Pedro Franceschi’s Post

When building Brex 3.0, we set a clear bar for what we ship: to build things we’re insanely proud of. Here’s what I learned about how great work actually happens. I started coding when I was 9. I don’t know why I started, but I continued doing it because of a very specific feeling – one so profound I ended up building a lot of my life around chasing: the feeling of building something you’re proud of. Then I started my first payments company in Brazil inspired by what great APIs could do to how businesses moved money. And I started Brex because I wanted to build a new kind of company, at the intersection of financial service and software, that no one thought was possible. Over the past 6 months we changed a lot of how we run Brex. And what I realized is that “building something you’re proud of” isn’t so much about hitting a goal, a particular metric, or a financial outcome. It’s about the inherent feeling of doing great work, and navigating the inherent messiness that comes with it. I noticed a few patterns: 1. There is no recipe for great work, and yet, great people tend to love processes (including me). Don’t let the process get in the way of the messiness involved in building something great. The only “process” you can follow is to love the struggle. When you’re banging heads against the wall late at night, with no obvious path forward, keep in mind that persevering in those moments is the hallmark of great work. This is how it’s done, and this is how all the great people do it. Keep going and learn to love it. 2. Nascent ideas are fragile. The easiest thing is to shut down a new idea because it doesn’t clear the bar yet – losing it before it morphed into something better. What’s the fastest way to kill a nascent idea? To treat it like a final product before it gets there. 3. Simplify. Great ideas fit into a napkin. Eliminate the non-essential, but keep the right balance between logic and emotion. Figure out how to tell a story that’s rational, and yet evokes a feeling. People make emotional decisions for logical reasons. Great work has both. 4. Focus. You can’t apply this level of care and rigor on everything. The only way to do great work is to do fewer things really well. It takes time and many mental cycles to achieve greatness. You need to be thinking about it in the shower. If you don’t have the mental bandwidth required to achieve something you’re proud of, it’s not worth starting. These learnings have resulted in releases we’re more proud of than ever, and have received tons of positive customer feedback – which we’re so grateful for. Thank you to our customers and our team for building something we’re insanely proud of!

What happens when companies implement Brex? They win — literally. :)

Today Brex is launching a new, supercharged banking experience for startups with Stripe and Column 🏦 The banking process can be difficult for new founders — especially non-U.S. residents. They often have to wait 5+ weeks for an EIN from the IRS before they can even apply for an account. Then after receiving it, they’re often faced with slow, expensive banking options that make it harder for founders to run their business. Today, we’re solving both problems with two key updates: First, in partnership with Column, we’ve supercharged the Brex business account — already used by 1 in 3 US startups — to bring you checking, treasury, and vault in one. 💵Checking: Send and receive funds worldwide with no transaction fees on ACH transfers, checks, and domestic wires. 💰Treasury: Earn yield from day 1 with 100% liquidity and easy auto transfers — all with no fees, minimums, or waiting periods (the only player in the space to do this). 🔐Vault: Diversify your funds across more than 20 program banks for up to $6M of total FDIC insurance (20x the national average). Second, in partnership with Stripe, companies incorporated with Stripe Atlas can now apply for a Brex business account immediately after incorporation. We will also reimburse 100% of the Stripe Atlas cost for Delaware C-Corp Incorporation for new customers ($500 value). Plus, you can begin using your Brex business account immediately, even as you await your EIN! We’re excited to roll this out and fuel your next big idea. Link in the comments for full details!

Our Summer Release wasn’t the only thing Brex shipped last week... 👀 I'm excited to share our latest brand campaign! 🔥 We built it using the same principle as the release: helping customers make every dollar count. No great company was ever built on savings alone. Our goal at Brex is to help customers extend the power of every dollar to actually move the needle in their business, in 3 ways: ⚙️ Control: We help customers control spend before it happens, and 99% of their spend on Brex ($50b!) is on budget, in policy automatically. 🤖 Automate: Customers automated 11 million hours (!) of busy work with Brex, which now go towards driving growth and building amazing things. 💰 Earn: Customers have earned $680M+ in rewards and $300M+ in yield, and counting. (This is not an estimate, but actual income created by the product.)

Thrilled that Brex is #4 on CNBC disruptors list this year! 🚀 Since we started Brex, our customers: 1. Automated 11 million hours of busywork 2. Kept $50b+ of spend on budget, automatically 3. Earned $350m/year in financial income 4. Got $650m in rewards to accelerate growth And we're just getting started in helping companies make every dollar count. Congrats to the team at Brex, and to so many customers who made the list! https://lnkd.in/dupMt-ba

A small glimpse of our customer obsession culture at Brex.

100+ public companies now run on Brex. Here’s The Brex Index!

I frequently write to our team about how Brex is doing, and my learnings over the past 7 years. This time, I decided to share them externally. What's happening at Brex 7 weeks after our layoff, me moving back to the Bay Area, and the beginning of Brex 3.0. https://lnkd.in/dxsxXeqH