Chris Maurice On Raising $57 Million To Help You Make Instant And Cheap Cross-Border Payments

Chris Maurice has built a disruptive fintech serving the people of Africa. A startup that has already raised close to $60M as it strives to make peer-to-peer payments even more affordable for everyone. The venture, Yellow Card, attracted funding from top-tier investors like Polychain, Valar Ventures, Pat Duffy, and Third Prime.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Which crypto Chris Maurice says he wishes he could go back in time and buy more of
• Helping to establish and craft regulation instead of hiding from it
• What will help crypto keep growing as the winter thaws

SUBSCRIBE ON:

See NordPass Business in action now with a 3-month free trial here https://nordpass.com/panthera with code panthera

Also Wingman is sponsoring this podcast. Visit https://www.trywingman.com/dealmakers for more details!

Partnerhero: to waive set up fees, go to http://partnerhero.com/dealmakers and mention “DealMakers” during onboarding!

If you are struggling with projects, sign up for Basecamp. Their pricing is simple and they give you ALL their features in a single plan. No upsells. No upgrades. Go to basecamp.com/dealmakers and try Basecamp for free. No credit card required and cancel anytime. Thank you, Basecamp for sponsoring this episode!

For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash.

Moreover, I also provided a commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400 million (see it here).

Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

About Chris Maurice:

Chris Maurice is an entrepreneur, writer, and public speaker who has led early developments in emerging industries and markets. He is the CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card, Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which, in 2021, raised the largest Series A round for any African crypto company.

Chris is continuing to expand Yellow Card’s presence across 14 countries on the continent and beyond. He has spoken everywhere, from the U.S. to Ethiopia, sharing insights into digital currencies with a particular focus on the African continent.

Chris’s entrepreneurial ventures started in high school, paying his way through college, selling Pokemon cards online, and ghostwriting for over 200 publications. He started his fall down the crypto rabbit hole in 2013, which led him to sell Bitcoin out of a network of Taco Bells before starting Yellow Card.

He graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in Finance. In his free time, he volunteers at a summer camp for mentally handicapped children and adults in Alabama. He also holds a Black Belt in Taekwondo and has been named an Eagle Scout.

Connect with Chris Maurice:

• Crunchbase
• LinkedIn
• ZoomInfo
• Rocketreach

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: Alrighty hello everyone and welcome to the deal maker show. So super excited about the guests that we have today. We’re gonna be learning quite a bit about building and scaling but also incredible. You know how he has been traveling around the world. The distributed workforce that he has and and many other things that I’m sure you’re all going to enjoy very much so I guess without fardo. Let’s welcome our guest today Chris Maurice welcome to the show. So originally born in New Orleans and they obviously you know quite a.

Chris Maurice: Ah, thank you Sir It’s good to be here.

Alejandro Cremades: Interesting you know, upbringing and and I love you know for you to kind of like walk us through it like a little of a memory I walk through memory lane. How was life growing up there in New Orleans

Chris Maurice: Oh man, New Orleans is ah New Orleans is an incredible city I highly recommend it to anybody out there. That’s looking for a good time. Not a great place for business. Um, maybe that’ll change one day but a hell of a place for restaurants and tourism.

Alejandro Cremades: That’s amazing. So so you work for there quite a while I mean you didn’t move much until university.

Chris Maurice: I no no, no, no, no, the family was pretty stable. We stayed in and around the New Orleans area I basically spent the first eighteen years of my life in Southern Louisiana so I think I I mean hell before starting the company I’d been on a plane 4 times in my life.

Alejandro Cremades: So.

Chris Maurice: So my entire idea of the world was basically shaped by Southern Louisiana

Alejandro Cremades: So It sounds like being there. You’re quite, you were quite in the known like in in the certainty you know, like kind of stuff like what got you into problem solving into this. You know, excitedness for traveling around the world building companies I Mean. Did you have anyone in your family The Western entrepreneur or or how did that come about.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, my ah, my dad and his grandfather. So my great-grafather. So my father and my great-grandfa were both I quite entrepreneurial and it. So I think I think that’s. I mean if I had to credit somewhere that it that it comes from I think it comes from you know, certainly like that part of a family. Um, and yeah I mean the the whole travel piece came much later right? I mean as as any good american I did I never had a passport right? And so um. The you know the idea of traveling. Never even you know really crossed my mind right anywhere that I would go had to be accessible by cars. So um, yeah, but I mean I think for like entrepreneur sort of what the entrepreneurial spirit or however, you want to call it i. Sort of sprung up in fifth grade. So I would have been what about let’s call it like 11 um, and I I started selling Pokemon Cards online and that was I did that for actually a number of years. That’s that’s basically how I paid my way through college was. Selling pokemon cards on the internet. Ah.

Alejandro Cremades: My God I mean some of those pokemon cars you know can get you know, really expensive. We’re talking in the millions.

Chris Maurice: Ah, my brother I’m telling you the my biggest regret is that I was about 10 years too early on the pokemon craze man that’s I after like during and after covid it is it is boomed I should just held it on to all of them.

Alejandro Cremades: Ah, hundred percent yeah no kidding no kidding now now in your case, you go to Alabama to to do your studies. Obviously the first time that you get out of the comfort zone of New Orleans and then you know you go there to Alabama and that actually. During that period of your of your college is when you came up with the idea of yellow cards. So how was that the a process like of um, you know because as they say I you know they’re Doormant. You know we don’t even know that they’re there. They take time to incubate. So how is that process of. Of the idea coming you know to you and then you’re thinking hey I got to bring this to life.

Chris Maurice: yeah yeah so I yeah I went to I went to Auburn in in in Alabama for for university and I think um I mean big big credit to some of the efforts that the school started at the time right? they started.

Chris Maurice: During my what freshman or sophomore year and then has now you know continued since is um Auburn really put a focus on.

Chris Maurice: Entrepreneur entrepreneurship right? and and they had they had a major for entrepreneurship and they they started. You know some student entrepreneur competitions and incubators and all of that right? and so there there really was a um. How do you say a push at Auburn for you know for students to sort of chase that entrepreneurial spirit right? and um, yeah, and I mean I we certainly would not be where we are today if it weren’t for the sort of initial push that they gave us. And the you know just the the help and encouragement that they gave us along the way. Um, yeah I mean look there’s not a ton of companies that have come out of Auburn. Um, but what I will say is that any and all that are coming out. It’s it’s definitely thanks to. The fact that they’re trying to provide those resources and that encouragement right? That’s that’s really all it takes right? Is you you need you know you need somebody that wants to chase that dream and then you just need you know a group or person. That’s that’s you know, willing to encourage it right.

Alejandro Cremades: So let’s talk about that process of coming out I mean how how did how did the whole thing come out I mean what was that the what was that journey like that process of of coming up with with the concept and and then say hey you know let’s we’re ready here to to get going. So.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, yeah, I mean so we we tried we tried a number of a number of things that didn’t work right? So I I think I think to to back up a little so I got into bitcoin around 2013 so right before I started university um. Justin my my now cofounder is a big nerd right? and so he was you know scouring web forums back in the day and you know very into very into bitcoin and um I you know? yeah, followed like the and the early community very closely. Um, and that was all he wanted to talk about back then was was bitcoin. Um, and so eventually he had sold me on it and we tried a number of things that did not work. We lost a lot of money trying to you know, find some sort of foothold in the cryptup industry. And um, yeah, you know what? what we eventually landed on and I you know sort of brought up through the like the auburn accelerator and and all of that was. The the initial idea for yellow card which was that we were going to take a gift card put it in Cbs Walmart places like that. You’d be able to walk in buy this gift card redeem it for crypto and and you know we started building this out and one day we met a Nigerian guy at a Wells Fargo who was sending two hundred bucks to his family.

Chris Maurice: And the bank charged him $90 to send 200 to to Nigeria and and you know we thought you know wow that’s that’s absurd right um and so basically went and talk to this guy right? Hey have you heard a bitcoin. it’s you know it’s free it’s instant it’s fun all this great stuff and went home and and. Basically asked myself. You know what would what would this guy’s mom do with $200 worth of bitcoin right? So we’ve solved the middle of the problem I can send you money whether you’re in new york or nigeria or wherever you are in the world. But then what are you going to do with that. Right in the us there are options right? I can sell that on coinbase. But I you know I can’t it’s it’s very difficult to natively pay your bills in crypto right? The gas companies don’t generally accept crypto. You know, even in san francisco you’d have a hard time paying your rent in it and so. Yeah, that was that was sort of the problem that really presented itself and that I started thinking through is is you know what’s what’s his family actually going to do with this money and I I don’t think I knew where nigeria was on a map at the time. Um, they don’t teach you nearly as much about africa as you might think they do in the louisiana education system but I I set out to just understand everything that I could and so I start doing all of this research and and you know just trying to learn more and I eventually I realized you know okay look if I if I really want to understand the country and the continent.

Chris Maurice: Um, then I just need to speak to somebody from there and so I I put out this ad online that I you know basically said looking to speak to you know nigerians online right? Which in in hindsight probably wasn’t the best approach right? But um I you know I end up by I end up. You know meeting and talking to this guy right? and you know we we hit it off and um, within ah within about a month and a half of meeting this random nigerian man on the internet. He convinced me to go get my passport and take the first international flight of my life. So like I said I’ve been on a plane maybe 4 times in my life at this point. And this guy convinces me four days after graduating college on a six day old passport to fly to lagos with no visa no shots and a 1 ne-way ticket and I spent all of our money on this on this trip and so literally landed in Nigeria with the options of either make the business work. Or live in Nigeria for the rest of my life. Um, well I ben I mean from from there right? it I think the the big thing that we discovered is that.

Alejandro Cremades: Right? So then what happened next.

Chris Maurice: The sort of the problem. The problem that we set out to solve was you know? Okay, how does this guy get money to his family on the content and without you know, paying an arm and leg to somebody like wells fargo right? and that was that was basically that was what we had set up to solve and I think what we learned. From that trip is that the world does not need another remittance company there. There are 1000000 of them already. There’s you know Western Union and moneygram and transferwise and you know I mean I think everybody on earth can name at least 3 and so you know we learned very quickly into the trip. That there’s no need for another remittance company right? What what Nigeria and and you know Africa more broadly needs is just on and offramps to be able to actually access and redeem value from crypto right? and from this this broader crypto ecosystem. And so whereas we we sort of thought that what we were going to be building was a tool for people to be able to send money what we ended up realizing is that’s not that’s not it at all right? What we actually need is just the ability for people to be able to buy and sell crypto right? be able to on and off-ramp and so that’s. That’s what we came to and that’s that’s what we you know, immediately pivoted towards and started building right? and um, yeah I mean obviously you know skipping some steps here right? But now we’re the you know the largest crypto exchange on the content and and it’s because that was.

Chris Maurice: That was what we narrowed the focus on is is that exchange piece locally rather than trying to deal with the you know international processing right? crypto does that naturally bitcoin I can send bitcoin to anybody in the world right now right? So bitcoin and crypto more broadly already takes care of that. Um, and so what we are now and what we started and then are still hyper. Focused on is that that on and offramp piece.

Alejandro Cremades: Now for the people that are listening to really get it. What ended up being the business model of yellow card. How do you guys make money.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, you could think of us very similar to cache app or coinbase right? So a a very simple straightforward user experience right? mobile first very mobile friendly. Where basically you download the app right. You you know you sign up for an account and then you can load fiat right? So I load you know my local currency in any country on the content that we support we support 16 countries across Africa. I I load my local fiat through cash through mobile money through bank transfer. Whatever I have and then I can buy bitcoin buy usdt buy usdc buy ethereum right? works the same way in reverse. So if I have that crypto I can receive it on my wallet. I can sell it for fiat and then I can have that fiat sent out immediately to a mobile money number in Kenya I can have it sent to a bank account in Zombia right? And so it’s it’s that’s really the business is is those on and off-ramps right? How do you get people into crypto and how do you get people back out of crypto into the local. Comedy.

Alejandro Cremades: And in terms of um, you know the team I know that you have ah quite a distributed workforce I mean in 21 countries I mean you’ve been in in in laoss in Nigeria then you went to Atlanta now you’re in Barcelona I mean how at what point did you guys you know realize hey we can. We can have people all over the place here and you know with that type of flexibility and then also how do you go about doing that so that there’s actual culture. So.

Chris Maurice: yeah yeah I mean to be to be honest, there was no point of realization. It was more a I had you say a global pandemic that that forced our hand right? So I mean we are. We are fully a covid company. Um, I mean we started you know I mean look what we shifted to Africa in 2018 I we launched in June of 2019 and so I mean we launched what seven eight months before the world ended right? And so um. Yeah, and I mean you know the first the first couple months were slow right? And so I mean we when we were really starting to pick up. It was about the time that you know covid was was kicking off and it was looking like wow things are really going to you know, get bad here and um, yeah I mean so it was it was never it was never a point of. Um, you know oh we can actually do this. It was more a point of like oh there’s no such thing as offices anymore. So it doesn’t we can hire from anywhere right? It doesn’t matter where people are because you know it’s a new world right? and. I think obviously you know now I mean you know like covid’s over and and the world is open back up but it it really hasn’t changed our approach right? We think that you know we’re going to find the best talent wherever that best talent is in the world and and that’s that’s who and where we’re going to hire.

Chris Maurice: And so what that’s led to is we now have over 200 people in 21 countries right? I what 18 countries in Africa and then the us u k and and Poland right? And so. I yeah I mean you know fully remote fully spread. We have offices in each country that I you know that people have the option of going to but I I don’t like going to an office and so frankly I’m not going to make anybody else go to an office.

Alejandro Cremades: There you go now in terms of obviously a lot of people How how did you guys go about the capital ah racing side I mean how how much capital have you guys raised to date and what has been the journey with that.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, so to date we are post series b we’ve raised 57,000,000 total. Um, and yeah I mean I think I I think you know looking looking back at like the first checks in. What I would say is that raising money for a company focused on the african continent is difficult to put it politely right um.

Chris Maurice: I’m not sure if cursing is allowed on the podcast. Otherwise I’d use some more choice language when it comes to the describing The yeah the process. But um, yeah I mean it’s it. You know, especially especially in a pre covered world right in a in a pre.

Alejandro Cremades: 3 alright.

Chris Maurice: Jack Dorsey visiting Nigeria and and Ethiopia and Ghana and South Africa world um there was not much understanding even in Silicon Valley and in in sort of the ah the you know the broader. Um, how do you say investment scene right. In the broader vc scene in terms of Africa and so for a lot of for a lot of the um for a lot of the had you say effort and everything that we would put in all the pitches that I’d be running around doing. A lot of it didn’t amount to anything and and I think what we what we ended up realizing is you know look I’m I’m spending more time trying to fundraise than I am growing the business right now and the moment that I shifted that the moment that I said I’m going to stop fundraising and I’m going to focus on growing. This is really the moment that everything changed for fundraising right? It’s it’s sort of the old adage of as soon as you don’t need money. Everybody wants to give you money? um. And and so yeah I mean we just we focused on. Okay, how do we build a business that can be cash flow positive right? And how do we make sure that we can you know hit payroll and actually start paying ourselves without.

Chris Maurice: Having to rely on. You know, vcs or any external funding and that’s that’s exactly what we did right? We built the business in a scalable sustainable way. Um, where yeah we were able to earn revenue we were able to you know maintain you know cash flow positive in the in the early days so that we could survive right? it was it was basically out of necessity and then it it got to the point where um, you know vcs couldn’t ignore the couldn’t ignore the growth anymore they couldn’t ignore the the user growth the the revenue growth all of that. And yeah, and then you know we were able to close out the seed round and then and that was what mid 2020 that we were able to close out the seed round with with polychain and then from there I mean we had like guys like coinbase coinbase ventures and blockchain.com and all come on. Um, and yeah, then the the a and the b in 2021 and 2022 um, but that was that was really the turning point was sort of shifting the focus towards actually growing it as opposed to spending so much time trying to raise money.

Alejandro Cremades: So I guess for the for the people that are listening here. You know to to to really understand you know the the model I mean Yellow cart I Mean how do you guys make money on this.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, So we we earn money by essentially just charging fees on the platform and and spread on exchange rates right? and so it’s again I mean the the model is is very similar to you know cash app to to coinbase to any of The. Major crypto exchanges that you could think of in the Us right? It’s it’s It’s essentially the same model right? Just ah, a user friendly Experience. You know we take a little piece of the transaction and and you know do the swap right.

Alejandro Cremades: And how has it been to the um getting educated and up to speed on their regulatory side of things with this.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, so I you know with I I what’s what’s the how do I how do I phrase this Africa is not known for having the most um, sort of clear cut and you know transparent.

Chris Maurice: Rules and regulations around certain things right? and I think that you know crypto is certainly no exception to that I think when you look at the the um you know the the broader regulatory landscape on the continent outside of crypto. It’s it’s still pretty murky even for fintech in most parts of the continent. Um, and so you know laws in a lot of places have have just really not caught up and it’s it’s the same in the us right? It’s not just Africa I mean you know if you look at you know things like money transmission licensing in the Us. It’s not though the the regulations around that have not caught up to the internet never mind. You know, anything else right? money transmission licensing was designed for like western union before the internet existed and the the us has just basically said you know hey this now applies to you know the web and web 3 and everything else. Um, it’s it’s similar in Africa right? The the laws are are largely just sort of behind where technology is and in Africa the the issue is you have a very young population. The the median age on the content and is 19 years old right? 19 years old of content of one point two billion people

Alejandro Cremades: Wow.

Chris Maurice: And and so I mean you’re talking about a very young continent with tech savvy people that are growing up on the internet right? The same way that I mean the same way that anybody else their generation is growing up all every kid today is growing up on the internet and. And so I think it’s very important that these these laws really catch up and and adapt to where where the content is going to be in the very short term future right? We’re not talking about 50 years from now we’re talking about you know where the content is going to be when these nineteen year olds are you know 29 10 years from now and are the ones running things right? and you know they’re the ones running the economy and they’re the ones generating most of the value businesses and and that kind of thing and so I yeah I think all of that goes to say that you know we we spend ah a good amount of time and we have a lot of great people on the team. Including for example, like our chief compliance officer who she was running all of Africa for money Gram previously. Um and you know we have great people like Mandy and and our our Gc and and and others on the team that do a lot of work working with these governments on. Not just not just understanding. What is the current landscape but also trying to help promote and educate them on what does good crypto regulation look like right and so taking it a step further than you know hey how do we operate here.

Chris Maurice: Right? Actually trying to do sort of our part in shaping the way that the continent regulates this technology moving forward and so that’s that’s really how we’ve been able to navigate it right? It’s just by actually having those conversations as opposed to ignoring it right? I think a lot of companies on the continent choose to ignore it and we’ve. Ran head on at it right? Which is why we’re the only licensed exchange on the continent.

Alejandro Cremades: Now imagine I mean obviously um, now there’s a lot of talk around this because of the fdx collapse you know obviously that this has sent shockwaves to the space now we’re in the crypto winter as Warren Buffett says when the tide is low. You can see who is swimming naked. Right? So so obviously you know like I’m wondering like how how you guys are thinking about what that post you know environment. You know after we’re coming out of of this crypto winter is going to look like because you know obviously many things have been shaken up. You know the last year has been you know brutal for the crypto space and. I think that you know, but obviously yeah institutions have really driven. You know the the craziness right? And now it’s like more like a you know like is iss kind of like the ups and downs. But what do you think it’s going to be the I would say the the landscape. Once we’re coming on the other end of this crypto winter cycle.

Chris Maurice: Yeah, So I think um, yeah I mean look 2022 sucked for crypto right? That’s you know to put it to put it very concisely and bluntly um I think um, you know I think as we look towards like a a post Ftx world. Um, my my fever dream is that people will actually start to focus more on the use cases of this technology as opposed to the speculative nature of certain crypto assets right. And so you know look we we for example, as as yellow card have not been hit nearly as hard by the you know the the crypto winter as a lot of other exchanges in other parts of the world have I mean you know look at coinbase right? Market cap is down 80% right? Um, we’ve not been hit nearly that hard. Um, by you know some of these some of these other big players in the industry simply because our customer is significantly less speculative right? Our customer you know, look if you or I buy Crypto. We are probably buying it because we want the price to go up right at the end of the day I buy but I of course you know look do I Believe that bitcoin is the future I think that it’s going to be the reserve currency one day. All of that.

Chris Maurice: But at the same time I buy bitcoin because I think the price is going to go up and so and you know that’s that’s generally the sentiment that you see from the the global west right? So us Europe even you know a lot of Asia. Um. Is sort of that that speculative nature. That’s that’s not that’s really not what we see from our customers right? and and I think the I mean the the best stat to indicate that is that about 80% of our transaction volume is in stable coins right? It’s it’s people buying. Coins that are pegged to the dollar right? It’s not It’s not people just buying bitcoin buying ethereum buying dogeco buying shiba enu buying you know, whatever other memecoin pops up tomorrow right? It’s it’s it’s a lot less speculative. It’s a lot more transactional right? People are buying it for payments. For international payments for savings they’re buying it because you know inflation in Nigeria This year is probably going to be over 70% right? They’re buying it because I can receive remittance I can receive money from anywhere in the world right? Whether it’s remittance from my family or it’s you know. Payments for my business right? I can I can have clients all over the world and not have to worry about the fact that you know wiring money into some of these countries is extremely difficult. Um, and so that’s that’s sort of my fever dream is that you know coming out on the other side of a crypto winter.

Chris Maurice: There will be a renewed focus on parts of the world like Africa where you see more of that practical sort of how do you say like the original ah purpose of you know, crypto. And the sort of and original values of crypto actually being used in practice right? as opposed to the speculative nature. Um, yeah, all of that being said I I don’t think much is actually going to change I think we’re going to come out to the other side of crypto winter. Ah, we’re going to hit a bull market again and people will pump billions of dollars into dogecoin. Um, but I hope that during the crypto winter rather than you know, looking to the other side of it I hope that during the crypto winter. People start to take notice of what’s going on in Africa what’s going on in South America what’s going on and and you know some of these parts of the world where crypto is being used more practically.

Alejandro Cremades: So I guess to to expand on on that question, you know and and and and I’m thinking about the future here. Imagine you were to go to sleep tonight and you wake up in a world where the vision of Yellow card is fully realized what does that world look like.

Chris Maurice: Oh man I mean I I think that looks like it looks like people being able to control their own money right? which is I think the the broader vision of. Bitcoin and of the the original white paper and of the you know the crypto industry more broadly right? I think that our vision lines up very closely with that sort of initial vision of what is what is bitcoin right? peer-to-peer electronic money right? What? what is this? What can this be used for. Um, and of course you know for us for our specific focus. It’s it’s on the african continent right? But I mean it’s it’s something that we want to see worldwide right? and so we’re pretty hyper focused on Africa we’re not. You know we’re not planning on going anywhere else. But that’s that’s what I would want. That’s what I want to wake up and see right? It’s just people being able to control their own money being able to I yeah, you know, being able to receive money from anywhere in the world send money anywhere in the world for virtually free right? cutting out some of these insane remittance costs right? Africa’s still the most expensive remittance corridor in the world. 9 % average to send money to the continent 19% average to send money within the continent right? And so yeah I mean the you know the business of moving money around the world is still a very lucrative business for these sort of you know key guys at the top and that’s that’s what I think that you know crypto is.

Chris Maurice: Is going to really disrupt and change and that’s that’s what that’s what I would love to wake up and see one day right? Of course you know nothing happens in a day but you know we’re going to build there 1 step at a time.

Alejandro Cremades: So imagine if you had the opportunity of going back in time and perhaps you know you were able to sit down that younger Chris I was still a university thinking about you know launching you know a business in this case, yellow cart imagine you were able to sit down that younger self. And give that younger self one piece of advice before launching a business but would that be and why given what you know now.

Chris Maurice: Oh man, give him give her what I know now I’d put all my money in doge coin. But um, take I think governor of a bat. Um, other than that I think it would be um, it would be sort of along the lines of what I talked about with fundraising. It would be like focus on focus on building right? like build a product and put it out in market and the sort of the accessories and sort of the you know all the ancillary issues that you need to deal with while building a business. Will sort themselves out right? but like have a good product build a good product. Get it out into market as quickly as possible and then iterate from there right? Um I think I mean you know something that we see quite often. Um is companies and and and founders that. That wait way too long to get their product out in the market and I think that we see this more and more now. Um sorry I should say that we’ve seen this more and more over the past year or so as you know money has been. Essentially free-flowing right? It’s been very easy to to raise money and and that kind of thing over the past what year and a half and so well looking before I should say before 2022 it was easy. It was significantly easier to raise money right? and it was you know debt was basically free and.

Chris Maurice: You know Vc money was flowing and and and all of that right? and and so you know I think I think what we ended up seeing was a lot of a lot of founders that didn’t understand that right and who wait way too long to actually get a product into market and by the time that they do. They’re not in a good position anymore right? they’re they’re running out of money. They need to raise again all of that right? Um I think my my best advice would be that if you launch a product and it’s perfect and there’s no issues with it then you waited way too long to launch. It.

Chris Maurice: You should I mean you put it out in the market you know look we were We were talking about this earlier right? even with your podcast. It’s like you started the podcast and the sound quality was no good and you know all of that right? but you were building that listening that listening base right? and then you iterate from there right? And now you got this. You know this nice professional mic and this setup and everything they write. And you know if you if you had waited until you had this microphone to actually start the podcast then you know you’d be significantly smaller than you are today.

Alejandro Cremades: Yeah, yeah.

Chris Maurice: And so that that would be that would be it right is just get something out there right? Let’s see like see how the market responds and you know build on it iterate listen to your customers listen to you know your whoever the clientele is right listen to them. But you know get something out there.

Alejandro Cremades: I Love it so craves for the people that are listening. What is the best way for them to reach out and say hi.

Chris Maurice: Um I man Twitter I guess that’s at criberriess that’s I yeah say hi to me on Twitter.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing. Well hey Chris thank you so much for being on the dealmaker show today. It has been an honor to have you with us. Yeah.

Chris Maurice: Ah, thank you Sir Good to be here.

* * *
If you like the show, make sure that you hit that subscribe button. If you can leave a review as well, that would be fantastic. And if you got any value either from this episode or from the show itself, share it with a friend. Perhaps they will also appreciate it. Also, remember, if you need any help, whether it is with your fundraising efforts or with selling your business, you can reach me at [email protected]

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More