With the high-profile implosion of FTX, risk has been in the spotlight. What does risk mean, how can retail and institutional investors mitigate it, and how should founders think about it? Our guest today is Evan Dreyer, Head of Risk Management at Tola, a fast, easy, and free tool for businesses to pay and get paid, however, and whenever they want. We talk to Evan about everything risk and how to approach it.
About Evan Dreyer:
Evan is the head of risk management at Tola, a financial technology company. Prior to that, he spent over twelve years at Credit Suisse, in both the risk management and investment banking departments. He is an angel investor and LP (including in Ripple Ventures). He has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, and a master's in risk management from NYU.
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In this episode we discuss:
02:26 Evan’s journey into tech and investing
07:01 Evan’s experience at Credit Suisse
10:31 Why high risk situations keep happening
13:04 The definition of risk and what it means to startups
17:37 How early stage founders should think about their risks and address them
21:28 What it means to not bury your head in the sand and address risk
23:55 Risk through the eyes of an investor
28:58 When deal terms mean to mitigate risk actually backfire
31:27 Risks in public vs. private market deals
35:22 How Evan adds value as an investor and LP
39:22 Why Evan decided to leave Credit Suisse and join a startup
41:47 What risk looks like to him now that he is a startup operator
43:49 Evan’s biggest career lesson
47:26 Thoughts on FTX and SBF
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How Risk Management Can Protect a Startup from Becoming the next FTX with Evan Dreyer of Tola