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" Climate change, migration... they transcend national borders and require an international response. "

Taavet Hinrikus

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" I get a kick out of helping the next generation of founders. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" There are lots of people building the next TransferWise, not in a sense of competing with us but in a sense of building large, successful companies that are doing something important. I just enjoy helping these founders navigate the journey. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" A seed depends on a whole host of factors to grow - from the fertility of the soil to the right mix of rain and sun to not being eaten by a passing bird. The same goes for an idea. For an idea to really take hold, other factors come into play, from timing to the emerging technology that makes it possible. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Bitcoin, I think we can say, is dead. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Without immigration, nations would stagnate. It is key for innovation and for economic growth. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" If you think about the influence it has had, it's incredible. Think of all the relationships that have been saved because of Skype. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" The technology is not an end in itself: it is a tool. It can make it easier for us to communicate or manage our finances. It can help us take care of our health or help policemen in their work. It can create jobs and boost growth. It can enhance transparency and accessibility to services. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" The fact that Skype was founded in Estonia, the fact that Skype had a successful exit, which meant that Estonia benefited in a major way, meant that entrepreneurship became legitimate. There were more than a thousand people who either worked or had worked at Skype who had seen what it takes to build a global business. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" I think that's the beauty of being a private company: you get to choose when you disclose something. You can play it in a strategic way or in a tactical way. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" We built TransferWise focused on customer innovation. That means we build our product based first and foremost on our customers. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" The attitude to failure is one of the characteristics that's often called out as the difference between the U.S. and Europe. And we do need to be less risk-averse, more embracing of failure. Having failed makes you look bad in Europe. But in the U.S., it makes you look experienced. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. I don't believe it when people tell me they've been working 80-hour weeks for five years in a row. I just don't think that's possible. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Maybe I think too highly of myself, but I think maybe sometimes I can give some good advice - sometimes bad advice, I'm sure - and I think that's a way of giving back. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Doing something that empowers people makes you realise how boring it would be to work for a place where the goal is just to make more money. It's much easier to get out of bed and look forward to 12 hours of work if you're making the world a better place. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Historically, people have flocked to Silicon Valley because of the belief that that's where the latest innovation is happening. It's a snowball effect. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" People bought bitcoin because they thought it would be worth more tomorrow. And a lot of people got lucky. But we're not seeing real people use bitcoin. And we don't know what problem it solves. Now, blockchain, I think, is a genius advancement in technology. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Most of my time at Skype was spent doing new things. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" People need the financial sector to be safe; people also need the financial sector to go through a massive phase of innovation. That means delivering on the positive rhetoric, like around settlement accounts, not allowing Open Banking to be diluted, and leading the way on AML. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" As a consumer, I'm definitely waiting for what's going to come after banks. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" 'Big' problems are overwhelming, but when we distil them down to their simplest forms, then the solutions become simple, too. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" I think that if Britain does decide to leave the E.U., that would be a disaster for the technology sector here and probably also for the broader economy. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Changing behaviour is a very slow process. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Costs should always be presented up front so that consumers can make informed choices and get a fairer deal. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Celebrity-spotting is pretty standard at Davos. It's one of the things that makes it easy to criticise. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" If the hard Brexit happens, I would assume that London wouldn't be the centre of the tech world in Europe. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" I spent my workdays at Skype creating a more connected world. We were shrinking the distances between people, making it easier to connect across countries. Then I'd go to my bank to transfer my euros to pounds, and it was like going back in time 50 years: expensive, inconvenient, and painfully slow. It was a nightmare. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" There's most definitely a Davos bubble. You're in a small Alpine town that, for just four days in January, sees its population tripled with world leaders, CEOs, media, police, the army... and a whole bunch of people who aren't invited but just come to hang out. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" Most banks tell their customers that they only pay a small upfront fee for international payments. But in reality, customers pay much more. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" There are so many instances in banking where 'free' simply doesn't mean free, whether it's opaque overdraft charges or credit card providers that are quietly raising interest rates without customers noticing. "

Taavet Hinrikus

" There's the risk of a serious case of FOMO at a place like Davos. "

Taavet Hinrikus