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20VC: Brex CEO Pedro Franceschi on What Brex Needs to do to be a Public Company | Brex vs Ramp: Who Wins and How Does it Play Out | Battling Founder Mental Health and The Importance of Secondaries for Founders

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Jul 17, 2024

Pedro Franceschi, Co-founder and CEO of Brex, shares his intriguing journey from a 12-year-old hacker to a billionaire entrepreneur. He dives deep into the mental health challenges faced by founders, recounting his own struggles and the strategies that helped him cope. The discussion shifts to the competitive landscape of financial services, highlighting Brex's unique advantages. Pedro also emphasizes the critical nature of founder secondaries and their impact on mindset, urging fellow founders to consider their long-term well-being.

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INSIGHT

Mental Health Matters

Founders often underestimate the impact of mental health.
The internal battle is the biggest challenge, not external criticism.

ADVICE

Early Liquidity as a Test

Offer secondary liquidity to your team early to test their commitment.
See how money changes their behavior to assess their true character.

ANECDOTE

Maternal Support

Pedro's mother supported his early coding passion despite societal norms.
She recognized his productive pursuit and facilitated his early work experience.

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Pedro Franceschi is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Brex, the AI-powered spend platform with tens of thousands of customers, including DoorDash, Coinbase, Robinhood and Roblox. Pedro has raised over $1.2BN for the company from the likes of Greenoaks, Ribbit, DST, Bond and YC. The latest reported valuation was $12.3BN. Before Brex, Pedro was the first person to “jailbreak” the iPhone 3G in Brazil and co-founded payments company Pagar.me with Dubugras when he was 15. In three years, Pedro scaled it to over 100 people and US$1.5 billion in transactions processed.

In Today's Episode with Pedro Franceschi We Discuss:

1. The Challenge is in Your Own Head:

Why does Pedro believe all founders underestimate their own mental health?
When was Pedro most anxious/depressed in the Brex journey? Why?
What have been the single biggest needle movers for increasing his own mental health?
How does Pedro advise other founders struggling with their own mental health?

2. From a 13-Year-Old Hacker in Brazil to Billionaire in LA:

How did Pedro come to make $200K on the internet when he was just 12?
Does Pedro agree that the best founders always started entrepreneurial pursuits young?
How does Pedro reflect on his own relationship to money today? How has it changed?
Pedro has famously taken large secondaries, how did that impact his mindset?
How does Pedro advise other founders and VCs when it comes to secondaries?

3. The Importance of the Idea: What Everyone Misunderstands:

What does Pedro mean when he says everyone does not appreciate enough how important the idea selection process is? How does he advise founders entering this process?
Why does Pedro believe it is not that easy for founder to just pivot to a new idea?
How did YC almost miss out on investing in Brex, now a $12BN company, due to the original idea?

4. Brex vs Ramp: Who Wins:

How does Pedro feel when I say, "Ramp have gotten ahead on marketing and visibility"?
Why does Pedro believe that "Ramp is a marketing company"? What does he mean when he says "great products will win over time"?
Why does Pedro fundamentally disagree with Ramp's positioning of the best companies focus on saving and their giving away their software for free?
How does this market play out over time? Winner take all or gains split across several?