Wharton FinTech Podcast
00:42:44 · Sabrina Fathi, Yoonkee Sull
[00:42:44] S0: And what is a book or resource that you would recommend to FinTech entrepreneurs? [00:42:48] S2: I'll mention a book that a fantastic portfolio company that I've had the pleasure to work with. Mike Katchen, who's the CEO of Wealthsimple, had recommended a book called Invested by Charles Schwab back in 2022, which is an autobiography of Charles Schwab. I read it. It was a great reminder that in FinTech, especially when there are macro factors out of your control, and there were some dark years at Charles Schwab if you read that book. The thing you can control is to continue to obsess over your customer, over shipping great products, and you do that with great discipline and efficiency, and on the other side of it, you will be well positioned. Good times are coming back. And, you know, great companies are not defined by a bad year here and there. It's rather what they decide to do over decades. And I thought just reading that book in 2022 in particular, I thought was just a really good reminder just to think about think about those aspects. [00:43:55] S0: And finally, if you weren't in venture capital, what industry would you be in or what job would you have right now?
00:43:55 · Sabrina Fathi, Yoonkee Sull, Wesley Aster
[00:43:55] S0: And finally, if you weren't in venture capital, what industry would you be in or what job would you have right now? [00:44:01] S2: So the the sort of cop out answer would be I would probably wanna be on the operating side, and there are certainly a fair number of founders that we've been fortunate to be in business with that I would, in an instance, want to work for. So I think that would be one answer, but, you know, an answer that might be more detached from technology or venture in general. When I have time, I enjoy writing a fair bit, and so something to do with writing is what I would probably consider. [00:44:42] S0: Would you have a newsletter, would you be writing books, what kind of writing would you pursue? [00:44:47] S2: That's a good question. I think I would go the newsletter route. I think there's something, you know, I'm a little bit sad that it feels like long form content is becoming less and less appreciated over time, and so maybe maybe I be... Maybe I strike the balance there, and something on the newsletter side would be more fitting for me. [00:45:10] S1: It it doesn't surprise me that you enjoy writing because I've I've been thinking actually through our conversation that you're very articulate, and and I can see you, like, being very thoughtful before your responses. [00:45:21] S2: That's that's really nice nice of you to say. I don't I don't know if I fully agree with that. I I I appreciate the comments regardless.
00:45:21 · Yoonkee Sull, Sabrina Fathi
[00:45:21] S2: That's that's really nice nice of you to say. I don't I don't know if I fully agree with that. I I I appreciate the comments regardless. [00:45:28] S0: And finally, shifting into our final two questions, what is the most important advice you'd give to a FinTech founder today? [00:45:37] S2: I think knowing your customer very deeply better than anybody else is is is the most important thing I could think of. [00:45:46] S0: And finally, where can people follow your work or learn a bit more about what Iconiq Growth is doing? [00:45:52] S2: So you can learn more about us certainly on ikatacapital.com/growth, and also please do follow us on our x at LinkedIn pages. You know, we have a fantastic team that's constantly publishing great insights, great reports, and so I think think there's a there's a lot there, and so that's where you can find a bit more on us. [00:46:21] S0: Thank you, Yoonkee. This has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you for sharing your insights, and we're really looking forward to seeing what's next Iconiq growth. [00:46:29] S2: Thanks so much. Really enjoyed it. [00:46:31] S0: Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please make sure to leave us a review and give us a follow on social media. Until next time.