I built a billion dollar company in 18 months

About this video

Eric Lyman, co-founder of Ramp, joins Sam and Shaan to discuss how he and his co-founder set an audacious goal to build a billion-dollar company in 18 months and actually achieved it. The episode covers Ramp’s business model in the corporate card and financial services space, Eric’s journey exploring other startup ideas before landing on Ramp, the history and economics of credit cards in America, and lessons on building fast-growing companies while maintaining emotional balance and long-term thinking.

Key takeaways

• Eric and his co-founder Kareem set an explicit goal to reach a $1 billion valuation in 18 months before starting Ramp, reverse-engineered the path to get there, and achieved it in less than two years (March 2019 incorporation to 2021 valuation of $8.1 billion); the company grew from ~$10M run rate to nearly $100M in revenue in approximately 15-17 months
• Ramp’s business model leverages interchange fees from corporate card transactions; Eric explains the complex payment flow where Visa/Mastercard, merchant banks, and the card issuer (Ramp) each take small percentages, with issuers traditionally capturing most of the interchange due to credit risk they assume
• Eric explored several other startup ideas including manufactured housing and crypto before returning to the financial services space he knew from his time at Capital One, ultimately deciding that domain expertise and existing relationships in the card/co-brand business gave Ramp a defensible edge
• Fast growth requires extreme focus on only one or two key priorities rather than attempting everything; Eric prioritizes finding people who find joy in their craft rather than pushing them to burnout, and regularly redesigns his calendar to ensure he’s spending time on things he’s genuinely good at and enjoys
• Eric attributes his emotional stability despite early-stage anxiety to childhood experiences with his brother’s mood swings and parents’ intentional conflict-resolution practices; he practices emotional regulation by meditating, reading stoicism (Ryan Holiday, Marcus Aurelius), and resetting throughout the day rather than letting bad moments cascade

Episode details: published August 20, 2025 · 42K views · 49:19 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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