Plooto appoints John McLane as new CEO

Following previously unreported layoffs and significant leadership changes, including the departure of co-founder Hamed Abbasi, Toronto-based payments scaleup Plooto has found its next permanent CEO in John McLane.

McLane most recently served as COO of Americas at Swedish FinTech firm Trustly. He brings over 20 years of experience in enterprise software across private equity, finance, strategy, and operations to Plooto, which offers cash flow management and payments automation software to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and their accounting firms.

“I’m motivated to take us to the next level both in terms of the number of businesses we support and delivering the best solution we can to them.”
John McLane, Plooto

He assumed leadership of Plooto on Sept. 24, taking the helm from interim co-CEOs, co-founder Serguei Kloubkov and Wajdi Ghoussoub, whom the board appointed to these roles following the departure of Abbasi in March 2024.

With McLane in, Abbasi out, and a slew of other recent leadership departures and additions, including a recent workforce reduction, Plooto has taken significant steps to reshape its team in 2024.

In a statement, Plooto board chair Albert Wahbe thanked Kloubkov and Ghoussoub for their service over the past seven months. Wahbe said McLane has “a great business acumen and proven track record of leading thriving technology companies,” adding that, “his passion for aligning customer needs to product innovation, expertise in the payments sector, and dedication to scaling efficiently will be instrumental in driving Plooto’s next stage of growth.”

“My vision is to build on Plooto’s momentum to become the undisputed best-in-class payment automation solution for small-to-midsize finance teams and accounting firms … To date, the team at Plooto has done an incredible job of delivering that value, and I’m motivated to take us to the next level both in terms of the number of businesses we support and delivering the best solution we can to them,” McLane told BetaKit.

Founded in 2015 by Abbasi and Kloubkov, Plooto’s software helps SMBs automate their accounts payable and accounts receivable operations and integrates with accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite to eliminate manual data entry and automate bill and invoice reconciliation. The scaleup aims to help SMBs improve their cash flow management, a process many entrepreneurs leave to others or ignore until it is too late.

Plooto currently serves more than 10,000 businesses across North America. Per the company, which did not disclose its exact revenue, Plooto posted 433 percent revenue growth between 2019 and 2022, which helped the scaleup land placement on the 2023 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Canada and Fast 500 North America lists.

The FinTech company has raised $40 million CAD to date from a group that includes Centana Growth Partners, Fintop Capital, Luge Capital, and Inovia Capital. This includes $8 million CAD in Series A funding from 2021 and a $27-million Series B round from late 2022.

*New Plooto CEO John McLane was previously COO of Americas at Trustly. Image courtesy Plooto.*

Following Abbasi’s departure earlier this year, Plooto’s board appointed Kloubkov, who was previously CTO, and then-senior vice president (VP) of finance and operations Ghoussoub to lead the scaleup in his stead. At the time, Plooto did not disclose why Abbasi left or comment on his departure in its announcement of these leadership changes.

“Hamed stepped down as CEO, with the board’s agreement, for personal reasons,” a Plooto spokesperson told BetaKit this week.

“Plooto is not in a position to elaborate on or further discuss the reasons for Hamed’s departure,” the spokesperson added.

When reached by BetaKit, Abbasi said that Plooto’s description was accurate, adding that after scaling Plooto to 130 employees and 10,000 customers over the past nine years as founding CEO, he decided that the time was right to cede leadership to someone new and take a break.

“It just got to a point for me where I was like, do I have the energy where I want to put in another five [or] six years of my life into this, or do I feel like it’s the right thing to bring in another fresh, seasoned executive that could take this to the next level?”

Abbasi claimed that Plooto’s board understood his decision and they reached an equitable agreement. Today, he no longer holds a board seat or works in an operational role with Plooto, but said he still attends board meetings and gets regular business updates on the company, adding that, “nobody wants Plooto to succeed more than I do.”

Speaking under condition of anonymity, multiple sources familiar with Plooto’s operations claimed to BetaKit that Abbasi’s leadership approach during his time as CEO made it difficult for the company to hire and retain employees, particularly at the executive level. A Plooto spokesperson declined to comment on Abbasi’s leadership to BetaKit.

When asked, Abbasi emphasized the strength of the leadership team Plooto built during his tenure and told BetaKit that he has personally sought guidance to become a better leader over the years.

“Anyone’s leadership style is a work in progress,” Abbasi said. “I think the most important thing to do is to recognize that you have gaps and then work on those gaps with the right coaches and leaders, and that’s exactly what I did, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my reason for departure.”

Abbasi was not the only one to depart Plooto this year. Multiple sources also told BetaKit that in April 2024, Plooto laid off approximately 25 percent of its staff, or 27 employees.

The Plooto spokesperson confirmed to BetaKit that the company reduced the size of its workforce but declined to disclose specific details, noting only that “a reduction in force was made in April 2024 to align staffing to business strategy.” Since then, the spokesperson said, “Plooto has actively engaged in making strategic hires in growth business areas.”

Today, Plooto has 120 employees in Canada and the United States.

Plooto laid off 25 percent of its team in April 2024 “to align staffing to business strategy.”

According to LinkedIn, since last year, Plooto has seen at least eight leaders depart the company, including Abbasi, director of engineering Krzysztof Retel, director of risk management David Creamer, director of regulatory compliance Kabir Tariq, director of DevSecOps Kris Musard, head of product growth Martin Hao, head of people operations Adam Virk, and director of performance marketing Laquel Wright Chester.

McLane marks the latest in a series of additions Plooto has made to its leadership team during this time. Per LinkedIn, the company has brought on at least 10 other leaders since 2023, including Abe Knell as chief revenue officer, Chelsea Bailey as chief people officer, Christopher Wassenaar as chief compliance officer and general counsel, Esther Krabbe Silveira as VP of risk, Aniruddha Loya as director of engineering, Amena Khatun as director of product management, Rich Dang as head of revenue operations, Tamar Kassoff as VP of growth marketing, Carol Haverty as VP of partnerships, and Audrey Johnson as head of content.

Asked whether Kloubkov and Ghoussoub are remaining with Plooto, the company spokesperson said that they are supporting the leadership transition, noting that Kloubkov is maintaining his seat on Plooto’s board, which also features Wahbe and directors from Plooto backers Centana and Fintop.

With this CEO shakeup, Plooto is part of a wave of Canadian tech firms that have made leadership changes at the top since the beginning of this year. This group includes Alida, Benevity, CarbiCrete, Cardata, Iris Booth, Lightspeed Commerce, MindBridge, Paper, Top Hat, Unbounce, Untether AI, and Zūm Rails, among others.

This week, Plooto launched Pay by Card, a new feature it developed in collaboration with Visa to help SMBs access short-term financing and earn card-based rewards and cashback by connecting their business’ credit card to Plooto.

Feature image courtesy Plooto.