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?
00:27:38 · Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[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? [00:27:54] S0: Yeah. [00:27:55] S1: Yeah. Okay. So then Revolut... Okay. So tell me what the first, first idea for Revolut was.
00:27:55 · Henrique Dubugras, Nik Storonsky
[00:27:55] S1: Yeah. Okay. So then Revolut... Okay. So tell me what the first, first idea for Revolut was. [00:28:00] S0: So I simply wanted to have a cut. So basically what I've done, I set up myself multiple bank accounts with different currencies. And when I was traveling and sending money, I was trying to spend from these bank accounts and some money from these bank accounts. But it was like super clunky, like very difficult. And then back then online banking was also pretty shit. So you cannot really, you know, go on the website. Need to put, you know, tons of passwords, some devices. It was like really messy back then. So I decided to effectively build a company or a product, like a bank account plus account attached to it. So you can go abroad and then spend in multiple currencies at intermankrate. So kind of in my head, I already knew how to do infrastructure around it in terms of hedging currency exchange because obviously I was a trader. I don't know how things work. But then in terms of cut payment infrastructure, I knew zero. So what I've done, I started researching how to get it done. I found, call it, partners in the value chain, like an issuing bank, processor, card factory, a few others to put it all together, to integrate it all. And I launched a card. Then I was trying to find how to issue a multicurrency card, how to stop infrastructure. And everyone told me from issuing banks that, you know, it's not possible. It doesn't exist. So what I've done, hired the best consultant, prepaid card consultant in The UK to help me with the infrastructure.
00:28:00 · Nik Storonsky, Henrique Dubugras
[00:28:00] S0: So I simply wanted to have a cut. So basically what I've done, I set up myself multiple bank accounts with different currencies. And when I was traveling and sending money, I was trying to spend from these bank accounts and some money from these bank accounts. But it was like super clunky, like very difficult. And then back then online banking was also pretty shit. So you cannot really, you know, go on the website. Need to put, you know, tons of passwords, some devices. It was like really messy back then. So I decided to effectively build a company or a product, like a bank account plus account attached to it. So you can go abroad and then spend in multiple currencies at intermankrate. So kind of in my head, I already knew how to do infrastructure around it in terms of hedging currency exchange because obviously I was a trader. I don't know how things work. But then in terms of cut payment infrastructure, I knew zero. So what I've done, I started researching how to get it done. I found, call it, partners in the value chain, like an issuing bank, processor, card factory, a few others to put it all together, to integrate it all. And I launched a card. Then I was trying to find how to issue a multicurrency card, how to stop infrastructure. And everyone told me from issuing banks that, you know, it's not possible. It doesn't exist. So what I've done, hired the best consultant, prepaid card consultant in The UK to help me with the infrastructure. [00:29:37] S1: How did you find that guy?