Henrique Dubugras founded fintech giant Brex when he was twenty-one years old. In his journey from São Paulo to Stanford to the heights of Silicon Valley he made connections with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Now, they’re not just business connections, but friends.
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Henrique Dubugras founded fintech giant Brex when he was twenty-one years old. In his journey from São Paulo to Stanford to the heights of Silicon Valley he made connections with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Now, they’re not just business connections, but friends.
Sebastian's Journey From Flipping Burgers → $17B+ IPO
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1 hour 51 minutes
1 month ago
Sebastian's Journey From Flipping Burgers → $17B+ IPO
How do you go from pitching Sequoia to ringing the bell on a US IPO?
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna was raised in a home where ambition met accountability. Even as Klarna thrived in Sweden, his parents reminded him: “That’s fantastic. When are you going to get your degree?”
That grounding, paired with Sebastian’s own ambition to measure up to companies like Google and Facebook, pushed Klarna beyond local success to a global stage.
In this episode, we also get into:
• how sci-fi books inspired him to see entrepreneurship as an adventure
• how Klarna brought Sequoia on board
• how Klarna got ahead of Afterpay in the U.S market
• navigating co-founder tensions and pivoting leadership
• turning Sweden’s strict bill collection into Klarna’s advantage
ABOUT US:
We’re proudly sponsored by Brex—a brand I co-founded, now supporting over 30,000 businesses like Anthropic, DoorDash, and Scale AI, helping them make every dollar count.
I’m grateful for their continued support as I bring you all conversations with some of the most exceptional founders of our generation. For more information, please go to: https://www.brex.com/?ref_code=bmk_audio_HDinHD
Connect with us here:
1. Sebastian Siemiatkowski- https://x.com/klarnaseb
2. Brex- https://x.com/brexHQ
3. Henrique Dubugras- https://x.com/hdubugras
This episode was produced and distributed by our friends at Atomik Growth: https://atomikgrowth.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
05:03 Background and Immigration
12:59 University Life
23:55 Gap Year Adventures
37:57 Finding Multiple Jobs
41:57 The Birth of Klarna
53:42 The First Product
01:15:32 Sequoia's Investment
01:34:50 Entering the US Market
01:49:01 AI and the Future
HD in HD
Henrique Dubugras founded fintech giant Brex when he was twenty-one years old. In his journey from São Paulo to Stanford to the heights of Silicon Valley he made connections with some of the biggest names in the ecosystem. Now, they’re not just business connections, but friends.
