William Hockey

Founder of Column and co-founder of Plaid

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Key positions and views

The venture capital model is unsuitable for most companies, as it forces founders onto a treadmill of fundraising, trend-chasing, and surrendering significant equity and control.

True long-term competitive advantages are built through non-consensus strategies that VCs would typically reject, such as pausing revenue for years to acquire a regulated bank.

Employee ownership should be paramount, and companies should provide mechanisms for regular liquidity, such as annual tender offers funded by profits, to align incentives and reward staff.

AI's greatest initial impact will not be through disruption by startups, but through efficiency gains at large, inefficient incumbents with massive distribution and cost structures.

Silicon Valley's consensus-driven, elitist culture has caused the tech industry to lose touch with real-world problems and focus on building software for a narrow segment of society.

Podcast consensus on Hockey

Points of consensus

▶William Hockey consistently advocates for building companies without venture capital, instead funding growth through earnings and personal financing, as demonstrated by his strategy with Column.Apr 2026

▶He strongly believes in broad employee ownership and has implemented a system at Column where 25% of annual earnings are used to buy back shares, providing yearly liquidity to staff.Apr 2026

▶Hockey's business philosophy is rooted in making non-consensus decisions, such as acquiring a regulated bank, which he views as a key strategic advantage that would be impossible under a VC model.Apr 2026

▶He is highly critical of the venture capital model's impact on founders and employees, citing significant equity dilution, preference stacks, and pressure to chase short-term trends.Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶While Hockey champions financial innovation, he also argues that much of the friction in consumer banking is an intentional and necessary feature to combat fraud, rather than a simple technological limitation to be solved.

▶He predicts that large, inefficient incumbent banks will be the biggest beneficiaries of AI, which presents a potential long-term strategic threat to his own company, Column, which aims to provide more efficient infrastructure.Apr 2026

▶Hockey criticizes Silicon Valley's tech culture as elitist and out of touch with everyday people, yet his companies, Plaid and Column, are deeply embedded in that ecosystem and primarily serve other tech and financial companies.Apr 2026

▶He expresses admiration for the executive talent in emerging market banks, calling them 'way better' than Western counterparts, yet his current venture, Column, is focused exclusively on the U.S. financial services market.Apr 2026

Key themes

▶Bootstrapping Against the Venture Capital GrainApr 2026

William Hockey champions a non-VC path for company building, funding Column's growth through its own earnings and significant personal financial risk. He financed the acquisition of Column's bank by pledging over $1 billion of his Plaid stock for a $70 million loan, nearly going bankrupt multiple times in the process.

This high-leverage, self-funded approach demonstrates a conviction in long-term strategy over short-term growth metrics, suggesting that ventures led by him prioritize sustainable, profitable models over chasing valuation milestones.

▶The Power of Non-Consensus StrategyApr 2026

Hockey's core philosophy involves making contrarian bets that are difficult to execute within a traditional VC framework. He cites Column's multi-year effort to acquire a regulated bank as a prime example and advises founders to avoid consensus ideas, such as those on Y Combinator's 'Request for Startups' list.

Investors should view Hockey's ventures as pursuing deep, structural moats rather than competing in crowded markets, though this approach carries significant upfront execution risk and delayed revenue generation.

▶Redefining Employee Equity and RiskApr 2026

Hockey argues that in the current startup ecosystem, early employees bear more financial risk than founders. In response, he has structured Column to be 100% owned by himself and employees, offering annual liquidity through a tender program funded by 25% of the company's earnings.

This model could be a significant competitive advantage for talent acquisition and retention, appealing to employees who are skeptical of the traditional, illiquid nature of startup equity and its potential for dilution.

▶AI as a Sustaining, Not Disruptive, Force in FinanceApr 2026

Contrary to the popular narrative, Hockey predicts that AI will not significantly disrupt fintech soon. Instead, he believes the primary beneficiaries will be large, inefficient incumbents like legacy banks, who can leverage AI to cut massive operational costs and improve existing distribution.

This contrarian take suggests that the most immediate investment opportunities in AI within finance may lie with established public companies rather than with new startups aiming for disruption.

Source episodes

Sentiment over time

Not enough data for timeline

Changes over time

Pre-Column

Co-founded Plaid, a successful fintech company that provided him with the capital and industry experience for his next venture.

Column Founding Period

Founded Column with the explicit goal of avoiding venture capital and maintaining 100% ownership for himself and employees.

Bank Acquisition Phase

Made the non-consensus decision to acquire a regulated bank, a process that required pausing revenue focus for two to three years.

High-Risk Financing Period

Financed the bank acquisition and early operations through personal debt, pledging over $1B in Plaid stock to secure a $70M loan. During this time, he faced three margin calls and nearly went bankrupt.

Growth and Operations

Column is now operating as a profitable, earnings-funded software company that owns a bank, providing backend infrastructure to major fintech clients like Ramp, Brex, and Mercury.

Suggested prompts

How does William Hockey's high-risk, debt-fueled financing of Column reconcile with his critique of the financial risks faced by employees in VC-backed startups? &nearr;Given his view that AI will primarily benefit incumbents, what is Column's long-term competitive moat against large banks that successfully integrate AI to improve their own infrastructure? &nearr;What specific market conditions or company characteristics make a business suitable for Hockey's non-VC, earnings-funded growth model versus the traditional venture capital path? &nearr;How does Hockey's belief in the superiority of emerging market bank executives influence his strategy for Column, which currently focuses on the U.S. market? &nearr;

Key concepts

Venture Capital Critique 1 ep Column Business Model 1 ep Employee Equity & Liquidity 1 ep Non-Consensus Investing 1 ep Artificial Intelligence (AI) Impact 1 ep Banking Infrastructure 1 ep Fintech 1 ep Emerging Markets 1 ep Plaid 1 ep Silicon Valley Culture 1 ep

Notable quotes

“i pledged over a billion dollars of stock to get 70 million dollars i bought the bank for 70 million dollars”

William Hockey · How to bet on yourself (without venture capital)

“in the process, I probably got margin called three times and almost went bankrupt multiple times.”

William Hockey · How to bet on yourself (without venture capital)

“every single year we take 25 of our earnings and we just buy back our shares with employees so we just run our own tender every single year”

William Hockey · How to bet on yourself (without venture capital)

“hot take here, I think like the biggest, fattest, most inefficient brands are even the best beneficiary of AI.”

William Hockey · How to bet on yourself (without venture capital)

Report last updated: Apr 21, 2026

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