Taavet Hinrikus

Bitcoin and the whole discussion around it shows how big a need there is for innovation about what money is and how it is stored.

We built TransferWise focused on customer innovation. That means we build our product based first and foremost on our customers.

Historically, people have flocked to Silicon Valley because of the belief that that's where the latest innovation is happening. It's a snowball effect.

People need the financial sector to be safe; people also need the financial sector to go through a massive phase of innovation. That means delivering on the positive rhetoric, like around settlement accounts, not allowing Open Banking to be diluted, and leading the way on AML.

Without immigration, nations would stagnate. It is key for innovation and for economic growth.

There are lots of people building the next TransferWise, not in a sense of competing with us but in a sense of building large, successful companies that are doing something important. I just enjoy helping these founders navigate the journey.

At TransferWise, we started out as - and continue as - idealists. We start with what we can do to make things better and how we can solve problems, focusing on what people need. It turns out you can focus on building the best service and be successful as business.

Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. I don't believe it when people tell me they've been working 80-hour weeks for five years in a row. I just don't think that's possible.

The fact that Skype was founded in Estonia, the fact that Skype had a successful exit, which meant that Estonia benefited in a major way, meant that entrepreneurship became legitimate. There were more than a thousand people who either worked or had worked at Skype who had seen what it takes to build a global business.

A preoccupation with job title is an immediate giveaway that someone's priorities are not in line with the company's.

Banks are really bad when it comes to building consumer-centred products.

Competition and variety in financial services are always good things.