Inside Revolut: How Nikolay Storonsky Built a $45B Fintech Empire

**Nikolay Storonsky** (0:00)
Don't allow any kind of part of the business to speculate. Banks blow up, right? They invest, they call it invest, customer money into financial instruments. I just don't do it. I want guaranteed revenue. Very early on, I realized that all these managers, they are not like me. One on one, how are you? Making sure people feel great. For me, I never bought it. Great people don't need, how are you? As soon as you start spending time managing people, they're probably a failure. People need to be independent. They need to self deliver it without my help.

**Henrique Dubugras** (0:28)
You feel a lot more efficient and disciplined than most US companies.

**Nikolay Storonsky** (0:31)
Yeah, US is a large market. If you show traction, product market feed, they throw it to you, infinite amount of money, and then you can afford not to be efficient. My kind of attitude was always, every day I want to be at 100%, so I don't have regret in the future.

**Henrique Dubugras** (0:49)
I'm super excited to have this conversation with Nik, the founder of Revolut. Revolut is one of the largest neobanks in the world with over 40 million customers worldwide. And Nik is the founder, having started the business in 2015 So, super excited to have Nik here and talk about his personal store and the story of Revolut. Nik, first, thanks so much for coming and doing this. I know you don't do a lot of these, so I appreciate it.

**Nikolay Storonsky** (1:12)
Thank you for inviting.

**Henrique Dubugras** (1:13)
Yeah. So, I think we've met in 2018 or 2019, I think in London, I'm trying to remember. And I remembered the first impression I had of you. It was like, wow, this guy is a hardcore guy, you know? He's like super intense and focused. And, you know, I remember coming to Revolut's office and it was like 8 p.m. or something. And it was like everyone was there. It was like super late. And like, you know, I was like, oh, it reminds me of some of these Chinese companies, like people work so hard. And I was really impressed. I came back to Brex and I was like, we need to work more like those guys, you know, like they're crushing it there. So I'm curious, right? Like, were you like that since you were a kid, you know, where you're always like super hardworking, super intense in the beginning or is something that grew later?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (2:00)
Yeah, I think when I was 70 years old, and I was at school, school was pretty tough. And I was also taking part in a lot of competitions, like in math, physics, also swimming. And because no one was really preparing me for these competitions, for math, physics, and then initially I was losing them and because I was so competitive from the childhood, I really kind of learned myself to work hard, to compensate for someone else preparing me. Because I was competing with other kids who had parents preparing them for Olympiads. And when I was losing, like in the first three, four years, I was really kind of tough for me. So I kind of get used to, you know, working hard and then putting myself 100% in something I want to win.

**Henrique Dubugras** (2:50)
And was math and physics like your main?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (2:52)
You're like a math and physics economics as well.

**Henrique Dubugras** (2:55)
Economic, you're from a young age?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (2:57)
Well, not from a young age. I think, you know, I started competing in Olympiads and economics when I was probably like 13, 14 years old.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:06)
Is it like Science Olympics? Is that the kind of thing?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:07)
Science, yes. It's very mathematical, yes.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:10)
But is it the kind that goes to like the International Physics Olympics like IFO or those kind of competitions?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:16)
It does, yes.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:16)
Did you ever go to, do you do well or do you kind of?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:20)
No, no, I actually won twice International. I won when I was in 9th grade and then 11th grade as well.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:26)
Oh, wow. The International one?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:28)
International, yes.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:28)
For physics?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:29)
No, no, it was economics.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:31)
Economics?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:31)
Yes.

**Henrique Dubugras** (3:31)
Oh, I didn't know they have it for economics. What do they test you on?

**Nikolay Storonsky** (3:35)
So there are two parts. One is effectively problem solving in economics, like in a mathematical Olympiad, but in economics. And the second one is practice. So basically you kind of play a game, setting up business, and then putting money in R&D, in marketing, setting up the price. And then there are many, many other teams who have companies, and then you just compete in a modeled environment. So it's all kind of computer program, right? It is based on rounds. For each round, you set up price, R&D spending, marketing spending, like hiring employees, firing employees, how many units you produce.