The traits that make founders successful | Zihao Xu, Octopus Ventures

Searching for Mana with Lloyd Wahed

The future of money is here as Octopus Ventures Partner Zihao Xu sits down with Lloyd to discuss how he finds tomorrow’s fintech behemoths.

After starting his career with renowned strategic consultancy Roland Berger, Zihao moved into the venture capital sphere with Octopus, which identifies “unusually talented entrepreneurs” and offers early-stage funding. In this in-depth conversation, Zihao tells us what he looks for in an entrepreneur, how he determines the potential of products that haven’t even been built yet, and why effective staffing is the most important thing in building a successful enterprise.

Plus, Zihao lets us in on what the next decade of fintech has in store and whether the shift to fully digital currencies is inevitable.

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Episode Highlights:

05:55: What constitutes unusual talent and how does Zihao identify it?

08:52: How Octopus prioritises product in early-stage investments

17:48: The importance of staffing effectively in early-stage businesses.

21:52: How the internet is spurring major changes in finance

29:30: What does the next decade of finance have in store?

35:35: Why Octopus is investing in crypto derivatives

39:40: Zihao’s path into (and out of) consulting

43:29: How Bitcoin spurred Zihao to follow his passion

49:45: What Zi does to be the best venture capitalist possible.

39:10: How to increase executive diversity in FinTech

41:05: How to build a purpose-driven culture