”If you're a solo founder, one day you will give up.”

Itamar Lesuisse (CEO of Ready) doesn't build for the bull market; he builds for the decade. From accidentally running up a $1M monthly gas bill to surviving multiple bear cycles with a mandatory 3-year runway , Itamar has seen the ”broken dreams” of the 2017 era and lived to tell the tale.

In this episode of The Buildooor, we strip away the hype and get into the technical and emotional constraints of building a self-custodial neobank that doesn't suck to use.

Inside the trenches:

The $1,000,000 Mistake: How misjudging scalability can bankrupt you in 30 days.

The 3-Year Rule: Why 18 months of runway is a trap in a volatile market.

Managing Mood Swings: Keeping a team motivated when personal bags are down 90%.

Conflict without Ego: Why you need to be able to ”shout and fight” and then grab lunch 2 minutes later.

Crypto Singularity: The point where self-custodial UX finally beats Web2.

Timestamps:

00:00 Trailer 

1:52 Intro 

2:22 From tech to volatility 

4:23 The web’s original sin

5:30 Ready: an app, a wallet, and a neobank

8:57 The vision: then vs now

11:45 Leading a remote company efficiently 

14:15 A founder’s life  

16:58 UX/UI in web3 vs web2

20:12 Being a great leader

24:04 Supporting your team throughout bear cycles

26:25 Planning your company’s financials as a pro

29:28 Fundraising in 2025-2026

32:47 From [crypto] trauma to sanity 

34:10 Staying friends with your co-founders, really 

39:16 Tweeting as a crypto founder: ups and downs

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