01:07:13 · Micky Malka, David Senra
[01:07:13] S1: Yes. Because the name Node is meant to be a node in the network. So we will be learning here for the next year to perfection our technology, improve our UIs. There's a bunch of engineers working on this. A foundation with engineers. Like think of how different it is to traditional art, and then expand it and open it in many many more other places. [01:07:34] S0: Another thing that I wanna talk to you about. What's with your fascination with Rebels? It's all over your website. People I know you talk about this all the time. [01:07:42] S1: Well, first, I'm a Star Wars generation. Right? And I grew up with Star Wars. I'm a big fan of Star Wars. And to me, growing up in Venezuela, you... The only way to survive in that environment is you have to be a rebel. The system, the the dark side was all over, the chaos was present. You had to raise above above that. And the rebel mindset is one where you know authentically and generally that something can be better, and you're willing to give your life for it. To me, being a rebel is just a way of being. It's a way of looking at the world, and when you when you see something, you can always look at it and accept how do you make it better? How do you make it more beautiful? How can what what's missing? Like, just the mindset of always being willing to know that better means it can still be better. [01:08:35] S0: I mean, 17 year old serving a company. [01:08:38] S1: Yes. [01:08:38] S0: That would lead me to believe that you had this like rebel... You know, you were essentially a born rebel. [01:08:43] S1: Yes.
01:08:43 · Micky Malka, David Senra
[01:08:43] S1: Yes. [01:08:44] S0: How did you apply that? Because people reference you as like one of the greatest like venture capitalists. I'm like, that's not how I think of Mickey. I don't think of him as like a venture capitalist. So like when you're building Ribbit, how did you apply like your rebel, like your inherent rebel nature to... You're essentially... Almost like you're almost like an artist in the sense of like, this is the canvas that I'm building. This is how you think I should do it, but this is how I'm gonna do it. How did you think about it when you started?
01:09:08 · Micky Malka
[01:09:08] S1: If I end up being labeled as first, I hate labels. And second, I will be very depressed. Because that's not the label. I want no labels. All I want in my tombstone is to say, he was a rebel. That's all I want to be said there. And that will say everything about me. The way I raise my kids, the way my relationship with my wife, the way I treat my friends, the way I make business decisions, the way I change my mind, I'm willing to change my mind if I learn something that is different, that's a Revol mindset. Everything that is the opposite is a mindset that I know too well, my kids are perfect, I'm the best at what I do, and I run away from any of those things. Actually, I I find that the rebel mindset is one that you are always asking questions. You're a rebel. You are nonstop asking questions. You wanna learn. You wanna keep... But you and I know a lot of people that get to a point in life when they stop to ask questions, and they start to preach. That's past the rebel time. And everybody has that breaking point somewhere in their lives. I want that to be the last day of my life. So I need to live by that principle on everything that I do, on every behavior. On on... Like, I'm reveling now against the traditional art world. I'm trying, you know, to allow artists to show art in a different way. We revel at Ribbit the way we design it. We were people were asking about what are you? Are you a venture guy? Are you an early stage guy? I'm like, yes. Are you a late stage guy? Yes. Are you a Fintech guy? Yes. But are you doing now defense or... Yes. Like, yes. What's wrong? Like, I'm not gonna let anyone allow that. That is the Revolut mindset.
01:10:50 · David Senra, Micky Malka
[01:10:50] S0: You are a founder, but you think so much like a founder. So, like, this decision in 2012 to start an investment firm, like, why? [01:10:57] S1: I don't think of it as an investment firm. Okay. [01:10:59] S0: You have to say more about this. [01:11:00] S1: To me, a startup. It's a company. And we build our own technology stack, and we have a small team, and we consider ourselves our rebels, our meetings are called Tatooine, and we have Jedis, and we we... [01:11:11] S0: I didn't know this. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, so you're really into Star Wars? Completely. [01:11:16] S1: And and... [01:11:17] S0: Are you backing Jedis or you have Jedis?
01:11:17 · David Senra, Micky Malka
[01:11:17] S0: Are you backing Jedis or you have Jedis? [01:11:19] S1: We we back Jedis. Okay. And and we have Wookiees and we are Jedis. We we have the whole thematic truly alive in the way we think because it has to be authentic. And people that work with us, Ribbit, the whole team feels that ownership, that teamwork. There's... Investment firms are very siloed in many ways, and I don't love that. We wanna overcommunicate even internally. Like, right now, the entire team knows that we're sitting together. Everybody can see my calendar in my inbox. They can see my emails. And I can see anybody's emails. We share all the information so we can actually become better as a team. That mindset is very relevant in this environment, in how we make decisions. We don't make individual decisions, we make group decisions. And there's no like, somebody asks, who's the partner responsible for that company? It's like, what partner? And you ask the founder, they say, I don't know. I call Mickey for something, I call Nick for something, I call Justin for something. We are just a team that works together in very different ways. So that is the joy of going to the office every day. I love being there and spending time with the team because we just have fun together.
01:11:19 · Micky Malka, David Senra
[01:11:19] S1: We we back Jedis. Okay. And and we have Wookiees and we are Jedis. We we have the whole thematic truly alive in the way we think because it has to be authentic. And people that work with us, Ribbit, the whole team feels that ownership, that teamwork. There's... Investment firms are very siloed in many ways, and I don't love that. We wanna overcommunicate even internally. Like, right now, the entire team knows that we're sitting together. Everybody can see my calendar in my inbox. They can see my emails. And I can see anybody's emails. We share all the information so we can actually become better as a team. That mindset is very relevant in this environment, in how we make decisions. We don't make individual decisions, we make group decisions. And there's no like, somebody asks, who's the partner responsible for that company? It's like, what partner? And you ask the founder, they say, I don't know. I call Mickey for something, I call Nick for something, I call Justin for something. We are just a team that works together in very different ways. So that is the joy of going to the office every day. I love being there and spending time with the team because we just have fun together. [01:12:28] S0: What was the insight though that caused you to do this instead of... Because you started how many companies before this? This is your sixth company? Yes. Something like that? So like... Your sixth company looks vastly different from your first five, correct? Yes. So like what was the insight between five and six though?