Sir Gabriel Holbach

Building fintech in Asia.

Co-founded @getpenta (acquired)
Co-founded @indexhealthusa

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

My first startup had 7 co-founders.
The next one 5.
Then 3.

The younger you are the more you hire and rely on others. Basically hiring out of weakness.

I'm not sure if it's experience or AI, but building and executing has gotten so much simpler that 3-5 co-founder teams just aren't necessary anymore.

I won't hire or bring on a co-founder unless a hire can produce 5x and a co-founder can 10x the business.

The questions are simple:
> Are you better than me at the job?
> Are you better than AI?
> Are you going to 5-10x the business?

1-2x just isn't enough anymore.

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@marcelkargul Both just too distracting. What’s even the point of the color coding? What’s the 1 job this design needs to do?

City? Length of stay? Opinion?

Visual weight better on the left but overall UX uff

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@heyblake Don’t waste time interviewing users that are leaving or decided not to buy. Learn from the ones that chose you and stuck by. Find more of them.

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

When you raise a round of $1M-$20M, where does the money go?

Neobanks lure with 3-8% yield, which is great for consumers, but when it comes to your own business, most founders still trust traditional banks. Operations will be run from the best interface, but savings and treasury is tough to beat.

I wonder what needs to happen for neobanks to become as trustworthy as a traditional one.

Is trust a moat or is it a wall?

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@_ganimate_ Launch videos replaced tech crunch articles. Both pure ego and worst conversion

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@ben_sage First 10 immediate network.
First 50 become evangelists.
The first 100 will help you nail the core messaging for paid

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@Hollysem Left. You read left to right. Feels more natural to the eye. It’s that tiny tiny millisecond of less effort to look where it starts.

If you’re aiming for beauty and visual weight = center
If you’re aiming for peak UX = left

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

Launch videos are 100% just personal ego

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

Not sure how people feel when they exit. To me it felt more like relief rather than winning.

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

Keeping the streak alive.
Using X as my accountability tool

DAY 11/30
WORKOUT 6/15
$0 LOST

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

AI makes you good at everything!
code, design, research, outbound, social, you name it

What you were already good at, now you're great!
And everything else, you can now do too!

Doesn't mean you should.

The founder skill now is choosing what not to do.

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@JustinHW_Seed27 It’s a good question every founder needs to ask themselves even before asking a co-founder

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

My first startup had 7 co-founders.
The next one 5.
Then 3.

The younger you are the more you hire and rely on others. Basically hiring out of weakness.

I'm not sure if it's experience or AI, but building and executing has gotten so much simpler that 3-5 co-founder teams just aren't necessary anymore.

I won't hire or bring on a co-founder unless a hire can produce 5x and a co-founder can 10x the business.

The questions are simple:
> Are you better than me at the job?
> Are you better than AI?
> Are you going to 5-10x the business?

1-2x just isn't enough anymore.

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@jasonlk The financial industry will feel it first.

Brand use to mean something when all banks and fintechs offered the same: cards, accounts, credit. Loyalty came from switching cost.

Agents don’t care. Switching costs them nothing.

It’s all about how quick one can generate value

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@manxlab Just like dating. Keeping things mysterious!

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@DarayuthH It fills me with joy when an email is not written by ai. It’s become a sign of respect just because of its rarity

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@filipscaleson LFG

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

The tougher your life has been, the easier it is to build a startup. It’s all about the pain threshold.

——————

Keeping the streak alive:

DAY 9/30
WORKOUT 5/15
$0 LOST

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@abdullah_twt23 @shl I got u

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

Startups used to brag about having 300 employees. Now people brag about doing it lean with 1, 2 or 3.

3 person teams building the wrong thing is still building the wrong thing.

AI made small teams the new default but It didn't make them right.

Being lean isn’t an achievement but truly knowing what to build is.

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@HarryStebbings You need some bad to appreciate the good

[Sir Gabriel Holbach @CestSir]

@markproduct Taste and being social.