20VC: Revolut Founder Nik Storonsky on When and Where Revolut Will IPO & What Revolut Need to Do to Hit $100BN Valuation

**Nik Storonsky** (0:00)
I just don't understand how the product which is being provided by UK can compete with the product provided by US. It is less liquid, so it's much worse compared to US. Plus, it's much more expensive because it pays time duty. It's just not rational.

**Harry Stebbings** (0:13)
And so you would list in the US?

**Nik Storonsky** (0:15)
I consider myself a rational person, right? That's all I can answer. So unless I have a better product from UK, then if I get a better product from UK, I will list in the UK. But so far, if you just compare these products, one is far ahead compared to the other.

**Harry Stebbings** (0:27)
This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and the show today is the one that everyone has been waiting for. Revolut is the generational defining company of our time. 50 million customers, $2.2 billion in revenues, and aiming to be the number one bank in the world. Joining me today, we have Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut, to discuss growth and IPO plans, how Revolut approaches new products and building a hiring machine, and why work-life imbalance is the secret to success. This was such a special one to do live in Revolut's offices. But before we dive in today, if you're driven by the pursuit of knowledge and personal growth, you'll love exploring the vast collection of insightful book summaries on the Blinkist app. So, with Blinkist, you can access expertly crafted summaries that distill the essence of thousands of influential books, allowing you to read or listen to each in just 15 minutes. I know they beat 20 VC. Being recommended by The New York Times and Apple CEO Tim Cook, it's no surprise that 82% of Blinkist users see themselves as self-optimizers, and 65% say it's essential for business and career growth. Empowering over 32 million users since 2012, as a 20 VC listener even better, you get 25% exclusive discount on Blinkist. That's B-L-I-N-K-I-S-T. Just visit blinkist.com/20vc to claim your discount and transform the way you learn. And while you're optimizing your learning, let's also optimize your finances with Brex, the financial stack founders can bank on. Brex knows that nearly 40% of startups fail because they run out of cash. So they built a banking experience that takes every dollar further. It's such a difference from traditional banking options that leave your cash sitting idle while chipping away at it with fees. To help you protect your cash and extend your runway, Brex combined the best things about checking, treasury and FDIC insurance in one Powerhouse account. You can send and receive money worldwide at lightning speed. You can get 20x the standard FDIC protection through program banks and you can earn industry-leading yield from your first dollar while still being able to access your funds anytime. Brex is a top choice for startups. In fact, hey, it's used by one in every three startups in the US. Just check them out now, brex.com/startups.
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**Nik Storonsky** (3:33)
You have now arrived at your destination.

**Harry Stebbings** (3:36)
Nick, I'm so excited to do this. Thank you so much for having us in your office first.

**Nik Storonsky** (3:40)
Thanks for coming.

**Harry Stebbings** (3:41)
Not at all. Listen, I was chatting to Klaus Hommels before and he said, you know, I'm not going to do the German accent because I'm terrible at it. But he said that Revolut is one of the most KPI-led companies. And so I just wanted to start with, how do you approach KPI-based leadership and what does that actually mean?

**Nik Storonsky** (3:56)
Well, basically, it's the whole goal setting, right? So we set up the goals for the company. So usually we have five, six goals a year. And then we quantify these goals. So what does it mean to achieve a certain goal? Then we cascade these goals on the department level, then on the team level, and then on individual. So every single effective team department and on the company, we have metrics describing the performance. And then all people go through performance reprocess every quarter, then they judge based on the metrics that they delivered, their skills, and then cultural values.