Hey, brother. Well, first of all, welcome to Medellín. How are you doing? Thanks for coming.
Cool. Well, we prepared a series of quick questions because I know your time is tight. And I've always thought about something since you started, what, 16 years ago, 15 years ago?
13 years now, almost 100 million customers.
127. Yes, I was going to talk about other things, but we'll edit the video later. [laughter] But what was that decision or that moment where you said, 'I want to do something different from traditional banking'? What was that moment? Let's do something different from what traditional banking has been doing, and how did this whole project start from there?
Well, that desire to be an entrepreneur came from a young age, influenced by family who are entrepreneurs. I always wanted to think, I always had many ideas, I always tried to earn a little money selling things. I wrote books, bought cows, all kinds of entrepreneurial ventures. That was a desire I always had growing up. I went to university and the idea didn't appear. I got more experience in investment banking in New York and in private equity, and that idea didn't appear. I did an MBA and still the idea didn't appear. It was only when the fund I worked with, Sequoia, decided they no longer wanted to invest in Latin America or Brazil, and I was working with them for that, that I said, 'Okay, now I really have to stop and do something.' Because I had already spent 13, 14 years trying to figure out how to start a business, and I had a list of ideas. One of them had always caught my attention: the banking industry. Because in entrepreneurship, the first thing you must look at is which are the big markets and which are the big opportunities. Creating something difficult or something easy is the same work. Creating a company in a big market or a small one is the same work. So, I was looking for big markets, and the biggest companies in Brazil are banks, the biggest companies in Colombia are banks, the biggest companies in Mexico are banks. So, it was the biggest thing I could imagine. On one hand, I saw a system that was very concentrated with little competition, and at the same time, during that time, I had to go open a bank account in Brazil, and it was a horrible experience. It was absurdly difficult. I went to that branch, there were armored doors, they treated me like a criminal, they took my backpack and put it in a locker outside, I waited 40 minutes, they threw a bunch of papers at me, and told me, 'Come back next week.' Anyway, it was a horrible experience, and I couldn't imagine, I couldn't understand how it was possible that people could accept that kind of experience in what was one of the biggest markets in the world. And at that time, it was 2012 when mobile phone penetration started to accelerate everywhere, and that created a window of opportunity to reimagine a way to compete against those traditional banks in a way that was very customer-focused, with an obsession for the customer experience, and using 100% digital channels that gave a series of advantages.
I could say that, well, it's a question, perhaps stemming from the fund's rejection of Brazil and Latin America, and seeing that difficulty to open an account, maybe there you said, 'Let's see, this is an adversity, but I see the space there.' Maybe that's why you channeled yourself there.
I think that was part of it. I mean, I was in the United States, I did my master's in the United States, but there was always a phrase from my boss that had always resonated with me: one must position oneself on the side of the market where there is scarcity, not where there is abundance. One generally has the incentive to position oneself where there is abundance. If everyone is doing that business, I want to go do that business. If everyone is doing that, I want to go. And one does the opposite because it's the way to differentiate. And one of the reasons our fund decided not to invest in Latin America was because there were no entrepreneurs, and the few entrepreneurs there were were doing very small things. Let's go back to Silicon Valley. And it would have been easy for me to go back with all of them to Silicon Valley, but the scarcity is in Latin America, especially in industries that seemed almost impossible. Starting a bank from scratch, especially for a Colombian, was like absurd. Everyone told me, 'You have no idea what you're doing. You're not even from here, these people are the most powerful businesses in Latin America. Don't do that.' But that's where the scarcity is, and that's where the opportunity is.
Was there ever a time when, as a customer, you felt that pain when trying to open an account? David, I'm going to ask you this last question to leave for my friends, which is important: when you started in the middle of an adversity in a market, because Latin America isn't easy, it's a complex market for all sectors, did you ever imagine what is happening now? I mean, thinking about that explosion, and especially what happened yesterday or the day before, with the approval in the United States. Did you imagine that from the beginning?
Or did you find yourself with that?
No, I mean, we knew it was a very big opportunity because it was a very big market, the banking market is the biggest in the world, the biggest industry there is. So it was a big opportunity, but we never imagined we could have that growth potential. Our goal was 1 million customers in 5 years, and it felt absurdly ambitious. When we had five customers, saying we'd reach 1 million was laughable. People said, 'No, well.' And we got a million customers in 2 years, and then we raised the goal to 10 million customers. And when we said 10 million, everyone laughed and said, 'Absurd, 10 million, never.' And we reached 10 million customers in 6 years. And then we said, '100 million.' And everyone said, 'It's absurd, impossible, it's not realistic to ever reach 100 million.' And we reached 100 million customers. So it has been a surprise. The market was really more ready for these kinds of alternatives than we imagined. But we have managed to create a corporate culture that continuously thinks big, but has significant humility in the opportunities we have, is very hardworking, very focused on our customers, and we have gradually built the foundations for new countries, new products, until, as you say, thinking about the next big ambitious idea, which is the United States, the biggest market in the world, 50% of the global financial market is in the United States, and at this moment it again seems like something impossible, but we've already done many impossible things in 13 years. So we'll see in 5 or 10 years how we do.
I ask you that question, and then I'll let others ask, because I think one of the dreams I've had in my life would have been to ask Steve Jobs if he ever imagined that what started in a garage would become such a huge brand. I think you're on the same path.
I'm sure he wouldn't have imagined it.
