David Vélez - Building the Branchless Bank - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 41]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Colossus

Investing, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2021

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest today is David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank, the world’s largest digital bank with over 40 million customers. In our conversation, David talks about his venture capital background at Sequoia and how that led him down an entrepreneurial path in Latin America. We also talk about the pros and cons of building a digitally native business and what gets him most excited about innovation and technology in emerging markets.

Before we start the episode, I would also like to highlight our newest Colossus show, Business Breakdowns. Since launching in early April, we have published over 15 Breakdowns and continue to release a new episode weekly. To learn more, check out joincolossus.com. I hope you enjoy my conversation with David Vélez.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

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Show Notes

[00:02:55] - [First question] - Why Berkshire Hathaway took such an interest in Nubank

[00:04:46] - Key differentiators between Nubank and other incumbent banks

[00:07:11] - Onboarding user experience and overview of customer acquisition

[00:10:38] - The original problem Nubank wanted to solve and how they approached it

[00:15:32] - Lessons from working at Sequoia about great FinTech businesses

[00:19:18] - What parts of his personality and life experience worked its way into NuBank

[00:23:18] - Obstacles that needed to be overcome in order to serve the Brazilian public

[00:27:52] - Transparency and patience needed to overcome a complicated problem

[00:31:11] - Nubank’s business economics compared to other banks

[00:34:46] - Overview of rewards programs and why customers like them so much

[00:37:27] - Best questions asked that explained Nubank’s market opportunity

[00:42:02] - Second layer unit economics of the company and where to look for them

[00:45:51] - How far we are into the Latin American technological ecosystem’s development

[00:47:24] - Lessons learned from some of the worst decisions he’s made as a founder

[00:51:30] - What he’s most excited about for the future

[00:54:19] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Founders Field Guide is brought to you by Dell Technologies.
0:03.8	Enjoy a powerful business upgrade with Dell Technologies Black Friday and July event.
0:08.7	Get amazing savings without the 50% off high performance computers and tech built for business
0:14.0	and be able to take your office with you with Windows 10 Pro.
0:17.5	Plus get great offers on Dell servers, monitors, docs and more, all with easy financing options through Dell financial services.
0:24.6	Call 877 ask Dell, that's 877 ask Dell and speak to a Dell Technologies Advisor today.
0:31.6	If your startup doesn't have the right compliance certifications, you can't close major customers. It's that simple.
0:37.5	Vanta is trusted by over 1500 SaaS companies to automate the time consuming and expensive process of preparing for a SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO 27001 audit.
0:48.5	With Vanta's continuous monitoring solution, you avoid hosting auditors on site and taking hundreds of screenshots to prove that you're compliant.
0:56.1	Here's how it works.
0:57.1	Integrate with your cloud provider and tools, check off items on the customized to do list and let Vanta continuously monitor your security so you can focus on growing your business.
1:06.9	Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1,000 off coupon at vanta.com forward slash Patrick. That's vanta.com forward slash Patrick.
1:15.3	Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick Oshanase and this is Founders Field Guide. Founders Field Guide is a series of conversations with Founders, CEOs and operators building great businesses.
1:26.3	I believe we are all builders in our own way and this series is dedicated to stories and lessons from builders of all types.
1:32.3	Founders Field Guide is part of the Colossus family of podcasts and you can access all of our podcasts including edited transcripts, show notes and resources to keep learning at join Colossus.com.
1:47.3	Patrick Oshanase is the CEO of Oshanase asset management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Oshanase asset management.
1:58.3	This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
2:04.3	Clients of Oshanase asset management may maintain positions and the securities discussed in this podcast.
2:12.3	My guest today is David Vallez, founder and CEO of New Bank, the world's largest digital bank with over 40 million customers.
2:19.3	In our conversation David talks about his venture capital background at Sequoia and how that led him down an entrepreneurial path in Latin America.
2:26.3	We also talk about the pros and cons of building a digitally native business and what gets him most excited about innovation and technology in emerging markets.
2:35.3	Before we start the episode I'd also like to highlight our newest Colossus show business breakdowns.
	...

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