Sam Chan

The Overpacker Journal - curious about all things web3/crypto or whatever that's new out there

[Luka Ivicevic @lukaivicev]

I founded Penta one of Europe's largest neobanks during the first wave of neobanking in 2016. We launched in 2018, and went from 0-60k customers, and a 9 figure acquisition 4 years later.

Here’s the playbook for how to build a neobank in the 2nd wave of neobanking:

From 0-1.

1. It’s all about distribution. If you don’t have an unfair distribution advantage you will lose. Advertising is not an unfair advantage.

2. Focus on a niche. Build a monopoly in that niche. Expand to other niches.

At Penta, we focused on companies that were incorporating, they needed a specific type of bank account. We made signing up take 10min, compared to 4 weeks. That was our initial PMF wedge.

3. CAC/payback period is critical. If you’re not paying your CAC back within a reasonable time frame (<12 months max) you’re going to hemorrhage cash.

4. Engagement and retention is your #1 metric. 10% is average retention/activation for D2C neobanks.

<25% for B2B neobanks. That is garbage. Users who are active are your real number of customers, not the ones who signed up and are dormant.

Optimize for >50% retention defined as a minimum of 2 transactions per month.

5. Your onboarding funnel is your most important acquisition channel.

It’s not only about top of funnel. Mid and end of funnel are probably more important if you have top of funnel even slightly even figured out.

The whole company should be focused on optimizing the funnel from visitor -> lead -> customer -> active customer. Read about AARRR.

6. Churn should be below 2%. Card programs enable high retention. Customers don’t switch banks, when’s the last time you switched banks? Make sure that aligns with your metrics.

7. Focus on the power users, then find more of them.

Break user engagement groups into 4 buckets, 25% least engaged, to the 25% most engaged/power users.

Focus only on the top 2 buckets while trying to convert the bottom 2 into the top 2 buckets. What behaviors do the power users have that the other buckets don’t?

Force that UX and those behaviors on the other 3 buckets, which makes more power users.

8. Focus on B2B niches instead of B2C, unless you have a unique problem in consumer you’re solving which enables a low CAC, better distribution, and better economics.

Most don’t. B2C is typically full of fraud and typically makes no money. FX worked in the first wave of neobanking (Wise/Revolut) but isn’t a USP anymore. Find a niche.

9. Get to scale in 1 geography. Not multiple.

From 1-10.

I’ve seen what a 0-1 looks like, and then what 1-10 looks like.

When companies hit scale, most plateau (ie: Brex, N26). Others like Revolut turn into $100B+ outcomes.

10. Your best new customers are your existing customers. Make your current customers happier. That also means higher NRR and ARPU.

11. Neobanks are card companies + deposits.

That’s what you do. Increase card spend which equals retention which equals higher deposits. Launch treasury products as a result. High yield keeps customers, and steals customers away from others. Steal customers.

12. Don’t get into lending until you’ve crossed a large number of deposits. Lending only works for your top 10% of customers, and only 20-30% of those will actually want a loan.

When launching a lending program, don’t lose money. Focus on quality.

13. Fire the bottom 10% of performers. Your company will swell and reduce speed and therefore quality. Keep the team sharp. This is a silent killer.

14. Don’t hire for experience, hire for hunger.

15. Move fast, test things, and fail fail fail.

The more you fail the more you’ll succeed. Neobanks that become large become comfortable and they stop launching products that fail. You need to fail if you’re gonna launch a breakthrough. Look at Revolut, they have 20 projects running at once, maybe 1-2 will survive but they’ll be a home run.

16. Most importantly, don’t focus on the competition. Focus on your customers. Talk to your customers every single day. You’re more likely to die of suicide than murder, so forget what others are launching or doing. Focus on your customers.

If you’re building a neobank, let me know what I’m missing!

[CoinFLEXReal @CoinFLEXreal]

We’ve uncovered evidence to show how @CoinFLEXdotcom founder @MarkDavidLamb, with @zhusu &amp; @KyleLDavies of 3AC, used creditor assets as their personal piggy bank.

We owe it to the industry to take out the trash. Our fight starts today.

Here’s the full story 🧵

[Monkey Kingdom 🐒👑 @MonkeyKingdom]

おはよう! Welcome to the “Not-So-Serious Auction” 不严肃拍卖行, presented to you by adidas Originals & Monkey Kingdom! Your auctioneer today is Aoi from First Love 🏻‍♀

The adidas Originals Monkey Kingdom S/S 2023 features 26 unique pieces of IRL apparel and footwear 🩳
🔹 Available now in Mainland China
🔹 Available in HK / TW regions in late May 2023

Which is your favorite piece? Let us know in the comments!
#adidasMK #MonkeyKingdom #adidasOriginals @adidasoriginals

[Sam Chan @overpacker_sc]

@runninyeti @karsenthil @indexingco that looks interesting, would love to learn more! dm-ed you

[pseudo 🇺🇦 @pseudotheos]

aztec is shutting down their rollup.

it's open source, so please fork it.

https://t.co/ETIKPfDHLs

[innocent bystander @innoc_bystander]

Really trying to wrap my head around why VCs are loosing their goddamned minds, given:

1) A significant portion of these deposits will be recouped, and,
2) you’re looking at a couple weeks before that happens (2 pay periods?)

And I think I’ve figured it out.

[Sumukh Sridhara @sumukhsridhara]

We just built a product @AngelList to help startups impacted by SVB that need emergency capital:

- Standardized Loan Agreement Docs (temporary loan from investors) with online signing &amp; funding.
- Built in banking access (if your company needs it)

DM me if you need access

[AI Will @FinanceYF5]

【暴雷文件分析】
thread
来自DiligenceExpress统计美国SEC的ADV文件

[Matt Ramos @therealsupes]

christopher nolan is on another level.🐐

[capitolhunters @capitolhunters]

Someone has to say it: Elon Musk has lied for 27 years about his credentials. He does not have a BS in Physics, or any technical field. Did not get into a PhD program. Dropped out in 1995 &amp; was illegal. Later, investors quietly arranged a diploma - but not in science. 🧵1/

[Sam Chan @overpacker_sc]

Love to support founder who stays low and works hard in this market

[Winston Ng ☀️🇨🇦 @winstonkng]

Started at the peak of Web1
Co-founded startup during dot-com crash

Joined EA during transition from disc to digital
Led EA Sports into social during Web2
Bootstrapped @hatchbetter
Started @zerodrop_io to build web3 marketing tools

What we learnt building in Web3
🧵👇

[Sam Chan @overpacker_sc]

@demtzu Can’t wait to try out the product, been using Roam for a long time but that is just still too much fraction for me right now

[Kingdomverse @Kingdomverse_]

[1/4]

If you’re reading this, it’s not too late!

👑 Follow, Like &amp; RT

👑 Tag 3 Friends

👑 Complete the tasks - https://t.co/p1nhf7Duz8

#Kingdomverse! Let's goooo🔥

#Web3 #GameFi #PlayToEarn

[Coinage ♻️ @coinage_media]

EXCLUSIVE: Do Kwon breaks his silence.

Coinage Episode 0: Inside Crypto’s Largest Collapse with Terra Founder @stablekwon debuts Monday, August 15.

Watch it first with a free Coinage Subscriber NFT at 6:00 am EST (link in bio)

[RYAN SΞAN ADAMS @RyanSAdams]

They arrested the developer of tornado cash. 🚨

I repeat: a man was arrested for writing code that served as a public good for people to maintain their privacy online.

They put a man in jail because bad people used his open source code.

This cannot stand in any free society.

[Bankless @Bankless]

BREAKING:

The Ethereum Merge has been scheduled for TTD 58750000000000000000000

This is approximately Sept 15-16th

The Merge is officially scheduled 📆

[BowTiedIguana | Decentralized Technology & Finance @BowTiedIguana]

READ THIS THREAD OR GO TO JAIL FOR 30 YEARS (sorry not kidding)

Tornado Cash added to US sanctions list - $437m of assets blocked.

What is OFAC, what are sanctions, and what does this mean for DeFi 👇

[Tristan @Tristan0x]

19/ Mnemonics available in plaintext from the slope API, absolutely cavalier security for a wallet...

https://t.co/BfnuHviiQd

[Sam Chan @overpacker_sc]

@statelayer https://t.co/igQC1E1VUI

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

1/3

Spoke with a user who was hacked on both Solana and Ethereum:

-Used iOS
-Wallets were TrustWallet and Slope
-ERC20's were stolen to: 0xc611952D81E4ECbd17c8f963123DeC5D7BCe1c27
-ETH side was TrustWallet
-Assets were taken at the same time

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

1/3

Spoke with a user who was hacked on both Solana and Ethereum:

-Used iOS
-Wallets were TrustWallet and Slope
-ERC20's were stolen to: 0xc611952D81E4ECbd17c8f963123DeC5D7BCe1c27
-ETH side was TrustWallet
-Assets were taken at the same time