René Bionaz Book a call

René Bionaz

Every deal is won twice.

First inside, with product, sales, engineering and the regions. Then with the customer. I build the story, the numbers and the material that win both, AI-first.

Director, Global Commercial Learning & Content, Real-Time Payments at Mastercard. The role has grown into commercialisation and go-to-market. Based in Lisbon.

Book a 20-minute call See how I work Meet René in a minute

Proof

Markets live on our real-time payments, across five regions
12
Transactions a month through one of the national systems we support
2bn+
People enabled, from regional sellers to central banks
~1,500
Film turnaround with AI, down from two to three weeks
5 days

Most products don't fail at the build. They stall on the way to yes.

Three in four B2B buying teams hit unhealthy conflict. Those that reach consensus are 2.5 times as likely to report a high-quality deal. I build that consensus, inside first.

Gartner, B2B buyer survey, May 2025

Inside first

  1. Product, strategyOne story
  2. Strategy, salesMarket case, priced in the configurator
  3. EngineeringDeliverable
  4. Regional salesReady to pitch
  5. Regional presidentsInternal yes

Then outside

  1. Events, meetingsInterested

Bilateral route partners, live customers

  1. MOUShared intent
  2. LOITerms in outline

Tender route central banks, national schemes

  1. RFIConsidered
  2. RFPProposal
  3. ShortlistProven
  4. Preferred bidderSelected
  1. ContractSigned
  2. ImplementationLive
My part. One story and the films, decks and configurator that win the internal yes, then the material our sellers carry into every meeting and bid. Every question we hear outside goes back into the next version.

Meet René

One minute, in person.

Who I am, what I believe about winning deals, and where I want to go next.

Meet René. In my own words.1:11
Read the transcript

Every deal is won twice. Hi, my name is René, and for the last seven years I've helped Mastercard bring real-time payment solutions to market. What I've learned? Building the product is only half the job. The other half is getting to yes: first inside your organisation, then with the customer.

Inside, I founded an enablement program that brings everyone, from regional presidents to account managers, onto one story. Outside, I helped shape the commercial case for every buyer, from banks to governments. I built an interactive pricing toolset, contribute to product collateral, and run full video production in-house with my own AI workflow. After a deal is signed, we make sure it lands, at the moment in 12 markets across five regions.

My strength? I take something complex, find its essence and make it so clear that everybody gets on board. Next, I want to take full ownership of pricing, market entry and launch, against a revenue target. Let's win the next one twice.

Won inside. Won outside. Then live.

Inside

One story the whole company can tell.

I founded A2A School in 2025: sixty minutes on account-to-account payments. A global block sets the standard and a regional block follows each market. Now in the UK, Ireland and Asia Pacific. This year I also ran a four-week AI adoption challenge for Australia and New Zealand with a regional SVP.

Result. Regional teams know the offer and back our propositions, so we go to the customer as one organisation.

Outside

A story the whole buying network can see.

I help shape our presence at major industry events across four regions, from speaker slots to the films and material behind our meetings with central banks, banks and payment providers. I make the films with AI.

Result. Events become commercial moments: a stage slot turns into meetings with the people who decide.

Live

Signed is not live.

After the contract, I get the customer and our own teams ready to run it: training operators and regional teams, moving delivery from decks to live sessions and film, and coaching managers to carry it forward.

Result. Five regional programs, signed to ready.

The work, clickable

Coffee with the A2A crowd. Cut by me with my AI workflow.0:47

Watch on LinkedIn

Network story. One asset set, a new cut for each audience.0:51
Demo Solution configurator The tool set behind our pricing proposals: one governed rate card, so two sellers give one answer. Try the demo
Placeholder products and made-up figures.Demo

Inside

Sixty minutes. One story. Every seller.

Sell to the whole network, not one buyer.

One missing yes stops the deal. Three principles I work by, from the first yes to the first live payment.

  1. One story, told the same way everywhere.

    Prove the narrative one use case at a time. Sellers, partners, the website and the AI tools buyers consult all tell it the same way, and product, sales and the regions price it from one governed rate card.

    Inside

  2. Everyone who has to say yes is a buyer.

    Make each one better off, then take the risk off the table. Risk, compliance and technology partners decide too, and a community of early adopters moves a market faster than any single sales team.

    Outside

  3. Count live usage, not signatures.

    A deal is won when it is used. In payments, that means transactions per participant and the time from signed to the first live payment. AI keeps every version of the story current as the market moves.

    Live

Let's win the next one twice.

Next: own pricing, market entry and launch for a technical product, against a revenue target, in AI or technology. Based in Lisbon, working across time zones in German, English and Portuguese.

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