There are moments in the year when people are unusually open. Open to reflection, open to resetting habits, open to imagining a different version of themselves than the one shaped by the exhaustion of the past twelve months. The start of a new year is one of those moments. It’s when people decide they’ll take better care of their health, rethink how they spend their time, or finally act on something they’ve been putting off. For entrepreneurs especially, it’s also a time to leave behind the weight of the previous year and step forward with a clearer slate. What most aren’t looking for is motivation. What they’re really looking for is perspective.
That’s why this conversation matters.
Spending time with Balázs Vinnai felt less like a traditional interview and more like a reminder of what sustained thinking looks like. Not the loud, performative version of success that dominates headlines, but the quieter kind built over time. The kind shaped by curiosity, patience, and a willingness to keep learning, even after achieving real scale.
Balázs grew up in Miskolc, a small industrial city in northeastern Hungary, far from the usual centers of global business. And yet, from there, he went on to help shape digital banking systems used by institutions and customers around the world. He didn’t get there by chasing trends, but by paying attention early, experimenting before things were obvious, failing when the technology wasn’t ready, and staying positioned for when it finally was.
What stood out most wasn’t just what he built, but how he talks about building. He speaks about people and teams more than titles. About finding and developing talent. About education. About why motivation matters more than raw intelligence. He’s just as comfortable talking about riding bicycles or mentoring young founders as he is discussing technology or global systems. There’s a groundedness to the way he sees the world, a belief that progress comes not from sprinting, but from staying in the game long enough to recognize patterns.
That kind of perspective doesn’t expire. It holds whether you encounter it today, next year, or much later.
This is why the conversation feels right at the start of a new year. It isn’t about looking back. It’s about resetting forward. About hearing from someone who understands both ambition and patience, who has lived through multiple waves of change and still chooses curiosity over cynicism. Someone who built globally from a place most people wouldn’t expect and never lost sight of the human side of the work.
This article offers a window into that mindset, but the full picture lives in the interview itself. If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to watch the video in its entirety. It’s presented unedited, exactly as the conversation happened, and there’s real value in sitting with the full exchange, hearing the pauses and nuance that don’t always translate on the page.
Whether you read this, watch the interview, or do both, my hope is that it gives you something steady to stand on as you step into what’s next. Not a formula. Not a promise. Just perspective.
Enjoy the interview, and here’s to a happy, focused, and successful new year.