Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Business:Investing
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
Adam Sandow - The Power of Print Media - [Invest Like the Best, EP.376]
Howie Liu - Building Airtable - [Invest Like the Best, EP.375]
Mark Groden - The Future of Flying - [Invest Like the Best, EP.374]
Dev Ittycheria - The Database Evolution - [Invest Like the Best, EP.373]
Nico Wittenborn - Finding the Adjacent Possible - [Invest Like the Best, EP.372]
Mitch Rales: The Art of Compounding - [Art of Investing, Forever Episode]
Marc Lasry - Making Bucks in Credit and Sports - [Invest Like the Best, EP.371]
Bill Gurley & Michael Mauboussin - Putting Theory into Practice - [Invest Like the Best, EP.370]
Tim Ferriss - Curating Curiosities - [Invest Like the Best, EP.369]
Ken Langone - The American Dream - [Invest Like the Best, EP.368]
Robin Dunbar - Optimizing Human Connection (Dunbar's Number) - [Invest Like the Best, EP.367]
Sean Feeney - Reinventing the Restaurant Business - [Invest Like the Best, EP.366]
Dave Fontenot - The Monastery of Code - [Invest Like the Best, EP.365]
Anne-Marie Peterson - The Capital System - [Invest Like the Best, EP.364]
Aravind Srinivas - Building An Answer Engine - [Invest Like the Best, EP.363]
Ali Hamed - Building an Investment Firm - [Invest Like the Best, EP.362]
Cyan Banister - Investing for a Higher Purpose - [Invest Like the Best, EP.361]
Danny Meyer - The Power of Hospitality - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Chuck Akre - The Three Legged Stool - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Alex Telford - Unlocking Innovation in Pharma - [Invest Like the Best, EP.360]
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