00:00:00 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras, Henrique Dubugras
[00:00:00] S0: Don't allow any kind of parts of the business to speculate. Banks blow up. They invest. They quote invest customer money into financial instruments. I I just don't do it. I want guaranteed revenue. Very early on, I realized that all these managers are not like me. One on one, how are you? Making sure people feel great. For me, I I never bought it. Like, great people don't need how are you. As soon as you start spending time managing people, they're probably a failure. People need to be independent. They need to self deliver it without my help. [00:00:28] S1: You feel a lot more efficient and disciplined than most US companies. [00:00:31] S0: Yeah. US is a large market. The official traction product market fit, like, throw it to you infinite amount of money, and then you can afford not to be efficient. My kind of attitude was always every day I want to be a 100% so I don't have regret in the future. [00:00:49] S2: This episode is brought to you by Brex, a brand I'm proud to have cofounded and one that's shaped by the same journey many of you are on. Brex has everything startups and fast growing companies need to make every dollar count from modern corporate cards, banking, and treasury to accounting automation, travel, and expenses. Over 25,000 companies including DoorDash, Scale AI, and Anthropic spend smarter using Brex.
00:00:49 · Henrique Dubugras, Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[00:00:49] S2: This episode is brought to you by Brex, a brand I'm proud to have cofounded and one that's shaped by the same journey many of you are on. Brex has everything startups and fast growing companies need to make every dollar count from modern corporate cards, banking, and treasury to accounting automation, travel, and expenses. Over 25,000 companies including DoorDash, Scale AI, and Anthropic spend smarter using Brex. [00:01:13] S1: I'm super excited to have this conversation with Nik, the founder of Revolut. Revolut is one of the largest neo banks in the world with over 40,000,000 customers worldwide. And Nik is the founder having started the business in 2015. So super excited to have Nik here and talk about his personal story and the story of Revolut. Nik, first, thanks so much for coming and doing this. I know you don't do a lot of these, so I appreciate it. [00:01:36] S0: Thank you for inviting.
00:01:36 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:01:36] S0: Thank you for inviting. [00:01:37] S1: Yeah. So I think we've met in 2018 or 2019, I think in London. I'm trying to remember. And I remember the the first impression I had of you was like, wow. This guy's a hardcore guy. You know? He's, like, super intense and focused and, you know, and I remember coming to Revolut's office and it was like 8PM or something. And it was like, everyone was there. It was like super late and like, you know, it was like, oh, it reminds me of some these Chinese companies. Like, people work so hard. And I was really impressed. I came back to Brex and I like, we need to work for like those guys, you know, like they're crushing it there. So I'm curious, right? Like, were you like that since you were a kid, you know? Were you always like super hardworking, super intense in the beginning or is something that grew later?
00:01:37 · Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[00:01:37] S1: Yeah. So I think we've met in 2018 or 2019, I think in London. I'm trying to remember. And I remember the the first impression I had of you was like, wow. This guy's a hardcore guy. You know? He's, like, super intense and focused and, you know, and I remember coming to Revolut's office and it was like 8PM or something. And it was like, everyone was there. It was like super late and like, you know, it was like, oh, it reminds me of some these Chinese companies. Like, people work so hard. And I was really impressed. I came back to Brex and I like, we need to work for like those guys, you know, like they're crushing it there. So I'm curious, right? Like, were you like that since you were a kid, you know? Were you always like super hardworking, super intense in the beginning or is something that grew later? [00:02:25] S0: Yeah. Thing when I was 70 years old and I was at school. School was pretty tough. And I was also taking part in a lot of competitions like in math, physics, also swimming. And because no one was really preparing me for these competitions, for math, physics, and then initially I was losing them. And because I was so competitive from the childhood. I really kind of, you know, learned myself to work hard to compensate for someone else preparing me because I was competing with other kids who had parents preparing them for Olympiads. And when I was losing, like in the first three, four years, I was really kind of tough for me. So I kind of get used to, you know, working hard and then putting myself 100% in something I want to win.
00:02:25 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:02:25] S0: Yeah. Thing when I was 70 years old and I was at school. School was pretty tough. And I was also taking part in a lot of competitions like in math, physics, also swimming. And because no one was really preparing me for these competitions, for math, physics, and then initially I was losing them. And because I was so competitive from the childhood. I really kind of, you know, learned myself to work hard to compensate for someone else preparing me because I was competing with other kids who had parents preparing them for Olympiads. And when I was losing, like in the first three, four years, I was really kind of tough for me. So I kind of get used to, you know, working hard and then putting myself 100% in something I want to win. [00:03:14] S1: And was math and physics like your main... You're like a... [00:03:18] S0: Yeah. Math, physics, economics as well. [00:03:20] S1: Economics? You're using it from a young age? [00:03:21] S0: Well, not from a young age. I think in our... I started competing in Olympiads and Columbus when I was probably like 13, 14 years old. [00:03:30] S1: Is it like science Olympics? Is that the kind of [00:03:32] S0: Oh, science. Yeah. So it's very mathematical. Yes. [00:03:35] S1: But is it the the kind that goes to like the International Physics Olympics, like IFA or kind of competitions? [00:03:40] S0: It does. Yeah. [00:03:41] S1: Did you ever go to... Did you do well or do you kind [00:03:44] S0: of No. No. I actually won twice international. I won when I was in ninth grade and then eleventh grade as well.
00:03:44 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:03:44] S0: of No. No. I actually won twice international. I won when I was in ninth grade and then eleventh grade as well. [00:03:51] S1: Oh, wow. The international one? [00:03:52] S0: International. Yeah. For physics? No. It was economics. Economics. Yeah. [00:03:56] S1: Oh, I didn't know they had [00:03:57] S0: it for economics. Yeah. [00:03:57] S1: What do they test you on? [00:03:59] S0: So there are two parts. One is effectively problem solving in economics, like in a mathematical Olympiad, but in economics. And second one is practice. So it's effectively you kind of play a game, setting up business and then putting money in R and D, in marketing, setting up the price. And then there are many, many other teams who have our companies. And then you just compete in a modeled environment. So it's all kind of computer program, right? It is based on rounds. For each round, you set up price, R and D spending, marketing spending, like hiring employees, firing employees, how many units you produce. Who wins? So you've got many, many teams across many countries. So usually 100 plus teams. And then we have... Same as in football, like in the rounds. Right? Yeah. And then in the final round, you compete against other, I think, seven or eight companies. And, yeah, I I won twice when I was 14 and 16. But how do they decide who wins? It's it's a competitive program. So winning is is basically how much profit you make overall. So it's a combination of profit, market share, quality of the product. [00:05:17] S1: But how do they run the simulations to me?