Video Of The Week: Samir Desai at Slush
One of the most impressive startup executions I have witnessed in the past ten years is what the team at Funding Circle has pulled off. They have gone from a team of friends with an idea to the largest non bank lender in the western world.
In this interview at the Slush Conference, CEO Samir Desai explains how they pulled that off.
Comments (Archived):
Big Banks often find a way to the most harmful disasters and not just for themselves.I liked his discussion of culture and knowing what the big picture/direction is supposed to be everyone.
A lot of brilliance packed into 18 minutes. Inspiring. Thanks for sharing this.My initial thought was that as much as the word “disruption” is over-used, Funding Circle is one example of disruption at its finest. .But as Samir pointed out, some of the rigidity of banks stemming from regulation, and therefore causing banking/lending to be ripe for disruption, is not a bad thing. (My paraphrase and expansion.) It is just good to have alternatives.Refreshing to hear transparency referenced as a core value for a lending platform, both operationally and culturally.A couple of other pearls:Compensation decisions that take into account the degree of alignment with company values! (wow)”Do ONE thing amazingly well!”