The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
00:36:23 · S1, Nik Storonsky
[00:36:23] S1: Wow. Yeah. So how much did you raise at five then? I think it was 300,000,000. Does that work? Because, like, as a relationship, it kind of dam... Like, I'd be damaged if you tried to haggle me down because the markets are moving. [00:36:36] S0: I mean, look, in the entire... It's business. Right? For them, it's it's it's business for me, and, yeah, I mean, we just move on. [00:36:42] S1: Who's your favorite investor? I have [00:36:44] S0: few favorite. I mean, I've got, you know, Matan, from Index, you know, very smart. John, TCV, very smart as well. Nik, which I spoke with from Revolut, you know, very good. [00:36:54] S1: Has your definition of success changed? Nothing if [00:36:58] S0: you define success or by kind of, you know, percentage of goals that you reached. That's very simple, If your goal is, I don't know, to be happily married with kids and then you reach it, you're a 100% successful. Right? If your goal is, I don't know, make more money and you haven't reached it, then you're not. Pretty simple definition. Does money make you happy, Nik? I don't think money makes you happier. I think money is just additional instrument that you can use in order to achieve certain goals. [00:37:24] S1: What have you not achieved today that you most want to achieve? [00:37:27] S0: Well, I haven't won The US market. Right? I think it's very important to tick this box, especially for European startup. [00:37:35] S1: For sure. And totally agree.
00:37:35 · S1, Nik Storonsky
[00:37:35] S1: For sure. And totally agree. [00:37:36] S0: It's always the opposite. Right? US companies, they they will always win Europe. I almost never seem exceptional, so I think it'll be very cool to tick this box. [00:37:44] S1: Listen. I wanna move into a quick fire round. So I say a short statement, you give me your immediate thoughts. Does that sound okay? Yep. So what do you believe the most around you disbelieve? [00:37:52] S0: I think majority of people believe that balanced life allows you to be happy and achieve your goals. I think in reality, a disbalanced life allows you definitely to achieve your goals. So more kind of imbalanced you are, more focused on your goals, sacrificing everything else, more likely you will succeed these goals. And, you know, there is a high chance it will also bring you happiness. [00:38:12] S1: What period of Revolut's growth have you been most imbalanced? [00:38:16] S0: Every year is very balanced. Right? It became much more structured, much more process driven. [00:38:22] S1: I get it, dude, but you're very thin. You're athletic. You look fresh. You're not losing sleep. You're doing fitness. Yeah. Talk to me. What does next day look like?
00:38:22 · S1, Nik Storonsky
[00:38:22] S1: I get it, dude, but you're very thin. You're athletic. You look fresh. You're not losing sleep. You're doing fitness. Yeah. Talk to me. What does next day look like? [00:38:31] S0: Well, obviously, in order to... Because I I have so much pressure. Right? You know? Like, a lot of... 99% of time is is is a lot of pain. Right? Because reality, what happens is even if you have organization, then all the unpleasant problems no one else solves goes into me. And I ended up doing all these, you know, shitty jobs, right, solving problems that, you know, no one else wants to solve or can't solve. And it's it's pretty unpleasant, so 99% of the time is is not really pleasure. A of pain, a lot of pressure, stress. And in order to keep calm, you know, under pressure, obviously, you need to have a lot of energy. And then in order to have a lot of energy, and to build your lifestyle in a way that brings you a lot of energy. Right? So it's obviously a lot of spots, you know, like [00:39:15] S1: What time does Nik get up in the morning?
00:39:15 · S1, Nik Storonsky
[00:39:15] S1: What time does Nik get up in the morning? [00:39:17] S0: I mean, depends in which country I am. Right? Because the way I manage the business, I I work one, three months from different countries, from different offices. And it depends which time zone I am. Right? For example, if if I'm in UK, like, probably I wake up, you know, 06:30, sometimes, you know, I train in the morning, sometimes not. But then I start 08:30, 9AM. If I'm somewhere in Asia, then I start in a bit later or much later. But then I work till, you know, 11PM. If I'm in The US, then I need to start there early at 7AM working. [00:39:51] S1: Which friends or ambassador do you most respect and learn from? Just learn from. Not like your favorite, like, you go out for, like, holidays with, like, you actually learn from first call when you're in trouble. [00:40:01] S0: I call people who've done similar things in the past. Right? So who built very large businesses. So I've got a couple of friends who build, very large businesses. Some of them, they never used VCs. They they just print cash with businesses. In some ways, they are much better compared to me. [00:40:16] S1: What would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail? [00:40:18] S0: I would just keep trying things, but I am. Whenever I try things, I I always think I will not fail. [00:40:24] S1: What have you changed your mind on in the last twelve months?
00:40:24 · S1, Nik Storonsky
[00:40:24] S1: What have you changed your mind on in the last twelve months? [00:40:26] S0: Like, you know, I spent fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years in The UK, and London really became a home city for me. But then when I started kind of working from different cities, I realized, you know, there is so much more, like in another cities in terms of, you lifestyle, weather, infrastructure, that a lot of people, because they're stuck in one city, living in one city, they don't really see it. And they they just become very close minded. I think when you kind of, you know, manage to work or live in many, many places, then you you are much more open minded. [00:40:58] S1: If you were starting Revolut again today, where would you start it? US, most likely. Yeah. If you were advising a young person to stay coming out of university, what advice would you give them on optimizing their career? [00:41:10] S0: Well, I think they first need to really know what they like to do, what they enjoy doing. Just go into the area, in this area. If you enjoy something, I mean, you definitely need to go there. [00:41:19] S1: What consumer brand do you most respect? I think Apple, to be honest [00:41:23] S0: with you. Why? I think they built cool products. They built cool brand, and they managed to stay outside of scrutiny. Right? Because they they produce so much money. They're a huge monopoly, charge a lot. And they're still a, like, a great company. Right? [00:41:40] S1: You can be CEO of any other company for a day.
00:41:40 · S1, Nik Storonsky, Harry Stebbings
[00:41:40] S1: You can be CEO of any other company for a day. [00:41:42] S0: Which company do you choose to be CEO of? I would like to try something in, biomedicine or genetics. That would be very interesting. Just to go on because I'm not zero about it. [00:41:52] S1: Penultimate one, what would you do differently if you were starting Revolut again? [00:41:55] S0: I would do everything faster, and I would do everything much cheaper as well. [00:42:00] S2: Final one. What question have I [00:42:02] S1: not asked that you think I should have asked or you don't get asked often? Why? Do you do [00:42:07] S0: what you do? People don't ask you why? No. Not at all. I'm very surprised that no one asks. [00:42:12] S1: Why do you do what you do? [00:42:14] S0: Well, I said actually myself, know, many, many times, and I have two answers, right, because they're a, like, what else to do? B, I just need to do something. Right? Otherwise, it's it's very boring. [00:42:25] S2: You have to have a passion for [00:42:27] S1: it too, and you have to have a passion to change an ecosystem in an industry. [00:42:30] S0: Yeah. From 99% of [00:42:32] S1: the day. Listen, Nick, thank you so much for doing this with me. Thank you for having [00:42:35] S0: me in the office, and this has been so much fun. Take care.