Brex alumni Michael Tannenbaum joined Brex before it even had a name. Attracted to our founders’ dream-big mindset, he jumped onboard and did whatever it took to help scale the company, serving as both COO and CFO during his tenure. The intensity of those years shaped him and helped launch him to where he is today — the CEO of Figure, a company he just took public, reflecting his own drive and the lessons he carried forward from Brex.

From kitchen conversations to hypergrowth

Michael joined Brex when it was still an idea. “We started in a kitchen,” he recalls. “I basically did whatever needed to get done, like setting up the first office and the furniture, opening bank relationships, handling capital markets, even leading the first marketing launch in 2018.” That launch was an iconic San Francisco billboard takeover that put Brex on the map, and it embodied the scrappy mindset required at Brex.

“Brex’s growth was so rapid that we all had to do things we hadn’t done before," Michael shares. "You teach yourself quickly and use whatever experience you have to execute.” For Michael, that meant pitching in across functions and roles before ultimately focusing on finance and operations as Brex’s CFO and COO, guiding the company through years of explosive growth.

Dreaming big, with ambition and care

What attracted Michael to Brex in the first place was the scope of the vision. “Brex was a big idea,” he says. “I understood the product from my time at SoFi, and I really connected with Henrique and Pedro. They had a big vision, believed in talent and hard work, and were aiming for something really big. That concept of ‘dream big,’ which is one of Brex’s values, stood out to me.”

Brex’s culture was intense, a word Michael uses to sum it up. And he thrived in that environment. “Brex tends to attract people who are self-sufficient, ambitious, and independent, but also thoughtful,” he says. “It’s a regulated space where people are trusting us with their money and their employees. That requires care alongside ambition.”

Learning through autonomy and unity

One of the most defining aspects of Michael’s Brex chapter was autonomy. “We had the boundaries of our values and mission, but a lot of freedom to pursue projects and growth in different avenues,” he says. That autonomy allowed him to hire strong leaders, give them space to surpass him, and see them succeed even in his absence.

It also prompted him to re-evaluate his view on company culture. At the beginning, Michael admits he didn’t come to the table with a “one team” mentality. “I had the mindset to push community mostly within my own functions, like finance, capital markets, marketing. But Henrique and Pedro didn’t want that at Brex. They wanted unity across the company. Over time, that changed how I thought about culture and collaboration.” The value of One Brex lives on today.

Leveling up in crisis, forged by fire

A key moment when Michael felt the One Brex value in full effect, unlocking a new level of growth not just for him but the company, was the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023. “There was so much happening all at once — concern about our own capital, customers needing support, fraud, credit, partnerships, capital markets, all at the same time. And it all happened over a weekend,” he recalls.

Mobilizing teams across those competing priorities and delivering stability and security in that moment was a turning point. “I’d never experienced anything like it,” Michael says. “That was when I thought: wow, we really leveled up here.”

Enduring lessons in how to build and lead

At Brex, Michael also learned to think like a builder. “Building was a very iterative process at Brex,” he says. “Get something out quickly, get feedback, and keep improving it. That was true for Brex’s corporate card, the Brex cash management account, and everything else.”

He also learned the discipline of first principles, sharing: “The natural way at Brex was to break down a problem into a document, look at it logically, and then decide where to go. That’s something I’ve taken with me into every leadership role.”

Those habits of rapid iteration and first-principled thinking have become part of how he now leads at Figure.

Closing a chapter, opening another

Michael left Brex in early 2024, after an incredible seven-year run helping to build the company into what it is today. “Leaving Brex meant closing a very long and fun chapter with a lot of learning and a lot of promise about the future,” he says.

Now, as CEO of Figure, Michael has taken his post-Brex journey all the way to the public markets. In September 2025, Figure completed its IPO under the ticker FIGR, raising $787.5 million, with the company’s valuation landing around $5.29 billion at the offering.

But for Michael, the IPO isn’t just a financial milestone, it’s proof that the lessons he learned at Brex endured. Mobilizing teams, balancing customer needs and capital risk, and executing under pressure were training ground for this moment.

“Because of Brex, I was ready to be a CEO,” he says. “Brex was a launchpad.”

Be the founder of your career

Growth at Brex doesn’t come from climbing a ladder. It comes from doing hard things, learning fast, earning trust, and showing up where you’re needed most.

Here, Michael learned how to build, how to lead, and how to think like a founder. Those lessons didn’t just shape his time at Brex, they launched him into his next chapter.

If you’re ready to write yours, Brex is the place to do it. Explore opportunities with us.