Cambrian Fintech with Rex Salisbury Near Failure to $15B IPO - Building Marqeta w/ Jason Gardner
In this episode, I sit down with Jason Gardner, founder and CEO of Marqeta. Jason shares his journey from the early days of San Francisco's tech scene through building a modern card issuing platform that serves companies like Cash App, DoorDash, and Affirm. We dive into the big pivot that almost broke the company, how DoorDash became their defining customer, and the challenges of scaling a fintech business. Jason also discusses his decision to go public in 2021, his biggest repeated mistake as a founder, and why he believes the future of fintech lies in the Middle East.
00:00:00 - Introduction to Jason and Marqeta's Success
00:00:27 - The Big Pivot That Almost Broke the Company
00:01:02 - Why Oakland? Building in the Bay Area
00:02:21 - San Francisco's Early Tech Scene in the 90s
00:04:37 - Starting Marqeta: Why Nobody Believed in 2010
00:06:03 - Building Card Issuing Infrastructure from Scratch
00:06:56 - Facebook's Gift Card Challenge Changes Everything
00:08:00 - Finding the First Big Customer That Defined Marqeta
00:09:00 - DoorDash: From Veterinarian Office to Partnership
00:10:18 - How Marqeta Solved the Prepaid Card Fraud Problem
00:11:19 - Cash App: The Consumer Bet That Made or Broke Us
00:13:10 - How Do You Know When to Bet on a Customer?
00:14:56 - The Hardest Part: Scaling Without Dying
00:17:26 - Going Public in 2021: Timing the Perfect Window
00:19:43 - Picking Ideas: When an Idea Picks You
00:23:13 - Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a Founder
00:25:21 - Why I Chose to Be a Solo Founder
00:27:45 - The One Mistake I've Made Twice: People Don't Change
00:31:23 - Why the Future of Fintech is in the Middle East
00:36:18 - Life After CEO: Aviation and What's Next
00:37:12 - AI's Impact on Financial Services and Fraud
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