Rampart Talks: Nick Molnar

Welcome to the fifth and penultimate installment of Rampart Talks, and my guest is Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar.

I first met Nick in 2019, soon after I’d requisitioned Afterpay’s share options register and written several hell-raising columns in The Australian Financial Review about the company’s staff equity scheme. I was living in Los Angeles and he was visiting, so we arranged to have lunch at the legendary Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The only problem was that I forgot to turn up.

I was mortified, though Nick was very good about it, and we’ve met at the Polo Lounge subsequently (and also occasionally at Raw Bar in Bondi).

Nowadays, it’s Nick that lives in LA (in 2024 he bought Robbie Williams’ house in Holmby Hills) and I’m the visitor. My crew and I flew over in November for this interview and I’m grateful that Nick was generous enough to do it, and that he had so much to say.

Nick is now one of Block Inc’s top executives, with responsibility for the company’s entire $24 billion revenue line, and is talked about as a future CEO if executive chairman Jack Dorsey eventually steps back. And what is so often forgotten post Block’s Afterpay takeover is that Block remains the 15th largest stock traded on the ASX.

In this episode, Nick and I discuss the rocket ship of Afterpay in the Covid period, the enormous growth opportunity of Block’s Cash App, used by 60 million US consumers, and his “surreal” life in America working alongside Dorsey, Block director Jay-Z and his old Bellevue Hill neighbour Anthony Eisen.

Here is Nick on Jack Dorsey:

“I think Jack is one of the best visionaries in the world. I think he sees the future better than anyone that I’ve met, honestly. Jack is a big reason why I still feel like an entrepreneur, even though I work within a big company… I think leadership is lonely. I think leadership is challenging because everyone’s leaning on you. I think Jack is an intimidating character for a lot of people, but I know Jack doesn't want to be an intimidating character. It’s like, you email Jack, he reads everything. People internally, they want to contact him about any topic, share their opinion, he will read it. He will share his honest opinion.”

Only Rampart subscribers can watch the full 58-minute version. A 14-minute cut is viewable for Rampart free list members as well as on YouTube, Spotify and all the major podcast players.

I hope you enjoy this episode – and share it with others. Look out for the final episode, with Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn, on February 15.

Previous episodes: James Packer, Gillon McLachlan, Brad Banducci, Jayne Hrdlicka