David Vélez - Building Nubank and the Future of Global Banking - [Invest Like the Best, EP.495]
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Leadership Requires Vision and Humility
David Vélez defines leadership as selling a differentiated vision while listening carefully, respecting useful consensus, and changing what must change.
David Vélez is the founder and CEO of Nubank, which serves 140 million customers across Latin America.
David believes the industry is still in its Blockbuster era, with most of the world's banking still running through branches and incumbent banks, and that AI will make digital banks dramatically more efficient than the incumbents they compete with.
He explains how Nubank rebuilt its entire organization around AI after missing the moment the technology started working, and why he is now bringing Nubank to the US, a market he says is still dominated by big incumbent banks.
Please 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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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Banking Is Still In Its Blockbuster Era
(00:02:52) 140 Million Customers, 10,000 Employees
(00:04:53) What Banks Could Do in Five Years
(00:06:31) The $600 Billion Tax on Deposits
(00:08:06) A Private Banker for Everyone
(00:12:21) How a Startup Would Attack Nubank
(00:14:56) When Nubank Took AI Seriously
(00:17:08) Data as a Moat
(00:21:29) How Global Finance Will Change
(00:25:20) Stablecoins and the End of Cash
(00:28:45) Creating Creditworthiness
(00:32:35) Where Fintech Opportunities Remain
(00:34:19) Nubank Comes to the US
(00:41:11) Lessons From Disney and Amazon
(00:43:44) How to Sell AI to Nubank
(00:46:51) Agents as a Customer Segment
(00:48:39) How AI Changed Nubank
(01:01:33) What Motivates Him Now
(01:06:21) Founder Versus CEO
(01:14:01) What Latin America Needs
(01:15:40) The Bear Case for Nubank
(01:19:42) Finding the Right Mission
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