Jiří Koleňák: My name is Jiří Koleňák, and welcome to another episode of the Úspěšní (Successful) podcast, where my guests and I explore the principles and habits that drive their success. Today’s guest is one of the most prominent leaders on the Czech fintech scene—someone who started building tech and financial projects back in high school and today leads Purple Group, an ecosystem bridging finance, technology, and venture investments. David Kašper, CEO and co-founder of Purple Group, has spearheaded projects like Purple Trading, the licensed payment institution Valetory, PayPipes, the educational platform FinTok, and the venture capital firm Purple Ventures. David is also a pioneer of Embedded Finance, enabling founders to scale fintech solutions without navigating complex licensing hurdles. Beyond business, David is an athlete at heart, bringing discipline, technological foresight, and strategic vision to leadership. Today we’ll discuss building a global fintech enterprise from Brno, scaling infrastructure while preserving core cultural values, and leading in the fast-evolving world of financial technology. Welcome to the podcast, David.
David Kašper: Hi Jirka, thanks for having me.
Jiří Koleňák: David, I always start with an icebreaker: what brought you the greatest joy in recent days?
David Kašper: Two things stand out. First, autumn is in full swing—taking a moment to slow down and enjoy the crisp sunshine and colorful leaves brings a warm sense of grounding. Second, I recently invested in electric mobility and arrived today in an electric EQS with a driver. As an executive and founder, it saves me valuable time, and experiencing that technology firsthand gets me genuinely excited.
Jiří Koleňák: That enthusiasm is clear! Take us back to the very beginning: how did you and your high school co-founders step into the world of finance?
David Kašper: We met during high school in the Beskydy region—I came from Frýdlant and the other guys were from Frýdek-Místk. Beyond social hangouts, we kept bumping into each other at retail financial seminars, such as the RM-System trading workshops. We realized we shared a deep passion for financial markets. Initially, our dream was simple: we wanted to trade commodities and financial instruments ourselves.
However, after a few market wins alongside painful trading losses, we realized we weren't wired to sit in front of trading monitors all day executing manual trades. We wanted to build a real business around people. Trading and entrepreneurship require fundamentally different skill sets. We asked ourselves: What if other experts trade, and we build the business infrastructure around them?
Back in 2007–2008, copy trading and strategy-following systems (like PAMM accounts or portfolio management) were virtually non-existent in the retail space. We started sourcing successful global traders with proven track records and connecting them with retail investors wanting to replicate their strategies. We realized we wanted to build an international financial group. To learn how to execute that vision professionally, we moved to Brno together and enrolled at Newton University.
Jiří Koleňák: Do you recall when the mindset shifted from a passionate hobby into an ambition to build a global enterprise?
David Kašper: It crystallized during our university studies. While testing local initiatives in the Czech Republic, our ambitions were naturally global. Partnering early on with international brokerages made thinking globally feel completely natural—especially with my co-founder Filip, who spoke fluent English and had lived abroad.
By our second and third year at university, relying on third-party brokers became an operational bottleneck. When partner brokerages created friction for our clients, we decided: "Let's build our own licensed brokerage so nobody can limit our growth." We raised our initial seed capital from angel investors while taking our final university state exams! I remember taking my final exam in strategic management while my co-founder Kuba was processing our very first client deposits outside the exam hall, and then swapping places. We were young and naive, believing three years of business management studies were enough to conquer the global market. That naivety provided the initial spark to leap, though life taught us tough lessons shortly after.
Jiří Koleňák: I vividly remember you coming up to me after a lecture asking how to formally incorporate a company. It’s one of those stories I love sharing because it captures the essence of what we do at Newton. How did your family and immediate circle react when you announced your goal to build a global financial group?
David Kašper: To be honest, we didn't worry much about external opinions. Our broader families didn't fully grasp what we were building because retail fintech and copy trading were hard to explain back then. Moving from the mountains to fund our own private university education while launching an international business was completely off the traditional path. People found our goals so unconventional that they didn't even try to discourage us. My parents were incredibly supportive—they saw my drive and told me to go for it. Raising seed capital forced us to mature rapidly as we took responsibility for investors, employees, and operations.
Jiří Koleňák: In an interview, you mentioned the motto: "Work the way you want to live." How does that principle shape your corporate culture?
David Kašper: At Newton, the slogan was "Study the way you want to live." Adapting that into "Work the way you want to live" became our guiding principle. I view work as a positive daily activity rather than an obligation. To me, working the way you want to live means showing up with excitement, collaborating with people you respect, and maintaining an inspiring, positive, and cooperative work environment—even when navigating complex operational fires. We intentionally built a company where people genuinely feel good coming to work every day.
Jiří Koleňák: Most investment groups form organically over decades after a core operating business generates excess capital. You set out to build a multi-entity financial group right from the start. What drove that strategy?
David Kašper: Our path evolved in three key phases. First, we launched our strategy-copying platform, followed by establishing an international securities brokerage (Purple Trading). To ensure top-tier service, we couldn't rely on fragile third-party SaaS vendors. When external servers crashed for half a day, leaving clients unable to close positions, an apology from a vendor wasn't acceptable. We founded Purple Technology in Brno as our core engineering hub, bringing critical infrastructure in-house.
Building a synergistic group allowed us to control every critical link in the customer experience. Furthermore, our long-term vision went beyond brokerage services. Back in 2013, we sketched a roadmap on a piece of paper predicting that by 2019–2020 we would launch our own venture capital fund to back tech startups. That dream materialized as Purple Ventures. Having a clear visual roadmap kept us focused through every market cycle.
Jiří Koleňák: Bringing core technology in-house is capital-intensive compared to outsourcing. How did you navigate that trade-off?
David Kašper: Outsourcing allows you to launch quickly, but leaves you vulnerable to third-party outages and limited customizability. Developing proprietary technology via Purple Technology gave us absolute operational control.
However, there is always a balance. In the past, we occasionally resisted third-party software so strongly that we built everything from scratch, which caused us to miss fast-moving market opportunities. Today, we take a hybrid approach: when launching new initiatives (like our educational platform FinTok), we launch rapidly using leading third-party tools, then systematically migrate core workflows in-house as the business scales.
Jiří Koleňák: Let's discuss Embedded Finance. You are recognized as a pioneer in bringing this framework to the region. How would you explain the concept?
David Kašper: Embedded Finance is a major shift reshaping digital services. Consider global platforms like Revolut: they started in payments and systematically embedded crypto trading, stock investing, and wealth management into a single interface. Large global players build those features in-house because they hold multiple regional licenses and deep capital reserves.
For smaller tech companies, budgeting apps, HR platforms, or digital creators with massive audiences, obtaining financial licenses and managing regulatory compliance independently is virtually impossible. Embedded Finance solves this. A budgeting or HR app can integrate investment portfolios or trading features directly into their user interface via APIs.
Purple Group powers this infrastructure. We hold four international securities brokerage licenses, a licensed payment institution (Valetory), and card-processing technology (PayPipes). We handle the regulatory burden, capital requirements, anti-money laundering (AML) protocols, and compliance. Founders can embed our licensed financial services directly into their applications via a seamless, white-label setup, allowing their end-users to trade or invest without ever seeing the complex regulatory engine beneath the surface.
Jiří Koleňák: That model offers incredible leverage for tech founders.
David Kašper: Absolutely. With the rise of AI-assisted "vibecoding," founders will soon build complex applications independently or with lean technical teams. By plugging into embedded finance infrastructure, non-licensed startups can deploy fully compliant financial products instantly.
Jiří Koleňák: Following years of rapid initial expansion, your business faced a major downturn—what entrepreneurs call a "shitstorm" or crisis. How did you navigate that period, and what were the key takeaways?
David Kašper: We faced two major correction periods in our history. The first was a raw, unmanaged crisis that provided our toughest business lessons; the second was a controlled restructuring based on those hard-won insights.
During the global financial crisis of 2008–2011, brokerage activity boomed because high market volatility drives trading volume. As an anti-cyclical business, our copy-trading product grew rapidly between 2011 and 2013. However, we made a classic management error: we over-delegated without implementing rigorous financial controlling or tracking core operational KPIs. We assumed that because the product was great, performance would continue automatically.
When market volatility dropped and several top traders underperformed, our revenue plummeted. Because we lacked real-time financial tracking, we discovered the shortfall far too late. We faced an existential threat: we had to downsize our team abruptly from 40 people to 15, restructure our core product strategy, and pivot our commercial focus.
Parting ways with close friends we had hired right out of university was emotionally devastating. I remember holding transparent company-wide exit meetings, followed by spending days riding my bike in complete isolation to process the mental strain.
Jiří Koleňák: What does executive transparency mean to you?
David Kašper: Transparency operates on two levels. First, personal leadership authenticity—being predictable, clear, and emotionally grounded so your team understands your strategic vision and values. Predictability creates psychological safety.
Second, operational transparency—sharing corporate performance metrics openly. Every quarter, we hold company-wide All-Hands meetings presenting our group financial health, key growth metrics, and strategic direction. However, transparency requires careful framing; dumping uncontextualized financial data onto non-executive staff can create unnecessary anxiety. We present directional trends clearly so the organization stays aligned without drowning in granular accounting noise.
Jiří Koleňák: How do sports and physical discipline help you manage high-stakes executive stress?
David Kašper: Sports are essential to my mental health. Early in my entrepreneurial journey, I stopped exercising entirely—a massive mistake I will never repeat. Today, structured physical conditioning is non-negotiable in my calendar. I schedule weekly coached tennis sessions, run, and do Tabata workouts in our office gym.
Physical discipline provides vital mental relief and presence. Tennis, for example, combines physical exertion with real-time strategic decision-making—you must read the court and react within split seconds continuously. It trains the brain to stay focused under pressure.
Jiří Koleňák: Looking back at that early crisis, what would you do differently today?
David Kašper: I would implement hard financial controlling and KPI tracking from day one. In our early days, we relied almost exclusively on "soft" qualitative intuition. Today, we balance qualitative leadership with real-time financial data, guided by our CFO who joined us as a board member and equity partner.
Second, I would engage an experienced mentor early on. Our early ego and naivety convinced us we could figure everything out alone. A seasoned mentor who had navigated similar crises could have helped us avoid costly missteps.
Jiří Koleňák: You also built a licensed financial platform in Singapore. What drove that expansion into Asia?
David Kašper: Payments are the lifeblood of brokerage operations. To serve our growing Asian client base effectively, establishing a licensed payment institution in Singapore was a strategic imperative. Singapore is to Asia what London is to Europe—the premier regulatory capital.
When we started building there in 2016, a regulatory exemption existed for offshore payment processing. As young, naive founders, we thought: "This will be fast and simple!" Naturally, it wasn't. In 2019, Singapore introduced the Payment Services Act, creating one of the most stringent payment regulatory frameworks globally. Rather than pulling back, we doubled down on capital investment, met the rigorous compliance standards, and secured the license as an early pioneer. It deepened client trust, expanded our embedded finance footprint in Asia, and reinforced our global positioning.
Jiří Koleňák: How do you define personal success today?
David Kašper: I view success through an internal lens rather than external validation. To me, personal success means conceptualizing a bold long-term vision and relentlessly executing it over 5 to 10 years until it becomes reality. External metrics, media visibility, or public recognition are merely side effects. True fulfillment comes from internal alignment—knowing you realized the vision you set out to build.
Furthermore, I measure sustained success across three pillars—the ELS Framework:
- Economic Success: Securing long-term financial stability for my family, investors, and enterprise.
- Human Success (Lidský): Cultivating self-awareness, emotional maturity, healthy relationships, and personal alignment.
- Social Success: Giving back through mentorship, philanthropic capital, and societal impact.
Jiří Koleňák: Philanthropy is integral to Purple Group through the Purple Foundation and Purple Ventures. How do you approach giving back?
David Kašper: All three co-founders share a natural commitment to giving back. Through the Purple Foundation, managed by our colleague Danka, we support local community initiatives near our global offices—from Central Europe to Central America.
On a personal level, I support causes that ignite my personal passion. For instance, as an avid tennis player, I hated seeing worn tennis balls end up in landfills. When a founder approached me with a project to collect and recycle tennis balls into industrial insulation across Czechia, I backed it immediately. They've already recycled over half a million tennis balls nationwide. When an initiative aligns with your personal values, supporting it is effortless.
Jiří Koleňák: What advice would you offer emerging founders entering the fintech space?
David Kašper: Carefully evaluate whether you need to build a regulated or unregulated fintech product. Operating a regulated entity is capital-heavy and labor-intensive. In a regulated financial institution, half your headcount exists purely to manage compliance, AML protocols, and regulatory reporting—which generates zero direct revenue. If you can build your value proposition using an Embedded Finance partner who already holds the regulatory licenses, you can focus 100% of your energy and capital on product innovation, user experience, and customer acquisition.
Jiří Koleňák: Describe your ideal daily routine.
David Kašper: I wake up naturally around 6:00 AM without an alarm, enjoying a quiet "slow morning" with my wife. By 8:00 AM, I spend two uninterrupted hours doing deep, focused work on high-priority strategic projects.
From 10:00 AM to noon, I do physical training—typically tennis. Afternoons are reserved for executive meetings, strategic alignments, and philanthropic projects. Evening routines are calm: reading, spending quality time with my wife, doing a set of push-ups, drinking relaxing tea, and going to bed by 10:00 PM to ensure restorative sleep.
Jiří Koleňák: Is there a question you’ve never been asked in an interview that you’d love to answer?
David Kašper: A philosophical question: "What truly drives you?"
For years, I assumed my drive stemmed purely from positive forces—vision, passion, education, and building great businesses. Recently, through therapy and deep self-reflection, I’ve started exploring the underlying subconscious drivers—past anxieties, childhood patterns, or fears of failure that unconsciously push us to achieve. Uncovering those underlying layers has been a deeply transformative personal growth journey, making me a more complete, grounded human being and executive.
Jiří Koleňák: That is a profound note to end on. David, thank you very much for accepting our invitation and sharing your inspiring journey and experience.
David Kašper: Thank you very much for having me, Jirka. It’s always a pleasure talking with you.
Jiří Koleňák: To our viewers, thank you for watching. Please like, comment, and share, and see you next time with more inspiring guests!
