Craig Donaldson grew up during the miners' strike, ran 84 bank branches in East Africa at 25, and went on to be the founding CEO of Metro Bank. Now he is the Executive Chairman of Tramlines.
He tells Albert what pubs taught him about people, why he started a bank when everyone else was cutting costs, and why domain experts with the right support deserve a chance even if they never become unicorns.
Key Moments:
00:00 Introduction
01:44 A background to Craig's early life
03:10 From technologist to banker
04:13 Pubs, tills and "business is people"
05:08 84 branches in East Africa at 25
06:14 Why people took a chance on him
07:37 RBS and the global financial crisis
08:08 Learning from the hard times
09:08 Intellect, interpersonal skills and hard work
10:15 Resilience and boss watching
11:56 From doing to leading
13:50 Dave Craggs and the curve on the graph
16:24 Energy from someone else closing the deal
17:29 Why start a bank?
18:17 The zig and the zag
19:38 A call from Vernon Hill
20:52 The first new high street bank in over 100 years
22:23 Printing cards in store
24:04 Create fans
24:51 Fail fast
25:31 Seven years to IPO
27:17 Proof points and stage gates
28:48 Statements, post boxes and mirrors
30:41 What Metro taught him
32:21 Human-led businesses in an AI world
34:24 Leaving Metro Bank
38:37 Meeting Albert and telling him everything
41:37 How Tramlines started
44:33 Discipline, and AI as a tool
46:17 What excites Craig now
48:54 Why experienced people come to Tramlines
51:44 The £100m question
52:52 Advice for Albert
54:52 Close
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