00:21:28 · Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[00:21:28] S1: Oh, you're... Where did you windsurf? [00:21:31] S0: Think initially I started probably in Egypt. Egypt? In the hub. Yeah. That's where I learned And then I actually switched to kite surfing [00:21:39] S1: Yes. [00:21:39] S0: After I went to Dahab or probably I went to Croatia. And then there was wasn't enough wind for windsurfing, but kite... Kites still were kiting. So I decided to switch to kite. Do you [00:21:49] S1: need more wind for windsurfing and for kiting? [00:21:52] S0: I mean, the reality for windsurfing, yes. To really glide, you need more wind. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. [00:21:59] S1: Then you moved to kite setting. What year? Like you said it was like 2011 or something, right? That you moved to kiting? 2012? [00:22:05] S0: Yeah, probably 2011, 2012. [00:22:07] S1: Were a very early kiter. Early. Kites were like kind of dangerous back then, right? [00:22:12] S0: No, not really. Mean, to be honest, I looked at the equipment now and back then, I mean, it didn't change much. [00:22:19] S1: Was it, is it four lines already when you started? [00:22:21] S0: Five liners. [00:22:22] S1: Five. Okay. Because the early early kiting, I think it was two lines that people had. [00:22:26] S0: Oh, It's two, you know. It was already like, you know, four liners or five liners. Yeah.
00:22:26 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:22:26] S0: Oh, It's two, you know. It was already like, you know, four liners or five liners. Yeah. [00:22:30] S1: Makes sense. That was really dangerous. That was like Yeah. You know, there was no way to stop. You could just like get pulled away and... Yeah. Yeah. Then... Okay. So you, you know, you're windsurfing kitesurfing. So you went to Credit Suisse and then you were trading same thing there. Just options. [00:22:44] S0: Options. Yeah. Same same markets. [00:22:46] S1: Making like, you know, hundreds of thousand dollars in bonus and beyond. And then what would happen after that? What did you do after? You got your visa, you said, right? Like... [00:22:53] S0: Yeah. I was already kind of set to leave. I was just waiting for last year for the passport. [00:23:02] S1: Oh, so you already knew you wanted to leave. You just didn't want to leave because of the passport. Exactly. And then you already knew you wanted to start a business or? [00:23:10] S0: Yeah, exactly. I want to start a business and then we are just waiting for my passport to arrive. [00:23:14] S1: And is there anyone you were like looking for like inspiration, you know, or like which entrepreneurs did you follow or track around that time? Like what was... How do you even know like what to start, you know, like what's a good business, all that?
00:23:14 · Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[00:23:14] S1: And is there anyone you were like looking for like inspiration, you know, or like which entrepreneurs did you follow or track around that time? Like what was... How do you even know like what to start, you know, like what's a good business, all that? [00:23:26] S0: Good question. I don't remember following anyone to be honest. Yeah. Because back then it was all about banking, consulting. All top graders went into banking consulting. And then back then, no one actually talked about tech and startups. Now everyone talks about tech and startups. It's hot. Right? But back then, I mean, [00:23:45] S1: you think? 2014? [00:23:47] S0: It was 2014. Yes. 2013, 2014. [00:23:50] S1: I remember around this time, I had just started my first business and I heard TechCrunch was like a huge thing for me. I was just like, I was reading TechCrunch a lot and that was like a big inspiration. [00:24:01] S0: Interesting. No. I didn't know anything about TechCrunch. [00:24:03] S1: You didn't know any like like media websites online about tech and stuff like that? [00:24:06] S0: No. No. No. I didn't really, you know, read it all. For me it was because I was in an environment in London. London was really financial capital of Europe, maybe the world back then. And I was surrounded by bankers or traders or salespeople. My friends were bankers as well as, or traders. And no one really talked about startups. [00:24:25] S1: But like when you thought about starting a business, you're like, I'm gonna start the next Lehman Brothers. Is that what's kind of going on to your mind?
00:24:25 · Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[00:24:25] S1: But like when you thought about starting a business, you're like, I'm gonna start the next Lehman Brothers. Is that what's kind of going on to your mind? [00:24:31] S0: No. To be honest, I was much more modest. Right? I was just looking for some business idea just to start. And I was looking for several ideas and... Or several problems to solve. I was looking at what was happening in China, was happening in US, what worked in China, what worked in US. And yeah, just looking for ideas. Yeah. [00:24:53] S1: What about... Was Tinkoff already like successful? [00:24:56] S0: No. Back then Tinkoff probably haven't launched yet. [00:25:00] S1: Oh, it didn't launch yet? [00:25:01] S0: Maybe they had. But it wasn't like But you were back then I didn't know about Tinkoff. [00:25:05] S1: You didn't know about it? Yeah. Which is interesting. Like until, you know, kind of recently, it was probably one of the most successful kind of neo banks, let's put it like that in the world. Right? [00:25:13] S0: Yeah. Back then. Yeah. Probably. [00:25:15] S1: Yeah. And so... But what about, like, venture? Like, did you know that VCs wouldn't invest in startups? Like, was that a thing you're, like, kinda, like, aware? [00:25:23] S0: No. Back then, no. I just wanted... I had this desire to build something myself, right, to be kind of independent of all these bosses whether they are not very clever. And yeah, just left, had this idea about a cut with zero effects and transfers with zero
00:25:23 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:25:23] S0: No. Back then, no. I just wanted... I had this desire to build something myself, right, to be kind of independent of all these bosses whether they are not very clever. And yeah, just left, had this idea about a cut with zero effects and transfers with zero [00:25:42] S1: So before we get into Revolut, like, were the other businesses you considered? Like, what were you? [00:25:46] S0: So I was looking at... What was it? Loans business, like in a micro loans business. [00:25:54] S1: Micro loans? [00:25:55] S0: Yeah. Then I was looking to... Oh, in Europe [00:25:58] S1: or were you looking... [00:25:59] S0: Like just UK. Then I was looking for marketplace. I think, you know, buying and selling clothes. There was some kind of social network in in China back then that really, you know, took off. And I thought, you know, maybe I just copied in Europe. [00:26:13] S1: How would you find out what's happening in China? Like, how are you even knowing that? [00:26:16] S0: I was just researching of the Internet, you know, trying to find some business ideas. Yeah. [00:26:21] S1: Interesting. Was there anyone that you got really close to doing? [00:26:23] S0: I think I selected three or four ideas and then I just went with Revolut. [00:26:27] S1: Do you remember what the other ones were? [00:26:30] S0: So, yeah, last ideas were loans, right? Micro loans, like in the fast digital. Because I think back then there were no service who would give you back loans in a very fast. Then this Chinese website as well, Revolut. Then it was Revolut.
00:26:30 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:26:30] S0: So, yeah, last ideas were loans, right? Micro loans, like in the fast digital. Because I think back then there were no service who would give you back loans in a very fast. Then this Chinese website as well, Revolut. Then it was Revolut. [00:26:47] S1: And the other one was Revolut? Yeah. Yeah. And what was the Chinese one exactly? It was like just a... [00:26:51] S0: I don't remember the name, but it was effective social network where people post about their clothes. And then you can also buy clothes on this website. [00:27:00] S1: It's kind of social commerce. [00:27:02] S0: Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. [00:27:02] S1: Interesting. Interesting. And, you know, let's talk about that. Did you look a lot to China? Like, what do you think of China back then? [00:27:11] S0: Yeah. Looked a lot to China. [00:27:13] S1: Why? I guess, like, it's not an obvious thing for someone to do back then, I guess. [00:27:18] S0: No. Just because you look at growth. Right? And you look at number of people. And then you look at innovation, what's happening. So I was looking at US and China, even. [00:27:28] S1: It does seem that like a lot of your economic stuff from back in the day did play a role in like how you think about the world. Right? [00:27:35] S0: Yeah. Maybe. But for me it was just intuition. Right? [00:27:38] S1: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Well, usually intuition, you know, have to build it from You're very kind of like numbers focused and you always talk about like the growth and, you know, it's a really interesting like way to think when you're that young, you know?