Builder of fintech and magna-tile forts. Exited founder turned Army Special Forces then back to tech.
Joined December 2014
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Dan Hightower retweeted
It's appalling that the victory of one party or another means that a private citizen and his businesses, none of which have been accused of breaking the law, would suddenly be targeted by the government. That's pure Third World and should outrage everyone. latimes.com/business/story/2…
Hey kid, love the costume, you get a full-sized candy bar if your dad comes up here and connects his gmail to my data selling app.
This is the correct founder mindset.
As Governor Schwarzenegger once said, "what is best in life is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their wo...investors."
Nik Storonsky is one of the most hardcore and competitive founders I’ve ever talked to. He’s the founder of Revolut, a $115 billion company, and wants to be the number one bank in 100 countries.
When someone asked Nik if he was coming for Jamie Dimon's lunch, he said “I’m coming for his dinner.”
“We want to dominate, otherwise what’s the point?”
He removed every VC from his board, and when one investor pushed him too far, he started his own fund to compete with them.
Nik has a lot of ideas on talent, product design, marketing, constraints, and what makes founder-led companies special.
This is a fascinating conversation about competition, speed, and building a machine-like company.
0:00 Coming for Jamie Dimon's dinner
2:04 Building the #1 bank in 100 countries
6:12 Why founders beat professional CEOs
8:45 Revolut's biggest mistake
12:47 Why legacy banks can't innovate
17:20 Running a company like a machine
20:28 Funding winners and cutting losers like a trader
23:31 How AI is changing Revolut's team structure
25:23 50 direct reports and spreading innovation fast
29:59 Hiring self-guided missiles
33:31 Too much money makes founders weaker
37:38 What Europe's constraints taught Revolut
41:08 Why VCs are like football cheerleaders
49:28 Starting a fund to compete with VCs
54:28 From zero marketing to buying Europe's airports
1:00:21 Funding moonshots like a global tech company
1:03:58 Building an unstoppable machine
Includes paid partnerships.
You open Slack. Looking for a convo you had with someone 5 months ago. You ask your coworker if they know where it is. They don't. Search doesn't work.
You wince as you click Slackbot and emotionally prepare yourself for the bot to swing and miss.
Slackbot proudly surfaces the chat you just had with your coworker about trying to find the convo. Thanks Slackbot.
You realize Slack hasn't really evolved much since AI entered the scene. How could that be, you wonder.
Then you come across this post on X, and it all makes sense: "eaten by whale".
Latest (and probably penultimate) Building Slack post is up: buildingslack.com/salesforce…
What it's like being eaten by the whale
