Bootstrapping a FinTech Startup by Piggybacking with Services: Quavo Co-Founder David Chmielewski (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Why were you looking for remote work?

David Chmielewski: I had found my wife at Auto Owners, got married, and didn’t want to leave. I grew up in Michigan. I still live there. I wanted to have the ability to spread my wings a little bit, but I knew it wasn’t necessarily going to be an option to stay in Michigan with an on-premise job. I found this remote job.

Sramana Mitra: How did you find a remote job back then?

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Best of Bootstrapping: From Laid-off Engineer to Successful Startup Co-founder

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Michelle Munson is Co-founder of Aspera, a company she began after being laid off. Aspera was her realization that she could not only control her own career path, but also create jobs for other people in a culture she established. I hope this conversation from 2009 inspires everyone who has been let go by their employers. Aspera was acquired by IBM in 2017.

SM: Michelle, where does your story begin?

MM: I grew up in Kansas, on a farm. My family is a five-generation farm family that raises Angus cattle as well as wheat, corn and soybeans. There is a long-standing family tradition in both the line of business and the location. My mom is a retired university professor. I grew up in Kansas, went to school there and went to college at Kansas State University. That is an interesting point with me; I was accepted to MIT and went to Kansas State.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Dheeraj Pandey, Founder of Nutanix (Part 1)

Dheeraj Pandey, founder of Nutanix and DevRev. The conversation spans a variety of topics and has some brilliant insights into the gaps in the tech industry.

Sramana Mitra: We’re going to continue the conversation we’ve had where we talked about his background as a founder of a successful high-growth company. We’re going to talk about investment today. Let’s start by however you want to introduce yourself and your companies.

Video FAQs

Bootstrapping a FinTech Startup by Piggybacking with Services: Quavo Co-Founder David Chmielewski (Part 1)

Dave transitioned from a developer to an entrepreneur by leveraging his solid domain knowledge in a particular area of FinTech: dispute resolution for credit card transactions. He and his co-founders effectively used bootstrapping using services and piggybacked on the Pega Systems platform. Read on to learn more about his journey.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Catching Up On Readings: Web3

This feature from CB Insights looks at all aspects of Web3 including DeFi and NFTs. It also gives an in-depth insight into its impact on the digital economy. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

September 22 – 591st 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 591st FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, September 22, 2022, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST.

If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!

590th Roundtable Recording

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

Roundtable Recap: September 15 – B-to-C App Financing

During this week’s roundtable, we had a  pitch from a B-to-C app company that wants to raise financing off the bat. We had Raj Yadav from Prayagraj, India, pitching CureAI, a digital health app. The entire discussion was around ideal strategies to address the chicken and egg of B-to-C app startups.

You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

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