In Episode 98 of The Product and Growth Show, I sat down with Ivan Vasylchenko, tech entrepreneur and former COO of Trade Republic. Ivan joined the company when it was still called Neon Trading and helped scale it to over 10 million customers across 17 European countries with a $5B valuation. We talked about conviction in early-stage startups, scaling under extreme pressure during COVID, and what founders often get wrong about fintech growth stories.
What did we talk about?
- How Ivan went from finance consulting and hackathons to joining Trade Republic in its earliest days
- The dodgy beginnings of “Neon Trading” and why conviction mattered more than optics
- Building product-market fit through stock market games and waiting lists
- Foundational decisions that shaped Trade Republic: licensing, building tech in-house, and compliance
- Scaling from 10 to nearly 200 people during COVID and surviving explosive customer demand
- Why fintech growth isn’t just “breaking things fast” but about stamina and regulation
- Ivan’s current projects at the intersection of AI and fintech
Ivan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-vasylchenko/
