Iqram Magdon-Ismail is the co-founder of Venmo and current founder of Jelly, a video-first social app. After building Venmo from a text-message prototype to a verb used by millions (ultimately acquired by PayPal via Braintree), Iqram is now tackling what he sees as social media's biggest problem: it became all ads, influencers, and flexing instead of genuine connection.
What you'll learn:
- How Venmo started from forgetting a wallet at dinner and evolved into a cultural phenomenon
- The near-shutdown moments when Wells Fargo threatened to close their account
- Why Venmo raised only $3.4M total before the Braintree acquisition
- The strategy behind keeping Venmo invite-only for five years
- How the team's close friendship shaped Venmo's personality as a product
- Why Iqram believes AI made startups polished but soulless
- The shift from building for purpose (helping musicians) to building for metrics (ARR, funding)
- What it's like working at PayPal after selling your startup
- How Jelly uses crypto infrastructure to enable global money movement through video
- Why immigrant founders bring a different hunger and work ethic to building companies
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Iqram and his founder journey
(00:49) The origin story of Venmo - forgetting a wallet
(03:08) Building on Google Voice and eating credit card fees
(08:40) The near-death moment with Wells Fargo
(12:01) How the Braintree acquisition saved Venmo
(16:56) Working with Bryan Johnson at Braintree
(18:57) The regret of not having more equity in Venmo's success
(21:06) What makes Venmo feel different than other payment apps
(22:16) Why modern startups lost their personality and purpose
(26:00) Life at PayPal after the acquisition
(27:38) Consumer vs B2B founder-product fit
(30:23) Social media became a nightmare of ads and flexing
(32:20) Demo and vision for Jelly
(39:06) Using crypto and meme coins in social apps
(41:15) Why invite-only launches create quality users
(42:38) Rapid fire questions on inspiration and mistakes
(45:28) What it means to be an immigrant entrepreneur
