Former Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield on falling out of love with your work

Mar 2, 2021

Former Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield, known for his fintech expertise, discusses the challenges of scaling a startup, the impact of stress on mental health, and the decision to leave Monzo after building it for 6 years. He highlights the importance of prioritizing people, launching early to validate products, and building an authentic brand. The episode also touches on topics like competitor analysis, challenges of managing a large company, and the concept of burnout.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Positive Reinforcement and Scaling Personal Growth

03:23 • 7min

Discussion on Competitors and Brand Building, Plus Ads for Vorboss and Vanta

10:36 • 4min

Challenges, Decisions, and Identity

14:47 • 10min

The Importance of Prioritizing People and Experiencing Burnout

24:34 • 4min

Relief and Renewed Energy: After Closing an Investment Deal

28:24 • 4min

The Importance of Launching Early and Validating Your Product

32:54 • 2min

Historical discussions and a preview of female-founded businesses

35:07 • 2min

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Tom Blomfield, the former CEO and Co-Founder of Monzo, and Co-Founder of GoCardless, knows a thing or two about the fintech industry.

“We wanted to create something different than existing banks. We believed that the banks weren't serving customers particularly well at that moment. Customer expectations had been raised dramatically by things like Spotify, Uber and Airbnb, in terms of the user experience and functionality.”

Which is why his announcement in January 2021 that he was leaving Monzo, 6 years after founding the challenger bank, came as a shock to many.

“When you get to that size, it's about people management. You spend almost no time on product or customers really. It's about process, a lot of process, extraordinary amount of regulation.”

But it takes an outstanding leader to know when to step aside. And in today’s inaugural episode of Season 7, Tom talks about the mounting pressure when you’re at the top and ultimately its impact on your mental health and identity.

“I've talked about suffering that kind of stress, a build up of stress, it starts impacting your sleep, or at least it impacted my sleep, it became this vicious cycle where not sleeping makes your work worse, make worse decisions.”

From raising £1m from crowdfunding in 96 seconds, to how he scaled personally alongside the bank, to building a culture from the very outset, to what made him leave Monzo - Tom is exceedingly candid in this interview, which was recorded just a few weeks after his departure.

Don’t miss this hugely insightful episode from one of Europe’s top founders and CEOs - it’s something all entrepreneurs need to hear.

We chat about:

Crowdfunding Monzo
Building a culture from the start
Entrepreneurship and mental health
His decision process to leave Monzo

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