Boris Diakonov is the co-founder and co-CEO of ANNA Money, a business account and tax admin app for UK small businesses that he runs with long-time collaborator Eduard Panteleev.
The company says more than 100,000 business owners use it, and on September 23, 2026 it began offering revenue-based financing through YouLend, giving eligible customers access to up to two months of revenue, typically within 24 hours. This follows a £10m debt fund from Flashpoint VC in December 2025 and the launch of a business savings account in May.
Here he tells Business Matters about Tochka’s scale, surviving the Wirecard collapse and why founders should wait until they feel ready.
What are you currently doing at ANNA Money?
I am co-CEO of ANNA Money, a role I share with co-founder and longtime collaborator Eduard Panteleev. As co-CEOs, Eduard and I are responsible for overseeing every aspect of the business and its strategic direction.
Eduard and I have been building the company together for 20 years now. ANNA is not where this partnership started, but where it has led. Earlier in our collaboration, we founded Tochka, the first digital bank for SMEs in Russia, and scaled it to a unicorn. So when we started ANNA, we already knew how to work together, which seems easy, but it’s not.
I come from IT and banking infrastructure. I sort of fell into banking through a technical role before ending up operating operations, while Eduard’s background is in diplomacy and business. The difference is the whole point. We don’t duplicate each other, we cover different ground.
Every day, that means Eduard will bring me an idea and I will push back or push it until it becomes stronger. And I’ll admit that I don’t always follow every update my competitors post, because that’s more instinct than me.
But in the big call, whether ANNA should be right and for whom we build it, we always decide together. In the end, we care about the same thing: small business owners who ignore others, don’t overcomplicate it, and build something that lasts longer than what looks good this quarter.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
ANNA stands for “Absolutely No Nonsense Admin”, and this encapsulates the challenge we help to solve for our customers. Despite their vital importance to the economy, small businesses are often overlooked.
Around 90 per cent of businesses in the UK have fewer than 10 employees, but combined they generate around half of GDP and provide around a third of jobs. If SMEs are empowered to thrive, the economy will thrive, but all this is often held back by complex regulations and products that are not designed for small businesses. We strive to remove that burden as much as possible.
The origins of the business go back several decades and represent the culmination of Eduard and my previous ventures as entrepreneurs. I started my career in Russia in the 1990s as a self-taught developer at the dawn of the internet. It was an exciting time that allowed me to work on one of the world’s first internet banking solutions. That’s how I met Eduard, who works at the same place.
Our shared experiences make us natural collaborators. Together we founded Tochka, a digital bank for small businesses and entrepreneurs in Russia. As SMEs are often served by major banks, there is a clear demand. This meant that Tochka became an instant success; at the peak around one out of every five Russian businesses were customers.
About ten years ago, we made the decision to come to the UK to start ANNA. It’s based on the simple idea that the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs are the same anywhere in the world, and we can take everything we’ve learned about building solutions for underserved SMEs to the UK too.
Who do you admire?
Personally, I like anyone whose purpose in life is to help. You don’t really need to run the office dishwasher.
It is difficult to name just one person. I admire anyone who is committed to making their idea a reality, whether they succeed or not. You can be inspired by other people’s character, qualities or efforts, without considering their success as proof that everything about them is great.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Hey, not using Wirecard. It really has been the biggest disaster, looking back. When Wirecard collapsed, customers couldn’t access their money, so they were shocked. We set up a live Q&A on YouTube so we can answer customer questions directly and let them know we’re working on a solution.
We quickly made a deal with Railsbank to move the whole backend to them, and instead of just patching it, we used it as a chance to rebuild properly. We allow people to keep using their old accounts while the new accounts are set up, so no one gets stuck in the middle while we manage everything.
It took a few months to get everything fully migrated, but our customers are actually better off: payments are faster, business names appear on transfers, things we wouldn’t have prioritized if Wirecard hadn’t forced our hand. It was a horrible few weeks at the time, but in hindsight it’s a great example of turning someone else’s mess into something that makes a better product.
What defines the way you do business?
Trust must be there, but trust is strengthened when you start playing with ideas in the wild. You can have an idea, but the only way to really test it is to get it in front of your customers and see what happens.
We are stuck for a while in what you would call analysis paralysis, and then there is a moment to think: what is really stopping us from starting? So we did it. ANNA started as a direct business account and payment service, and from there we just listened. We see what our customers value and what problems keep coming up.
Taxes and accounting continue to eat up people’s time and money, and where technology is today, it’s an unnecessary expense, so automating it is the obvious next priority. It’s not a one-off thing. ANNA is a still evolving concept; it is more than a journey.
I gain confidence when I see clients happy to pay for what they deliver. It’s a real signal. We want to build something that takes away every admin task standing between entrepreneurs and what they actually try to do, but you can’t build that overnight. You just have to keep listening, stay disciplined about what you prioritize, and never lose sight of your goals.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
You’ll never feel ready to tackle the hard stuff, so don’t wait. Sometimes you have to start before you feel ready.
It’s also important that the problem you’re trying to solve with your business idea is something you care about, because that passion will carry you through the tough times. Once you know, you need to immerse yourself in the problem, talk to experienced people and experts in the field, and let them create your journey.
Of course, there is no doubt that you will face setbacks and make changes along the way, but the core driver will help you build something important and have an impact.
My last piece of advice is to choose someone you can trust to get you through the tough times. I’m lucky that I met Eduard so early in my career and we’ve been able to bounce off each other, but the same rules apply to the more teams you build around you.