Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris on How He Built Capital One After 25 Rejections episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 10, 2026 · 1H 29M

Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris on How He Built Capital One After 25 Rejections

from The CEO Series

In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Nigel Morris, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of QED Investors and Co-Founder of Capital One. Nigel traces the origins of Capital One, from a working class childhood in England with a military father who moved the family 11 times, to building one of the most disruptive financial services companies in history. He recounts how he and Rich Fairbank identified that the biggest banks in America were making billion dollar decisions by gut instinct rather than data, and how being rejected by 25 banks only strengthened their conviction to prove them wrong. He discusses the regulatory crisis of 2002 that caused Capital One's stock to drop 40% overnight, what it felt like to carry his net worth statement in his briefcase for a year before leaving the company he built, and why the only sustainable advantage in any business is culture. Nigel also shares his philosophy on venture capital at QED, why fintech is a force for social good, and why he believes artificial intelligence will kill jobs while simultaneously creating opportunities we cannot yet conceive of.

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Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris on How He Built Capital One After 25 Rejections

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This episode is 1 hour and 29 minutes long.

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This episode was published on July 10, 2026.

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In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Nigel Morris, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of QED Investors and Co-Founder of Capital One. Nigel traces the origins of Capital One, from a working class childhood in England with a...

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