Nicolas Quarre

The through-line

Across every post, Nicolas Quarré returns to one preoccupation: the self-employed carry a burden the system does not fully account for, and the product he builds should close that gap. Early framing is emotional and almost tribal, positioning Accountable as an ally to people who "fight every battle on their own" [1]. Over time this shifts toward hard data, with posts quantifying exactly how unfair the burden is, whether in social contributions [4] or in the health cost of never stopping work [7]. The advocacy stays constant, but the register moves from cheerleading to evidence, and the solution moves from a standalone app to a network of partnerships and integrations meant to reach independents and the accountants who serve them [8][9][12].

On championing the independent

Quarré consistently frames Accountable's purpose in emotional, loyalty-driven language rather than product-feature language. He describes independents as people who "run the one-person show" and "do the winning" and "overcome what's hard," and positions the company as "a loyal companion, a sidekick to your professional growth" that is "rooting for you, dear independent" [1]. This same instinct shows up when Belgian media cover the self-employed: he calls it "pure happiness to see Belgian media taking such an interest in the self-employed" and highlights tools built to help them "optimise their taxes the way they should" [2].

On the unfairness of the system

Quarré treats tax and contribution fairness as a data problem worth investigating rather than a talking point. He describes an analysis of "14,671 self-employed years from our own anonymised data at Accountable" that found "more than 1 in 2 self-employed in Belgium pay MORE than 20.5% in social contributions" and that "29% of the independents earning less €10k contribute MORE THAN 50% of their profit in social contributions, even before taxes," calling the result "Insane" [4]. He extends the same lens to health and burnout, citing a study showing "61% of self-employed people work THROUGH illness" and that "46% feel permanently 'on'," attributing this to the fact that "the fear of losing clients, losing momentum, losing what you've built… that calculation rarely comes out in favour of rest" [7].

On accountant workflows and product efficiency

A recurring theme is exposing and fixing inefficiency in how accountants actually work with Accountable. He notes that Belgium now has "2,157 fiduciaries & accountants using us with their clients," up from "less than 500," but that "77% of them still exported flat files (PDF, UBL, etc.)" simply "because nobody showed them there was a better way," and pitches "Accountable Connect" as the fix since it "syncs Accountable directly with your accounting software" with "No exports, no imports, no manual steps in between" [9]. He reinforces this with a metric he wants to make the team's north star, calling a "70% tijdbesparing" figure "INSANE" and "what we NEED to aim at for accountants using Accountable with their clients" [6].

On partnerships and distribution

Quarré treats large partnerships as validation of the company's mission rather than just distribution wins. On Proximus, he calls it an "honour to be part of the strategy of such an incredible brand & company in Belgium" and frames the collaboration as open-ended: "there is no limit to building a successful partnership" [8]. Elsewhere he describes the same deal as something almost unattainable at the outset: "Some partnerships you can only dream about when you start building a company. This is one of them" [12].

From the stage

In interviews, Quarré gives operational and origin details the written posts skip entirely. He explains that Accountable lets users "create invoices and automatically calculating their tax obligations, social contributions, and VAT in real time rather than waiting for an accountant," backed by "a support team of around thirty people in Belgium" and serving "75,000 users in Belgium" [14]. He also describes the company's founding discipline: the product idea "emerged from his own experience being self-employed across multiple countries," and he and his co-founders "validated the market need by interviewing self-employed professionals before building their initial MVP" [15]. Separately, he traces his own path into the space through five years working in Brazil and a progression from consultant to business developer at Ray, before founding Accountable [13].

Takeaways

• Belgian self-employed people are being overtaxed at scale: more than half pay above the supposed 20.5% social contribution cap, and low earners are hit hardest [4].
• 61% of self-employed workers push through illness rather than stop, driven by fear of losing clients and momentum, not stubbornness [7].
• Accountant adoption has grown fast (from under 500 to 2,157 active users in a quarter), but most still rely on manual file exports, which Accountable Connect is built to eliminate [9].
• The company measures its own value in time saved for accountants, treating a 70% time-savings figure as the benchmark to aim for [6].
• Product decisions started from direct validation: the founders interviewed self-employed professionals before building the first MVP [15].
• Partnerships like Proximus are treated as strategic proof points, not just sales channels, with explicit intent to keep expanding them [8][12].