045: Six fintechs, three exits, and one lesson | Ricky Knox, Co-founder of Prosper

Ricky Knox has founded six fintechs, sold three, and his last two exits were nine figures. He built one of the world's largest remittance companies, founded Tandem Bank, and is now building Prosper - an AI-powered generational wealth platform for high-net-worth individuals - a Griffin customer. In this episode, David Jarvis sits down with Ricky to talk about the arc of a serial founder: how a grandfather in the American Football Hall of Fame, a summer job at Burger King, and a chance conversation while sanding floors led to six companies across telecoms, FX, remittance, digital banking, and wealthtech. Ricky shares what he'd do differently at Tandem (almost everything, but start with prepaid cards not credit cards), why wealthtech is the next major disruption nobody has cracked, what the generational wealth transfer means for Prosper, and why angel investing is a genuinely terrible way to manage your money that he enjoys anyway. What we cover: - Dutch Knox - American Football Hall of Fame and the family that made entrepreneurship obvious - From strategy consulting to VC at MMC Ventures (the inverse job interview that changed everything) - The MBA as a polite way of leaving - Selling Tajikistan's third mobile network in Russian at 3am - The arc from FX to remittance to digital banking to wealthtech - Tandem Bank: before Monzo, before Starling, 8,000 articles in one day - What Ricky would do differently (credit cards vs prepaid cards) - When Starling put Tandem's exact campaign words on billboards across London - The treasure chest of business ideas and how to know when to leave - When you wake up thinking your job is a bit rubbish - that's the signal - The exec chair model at Prosper and why it works with Nick Perrett - Why angel investing is a terrible way to manage money (and he does it anyway) - Generational wealth: what Prosper is building for the next 12 months - Why estate planning, probate, and wills are perfectly suited to AI automation - The great wealth transfer from Boomers to Gen X high-net-worth individuals Griffin Uncut is Griffin's podcast featuring conversations with founders, operators, and builders across fintech and financial services. Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction: Six fintechs, three exits, nine-figure outcomes 0:32 - Ricky's background and why he's mainly a founder 1:19 - David introduces himself (reluctant podcast host) 1:57 - The family that made entrepreneurship inevitable (Dutch Knox, Burger Kings, straw-bale houses) 3:45 - From university to strategy consulting (the opposite of founding) 4:30 - The floor-sanding conversation that introduced venture capital 5:00 - Landing at MMC Ventures via an inverse job interview 7:06 - VCs who hop over the fence: when it works and when it doesn't 7:43 - The MBA as a polite exit and the INSEAD plan 8:14 - First company: joining his brother in circular economy telecoms 9:07 - Selling Tajikistan's third mobile network in Russian at 3am 11:12 - The full arc: FX, remittance, digital banking, wealthtech 12:54 - What Ricky is most famous for (the stupidity of building a bank) 13:11 - Tandem Bank: before Monzo, before Starling, 8,000 articles in a day 14:33 - Would he do Tandem again? What he'd do differently 15:01 - Why he gets bored doing things twice 16:22 - When Starling put Tandem's exact campaign on London billboards 17:47 - The one thing he should have done differently: prepaid not credit cards 18:46 - The treasure chest of business ideas and timing the market 20:19 - The dinner party method of finding what to build next 22:01 - Why Wealthtech hasn't been disrupted yet 22:54 - How Ricky knows when it's time to leave a business 24:50 - When your job feels a bit rubbish: the real signal 25:40 - Becoming a bank manager instead of a founder at Tandem 26:30 - The exec chair role at Prosper: how it came about 27:50 - Why Nick Perrett is one of the most patient humans alive 29:00 - What Ricky actually does as exec chair (fundraising, bank relations, strategy) 30:38 - Angel investing: a genuinely terrible way to manage money 31:41 - Why he does it anyway (pattern recognition, fun, philanthropy) 34:59 - What's coming at Prosper: generational wealth and family wealth management 35:17 - The Junior ISA wrapper and generational wealth features 35:56 - 20% of Prosper customers have a family member on the platform 37:01 - Estate planning, wills, probate: perfectly suited to AI automation 38:42 - Final messages: Prosper app, Griffin shoutout, and ciao #SerialFounder #Fintech #GriffinUncut #Prosper #TandemBank #Wealthtech #Remittance #StartupFounder #Griffin #AngelInvesting #GenerationalWealth