Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
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Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
Ignoring Silicon Valley advice to build a $3B fintech unicorn | Immad Akhund (Co-founder and CEO of Mercury)
In Depth
1 hour 1 minute
3 months ago
Ignoring Silicon Valley advice to build a $3B fintech unicorn | Immad Akhund (Co-founder and CEO of Mercury)
Immad Akhund is the CEO and co-founder of Mercury, a digital banking platform that’s become the go-to financial infrastructure for startups. Before Mercury, Immad spent nearly two decades founding companies, learning the hard way what separates a good idea from a great business.
In this episode, Immad shares the hard-earned lessons from launching Mercury as his third startup. He unpacks how he recognized this was the right idea to pursue, what strong product-market fit feels like, and why trying to "iterate" your way to success often leads founders astray.
In this episode, we discuss:
Mercury’s unusual culture playbook – and why it works
How to hire with intention
The trap of weak product-market fit
Shipping under intense pressure during the SVB crisis
And much more…
References:
Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/
Andreessen Horowitz: https://a16z.com/
Apple: https://www.apple.com/
Block: https://block.xyz/
Brex: https://www.brex.com/
Chime: https://www.chime.com/
Gusto: https://gusto.com/
Mercury: https://mercury.com/
Paul Graham: https://x.com/paulg
Plaid: https://plaid.com/
Stripe: https://stripe.com/
SVB (Silicon Valley Bank): https://www.svb.com/
True Link Financial: https://www.truelinkfinancial.com/
Varo: https://www.varomoney.com/
Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
Where to find Immad:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/
Where to find Brett:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson
Where to find First Round Capital:
Website: https://firstround.com/
First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast
Timestamps:
(1:07) Hard-won lessons from serial entrepreneurship
(2:02) You shouldn’t copy-paste advice
(6:57) Why personality trumps culture playbooks
(8:48) How do you hire for cultural fit?
(12:38) The values that shaped Mercury’s DNA
(14:08) The drivers underpinning Mercury’s success
(15:50) The significance of product-market fit
(20:41) Don’t fall into the weak product-market fit trap
(25:49) How to evaluate startup ideas that scale
(30:14) Mercury’s unlikely origin story
(33:51) Breaking into the fintech space
(37:31) Mindset shift: From “This is hard” to long-term gains
(39:43) Building Mercury’s MVP
(44:25) Overcoming early obstacles to reach launch
(47:36) Navigating Mercury’s rapid growth phase
(51:18) Competition isn’t the reason you’re failing
(55:58) Crisis management during the SVB collapse
In Depth
Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
