Opinion certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Blond: Opening a San Francisco Restaurant Was Brex's Biggest Mistake

Sam Blond · Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Apr 12, 2024 · at 1:06:25

Sam Blond was Chief Revenue Officer at Brex during its rapid growth from $0 to $400M ARR. Here he reflects on Brex's failed attempt to launch a physical restaurant in South Park, SF.

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“In hindsight, that was a big mistake. We should have focused on what was working, building a credit card company using our dollars to acquire things like customers, and not, you know, remodeling A hundred year old restaurant that was in dire need of a remodel... It was that was the biggest mistake that we made at Brex.”

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Sam Blond Apr 12, 2024 ▶ 43:15 Sam Blond: Why Startups are Doing Outbound Wrong and How to Fix It | E1139 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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