The man who built a bank for people banks don't want - Jason Wilk [Dave]

The man who built a bank for people banks don't want - Jason Wilk [Dave]25 Jun47 min

Listen on SpotifyAlso works in your browser

5 more apps

On this episode of BILLIONS, I'm sitting down with Jason Wilk, four-time founder and CEO of Dave, the neobank built to take on the predatory overdraft fees that quietly bleed billions a year from the Americans who can least afford them.Jason's story is one of the wildest comebacks in fintech. After going public via SPAC in January 2022, Dave hit a $5 billion valuation, then the macro turned.Rates spiked, growth capital dried up, and within nine months the stock had collapsed 98%, dragging the company's market cap down to roughly $50 million, less than the cash sitting on its own balance sheet.Most teams would have panicked, slashed headcount, or sold cheap. Jason did the opposite: he froze hiring, refused layoffs, killed every non-core product, and put the entire company behind one number, unit economics. Today Dave is back to a nearly $4 billion market cap, with 2026 guidance of over $700M in revenue and over $300M in EBITDA, a ~$400M earnings swing in just a few years.In this masterclass, we break down:<ul><li>The $75 microloan bet : how Dave used cash-flow data instead of FICO to underwrite the smallest loan in the country, importing a model that worked in India and Africa but no one had cracked in the US.</li><li>120 meetings for a Series A : why traditional VCs had never even heard of overdraft fees, and what it took to finally get the check.</li><li>Surviving a 98% wipeout : the operational playbook Jason ran when growth capital ground to a halt and raising more was off the table.</li><li>Making millionaires at the bottom : how a Performance Stock Unit structure turned the crash into the biggest wealth-creation event in the company's history.</li><li>"VC money is just very high-APR debt" : why Jason wishes he'd taken his $10M Series A as venture debt and kept the equity.</li><li>Eating other people's margin : Dave's new credit card and multi-product roadmap, aimed at the $100B+ a year Americans pay in credit card APRs and late fees.</li></ul>TIMELINE :00:00 – Why he declared war on the $34 overdraft fee 01:55 – The $75 microloan that ignores your credit score 04:26 – 120 investor meetings to close the Series A 09:48 – Going public via SPAC at a $5B valuation 11:15 – How the stock crashed 98% in 9 months 16:19 – Making employees millionaires at rock bottom 19:38 – From burning $100M to $300M in EBITDA 23:17 – Why VC money is worse than a loan shark 27:00 – The new credit card attacking a $100B market 43:29 – Running a $4B company with 300 people REFERENCES :<ul><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonpeterwilk/">Jason Wilk</a></li><li><a href="https://svangel.com/">SV Angel</a> </li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Conway">Ron Conway</a></li><li><a href="https://paulgraham.com/">Paul Graham</a></li></ul><ul><li><a href="https://www.gobuyside.com/">GoBuyside / « Gocleff »</a> </li><li><a href="https://dave.com/">Dave</a> </li><li><a href="https://plaid.com/">Plaid</a></li><li><a href="https://www.acorns.com/">Acorns</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.simple.com/">BankSimple </a></li><li><a href="https://www.nvp.com/">Norwest Venture Partners</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.tigerglobal.com/">Tiger Global</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/">Y Combinator</a></li></ul>