Why Would Anyone Build a Bank?

Starting a bank seems like one of the hardest things you could possibly do. David Jarvis, CEO of Griffin, did exactly that and walks me through the WHY and HOW of building a bank from scratch.

Getting a banking license is no joke! I thought I understood this from my Monzo days, but turns out I'd only scratched the surface.

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In this episode, we get into:

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• How the licensing process actually works - from the first phone call to the Bank of England through 4.5 years of iterative feedback
• Why every bank has a £1M monthly burn rate
• The reality of raising £50M before you have a single customer or £ of revenue
• What actually happens when you send a payment (there's probably another bank involved)
• Why Revolut, with 70M customers, is still fighting for a banking license

David also shared about the less glamorous bits of startup founder life, but you’ll have to listen to find out!