Posted on 11th September 2023 by Harry

David Velez is the Founder and CEO of Nubank, one of the largest and fastest-growing financial institutions in the world. 1 in 2 people in Brazil alone have a Nubank account. Nubank’s purple credit card in Mexico is the highest-rated NPS product of any consumer product in the world. Before founding Nubank in 2013, David was a partner at Sequoia Capital between 2011 and 2013, in charge of the firm’s Latin American investments group. Before Sequoia, David worked in investment banking and growth equity at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and General Atlantic.

In Today’s Episode with David Velez We Discuss:

1. From Sequoia Partner to Creating One of the Largest Financial Institutions:

• What was the Sequoia interview process like?
• What questions did Doug Leone really dive into when hiring David?
• What impressed David most about how Sequoia interview and win talent?
• What are 1-2 of David’s biggest lessons from working with Doug Leone?

2. From a Small House to a $BN Public Company:

• What does David believe are the 1-2 core but non-obvious reasons why Nubank scaled so fast?
• What does David believe are the most non-obvious but massive opportunities Nubank has to 10x from here?
• Why does David believe emerging market fintech providers will be more valuable than Western fintechs?
• What does David believe Western fintechs and regulators can learn from BRIC economy fintechs?

3. How AI Changes The Future of Financial Services:

• How does David believe AI will change financial services?
• What products are the lowest-hanging fruit? Which products will be harder for AI to serve?
• How will AI handle the ambiguity of which master to serve; the consumer and their experience or the bank and their fees and profit motive?
• Will banks need to own and operate their own models? If using other models, what will differentiate them when they are layers on top of someone else’s technology?

4. David Velez: The Leader and Father:

• What does it mean to be a great listener? How does David approach it?
• What has been David’s biggest lessons from Sequoia on culture? What works? What does not?
• What are David’s biggest pieces of advice to raise kids that are not spoiled and are hard-working and humble?
• How does David think about “efficient giving” with the philanthropy he does today?
• What is the big paradox and challenge in philanthropy today?