I Left the UK to Build a Business in Eastern Europe | Lance Nelson

In the 8th episode of Horizons of Leadership, we sit down with Lance Nelson, co-founder of Ordermoon, a bitcoin startup building a new payment infrastructure for restaurants using the Lightning Network for instant, low-cost transactions.

Lance left the UK to build his business in Eastern Europe, moving through multiple industries before identifying a fundamental problem in hospitality: outdated payment systems, high fees, and limited financial flexibility for restaurants. Today, Ordermoon is helping merchants accept Bitcoin seamlessly, build circular economies through its SatsBack model, and rethink how money should move in a digital world.

In this conversation, Lance shares his personal journey of moving from the UK to the Balkans, building his first businesses, and the lessons learned along the way. He explains how discovering Bitcoin changed his perspective on money, how that shift influenced the direction of Ordermoon. We also discuss the realities of building a startup, ethical decision-making, long-term thinking, AI, Blockchain and what founders often underestimate when creating something meaningful.

00:00 Intro
01:17 Who Is Lance Nelson and What Is He Building?
03:02 Why I Left My Job and My Country
04:43 Here is Why You Should Stay in the Balkans
07:21 Discovering Bitcoin Before Anyone Took It Seriously (2012)
10:26 Finance Degree Exposed Broken Money
11:55 How We Started Onboarding Restaurants to Bitcoin
15:24 Why Client Relationships Matter
17:56 Lightning Network
20:17 Why Businesses Should Hold Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheet?
22:05 Long-Term Thinking Always Wins
23:05 Chasing Quick Dopamine Destroys Progress
24:30 Your Property Is Quietly Losing Value
26:16 Digital Assistant That Helps You Choose the Best Wine
31:20 Ethics Matter
32:17 The One Thing Founders Always Underestimate
33:45 The Reality of Building Anything Meaningful
35:19 Know Where Your Money Is Actually Going
36:20 The Internet of Money & The Bitcoin Standard
38:11 What to Do If You Know Nothing About Bitcoin?
38:47 AI & Blockchain: Overrated or Underrated?
41:51 Every Business Needs These Two Things
43:04 Selling Our Bitcoin Feature And Raising From a Bitcoiner

🧑🏻‍💼 Guest: Lance Nelson
🧑🏻‍💼 Podcast Host: Filip Đurović
🌐 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/filip-%C4%91urovi%C4%87-b5650b2a0/
🎬 Video Editor: Dinmukhamed (Aidyn) Beisenov
🌐 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinmukhamed-beisenov-09994225b/

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