Success Story with Scott D. Clary Gilad Uziely - Serial Entrepreneur & Startup Advisor | The Brutal Truth About Why 90% of Startups Fail
Sep 24, 2025
Gilad Uziely, a serial entrepreneur and CEO of fintech startup Sequence, discusses the harsh realities of startup life. He shares lessons learned from his initial failures, like the flawed assumptions at his neo-bank Lance. Gilad stresses the importance of letting data drive decisions and the necessity of detaching emotions from business choices. He also dives into the challenges of fundraising with a chaotic cap table and the critical mindset shifts behind Sequence's success, advocating for honesty about metrics and charging for value.
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When Founders Fall In Love With Product
- Gilad describes how founders fall in love with their product and start ignoring bad signals.
- That emotional attachment led his team to misread Lance's unit economics and ignore growing fraud costs.
Embedded Finance Masks Bank Economics
- Embedded finance gives you banking-like features but not bank economics or balance-sheet lending.
- That mismatch exposed Lance to fraud costs that made customer cohorts unprofitable over time.
Let Metrics Force Hard Decisions
- Track the right metrics so opinions matter less and truth emerges.
- Define what success looks like and watch trajectories, then act when metrics diverge.