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I sat down with Daragh Murphy, CEO & Co-Founder of Imprint, a fast-growing and leading fintech in the co-branded credit card space that has raised $200 million from Thrive Capital, Ribbit, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Stripe, and many more great investors.
In this episode, we discuss:
Challenges and lessons building Imprint, including pivoting and finding product-market fit
Start with Pain Points, Not Assumptions
Daragh and his co-founder initially assumed that e-commerce brands would be their perfect customers, believing them to be the most accessible market for Imprint's product, but after months of sales efforts, they realized that e-commerce brands weren’t interested. Instead, inbound interest from a major enterprise partner, HEB, turned out to be a much better fit for product-market fit. Since the company was still fairly new and the team small and lean, they were able to pivot immediately and doubled down on large enterprise customers, not where they initially assumed demand would be.
Operational Discipline and Borrowing Best Practices
Imprint loves to learn and adopt ideas and structures from the greats. They have implemented operational habits from companies like Amazon, with the goal of maintaining focus and driving growth. Their structured week includes a detailed Weekly Business Review (WBR), which systematically examines customer experience, input levers, and financial targets. Metrics are pulled automatically into dashboards, removing the need for manual reporting and slide decks. Daragh reminds us that “stealing smart ideas” from other successful companies can accelerate both decision-making and scaling.
Why a great Return on Equity (ROE) is what really matters when building a company
“If we build a business that has great return on equity in the long term, which is basically, profit divided by how much equity capital are we using in the business, we'll be fine.”
The foundation of Imprint’s strategy is to focus on Return on Equity (ROE)—profit relative to the equity capital used—over the long term. Earlier in his career, Daragh worked at WeWork and he draws a stark contrast to WeWork’s story, where core business realities were ignored. Although many investors might get scared by credit-driven, asset-heavy companies, these business models can actually be very lucrative. Daragh explains that while asset-light strategies might appear appealing, on-balance sheet control has given Imprint some stability in volatile markets and helped prevent disruptions, like halting card transactions when funding dries up.
Early on, Imprint’s cost of capital was at a significant disadvantage relative to banks, funding at SOFR + 1200bps, far higher than banks’ SOFR + 50-150bps. By maintaining a prime credit portfolio (average FICO ~705), and thoughtful execution, Imprint has reduced its cost of funding to SOFR + 250bps. According to Daragh, Imprint is “n of one” in fintech, as the only player issuing prime credit card receivables at scale. This singular position, combined with disciplined execution, has created significant investor appetite for their paper.
Using heuristics to find values-aligned talent at Imprint
“We don't spend time talking about diversity here, but we’ve done the benchmarking and we kind of have perfect diversity.”
Imprint’s hiring philosophy prioritizes candidates who are not only highly talented but also deeply aligned with the company’s values. We’ve heard it many times before - talent alone isn’t enough! For Imprint, the right team members must demonstrate traits like high tolerance for uncertainty, pride in their work, a drive to move the ball forward, and low entitlement. While these qualities are often found in candidates with backgrounds like immigrants, children of immigrants, or individuals from humble beginnings, these are heuristics—indicators, not requirements—used to identify people likely to embody those values.
Drawing from his WeWork experience, Murphy also strongly rejects the “cult of personality” approach to leadership, instead, he prefers to focus on creating a culture where people stay because they believe in the company’s mission and the values of their colleagues. A tribe-like alignment can build a cohesive team capable of navigating challenges together, rather than aligning behind a single leader.
A cautionary tale on the fragility of life and a reminder to live fully… and a lot more!
Daragh’s favorite book, When Breath Becomes Air, tells the story of a Stanford surgeon who reaches the peak of his career only to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. For Murphy, the book is a powerful reminder that life is fragile, and founders can get so caught up chasing success that they forget to enjoy the day-to-day. Having lost his own mother to cancer, the book’s themes of mortality and purpose resonate deeply with him—showing that while hard work matters, it’s just as important to enjoy the present and focus on relationships, health, and finding meaning beyond professional goals.
Daragh’s Book Recommendations:
Bill Walsh: The Score Takes Care of Itself - This book is about building a business with a strong standard of excellence and aligning people to a mission and vision, drawing parallels from Bill Walsh's experience building the San Francisco 49ers football team.
Paul Kalanithi: When Breath Becomes Air - Daragh says this is his favorite book, as it's about a surgeon who achieves great success in his career but is then faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis.
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