Victor Alade

Nik Storonsky is one of the most hardcore and competitive founders I’ve ever talked to. He’s the founder of Revolut, a $115 billion company, and wants to be the number one bank in 100 countries. When someone asked Nik if he was coming for Jamie Dimon's lunch, he said “I’m coming for his dinner.” “We want to dominate, otherwise what’s the point?” He removed every VC from his board, and when one investor pushed him too far, he started his own fund to compete with them. Nik has a lot of ideas on talent, product design, marketing, constraints, and what makes founder-led companies special. This is a fascinating conversation about competition, speed, and building a machine-like company. 0:00 Coming for Jamie Dimon's dinner 2:04 Building the #1 bank in 100 countries 6:12 Why founders beat professional CEOs 8:45 Revolut's biggest mistake 12:47 Why legacy banks can't innovate 17:20 Running a company like a machine 20:28 Funding winners and cutting losers like a trader 23:31 How AI is changing Revolut's team structure 25:23 50 direct reports and spreading innovation fast 29:59 Hiring self-guided missiles 33:31 Too much money makes founders weaker 37:38 What Europe's constraints taught Revolut 41:08 Why VCs are like football cheerleaders 49:28 Starting a fund to compete with VCs 54:28 From zero marketing to buying Europe's airports 1:00:21 Funding moonshots like a global tech company 1:03:58 Building an unstoppable machine Includes paid partnerships.