When Max Winton left JPMorgan in 2018, he took an 80% pay cut. After 18 months as an investment banker, he decided the industry wasn’t for him and joined Monzo, the British app-based bank instead. Nearly seven years later, he’s leaving Monzo for venture capital.
“I followed the crowd into JPMorgan,” says Winton, who studied at the London School of Economics. “I was a bit peer pressured into it. Leaving and joining Monzo was one of the best decisions I ever made, despite the initial cut in pay.”
Winton left Monzo this August and is joining Avra, a venture capital fund founded by former senior partners at Y Combinator, the US VC that backed companies like Stripe and Airbnb. He’s joining Avra a partner and intends to move to the US where he says there’s more potential to invest in companies at the cutting edge of AI.
It’s a strong indication that leaving banking for a role in fintech can be a route to better things. At Monzo, Winton managed investor relations and worked with his new employers who invested in Monzo while they were at Y Combinator. Y Combinator was an early stage investor in Monzo and invested again in the bank after doubts were raised over its cash position during COVID. “I have never had a steeper learning curve,” says Winton.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libellous (in which case it won’t.)
