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Back to Why Stripe’s 1st Employee Bought a Bank | Darragh Buckley, Increase, with Darragh Buckley.

Why Did Increase Bank Take So Long to Build?

Darragh Buckley says Increase Bank took so long to build because the right capability and capacity take a long time to put in place. The acquisition closed more than a year ago. You cannot slap an API on a bank and treat the bank as ready.

Around 2010, a lot of community banks chased financial technology partnerships as a growth mechanism. They lacked the capability and capacity to do the work safely and soundly, and regulators pushed back. He thinks a lot of the pushback was appropriate, and there was skepticism that many smaller community banks knew what they were getting into.

Concentration can still be a problem, so a narrow focus needs watching. The point is to avoid wandering by accident. Choose directions where the bank already has an edge, wander on purpose, and skip the next fad. A bank lends to farmers or it does not, and wandering too far outside the specialty is dangerous.

Transcript

Why Stripe’s 1st Employee Bought a Bank | Darragh Buckley, Increase ·

The Peel with Turner Novak

More from this episode

  1. Why Did Stripe Need Dozens of People for Bank Returns?Darragh Buckley says Stripe ended up with dozens of people reconciling ACH returns because a trace ID in the file did not traverse correctly.
  2. Why Does a Layer on a Bank Core Look Wrong?Darragh Buckley says a technology layer or an API talking to a bank core looks very like 2010 payments, and in his view the setup is probably wrong.
  3. How Do You Get Good at Compliance Exams?Darragh Buckley says you get good at compliance examinations by running them on yourself multiple times a day, the same way an engineering team gets good at…
  4. How Does Product at Increase Differ From Stripe?Darragh Buckley draws a hard line between product at Stripe and product at Increase.
  5. What Happens in an Increase Sales Conversation?Darragh Buckley describes a moment in an Increase sales conversation, usually with someone from product or engineering.
  6. What Lesson Stuck From the Early Stripe Team?Darragh Buckley says one of the most impactful and meaningful lessons from the early Stripe team was how much a small empowered team can get done.
  7. Why Did Patrick and John Collison Sprint While Unloading?Darragh Buckley says Patrick Collison and John Collison sprinted while unloading a new office because they always asked why the work would not happen faster.
  8. How Does a Payments Company Learn Fraud Patterns?Darragh Buckley says a person at an early-stage payments company should look at every transaction until volume reaches about 5,000 transactions a day.
  9. What Does Darragh Buckley Want an AI Agent to Do?Darragh Buckley wants an AI agent to finish a purchase on its own.
  10. Should a Banker Have an Uneventful Day?Darragh Buckley says a banker should have an uneventful day, the same way an air traffic controller should.

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