Startup Lessons: Why He Left a $40M Business to Start Again | Ash Barot - E43

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In this episode of Funds and Founders, we sit down with Ash, co-founder of Wolf.xyz, who recently closed their Series A round. Ash shares his journey from building a successful staffing platform in Chile to his current venture in B2B SaaS.

Learn how Ash:

• Built and scaled a staffing platform to cover one-third of Santiago
• Navigated international markets between Chile and the US
• Turned a product failure into a successful exit
• Made the transition from bootstrapped to VC-backed
• Approached hiring and team building post-funding
• Learned valuable lessons through multiple startup attempts

Whether you're a first-time founder or serial entrepreneur, Ash's insights on building in different markets and knowing when to pivot are not to be missed!

Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro & Early Entrepreneurial Journey 3:09 - First Failed Venture & Lessons 5:29 - Product Market Fit Definition 10:31 - Moving to Chile & Building Elephants 15:33 - Scaling in Santiago 20:48 - US Market Entry & Challenges 24:19 - Decision to Exit 29:17 - Building Wolf.xyz 37:05 - TechStars Experience 46:54 - Views on VC vs Bootstrapping 54:05 - Post-Series A Focus & Hiring 59:29 - Startup Ecosystem Differences 1:02:02 - Tech Stack & Tools 1:04:20 - Closing Thoughts