Micky Malka, Founder of Ribbit Capital
Micky Malka, founder of Ribbit Capital, discusses his philosophy on avoiding labels, the importance of writing essays to develop conviction, his decades-long approach to building relationships with founders, and his belief in playing an infinite game rather than optimizing for wins and losses. He shares how his experiences starting multiple companies across different continents informed his approach to venture capital and building culture at Ribbit.
Summary
Micky Malka opens by explaining his lifelong resistance to labels, stemming from growing up in Venezuela where he learned that labels constrain thinking and limit potential. He describes himself as 'an entrepreneur at heart, an investor by design,' a formulation that allows him flexibility without conforming to predefined categories. This philosophy extends to how he builds Ribbit Capital itself—rejecting traditional venture firm structures and operating as a startup with a Star Wars-themed culture (Jedis, Wookiees, and Tatooine meetings).
On the importance of writing, Malka emphasizes that essays are crucial for developing true conviction about investment theses. He describes the writing process as typically taking a year to 18 months, starting with complex ideas that eventually can be distilled onto a napkin. Writing allows him to test ideas, get feedback, and ensure the 'compass is in the right direction' for long-term theses. This practice was influenced by reading Warren Buffett's shareholder letters religiously since age 13, when Malka purchased his first share of Berkshire Hathaway in Venezuela.
Malka articulates his investment philosophy as playing an infinite game—one where you never truly win or lose, only move ahead or behind. He explicitly states he prefers being behind, as it generates more energy and learning. This contrasts with how he views many entrepreneurs who optimize for exits and liquidity events. He considers himself a 'failed entrepreneur' because his previous five companies required exits; Ribbit represents his attempt to build a vehicle for perpetual operation.
On founder selection, Malka describes Ribbit's framework as the 'Isle of the Tiger'—looking for founders with: the energy of a scientist, the conviction of a missionary, the heart of a partner, the dreams of an athlete, and the obsession of an owner. This framework took approximately a decade to develop and crystallize. He emphasizes spending significant time understanding founder DNA through deep conversations that extend beyond business topics into life, family, and values.
Malka provides extensive examples of long-term founder relationships, including Nick Korhonen at Revolut (10+ years before investment), founders at Stripe and Robinhood, and his partnership with Walmart on OnePay. He discusses how his experience building Lemon Bank (a branchless bank for the unbanked in Brazil) in 2003-2008 directly informed his approach to the Walmart partnership 12 years later—demonstrating the compounding power of maintaining relationships and insights across decades.
On tokens and AI, Malka describes companies as 'token factories' that ingest machine-readable information and create value. He notes that while AI has rapidly advanced knowledge tokenization, financial services remain underintegrated with AI despite being the most dynamic sector. He predicts AI agents will soon handle investment, commerce, and payment decisions on behalf of users.
Regarding reputation, Malka shares how reputation is the only truly valuable asset and must be fiercely protected. He recalls the Buffett deposition line about Berkshire that was replayed annually at shareholder meetings: 'We can lose money. We can't lose a shred of reputation.' He also discusses his Node art studio in Palo Alto, founded to give digital artists autonomy over how their work is displayed—a rebellion against traditional museum gatekeeping that echoes Impressionism's origins.
Malka concludes by discussing generational differences in company building. He observes that people in their 20s are the fastest learners in history due to information accessibility but often lack communication skills. The best among them are pairing with older mentors to combine rapid learning with deep experience, operating in what he calls the 'Kaordic' space between chaos and order.
About this episode
Micky Malka is the founder of Ribbit Capital and the co-founder of Node, the first gallery built for digital artists. He calls himself an entrepreneur at heart and an investor by design — a line vague enough to defy labeling, which is the point. The only label he wants is the one on his tombstone: He was a rebel. At 25, Malka put every dollar from his first exit into a branchless bank in Brazil, moved there with his wife, and twice came close to killing the company and losing everything. At its peak, Lemon Bank ran 7,000 locations serving 50 million customers, most of them unbanked. He sold it in 2008. Twelve years later, the same insight persuaded Walmart to do a first — a jointly owned company. It became OnePay, the biggest financial brand you have never heard of. He founded Ribbit Capital in 2012 and has spent the 14 years since backing Revolut, Robinhood, Nubank, Coinbase, and Credit Karma — usually early, and usually before anyone else would. He met Vlad at Robinhood before there was an app or a single customer. Ribbit does not run like a fund: no partner is assigned to a company, decisions are made as a group, and the whole team can read his inbox. Malka does not call it an investment firm. He calls it his sixth startup, and the first one he will never have to sell — because, by his own standard, the best entrepreneurs never do. Show notes: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/micky-malka Made possible by Ramp: https://ramp.com Deel: https://deel.com/senra AppLovin: https://applovin.com/senra Chapters (00:00:00) Why Micky Malka Refuses to Be Labeled (00:03:00) Writing Your Way to Conviction (00:05:41) Buying Berkshire at 13 and Learning Buffett's Operating System (00:11:48) Token Factories, AI Bankers, and the Future of Money (00:18:38) The Infinite Game: Why It's Better to Be Behind (00:22:09) Gen Z Founders and the Chaordic Company (00:29:00) Why Young Founders Want to Build Atoms, Not Just Bits (00:34:29) Bringing Beauty and Taste Back to Technology (00:36:56) Revolut, Founder DNA, and Earning Deep Trust (00:45:54) Building OnePay With Walmart (00:50:53) From Lemon Bank to OnePay: A 20-Year Idea (00:56:00) Compounding Trust and Protecting Your Reputation (01:00:30) Node and the Rebel Case for Digital Art (01:07:34) What It Means to Live as a Rebel (01:10:50) Why Ribbit Is Built Like a Startup (01:14:41) Charlie Munger and the Power of Time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Key Insights
- Malka argues that accepting labels forces you to see only what you've been told to see, whereas rejecting labels enables continuous growth and prevents conforming to existing molds
- He claims that writing essays for a year or more is necessary to truly understand the depth of an idea—shorter writing doesn't create real conviction
- Malka asserts that Buffett's consistency lay not in his specific investment decisions but in applying the same decision-making patterns across different economic conditions and eras
- He argues that being behind in an infinite game is superior to being ahead because it activates energy, learning, and innovation, whereas being ahead creates complacency
- Malka contends that his previous five company exits made him a 'failed entrepreneur' because the best entrepreneurs never need to sell—they build permanent vehicles
- He claims that money has been 'outside of AI' in the first four to five years of AI development, despite being the most fungible and flow-oriented resource in the world
- Malka states that the only way founders will call you at night about their deepest problems is if you've done 100 things right to earn that trust, which requires conversations beyond business topics
- He argues that Silicon Valley lost the ability to build beautiful products by optimizing for scale and efficiency metrics rather than how products make people feel
- Malka claims that young entrepreneurs (in their 20s) are finding software-only building boring and are increasingly interested in physical products and getting their hands dirty
- He asserts that Node (his digital art studio) represents a rebellion against museum gatekeeping similar to how Impressionism originated when artists rejected traditional art establishment structures
- Malka argues that the best young founders are pairing with older mentors to combine rapid learning capability with decades of experience, operating in the optimal 'Kaordik' space between chaos and order
- He claims that time is the only true currency and the power of compounding across decades—in relationships, principles, and learning—is more valuable than any single transaction or deal
Topics
Transcript
Thanks for doing this, Miki. David, it's a pleasure to be here with you. There's so many times in our previous conversations where I'm listening to you speak and I'm like, shit, Miki really does think and act a lot, very similar to a lot of history's great entrepreneurs that I read all these biographies about for Founders Podcast. One thing that I think you have in common with them and that you said before to me is that you hate being labeled. Can you say more about that? I think it's a way of always growing up in Venezuela and in all my life, you never had people being labeled. I never learned what that was about. Every time…
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