00:40:53 · David Senra, Micky Malka
[00:40:53] S0: So when you say you wanna understand the founder's DNA, how do you go about understanding that? [00:40:57] S1: You gotta spend time with them. And you gotta ask them all the questions and you gotta build a level of trust where, honestly, you don't have to talk about business that much. What kind of level of trust you gotta... How do you build that trust to talk to them in a way where they feel that they can trust you back? That they can call you when they cannot sleep at night? Those are the things that you gotta... I spend most of my time and the team at Ribbit spend most of the time doing, which is building that level of understanding and relationship, so we know how they behave. Once you know how people behave, then everything's fine, because you will see consistency or they will break it. [00:41:35] S0: Explain why it's important to you to be the person that they call when they have problems. Like, you just used an example of like when they can't sleep at night.
00:41:35 · David Senra, Micky Malka
[00:41:35] S0: Explain why it's important to you to be the person that they call when they have problems. Like, you just used an example of like when they can't sleep at night. [00:41:43] S1: Because all of us have something that wakes us up at night from time to time. And that that particular mind problem that you're trying to solve, it's the biggest thing that you have to get unlocked to keep being the best version of yourself. And when you're there, sometimes it's really hard to trust if it's a vulnerable question. Sometimes it's really deep and has a lot of strategic consequences, and you wanna be really... You're you're going through your mind a lot. And if we get that phone call, it means that we did a 100 things right to deserve the right to be there to help this person think through it. Never answer the question. Just help him or her answer the question. And that meant that you were able to talk about life and family. You were able to talk about society and politics. And you were able to talk about everything because that's the only way you're gonna get to really help this person answer the question. [00:42:42] S0: So you have all, in many cases, decade plus relationships with a lot of the founders that you back. How does, like, can you compare Nick to the other ones? Like, what are what are the traits that you think they share among the people that you spend the most time with?
00:42:42 · David Senra, Micky Malka
[00:42:42] S0: So you have all, in many cases, decade plus relationships with a lot of the founders that you back. How does, like, can you compare Nick to the other ones? Like, what are what are the traits that you think they share among the people that you spend the most time with? [00:42:56] S1: Well, they all want to win in their own way of being. They care about... If they are true to themselves, they still... The mission that they wrote on the first day is still present today. And when you find that authenticity, they win. So the ones that are authentic are the ones that you can keep seeing. The ones that faked it to make it, and then they change, and then they move, and then they... Those are the ones that over time, you just don't have the appetite to spend time with. [00:43:25] S0: Is it reflected in the performance of their company too? [00:43:28] S1: Sometimes you And [00:43:29] S0: you have people that fake it and then they build massively successful companies? Yes. [00:43:32] S1: They are, for sure. But sometimes, somewhere, somehow down the line, authenticity matters. And as long as you're authentic to yourself and you keep your values authentic and you remember yourself why you're doing what you're doing, and you can wake up every day with that energy, you'll be fine.
00:43:32 · Micky Malka, David Senra
[00:43:32] S1: They are, for sure. But sometimes, somewhere, somehow down the line, authenticity matters. And as long as you're authentic to yourself and you keep your values authentic and you remember yourself why you're doing what you're doing, and you can wake up every day with that energy, you'll be fine. [00:43:51] S0: So if we go back to that idea that Rick Rubin has like these four... Handful of ideas. Could be four, could be five, could be six ideas that he just used for the... Over multiple decades. What would like be the list of traits that you would... If I said, hey, list out the four or five things that you want the founders, that you wanna build long term relationships with and partner with over long term and have, what would those... What would your answer be? [00:44:12] S1: We have this thing called the aisle aisle of the tiger. It's our way of thinking about the people that we wanna back and how we wanna partner with them. And as everything as I told you before, it needs to fill in a napkin. So if we brought it in napkin, means that we thought about it long enough that we have it. Right? And it's basically the energy of a scientist, the conviction of a missionary, the heart of a partner, the dreams of an athlete, the obsession of an owner. When we meet them and we spend time with them, we want to make sure those things are present. And if they are, that's the kind of people that we wanna partner with. [00:44:48] S0: How long did it take you to develop? Like, many... Is this over several years where you guys figured out these reoccurring traits?
00:44:48 · David Senra, Micky Malka
[00:44:48] S0: How long did it take you to develop? Like, many... Is this over several years where you guys figured out these reoccurring traits? [00:44:53] S1: This is several years. This is probably a decade to actually... We probably put it into a napkin five years ago. So it [00:45:01] S0: took us almost ten years. Do you consider yourself a patient person? Yes. Several of the questions I've asked you today is like, yeah, that took a couple of years, and that took a couple of years. You started your first company when you were what, like 17? [00:45:12] S1: 17. [00:45:13] S0: And you didn't found... You founded multiple companies, but you founded Ribbit twenty years later? More than [00:45:19] S1: I founded Ribbit much later. Founded Ribbit almost twenty... Yeah, twenty years later. Yeah. Twenty one years later. [00:45:27] S0: Twenty one years later. You've been doing it for almost what? [00:45:30] S1: Fourteen years now. [00:45:31] S0: Fourteen years. [00:45:31] S1: Yes. [00:45:32] S0: And I heard you say before, it's like, well, everybody's like, well, you guys had this fantastic record. You've done this. You're like, yeah. It's like super early. [00:45:38] S1: We got a long way to go. Yeah. We found amazing people to partner. We got great ideas. We're still building. I mean, we built a company with Walmart. Mean, think about it. It's just... It's the first time ever that that has happened.
00:45:38 · Micky Malka, David Senra
[00:45:38] S1: We got a long way to go. Yeah. We found amazing people to partner. We got great ideas. We're still building. I mean, we built a company with Walmart. Mean, think about it. It's just... It's the first time ever that that has happened. [00:45:54] S0: Okay. I just heard about this. Our... We have a mutual friend, Sebastian, founder of former founder of Rappi. And he's like, tell... Ask him about the deal he did with Walmart. [00:46:03] S1: It just speaks to a little bit of of this value system of ours, David. We had a chance to meet... I've been a fan of Sam Walton all my life. [00:46:11] S0: Right? Same.