Many late-stage investors focus heavily on data and metrics, forgetting that the quality of the leadership team remains as critical as in the seed stage. A new CEO, for example, can completely pivot a large company and reignite growth, a factor that quantitative analysis often misses.
The financial system is unprepared for the coming wave of AI agents. These agents will perform tasks and require payment, creating trillions of micropayments. Current infrastructure from Stripe, Visa, or Mastercard cannot handle this volume, creating a massive opportunity for new protocols to facilitate the 'agent economy'.
Investor Victor Orlovski predicts that banking, alongside media, will be one of the first industries to become fully automated. He argues that algorithms can handle every function, from operations to strategy, more effectively than humans, eliminating the need for any employees, including a CEO.
Banks possess more intimate customer data than tech giants like Google and Facebook, yet their product offerings are generic and irrelevant. This failure to leverage their data for a personalized experience is a core reason banking feels broken and lags far behind the customer-centricity of Big Tech.
The US banking system is technologically behind countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America. This inefficiency stems from a protected regulatory environment that fosters a status quo. In contrast, markets like the UK have implemented fintech-friendly charters, enabling innovators like Revolut to thrive.
As startups build on commoditized AI platforms like GPT, product differentiation becomes less of a moat. Success now hinges on cracking growth faster than rivals. The new competitive advantages are proprietary data for training models and the deep domain expertise required to find unique growth levers.
Investor Victor Orlovski gained conviction in eToro's CEO because his father had taken the first Israeli company public on Nasdaq. The CEO's stated ambition to repeat his family's legacy was a powerful, non-obvious indicator of the resilience and long-term vision required for an IPO.