FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that NAGA Group founder, former CEO and most recently Chief Information Officer (CIO) Ben Bilski is leaving the company.
Ben Bilski created social trading focused NAGA Group (ETR:N4G), and its main naga.com and nagamarkets.com websites, out of an initial idea called SwipeStox, meant to be an app that connects people to “swipe” and copy one another’s trades – sort of a Tinder for finance. He effectively ran the company from its founding in 2015 until last summer, when he was replaced as CEO by Michael Milonas, as NAGA’s shares tumbled amid concerns of falling revenues, large losses, overspending, and crippling debt coming due.
NAGA Group came to an agreement to be acquired by rival broker Capex.com late last year (still pending regulatory approval), with Capex.com shareholders led by Octavian Patrascu agreeing to put more cash into the company. At the time of the Capex.com-NAGA acquisition announcement we explained that Octavian Patrascu was going to become the new CEO of the combined entity, while many of the existing NAGA management were likely to leave – which seems to be starting now with Mr. Bilski’s departure.
Ben Bilski – who now shows his LinkedIn status as “Founder – Stealth Mode” and being based out of Dubai – posted the following note today on social media regarding his departure from the company he started:
Farewell NAGA 👋
Almost 10 years – What a ride! 🚀
We are writing November 25th, 2014. I suffer from 40 degrees of fever. Student dorm Amsterdam. My bed: An inflatable address. My monthly budget: $1,000…
But I had this one idea…
“SwipeStox is The Tinder for Stock Trading”. Instead of swiping for love, you ll swipe for money”.
A super app that connects people to swipe and copy their trades. Little have I known what a crazy story would await me…
This whitepaper and simple powerpoint mockups created the fundament for an almost 10 year long journey which later shall become a Public Listed Company in Germany. Employing in its peak time close to 350 people and raising close to $100 Million in investment whilst hitting a peak valuation of $500 million.
To describe NAGA, and all what I experienced would definitely warrant writing a book rather than a post here or anywhere else. 🙃
I have learnt so much. I have done amazing things, i have done wrong things. I have suffered, i have enjoyed. I have cried and laughed. My mind was racing constantly only around NAGA. The unicorn emoji was always in the top 5 on my keyboard. 🦄
Sometimes I felt like in a movie, jetting from meeting with investment banks and billionaires to conferences speaking in front of thousands of people whilst in parallel managing expansion, teams and pushing every day for more. I have experienced the high and the lows twice within 5 years.
Every pitch, every presentation, every rejection and every investment – i will never forget any single of them as they have taught me more to than any book, mentor or school could have.
Our industry is often considered tough. The pinnacle of capitalism. However, its filled with loads of complexity, intelligence and pragmatism powered by incredibly smart people.
NAGA went through a transformation and found a new home lead by amazingly talented entrepreneurs and executives. The new team will make the company reach new heights and I am
100% confident. The product and technology which we built under my product leadership is unique, powerful and the baseline for the future. I will be forever proud of the nights we spent brainstorming, developing and releasing. It was addictive.Even though as core founder, I never owned more than 10% of NAGA, I treated it as if its all mine and have shown always 100% full scale commitment towards my job. Sometimes I loaded a bit too much on my shoulders 😅.I cant hide the fact that such limited ownership makes you then rethink future perspectives, but that’s how business is!
Again, I want to say thanks to everyone I met on this journey, every person with whom I worked. Everyone with whom I had success and failure. Every argument, every good conversation. Every up and every down.
I will always support NAGA even beyond my departure.
Now, I will move on and I will keep creating, building and pushing 🚀🦄🔥
If you want to work with me or invest in my new projects, just hit me up with a DM 💪
Ben
