Arik Shtilman heads up global payments solution Rapyd – one of Europe’s most highly valued fintechs. Arik’s first rung on the career ladder was the Israeli army, which taught him a ‘carpe diem’ approach to business that has since helped him win over investors and turn Rapyd into Israel’s most valuable private company (it recently achieved a 15bn dollar valuation).
Arik explains that the genesis for Rapyd lies in a fellow founder being stung on FX charges on a stag do to the Czech Republic. It was a steep learning curve where they encountered ‘every single problem on planet earth’ before pivoting and establishing a B2B product rather than B2C. The company continues to go from strength to strength, undaunted by the pandemic (Arik kept everyone working in the office believing working from home hinders productivity) and the potential of a recession (‘I love a recession’).
This is a great episode and a great example of true entrepreneurship with many career and life lessons highlighted.
1:49 – the story of Rapyd and its move into venture capitalism
3:43 – Getting ready for a macro turndown
6:19 – ‘I love recessions’
8:13 – Investing in clients
10:05 – SME trends
11:39 – Becoming an entrepreneur
14:01 – Understanding the early potential of computers
15:12 – The potential of blockchain
16:22 – The next big trend in tech
18:10 – Starting out in the military and learning ‘anything is possible’
19:46 – What push ups and tennis camp can teach you
21:43 – Starting his first company
23:00 – The first big mistake
24:19 – Lessons learned
25:34 – The birth of Rapyd (after an expensive stag do to the Czech Republic)
30:00 – The importance of failure
31:38 – How Arik’s role has changed as the company has grown
34:16 – Rapyd’s culture
35:40 – Calling BS on working from home
38:05 – Future goal for Rapyd
41:54 – Greatest achievement – and being fearless
