Starting KOHO: Mission and Naivety Advantage

Daniel recalls founding KOHO, valuing naivety over industry experience to pursue radical cost and product improvements.

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Dan Eberhard didn’t set out to build a fintech company, he set out to fix a system that wasn’t working for people like the family he grew up in.

Raised by a single mother in British Columbia, Dan saw early how traditional financial institutions often fail the very people who rely on them most. After a mix of wins and hard lessons in prior ventures, he went on to found KOHO, one of Canada’s most successful challenger banks, scaling from zero revenue in 2017 to hundreds of millions of dollars today.

In this conversation, we unpack what it really takes to build a company by solving the right problems, not the easy ones, and what Canada needs more of if it wants to produce the next generation of enduring businesses.

Dan is the Founder and CEO of KOHO, a Canadian fintech company redefining how people manage their money.

He discusses:

Growing up with a single mom in BC, and how that shaped his view of money, systems, and opportunity
Why traditional banks no longer work for modern Canadians
The biggest structural challenges in how our government is set up
Scaling KOHO from zero revenue in 2017 to an $800M valuation
Why experience is overrated, and what he actually looks for when hiring and supporting A players
Reflections on leadership, conflict, and fatherhood while building a high-growth company

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Chapters

00:00:00 Growing Up with Agency: Early Life and Entrepreneurial Roots
00:02:09 First Venture: Wind Energy and Learning to Sell
00:06:20 Why Hard Problems Attract the Best Talent
00:08:29 Canada's Go-for-Bronze Culture and the GDP Problem
00:12:41 Government Bloat and the Cost of Bureaucracy
00:19:46 Starting KOHO
00:23:17 Experience is Overrated: Hiring for Horsepower, Warmth, and Humility
00:25:04 The KOHO 50: Managing Top Performers and Building Culture
00:39:05 Secondaries, 10-Year Options, and Treating Employees Right
00:45:10 Fatherhood, Identity, and Learning Self-Compassion
00:49:57 Money, Agency, and Building for Impact
00:53:15 Rapid Fire and Final Advice