Wallester UK CEO Julian Brand was the latest guest on BOLD Talks. It’s an interview series from BOLD Awards, the Barcelona-based programme that recognises companies, projects and individuals behind technology breakthroughs around the world.
Host Epi Ludvik steered the conversation toward how a career in law shapes the way Julian runs a fintech company, and why the unglamorous parts of the business are the ones that decide whether it lasts or not. The full episode is now available on YouTube.
Here are just a few ideas worth your time.
Compliance as the foundation, not the paperwork
Before Wallester, Julian worked as a director, CEO and general counsel across fintech and financial services, and that legal grounding still drives how he sees the business.
He called legal, compliance and risk “the structural integrity of the business, the foundations that you need to grow,” with a building analogy he clearly likes: “there’s no point getting excited about what you’re going to build or how nice it’s going to look unless you’ve got the foundation absolutely secure, otherwise the house is just frankly going to fall down.”
His warning to founders from a commercial background is that compliance gets underestimated or treated as a tick-box exercise. And if that’s the case, the problem will eventually surface.
One step forward, no steps back
On growth, Julian kept returning to a mantra: “one step forward, one step forward, one step forward, no steps back.” Wallester’s model, he said, is steady and organic rather than a race for scale. “We’re not chasing investment. We’re a profitable business, so we can focus on doing things right, executing, and limiting the failures.”
Most failures, in his telling, come from going too fast and taking on risks the business doesn’t fully understand.
The “shiny new” trap
On the choice companies face when they want to issue their own branded cards, Julian described a common mistake. Founders “feel that they really need to build something that’s new, shiny, or overly complex,” when they would be better off focusing on the customer problem and starting with a trusted partner for the regulated plumbing underneath. Build more in-house later, he says, if growth justifies it.
What “bold” means to him
Ludvik closes every episode on the word “bold.” For Julian, it’s “a fearless focus,” the discipline of giving all your attention to one task at a time rather than dwelling on the last one or worrying about the next.
He traced it back to working with former international rugby players, and the way a player receiving a pass has to clear everything else from their mind.
The conversation covers more than this, including where Wallester has found its strongest traction and why Julian thinks a company should work like a sports side, picking the best people and getting them to gel rather than simply adding more. It’s a quick watch, and well worth it if leadership, compliance or building in fintech is on your mind.
