Miguel Armaza sits down with Dan Henry, CEO of Inexperienced Dot (NYSE: GDOT), a 20-year-old firm centered on making trendy banking and cash motion accessible for everybody. Inexperienced Dot additionally just lately launched Go2Bank a digital financial institution for Individuals dwelling paycheck to paycheck.
GreenDot is way from being Dan’s first rodeo. Actually, that is the third publicly listed firm he’s led within the final three a long time. He beforehand served as CEO of Netspend, a number one supplier of pay as you go debit playing cards, and led the corporate by way of its IPO and eventual sale to TSYS Company. And previous to Netspend, he co-founded Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), a frontrunner in safe digital monetary transaction processing, the place he served as President and COO from 1994 by way of 2006.
We talked about:
- Dan’s entrepreneurial and worldwide fintech journey because the early 90s
- What motivates him and why entrepreneurs are his favourite kind of oldsters
- Two basic issues he believes make a enterprise profitable
- The evolution of fintech
- Why he got here out of retirement to guide Inexperienced Dot
- What led him to launch Go2Bank in January 2021 and a bit about their go-to-market technique
- Reflections for aspiring founders
- And a complete lot extra!
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Dan’s entrepreneurial fintech journey began in Budapest, Hungary again in 1993. Because the nation was transitioning from a cash-based economic system as a satellite tv for pc state of the Communist Soviet Union to an unbiased nation, Dan and his enterprise associate, Michael J. Brown, realized there have been solely two ATM machines in all of Hungary and a vastly underserved market of 10 million individuals. Seeing the chance, he stop his job, took all his financial savings, raised some cash, and moved over to Budapest to determine find out how to construct an off-premise ATM community. After discovering native success, they expanded to Poland, then Germany, after which to over a dozen European nations in addition to India and China. By 2006, Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT) was a convincing success (it nonetheless is) however Dan determined he wished a change after his 13-year run.
Two years after leaving Euronet, Mr. Henry was recruited as CEO to NetSpend, a number one supplier of pay as you go debit playing cards. Over the subsequent six years, he led the corporate by way of its IPO and steered a profitable sale of NetSpend to TSYS Company (now International Funds Inc.). By 2014 Dan left the corporate satisfied he might now retire from the company world — little did he know Inexperienced Dot would come knocking just a few years later.
Main Inexperienced Dot
“I can let you know I’ve failed miserably twice at retirement, simply not one thing I can do proper now (…) however the alternative at Inexperienced Dot was simply too thrilling to go up.”
Based by Steve Streit in 1999 as a pay as you go debit card for youngsters to buy on-line, Inexperienced Dot is now a $three billion monetary big with a set of property spanning throughout playing cards, funds, and banking, serving a number of the largest corporations on the earth. Mr. Henry joined Inexperienced Dot in March of 2020 as a part of a strategic overhaul by which he goals to rely much less on promotional advertising of its legacy merchandise and extra on Inexperienced Dot’s banking license to drive progress. Actually, we talked only a few weeks earlier than the launch of Go2Bank, a digital bank Green Dot has just rolled out to serve specifically the low-to-moderate income consumer. Go2Bank is Dan’s signature enterprise and he’s clearly enthusiastic about leveraging the corporate’s present capabilities and community to convey Go2Bank to shoppers and make a distinction within the lives of the underbanked inhabitants of the US. In Dan’s personal phrases, ”No one is actually strolling within the footwear of a low-to-moderate earnings client and saying what does this client want? What they want isn’t a checking account. They want a transaction instrument that provides them entry to their wages. A instrument that provides them data. What their balances are. Offers them somewhat bit of additional assist to get them by way of the week to have the ability to purchase gasoline and groceries. Offers them some credit score. Offers them the power to construct their credit score rating. Solutions the telephone after they name and so they have a severe subject. And doesn’t deal with them like — okay, effectively you guys are type of good to have, however I’m actually on the lookout for the parents making $75,000 a 12 months or extra.”
Reflections for aspiring founders
Between his time at NetSpend and Inexperienced Dot, Dan admits he turned an unintentional Enterprise Capitalist. Not solely has he constructed corporations and labored with entrepreneurs, however he has additionally invested in a number of founders. Mr. Henry tells us he first appears to know what downside is an entrepreneur attempting to unravel, however extra importantly, why are they attempting to unravel it? Why that downside? He thinks it’s essential to know what’s it in regards to the particular founding staff and their life expertise that motivates them to unravel that downside. And, in the end, all of it comes right down to ardour and having the eagerness to unravel the precise downside. As Dan places it, ”When you don’t have the eagerness, in case you don’t have one thing inside that’s driving you to do that, no matter that is, you might need reasonable quantity of success, however you’re not going to have wild success (…) When you don’t have that love for what you’re doing, it’s really easy simply to pack up your tent and go house.”
Second Motors
When requested about a few of his hobbies, Dan talked about his involvement with a tremendous small firm known as Moment Motors. They electrify basic vehicles and basic replicas just like the Porsche Speedster, Porsche Spyder, Deloreans, Ford Cobras, and plenty of others.
“We pull the gasoline engines out and we put in electrical motors and Tesla batteries.”
Yow will discover them in Austin, TX or observe them right here on Instagram.
Dan Henry
Dan Henry joined Inexperienced Dot as CEO in early 2020 with a imaginative and prescient to maximise the potential of the 20-year-old digital financial institution and make trendy, inexpensive banking and funds accessible to everybody. He beforehand served as CEO of Netspend, a number one supplier of pay as you go debit playing cards for private and business use, from 2008 to 2014. In 2010, Mr. Henry led Netspend by way of its preliminary public providing, and in July 2013 accomplished an all-cash sale of the corporate to TSYS Company, valued at $1.four billion USD. Previous to Netspend, Mr. Henry co-founded Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), a frontrunner in safe digital monetary transaction processing, the place he served as President and Chief Operations Officer from 1994 by way of 2006, and remained on the corporate’s Board till 2008. Mr. Henry has been Chairman of Paysign Inc (NASDAQ: PAYS), a vertically built-in supplier of modern pay as you go card packages, digital banking and processing providers for company, client and authorities utility, since 2018. He additionally served as a director of The Brink’s Firm (NYSE:BCO) from 2017 by way of early 2020.
About Inexperienced Dot
Inexperienced Dot (NYSE: GDOT) is a monetary expertise and registered financial institution holding firm centered on making trendy banking and cash motion accessible for all. Our proprietary expertise permits quicker, extra environment friendly digital funds and cash administration, powering intuitive and seamless methods for individuals to spend, ship, management and save their cash. By way of our retail and direct financial institution, we provide a set of monetary merchandise to shoppers and companies together with debit, pay as you go, checking, credit score and payroll playing cards, in addition to strong cash processing providers, tax refunds, money deposits and disbursements.
GO2bank is FDIC-insured, so your cash is protected as much as the utmost allowable restrict. And GO2bank is a model of Inexperienced Dot Company, based in 1999 and headquartered in Pasadena, CA. Inexperienced Dot has served greater than 33 million shoppers immediately during the last 20 years and plenty of extra by way of our banking companions.
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Host of the Wharton Fintech Podcast and Co-Founding father of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage funding fund centered on fintech within the Americas.
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