Daragh

Building Imprint

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@alexrkonrad @chanmeetnarang And ensuring that our team had the tools (AI + internal platforms) to do more without suddenly being asked to work 90 hour weeks.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

We raised more money and I told Alex all about it.

[Alex Konrad @alexrkonrad]

EXCLUSIVE: fintech Imprint has raised $130M at a $1.88B valuation.

CEO @daraghjmurphy shares with Upstarts how the co-branded card startup is embracing AI internally and via agentic commerce to double revenue to $400M, while growing headcount just 30%.

https://t.co/gfwiHOVxx5

[Matt Grimm @mttgrmm]

GFY

Propaganda bullshit. Expected, I suppose, from a Nashi propagandist.

I have 3 miniature humans that aren't my hobby - they're my entire raison d'être. To say nothing of my delightful wife that I greatly enjoy spending as much time with as possible.

Every single late night at the office, business dinner, investor event/retreat, trip to a supplier, visit to a customer, etc is a direct trade-off against my being an involved and present father (and husband). It's a difficult balance! And yet I've done it.

The real talk side of the "hustle culture" bullshit that nobody talks about is how your work output falls off a cliff around ~60 hours. Maybe a bit more if you're super young, but I doubt it. In most cases, that 80th hour at your desk is performative - it's theater.

Balanced lives (whether it's raising kids, sailing, tinkering on hobby cars, fitness, whatever) directly lead to balanced thinking and a FAR more sustainable lifestyle than "all work no play."

And, more importantly, it models for your employees that balance is actually good for output, morale, retention, etc.

Building big, impactful companies is a marathon. An ultra marathon. 10 years of marathons back to back. Your mind (and body) do need to actually rest and restore, or else you burn out. Fact of life.

Nonsense claims like this are propaganda from the (typically) VC crowd who want to see MOAR HOURS as if that makes PMF happen, under the misguided belief that hours in linearly equals company value out.

Have hobbies. Have kids. Take a vacation with your partner. And also work hard to build your company. The balance is difficult to find, but very doable.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

Fanatics 🤝 Imprint

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@iamjakestream @iamjakestream quickly becoming the number 1 commentator on our world right now.

Like Michael Lewis, but real time and actually understands markets and tech.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

Wholly endorse this. One of America’s strengths is that we swing between parties and experiment with what we want from our democracy. It’s also a testament to the separation of powers that the courts have remained a respected check on executive overreach, regardless of which party is in power and contrary to alarmist predictions of authoritarian outcomes.

[Patrick Collison @patrickc]

It seems to me that democracy has on the whole worked very well in America over the last decade, and perhaps better than in any other major country in the West. National outcomes have repeatedly been responsive to underlying voter preferences on meaningful questions, and significant changes in policy have ensued. I’ve been reading Democracy in America this past week, and it’s striking how much it still rhymes nearly two centuries later.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@gauravahuja @gauravahuja cooking again

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@vivekramaswami @FinnMurphy12 DP tranche?

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

This was a ton of fun! I spoke at 1.5x speed so you don't have to adjust your settings... Thanks @rexsalisbury

[Rex Salisbury @rexsalisbury]

Brands have been stuck in a loveless marriage with their banks for 20 years. Daragh Murphy thinks agentic commerce will hit the banks harder than the brands.

(0:00) Can Imprint Beat 300-Year-Old Banks?
(2:33) Who Loses More to Agents: Banks or Brands?
(7:33) What If Your Card Lived in the Brand's App?
(11:22) Why Co-Branded Cards Exist at All
(13:50) Why Does Fiserv Still Run on a Mainframe?
(15:57) Why Did Murphy Tank His Credit for Fanatics?
(18:28) Did the Apple Card Really Burn Its Bank?
(19:56) Are AI Agents Flooding Brands With Disputes?
(22:26) Should You Hand Your Cards to an AI Agent?
(24:39) Inside Imprint's $100M Infrastructure Bet
(28:29) Is the Bank Charter Rush Just FOMO?
(32:31) Should Founders Take an Incubation Deal?
(34:57) Why Do VCs Hate Consumer Credit?
(40:12) Sequoia Passed During His Honeymoon
(41:10) What's Inside Imprint's $400M in Revenue?
(44:53) Can Imprint Hit $10B With Under 300 People?
(48:26) Can an AI Agent Be Your Personal Trainer?
(50:06) What's in a Fintech CEO's Money Stack?

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@ImprintPayments is at >$1.2M revenue / employee today. Will be close to $1.5M by EOY.

[Robert Yang @GuangyuRobert]

revenue per employee tells you a lot about company culture & talent density

jane street's revenue/employee only rivaled by anthropic

ramp is highest among fintech startups, but still lower than goldman

[Robert Yang @GuangyuRobert]

revenue per employee tells you a lot about company culture & talent density

jane street's revenue/employee only rivaled by anthropic

ramp is highest among fintech startups, but still lower than goldman

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@ImprintPayments is Duo ready!

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@iamjakestream 100% accurate.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

Another top 10 American brand launching it's card program with @ImprintPayments.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@TarkManner two Mark Tanners is exactly what I had hoped Super Intelligence would deliver

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@Willob all the lads you grew up with must think you're a legend

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@TarkManner Yeah, it's the culmination of a life's work. My big question is where to from here...

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

Our new Naruto x Rakuten card. If only 9 year old me could see me now!

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

My timeline is full of VCs and founders bragging that they could drink more Guinness than each other.

Performative pints of plain larping is the saddest form.

[Daragh @daraghjmurphy]

@FinnMurphy12 @varungupta As a wise man once told me: "go bravely into the breach once more