About this episode
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:
