In this episode of Kristina's podcast, Kristina sits down with Ankur Nagpal, who is in his early thirties with a net worth north of nine figures. He started making money in college with his Facebook App business, but his real life-changing moment was when he sold his company Teachable for a quarter billion dollars. Now, he's the founder of the fintech company Carry.

Ankur shared what it was like growing up as a third culture kid, being born in India, moving to Oman, and then pursuing higher education in the US. He talks about maintaining happiness while pursuing wealth, and the financial strategies and tax efficiencies that have shaped his success.

Ankur emphasizes the critical aspects of founder finances, such as setting personal salary limits, properly handling taxes with tools like the 83(B) election and QSBS, and the necessity of maintaining a business emergency fund.

Kristina and Ankur also discussed if it’s possible to be happy as a founder and in your personal life, why Ankur doesn’t believe in splitting things 50/50 in a relationship and why he would never dare to send a Venmo request after a date.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

02:20 Achieving Financial Freedom in College

03:11 Lessons on Taxes & Early Financial Mistakes

04:20 Scaling Teachable to $60M ARR

06:55 Investing in Startups: Ankur’s $20M Strategy

10:25 Starting Carry & Simplifying Founder Finances

11:40 Selling a Company for $250M: What Comes Next?

13:35 Lessons as a Second-Time Founder

17:50 Rethinking Legacy and Personal Impact

19:18 Walking Away from $10M in Equity

20:10 Framework for Personal Happiness

26:00 Balancing Financial Success and Personal Happiness

28:00 Who Should Pay on Dates?

30:01 Quality Time with Loved Ones

30:50 Can Exes Stay Friends?

32:40 Should Men Be Providers?

39:45 Planning Personal Finances as a Founder

40:44 How to Set Your Founder Salary

42:53 Investor Due Diligence Red Flags

45:30 Building Long-Term Investor Relationships

48:20 Why Debt is Dangerous for Founders

49:40 Building Your Budgeting Plan

51:20 Optimizing Taxes: 83(b) and QSBS Essentials

52:00 Tax-Saving Strategies for Founders

55:50 Founders’ #1 Priority

56:30 Advice to First-Time Founders