything pointed to the fact that people would never travel the same way again. However, far from dispersing themselves offering services outside their focus, Iván and his team decided to focus more than ever on their proposal and on adapting to the new reality.

That pressure of not having a plan B and not being able to afford to fail is what, for Iván, makes the difference between projects that move forward and those that fall by the wayside. His experience shows that entrepreneurial drive is not born only from passion, but from the ability to stay the course and not be diluted when the market changes.

OkTicket’s Competitive Advantage

Iván acknowledges that competing in the expense management market is not an easy task: OkTicket is up against giants such as SAP Concur, acquired by SAP for several billion, and with unicorns that have raised more than 400-500 million euros. Faced with these heavyweights, OkTicket has only raised 2 million euros, but its strength lies in the product and the way it adapts to the real needs of the customer.

What makes them different is their own OCR that allows 100% automation and an abstraction layer that allows them to customize spending policies beyond simple parameterization. “We have a single product for all customers, but with the flexibility to adapt to what each one needs,” explains Iván. In addition, the company has focused on creating advanced two-way integrations that are not mere exported files, but evolutionary and dynamic connections that allow customers to extract the maximum value from the tool.

Iván also highlights a human and trust aspect: he understands the risk that a CFO or a purchasing manager assumes when deciding to hire a startup like OkTicket instead of a large international provider. “When you bet on a small company, if something goes wrong, the blame is easier to blame on that decision,” he explains. That’s why OkTicket is very careful and isn’t afraid to say “no” to projects that they don’t see clearly. For Iván, this honesty and the peace of mind of being able to sleep at night are an essential part of his sales culture.

Their success rate in offers is more than 50%, something that is only achieved when technology and the sales team go hand in hand and are able to clearly convey that added value.

Project evolution and key moments in OkTicket

Since its creation, OkTicket has had to constantly evolve to stay relevant in a continuously changing industry. Iván Rodríguez explains that, although they have always kept a clear focus on the problem they wanted to solve, the company has changed a lot compared to their initial vision. They started as an expense application connected to accounting, but over time they expanded their proposal.

Today, OkTicket is much more than an app for uploading tickets: it is an ecosystem that also connects with payment cards, allowing that, for example, when a user pays with the card, they receive the notification of expenditure in the application, attach the ticket and everything is reconciled in real time. In addition, the tool has become an expense aggregator: now, if a customer uses platforms such as Cabify, the expense is automatically integrated without the need to take a photo.

This growth has not been without its challenges. One of the key moments, Iván recalls, was when financial card solutions linked to expense management software emerged on the market. At first, they tried to talk to traditional banks to go to the market together, but they were unable to close deals. Faced with this, they had to redefine their strategy and bet on integrating the entire ecosystem of expenses that a customer needs so as not to depend on anyone and offer superior added value. “We want that, when a competitor comes with a 5% discount, the customer stays with us because it is no longer just an expense software: it is a solution that gives them peace of mind,” sums up Iván.

Another key moment was the pandemic. When travel stopped, OkTicket’s business faltered. However, his team, led by Susana Lago on the commercial side, knew how to adapt and stay calm. Thanks to their focus culture and the decision not to disperse themselves by offering services that would take them away from their core, OkTicket not only resisted, but grew by 50% in that period.

Today, with a team of 70 people and increasingly larger customers, Iván is clear that OkTicket’s growth is based on three keys: maintaining focus, evolving the product by listening to the market and surrounding himself with a team that shares that vision.

Internationalization

International expansion has been, in the words of Iván, the biggest challenge that OkTicket has faced. He himself recognizes that he made many mistakes at the beginning: “I am not one of those who say ‘I learn from my mistakes’, I prefer to learn from those of others, but on the international side… I have learned the hard way.” His professional experience in the sale of technological products helped him a lot in Spain, but on the international side he confesses that he had to learn from scratch.

One of the main mistakes, he admits, was choosing France as the first country to expand. France, he says, is a complicated market for Spanish B2B SaaS and even more so if you do not have a powerful local native team and sufficient resources. After that experience, they decided to change the strategy. Portugal has become a more accessible market and where progress has been made, although it is still small. However, the big bet is on Mexico.

Iván explains that Mexico highly values Spanish products and the way they are sold. But he also recognizes that selling in Mexico is not easy: “There, even the humblest have tremendous negotiation skills. They are very skilled people, anyone can negotiate with you at the highest level and then, in addition, when you go to medium or large companies – which is where we have focused – the sales cycle is long, because they are very sophisticated buyers.” He compares it to a “master’s degree in sales,” because while Mexico is a country he loves and motivates him, it’s also a daily challenge to polish negotiation skills and adapt to the local business culture.

For Iván, the secret lies in humility and respect, and in understanding that you cannot compete only with the product: you must compete with the level of demand that these companies have, which is often more similar to the American market than to the Spanish one. Even so, his team in Mexico is already up and running and they are beginning to see “green shoots”, although, as he himself says, “this is a birth” and you have to have patience and a lot of determination to consolidate.

Navigating the fintech world

Ivan shares his vision on how OkTicket has had to adapt to the rise of fintechs offering combined card solutions and travel expense software. He confesses that at the time he did not have the ability to approach banks to propose strategic alliances: “I couldn’t get them to listen to me when I went to tell them to join forces and connect your cards.” Faced with this blockage, Iván and his team looked for a “banking as a service” provider to be able to issue cards themselves and compete on a one-to-one basis with these new players.

Today he recognizes that the situation has changed: “For a year and a bit I have been seeing a change. I believe that established banks have the tremendous challenge ahead of the intrusion that is occurring in other sectors such as technology.” He mentions how Apple has already tried to issue cards with JP Morgan in the United States, or how companies like Revolut are entering the B2B market with force. In addition, it highlights the major players in the Fintech sector in expense management: Pleo, Qonto and Payhawk, which have raised hundreds of millions of euros and use expense management as a value-added layer to offer more complete financial products.

For Iván, this competition is not only a challenge, but an opportunity for OkTicket to differentiate itself. Today they collaborate with MoneytoPay, a fintech that allows them to issue cards and remain competitive. However, he knows that it is a long-distance race and that the key is not to limit himself to competing only on price, but to provide real added value that builds customer loyalty and makes them choose them in the long term.

Innovation and technology

Iván highlights that OkTicket was born with artificial intelligence as a central part of its product. However, they have not stopped there: they have evolved towards what he calls “agents as a service”, taking advantage of the possibilities offered by multi-LLM models without marrying any one in particular. His philosophy is clear: “This is going to change who is the best and who is the one who earns the most, who is the one who earns the least. And we apply it, not only in the recognition part, but we go further.”

A concrete example of how they are using AI in OkTicket is the ability to add a new field – for example, “liters” – and with a simple prompt tell their system to search the gas tickets for the liters consumed and generate alerts if they exceed a threshold. This, which was unthinkable just a couple of years ago, is now a natural part of its product thanks to AI.

Iván is very clear in his vision: “Technology and artificial intelligence are making it so that anyone who does not move their butt will be passed on the right, on the left, above and below”. Despite OkTicket’s limited resources, the ingenuity and determination of their team have allowed them to keep pace with innovation and offer solutions that many of their competitors are still unable to match.

In addition, Iván reflects on how the technological barrier to creating software has been drastically lowered thanks to AI, which means that now the real differential is not in pure technology, but in the ability to create a sales machine and a solid distribution channel: “The road for someone to make a product like ours is shorter than ever, but the challenge now is to know how to sell it and make it arrive.” For this reason, at OkTicket they have focused on optimizing internal processes and making the most of technological tools, but always maintaining their essence: not firing people at the first change and maintaining a committed team that makes innovation its daily engine.

OkTicket in 5 years

When asked about the vision for five years, Iván is clear: the great disruption that is coming is not only artificial intelligence, but the combination of AI, advanced robotics and quantum computing. He believes that in that time horizon the role of the human being in any process will be redefined, from manual work to office work. “There is going to be a disruption in all processes, what is happening now with the white collars – office people – is also going to happen with the blue collars – the field workers,” says José Carlos.

Iván stresses that the challenge for companies like OkTicket is not only to continue innovating technologically, but also to evolve as an organization to remain attractive to its team and useful to its customers: “I just want OkTicket to continue to be a place where people want to work and where customers are happy,” he sums up.

He knows that uncertainty will be the constant and that he will have to adapt to a world where AI and automation are going to eliminate many tasks. For Iván, the key will be not to stop learning and understanding what the human differential against machines continues to be: “Being the best version of ourselves, that’s the only thing that won’t change,” he concludes.

Advice to entrepreneurs

When asked what advice he would give to entrepreneurs who are just starting out, Iván is clear: the most important thing is the speed of execution and the speed of decision. “There are two things that I think I train: one is not to decide out of fear. Fear in business is not what drives my decisions,” he explains. Although she recognizes that there are legitimate fears in life – such as those related to family – in business she relativizes them: “I have totally assimilated that tomorrow I can leave here with empty bags or even owing money. So, in business, fear… I put it into perspective a lot.”

The other key is speed: Iván points out that going from working in a traditional company, where there is time to decide, to a startup that burns cash and where every decision can be critical, forces you to make quick decisions. “You don’t have so many bullets when you burn cash and you don’t know if that decision depends on whether or not you arrive next month with enough cash,” he sums up.

For this reason, his advice to future entrepreneurs is simple and direct: train that speed of decision and not let yourself be paralyzed by fear. And, if you learn from your mistakes, it is better that they are those of others, because in the real world learning from your own is expensive.

Q&A: Questions and Answers

The session ended with a block of questions from the audience that allowed Iván to further unravel the keys to the project and his entrepreneurial vision. Iván explains that technologically OkTicket is already prepared to operate anywhere in the world, thanks to its multi-currency approach, multi-language and an OCR capable of reading tickets from any country. However, he acknowledges that the real challenge lies in local regulation, which varies greatly: in France it is a simple process, while in Spain there are approvals that take time and effort. In Mexico, the receipts do not have accounting validity and need official invoices, so they have developed an automated system to obtain these invoices from suppliers – a product that will be launched in June – and, in addition, a module that indicates the tax deductibility of each expense. All this shows that they have created a product flexible enough to quickly adapt to the regulations of each country.

About the team, Iván explains that the technology is 100% internalized, although they occasionally collaborate with external profiles for very specific tasks. He values that this decision allows them to maintain control and technical quality.

When asked about financing, Iván acknowledges that he is not an expert in raising capital. He explains that, at first, OkTicket was not “in the picture” for investors, but with effort, they managed to attract trusted partners such as Angels (Juan Roig’s fund) and GVC Gaesco’s Zamit Capital. At this point, José Carlos recommends that those looking for funding consult the Bankinter Innovation Foundation’s Startup Observatory, where they will find valuable data on the most active funds, sectors and even round sizes.

Ivan also shares that OkTicket’s integration times with customers depend a lot on size and needs: from two hours in small companies to one year for corporations with tens of thousands of employees. However, for most SMBs, full implementation is achieved in as little as two weeks, thanks to their system designed to minimize customer intervention and ease the transition.

Regarding storage costs, Iván makes it clear that they do not pass on this expense to customers and that, thanks to its optimization philosophy and the AWS cloud, storage costs are negligible in the company’s structure. He remembers how, in the beginning, he himself had the key to the servers and did not expand resources until the programmers begged him for more memory. That mindset of taking care of costs continues to guide them today.

One participant highlights how fast and professional the deployment of OkTicket was when it was implemented in his company, something that Iván especially values, because it confirms that trust and word of mouth continue to be his best engine of growth. As Iván explains, the customer churn rate is very low and most not only stay, but grow with them, expanding functionalities and relying on OkTicket for more things.

Finally, Iván says goodbye by leaving his personal contact (ivan@okticket.es) and reminding that he always has time for a virtual coffee with other entrepreneurs: “We are all on the same path and I think we have to rely on the ecosystem.” A philosophy of sharing and learning together that defines the essence of OkTicket.

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