In Episode 98 of The Product and Growth Show, I sat down with Ivan Vasylchenko, tech entrepreneur and former COO of Trade Republic. Ivan joined the company when it was still called Neon Trading and helped scale it to over 10 million customers across 17 European countries with a $5B valuation. We talked about conviction in early-stage startups, scaling under extreme pressure during COVID, and what founders often get wrong about fintech growth stories.
What did we talk about?
- How Ivan went from finance consulting and hackathons to joining Trade Republic in its earliest days
- The dodgy beginnings of “Neon Trading” and why conviction mattered more than optics
- Building product-market fit through stock market games and waiting lists
- Foundational decisions that shaped Trade Republic: licensing, building tech in-house, and compliance
- Scaling from 10 to nearly 200 people during COVID and surviving explosive customer demand
- Why fintech growth isn’t just “breaking things fast” but about stamina and regulation
- Ivan’s current projects at the intersection of AI and fintech
Ivan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-vasylchenko/
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In Episode 98 of The Product and Growth Show, I sat down with Ivan Vasylchenko, tech entrepreneur and former COO of Trade Republic. Ivan joined the company when it was still called Neon Trading and helped scale it to over 10 million customers across 17 European countries with a $5B valuation. We talked about conviction in early-stage startups, scaling under extreme pressure during COVID, and what founders often get wrong about fintech growth stories.
What did we talk about?
- How Ivan went from finance consulting and hackathons to joining Trade Republic in its earliest days
- The dodgy beginnings of “Neon Trading” and why conviction mattered more than optics
- Building product-market fit through stock market games and waiting lists
- Foundational decisions that shaped Trade Republic: licensing, building tech in-house, and compliance
- Scaling from 10 to nearly 200 people during COVID and surviving explosive customer demand
- Why fintech growth isn’t just “breaking things fast” but about stamina and regulation
- Ivan’s current projects at the intersection of AI and fintech
Ivan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-vasylchenko/
87 – Brand in Marketplaces, Internationalization with Danny Martinez, Hiring Humans (ex-Airbnb).
Product&Growth Show
49 minutes 37 seconds
1 year ago
87 – Brand in Marketplaces, Internationalization with Danny Martinez, Hiring Humans (ex-Airbnb).
In episode 87, we sat down with Danny Martinez (formerly of Airbnb and eBay) to chat about building and scaling marketplaces.
- Starting with marketplaces, from finance to eBay, all the way to Airbnb.
- Why is Airbnb’s business model underappreciated?
- Lessons learned at Airbnb and the power of its brand.
- Creating emotional connections in marketplace businesses.
- A playbook for internationalizing marketplaces.
- Hiring strategies for international expansion.
- Transitioning into fractional roles.
- Figuring out your personal positioning.
- A framework for assessing investment opportunities.
Links from Pavlo:
Pavlo's Substack: https://pavlopedenko.substack.com/
Pavlo's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlo-pedenko-7a02061b/
Links from Danny:
Newsletter: https://hiringhumans.substack.com/
Playbook for expansion: https://www.everythingmarketplaces.com/post/marketplace-expansion-marketing-considerations
Product&Growth Show
In Episode 98 of The Product and Growth Show, I sat down with Ivan Vasylchenko, tech entrepreneur and former COO of Trade Republic. Ivan joined the company when it was still called Neon Trading and helped scale it to over 10 million customers across 17 European countries with a $5B valuation. We talked about conviction in early-stage startups, scaling under extreme pressure during COVID, and what founders often get wrong about fintech growth stories.
What did we talk about?
- How Ivan went from finance consulting and hackathons to joining Trade Republic in its earliest days
- The dodgy beginnings of “Neon Trading” and why conviction mattered more than optics
- Building product-market fit through stock market games and waiting lists
- Foundational decisions that shaped Trade Republic: licensing, building tech in-house, and compliance
- Scaling from 10 to nearly 200 people during COVID and surviving explosive customer demand
- Why fintech growth isn’t just “breaking things fast” but about stamina and regulation
- Ivan’s current projects at the intersection of AI and fintech
Ivan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-vasylchenko/
