072 Age of the Superapp (feat. David Barrett, CEO)

Episode 72 | Recorded October 6, 2022 

Guest: David Barrett 

Hosts: Nikole Mackenzie and Scott Scarano 

Scott and Nikole get to chat with Expensify’s David Barrett. Unfiltered, uncaged, unmasked talk with the SuperApp founder. For real, no summary would be enough to describe just how dope David is. Are you ready to be shaken from your core beliefs? Go past your limit and be limitless just like how David and his team ushered their company to continuously evolve with the times. Familiar with Expensify? Think you know what they really are? Guess you’ll be dumbfounded to know where they’re really headed. This is definitely an episode you wouldn’t want to miss as David shares his experiences and imparts his way of thinking that’ll make you say “Guess it’s time to let the alien in me take control” 

"The story we tell ourselves about who we are, that story can change. The ink should never dry on the novel you're writing about yourself. You should reinterpret your history." 

2 - Who inspires David?... the fictional Mr. Darcy 

5 - Tell me something you fucked up, “Confident I do the best I can with the info I have” and “I’ve made some very expensive mistakes” 

6 - What is the root of all evil? Altruism 

9 - The secret to happiness and success is purpose. Do you believe that your actions are advancing you to some sort of long-term personal purpose? “Real change happens with a business model - that's the only way to save the world” 

16 - Expensify’s structure? It is like a garden, a magical, mysterious garden where everyone, every day is planting seeds that we've never seen before “Live rich have fun and save the world  - Every day should be awesome - Work-life balance is almost toxic” 

19 - A comp model determined by your peers? Do you worry about unconfirmed biases? 

26 - It was never built to be an expense reporting product… We just happen to start with expense management because it has a number of great features to it “Perfection is unachievable. - I never want to leave my company - Be bizarre, be different” 

32 - What are the limits of Expensify as a superApp? Or are there limits? 

34 - Change is not intrinsically good. We don’t do anything without defining the problem we’re trying to solve 

39 - There are no rules. Only CONSEQUENCES: If I think it's gonna drive the business and help us leverage, have fun, save the world, we're gonna do it 

41 - Self-doubt got burned out of David throughout his career 

47 - How to make your company an environment for creativity? 

62 - We haven’t even launched yet, in my mind. It’s just that our prototype is so valuable 

69 - We’re alien in many respects, not because we seek to appear alien. It’s just that we don’t see the same constraints that others do 

70 - Failing to mind the imagination gap was my biggest fuck up 

71 - I am limited by what I can convince people to do 

72 - Grappling with notions of identity.  Don't look into your self-identity The ink should never dry on the novel of your life. 

73 - A creative mother fuckin force Everything bad is good for you - link to this book  

74 - Evolution of books, radio, tv, and internet - the screen time battle 

75 - Negative patterns. Experts are only experts in historical events 

76 - The business model of social networks. Expensify as a social network? It’s for people who wanna get shit done 

82 - Scott RAPS UP the episode