How Starling Bank was ALMOST Stolen: The Story Of Monzo & Starling

The founding story of Starling Bank & Monzo is fascinating. Founded in 2014 by Anne Boden, Starling Bank quickly recruited a small team, including Tom Blomfield who became chief technology officer. When divisions between Tom and Anne quickly arise, Tom eventually leaves Starling Bank along with its other employees and creates Monzo Bank.
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Producer & Editor: Jonny Pease
Writer & Researcher: Shezah Salam
Credits:
» The Diary Of A CEO
» The Outcome
» Future Worlds
» Bloomberg Live
» Wired UK
» 11:FS
» GoCardless
» Seven Hills
» SnapChat For Business
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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:01 2008 financial crisis
1:24 Anne Boden's career & ambitions
2:28 2014 - Starling Bank's conception
3:22 Enter Tom Blomfield
4:34 How to start your own bank
5:13 Christmas 2014
5:45 January 2014 - The deal falls through
6:11 Tension begins to arise
8:24 Anne fires Tom
9:08 Starling Bank re-build

[@shezahsalam1773]

Brilliant video and great production values. Really brought the rivalry alive.

[@Monitodotcom]

Thank you Shezah!

[@echorapidz1307]

Awesome documentary, the quality you'd expect from a million-subscriber channel. Great work!

[@Monitodotcom]

Thank you so much, that's great to read. I'm glad you liked the format and video. Currently working on another one about a bank, and it should be out within the next 2 weeks (these edits take time). Thanks again! ^Jonny

[@Kazu_Hani]

This is a really good video! I love both Banks but personally I prefer to go with Starling 😏

[@Monitodotcom]

Thanks Rhys. I also love both banks, the positive impact and change they’ve bought to the banking industry is worthy of so much praise! ^Jonny

[@plantico2597]

Is it any wonder that Monzo is deeply unprofitable, whereas Anne led Starling to record financial results

[@Monitodotcom]

She's a very shrewd businesswoman!

[@lelemoore1319]

Amazing video format!!! Loved it

[@Monitodotcom]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video. ^Jonny

[@supriyalal]

here you go... my - 100th like...totally 100/100 video. Your narration, presentation and over all...BRILLIANT! thanks for a great video. cheers!

[@Monitodotcom]

Thank you Supriya, that's really appreciated and I'm just so glad you enjoyed the video. I recently published a video about the collapse of Barings Bank that's narrated and presented similarly, which may spark your interest. Thank you again. ^Jonny

[@benbradbury3665]

Great video.

[@miriamgrundig8090]

The audacity of this man to approach the investor she had dismissed is astounding. His absolute ignorance is appalling. Same guys that later won't know what "privilege" is and have it all achieved through their "hard" work...

[@niallwood]

I really enjoyed this video, whilst I knew the brief history of both banks, I didn't realise the extent of the rivalry! Just one thing, the audio was a bit dodgy at times so keep that in mind, otherwise a great video!

[@Monitodotcom]

Thanks for the feedback Niall - will keep that in mind for the next one. ^Jonny

[@notfadeaway6617]

nice video. i like it!

[@Monitodotcom]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! ^Jonny

[@eric-ampire]

I really like this video

[@Monitodotcom]

Great to hear Eric, glad you enjoyed it! ^Jonny

[@hemanttiwari7243]

Really bro the way you explaining the things is so awesome.. I ping you for revolut card. You suggest me for niyox and fi Neo banks. I am using Fi money bank account but this account is not so cool ..

[@hemanttiwari7243]

Share your Instagram ID we will connect and update you Indian Neo banks accordingly.

[@mramechi300]

Starling has online banking... Monzo only has cellphone banking.

[@Monitodotcom]

Very good point. Monzo really needs to improve their website offering.

[@mothermovementa]

What they did to anne is disgraceful

[@mothermovementa]

Starling forever

[@jasonericf]

I did prefer Monzo, out of the two, until sometime last year. Not heading in the right direction. Now I'm using Starling and Chase and getting rid of Monzo 😂

[@Monitodotcom]

Hey Jason! That's really interesting, can you elaborate on what you mean by not heading int he right direction? Was there anything particular that put you off Monzo? Cheers ^Jonny

[@jasonericf]

@@Monitodotcom Hey! 👋 The paid plans are the main thing I mean there. Specifically the 'plus' one and how it's pretty much just hiding some app features behind a paywall. "Upgrade now to see the graph" etc. I understand that they're trying to make money because they're not doing too well at the moment but that's not the way to go about it. I have given feedback a couple of times and I feel they don't really listen any more. Both Starling and Monzo were created with a vision behind them, I think Monzo has lost that. Chase, I quite like the app, it does offer most of what Monzo does, but I'm mainly using them for the cashback 💰

[@Monitodotcom]

Thank you for your take Jason, that's really interesting and I couldn't agree more that Monzo appears to have lost their original vision. I think a lot of people share your sentiment, and their various plans do have a bit of a 'money grab' feel to them. For example, Monzo Premium comes with a lot of really basic features that they try to jazz up. E.G A credit score tracker that's accessible for free via TransUnion. So it really shouldn't be considered premium. I also like Chase and have been using their Easy Access Saver, did you see that it's now 2.1%? Although Santander does currently have a better easy-access product, I thought it was cool they increased it!

[@jasonericf]

@@Monitodotcom I think as well Starling and Monzo were very similar, so one of the things you do focus on is the UI of the apps. It can be the deciding factor. Which is why I preferred Monzo, at the start. But nowadays not so much, again it goes back to the plus and premium features and real estate is taken up on a few pages in order to promote these. In terms of the rift between Anne and Tom as well, I do feel for Anne more so. But I won't form a certain opinion because only they know the full picture really. I knew bits before but it was informative to watch your video giving more depth. Oh yes, got the email a couple of hours after my reply 😂 It's good they're rising it and yeah not the highest, but up there in the area. Still a lot higher than the traditional banks too. I've always used the roundup feature as well, but with Chase having 5% interest on it, I've not touched it for many months now. So that's a little extra boost

[@noorlancer]

Need tom back at Monzo.

[@Monitodotcom]

What makes you say that? ^Jonny

[@khrishmody9874]

This is definitely the most underrated channel I have come across, since you read your comments I would like to say: your website isn’t the best, I have seen you accept sponsors by wire transfer companies and while I understand you need to make money I’d say rather make it from ads, also you haven’t mentioned all wire transfer services like Western Union wasn’t recommended to me when I tried using Monito. Anyway great service you offer don’t get disheartened by less subscribers you are helping people and keeping us entertained. Cheers, Khrish

[@Monitodotcom]

Thank you for the support and feedback Khrish! Comments like this help keep me motivated to make more content. Cheers! ^Jonny