FinTech with CEO of Xapo, Wences Casares

1 Hour Intern

One of Silicon Valley’s prominent Bitcoin and Fintech gurus — selling multiple companies for a combined total of more than $1 billion — Wences Casares and I chat about everything from his childhood in a sheep ranch in Argentina to founding multiple companies. In his early years, he was mesmerized by the Internet. Today he has become one of the leading entrepreneurs in fintech on an international scale.

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The Power Points:

• (00:56) - Growing up in a ranch and being oblivious to the outside world — “It’s a tough life, but if you don’t know any better, you don’t even know that it’s tough.”
• (09:57) - Bursting the bubble to fall in love with America — “All of a sudden, I felt like I was in an entrepreneurship mecca.”
• (17:01) - How the Internet changed the world and how to get fired from your own company — “I went from not having a penny to turning down multimillion-dollar offers to acquire the company, to not having a penny again.”
• (28:43) - Letting go of the safety net and building an aggressive, high valued company — “If you’re going to do something, do it well or don’t do it.”
• (37:46) - Marrying the love of your life, sailing the world and fixing toilets in the middle of the ocean — “I realized that it was a mistake, but it was too late. It exploded. I made the biggest effort ever to not throw up.”
• (47:06) - Finding inspiration and charm in the capital of innovation — “If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re not in Silicon Valley, you feel like you’re not in the major leagues.”
• (50:08) - Wences’ advice for the ambitious and motivated entrepreneurs out there — “If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t do many companies, I would do one right.”

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