Who this is
Erik Podzuweit co-founded Scalable Capital in 2014 with Florian Prucker, Adam French and Prof. Dr. Stefan Mittnik and runs the company today as co-CEO. What started as a digital wealth manager became a broker and is now a fully licensed bank, with more than 60 billion euros in client assets on the platform and close to 1,000 people. Before founding the company, Erik spent seven years at Goldman Sachs in London and Frankfurt. His father was an entrepreneur himself who always financed his company out of cash flow, and Erik says a love of freedom and a certain fearlessness are what he took from him.
Episodes
Numbers from the episode
FAQ
What can ChatGPT do in a Scalable Capital account, and what can't it do?
Scalable Capital runs an MCP server and a CLI that let you connect agents such as ChatGPT, Claude or Grok to your securities account. The AI can analyse your portfolio, curate news about it and trigger purchases, for example a whole basket of stocks in one step. It cannot withdraw or transfer money. You have to enable the feature yourself, and it currently applies to the entire securities account. A dedicated sub-account where only the agent may trade is planned. To the episode →
What does Erik Podzuweit mean by agentic investing?
At Scalable, agentic investing means an AI agent becomes your personal financial coach that knows your situation, goals and risk tolerance and can execute orders for you. It explicitly does not mean the AI finds the stocks that are certain to rise. Erik calls that voodoo, because no software can predict the future. In his tests the AI keeps steering back to a conservative approach: diversify broadly, keep costs low, invest in index funds. To the episode →
Why did Scalable Capital build its own core banking system?
Scalable is the price leader in most of its segments. To offer the best price and still earn a positive margin, the company, according to Erik, has to own the entire core value chain: core banking system, banking licence and its own trading. Almost half the company worked on it for three years and the cost runs into the hundreds of millions. In return, marginal costs per customer and trade are now very low, new products can be offered cheaply and new competitors have a harder time. To the episode →
What does Germany's new retirement savings account offer, according to Erik Podzuweit?
The retirement savings account (Altersvorsorgedepot) is essentially a securities account for funds, exchange-traded index funds and ELTIFs that you pay into until retirement. The state adds a tiered allowance: a maximum of 540 euros per year on 1,800 euros paid in, plus 300 euros per child. Returns and reallocations stay tax-free until retirement; tax is due on payout. From age 65, Erik says, you can withdraw 30 percent at once, with the rest paid out in instalments until 85. To the episode →
How does Erik Podzuweit deal with doubts about senior leaders?
Erik quotes another founder: as soon as you doubt them, it's game over. With junior people you can develop a lot. With senior people who work directly with the CEO, serious doubt, in his experience, cannot be fixed in nine out of ten cases. Then it is better to make the hard call. Feliks adds that he has never had the experience of parting ways with someone too early. To the episode →
Quotes
„Und die ehrlichste Antwort ist: we will see. Wir müssen, glaube ich, da vorne mit dabei sein. Du kannst nicht zu lange warten.““And the most honest answer is: we will see. I think we have to be right at the front. You can't wait too long.”
„Und deswegen ist die Erwartungshaltung, such mir nur die Aktien raus, die steigen, die ist das Voodoo, so darf man da nicht rangehen.““So the expectation of 'just pick me the stocks that go up' is voodoo. That's not the way to approach it.”
„Wenn du einen scharfen Preis hast, einen Top-Preis und willst trotzdem noch eine positive Marge haben, dann musst du die gesamte Kern-Value Chain in deinem Business besitzen.““If you have a sharp price, a top price, and still want a positive margin, you have to own the entire core value chain in your business.”
„… Vertrauen bildet sich dann, wenn du machst, was du sagst.““Trust forms when you do what you say.”
„… entweder muss man extrem naiv sein. Oder halt auch unerschrocken, sonst gründest du so eine Firma nicht.““You either have to be extremely naive or simply fearless, otherwise you don't start a company like this.”