This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with
more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get
90% off your plan for your first 6 months at
xero.com/highflyers.
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John Willett is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of
Rogo, one of the fastest-growing AI companies in global finance,
used by leading institutions including Lazard, Jefferies,
Rothschild & Co, Moelis and Nomura. Rogo has raised more than
$300 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia,
Thrive and Khosla, was valued at $2 billion in 2026, and John now
leads its expansion across Europe and APAC.
In his first in-depth interview ever, John joins Vidit to tell
the story behind Rogo and the person behind the company. He
reflects on growing up in Connecticut in a family of engineers,
being academically far ahead of his peers, meeting co-founder
Gabe Stengel at Princeton, and experimenting with AI for finance
years before ChatGPT made the category obvious.
John shares how early investor Kevin Ryan convinced them to quit
investment banking and go all in, why Rogo spent its first two
years with little external validation, and how ChatGPT changed
enterprise demand almost overnight. He also explains how Lazard
became the first major customer, what it took to earn the trust
of global banks, and how Rogo evolved from an early product into
a platform tackling some of finance’s most complex workflows.
They also unpack John and Gabe’s co-founder dynamic, why Gabe
became CEO, how Rogo recruits former bankers into operating
roles, and what John has learned scaling the company from roughly
40 to 200 people while building out Europe and APAC.
Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.
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Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com
Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian
Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP
Morgan and more.
Show notes and more episodes here
Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram
Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit
Agarwal directly here
Contact us via our website
This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with
more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get
90% off your plan for your first 6 months at
xero.com/highflyers.
________
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – The Real John Willett
04:33 – Xero
06:01 – The Family of Engineers Behind John
11:11 – Meeting Gabe at Princeton
12:22 – The Idea Before Rogo
17:16 – Building AI Before ChatGPT
18:46 – The Investor Who Told Them to Quit Banking
20:11 – Rogo’s First Fundraising Deck
24:31 – Two Years Nobody Wanted Rogo
27:16 – The ChatGPT Inflection Point
29:16 – Landing Rogo’s First Major Customer
34:11 – When Enterprise AI Started to Click
38:11 – Why Big-Name Customers Matter
43:10 – Deciding Who Should Be CEO
45:22 – Convincing Bankers to Join a Startup
50:09 – US vs Europe vs APAC
55:04 – Scaling Rogo From 40 to 200+People
01:00:04 – Becoming a Better Manager
01:02:44 – Rapid Fire
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The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the
world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance,
government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the
global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27
countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in
Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of
Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures),
Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci
(CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David
Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder,
Eventbrite), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP),
Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z
Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio
(CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian),
Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam
Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John
Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures),
Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis),
Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square
Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese
(Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam
Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle
(CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev
Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High
Commissioner to India).
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