Regardless of result, thank you
@staceyabrams
. We wonder what we would do if we lived in moments of great social change, and instead of wondering, Stacey created incredible change and empowerment 👏👏
Wanted to thank
@ShaleneGupta
for spending the time with me and writing this incredible feature about our work Footprint. We have perhaps a paradoxical view on privacy: that it means control and not deletion of your data.
I turn 24 today. Could not be more grateful for how incredible this year was, the people that entered my life, and what’s on the horizon for the next year. I have very little wisdom to offer, but a few reflections on what’s been my best year yet:
@ankurnagpal
@usealloy
Hey Ankur—I’m the founder of
@Footprint_HQ
. Unlike Alloy, we publish our pricing publicly because we have nothing to hide: . I’ll dm you so we can get you running on the best KYC + PII vaulting product out there.
I am a maritime infrastructure nerd. The seas are where power is projected and people + goods travel.
@RealLifeLore22
did an amazing video on Ukrainian Ports during the war. It fascinated me as a study on prioritization, and I think has a lot of lessons. 🧵
A few things I love:
1. Saving time and money with
@tryramp
2. Reading
@notboringco
(especially about I95)
So could not be more grateful to Ramp for this billboard with
@packyM
about
@Footprint_HQ
in Times Square!
There is no dopamine hit larger than finally getting a reply on the 7th cold email I sent on a chain. Stand-up comedy has taught me that having no shame may be my defining skill in life.
I brought my dog to a customer meeting last week at a pet friendly coffee shop. Just caught up and they plan on using
@Footprint_HQ
. Clearly need to bring Oreo to more meetings he loves frictionless onboarding and strong data security
Called my mom to tell her about being in the top 1% of
@Superhuman
users. She told me my sister is a doctor and solves real problems and hung up. Anyways I was proud of my accomplishment
Watching our demo for the first time 👀: beyond proud of our team and couldn’t be more excited to share with the world soon 🤓. Second mover advantage is a very real thing 🐧
A year ago I met
@shardul_shah
. We went on a walk where I told him about an idea. He believed in me and encouraged me to take the leap to start
@Footprint_HQ
A year later we have an 11 person team, a working product, 2+yrs of runway, + bigger dreams than ever. Some learnings👇
10 lessons on early startup sales (1/3)
1) Your 1st customers have to be “crazy” enough to trust you without proof points. If they say they can’t use a product without references, won’t be an early user, or can’t trust a seed company, they’re probably not your first customer!
Very excited to announce our KYB product!
@Footprint_HQ
is leveling up — we are no longer just a product that does KYC — we help you onboard all of your customers. Our goal is to be the onboarding platform for fintechs and FIs globally.
Huge congrats to the 7,500 designers and 10,000 frontend engineers at DocuSign on the redesigned home page and new logo. Really impressive and my hats off to the whole team!
Happiest of birthdays to the amazing
@AlexGrinman
! No one else would rather travel the world with to build
@Footprint_HQ
, and am grateful for all you’ve taught me about crypto, Bluetooth, and AI. 🎉 🎈
Me before I started a company: "I'm naturally energetic, I actually don't drink coffee"
*7 months later the barista at
@blankstreet
knows my order and begins ringing me up as I walk in to get caffeinated to hit
@Superhuman
inbox 0 on a Sunday
Trying to get in front of a pesky customer.
@AlexGrinman
found their wedding registry from 2018. Still gifts available. Shall we send them their dream placemats and a note which wishes them a wonderful marriage and even better KYC?
Feb 3 2020 I wrote the first business plan for what would become
@Footprint_HQ
Feb 3 2022 we raised our seed round
Feb 3 2023 we are now live with customers
Time can play on the opposite team, or with a lot of dedication it can be our greatest opportunity.
So nice out today in NYC. One of those days that makes you appreciate the small things in life, like the “can we use your location” pop up built by the 15k systems engineers at DocuSign.
Sadly we had to pull our
@Footprint_HQ
Super Bowl ad at the last minute to “watch our burn”. Instead all customers who sign up this week will not just get
@AlexGrinman
to in-person integrate, but I’ll come with your favorite Super Bowl ad product (Dominoes, Corona, a Kia, etc.!)
Excited to be speaking with
@AlexGrinman
@money2020
this year to unveil what we've been working on
@Footprint_HQ
to the world.
@zachpettet
has also made me promise to not wear a tech hoodie on stage, so excited for the wardrobe statements to be made.
Every time I get the chance to speak with
@packyM
I’m inspired for the future and blown away by how quickly he becomes an expert on brand new tech. Thanks for having us on!
👣Bring back trust to the internet👣
That's the mission of
@Footprint_HQ
.
Had
@EliWachs
and
@AlexGrinman
on Not Boring Founders to discuss:
- $6M Seed Round
- Epic investor updates
- How to build trust from a cold start
- Footprint's vision
Wherever you listen to podcasts...
Just got my Al Horford Appreciator shirt from
@RTRSPodcast
! On Thanksgiving, proud to be part of a fan base that, unlike Boston, can be grateful for the good screens that don't show up in the box score
If I were to hypothetically start a company,
@shardul_shah
is who I'd want to be the first money in. Shardul is brilliant, kind, and truly cares about his entrepreneurs. What a huge win for the NYC startup ecosystem
We are thrilled to share that we’re opening an office in New York City 🗽 Joining existing offices in London & SF, we will now have a major presence in the top 3 global startup ecosystems.
More from
@martinmignot
&
@shardul_shah
on why we ❤️ NY:
I'll be performing stand-up and hosting See What Sticks in LA on March 4th. If you'll be in town then come by for me to discuss pretty much everything other than identity verification--gonna be fun!
Very thrilled to announce our latest product (pivot)
@Footprint_HQ
this April 1st. LLM X Identity = ChatKYC. We send Open AI the name and SSN and ask if it thinks the person is legit. Very excited that we can be on the cutting edge of this monumental paradigm shift.
My 475-day streak of being the youngest at the company has now sadly come to an end, but could not be more excited for
@gucaslelfond
to join us! He's brilliant, ambitious, his writing puts mine to shame, and is a Nathan Fielder fan. Welcome to the team!
One of our investors was in Wiz. Speaking today for first time since their 1-100 revenue in 18 months news and I don’t want to seem like we are slacking. Prepared this slide to show our similar growth albeit in a different kpi 🐧
Bringing the Jet Blue flight attendant who was fairly concerned by me getting an 11 pm coffee to “find PMF with haste” as a character witness to therapy next week
Another special person just joined our family at
@Footprint_HQ
. Celebrate each victory along the way. The future is nothing more than present hope, and I’ve never been more hopeful :)
MIT graduate student Kathrin Kajderowicz is among 30 recipients of this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The program recognizes the potential of immigrants to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture, and academia.
Very proud to say that after a long battle this week of mild discomfort and then a 20 minute self-operation to remove a splinter, I feel prepared to go through the trials and tribulations it will take find PMF this year
"People won't work hard if you're remote"
*entire team engaging in a 50 comment slack thread about what decrypted attributes customers get access to at 2:30 AM
If you’re going to trust
@Footprint_HQ
with your SSN, you may feel the need to trust me. So, I want to tell the world about why we’re building Footprint. If we’re going to ask you to play a role in your own life, you deserve a look into mine:
Thanks to
@profgalloway
for highlighting how
@Footprint_HQ
can help bring back trust to the internet through KYC that lets good actors use the internet with less friction, and keeps bad actors and bots out:
We're launching what is in my mind one of the most exciting updates to the
@Footprint_HQ
suite with Components.
We've at times been stubborn about how companies use Footprint because we want them to get all of the benefits. If you didn't use our frontend, you would not maximize…
Submitted a request to UPenn hospital for my footprints from birth for a cute post about
@Footprint_HQ
, but they said they have no records. Calling my mother immediately to see if starting a company has led to my discovery of an explosive family secret
We just replied to a customer Slack question on a Saturday afternoon within 3 minutes and resolved the issue within 7 minutes. Folks say they are customer obsessed, we live by it each day
@Footprint_HQ
Just spent an amazing week in SF, and did not see what all the “SF is dead” crowd claims. Still the city with the most startups, the most belief in disruption, and largest ecosystem around innovation.
Love the hypocrisy of LinkedIn messages. The disdain we feel receiving them and hope we feel sending outbound. To generate good karma I shall respond to one message each week regardless of lack of any customization.
Seeing the news today about Fast. There is so much luck involved in building a company, and I know the news isn't a reflection of their awesome employees. We are building one-click KYC + PII vaulting--if you want to continue the mission in an adjacent field, would love to talk.
Well glad Gov stepped in. Beyond thrilled payroll and employees everywhere will be ok. Still feel for all the great people of SVB and hope they can land in good spots. Logging off twitter for a bit though--the caps lock mafia is a tax of time--and back to building
@Footprint_HQ
Last week, we uploaded all of our investor updates to our website. I want to now highlight each individually. We’re building in public each step of the way. The first update was about trust and transparency: the two core values of Footprint.
A strange thing to have to say, but people really respect it in sales when you say your product won't be a good fit. It saves your team time to focus on core features, and keeps the door open if those companies need a tool that does what you do.
Have we been over thinking the solution this whole time? Here we are fooling around with fancy encryption while the good old shredder was staring at us the whole time 🤦♂️
A testament to the amazing work by our team--so excited for what we will be releasing this year. Am very grateful to
@GGVCapital
for including us on this!
Very excited to launch this. When I raised the seed round, Section 326 of the Patriot Act was my screensaver. It's impossible to build a tool to help companies comply with regulations if you don't build with it in mind from day one. Hope people enjoy!
Introducing the Footprint legal library. We built this to help break down the current (and evolving) regulatory landscape surrounding financial services, fintechs, and data security:
Do you hate fraud? Do you love penguins? If you are a product leader and take 30 mins this summer to chat with us about how
@Footprint_HQ
can improve your onboarding experience, we will adopt a🐧in your honor.
So excited for my good friend
@gsivulka
and the whole
@HebbiaAI
team. Nothing in life compares to the joy of watching your friends succeed, especially after so much hard work trying to go after such a big goal. Can’t wait to see Hebbia change the world of search!
Excited to announce
@HebbiaAI
's $30M Series A led by Index Ventures.
It's an honor to work with such a talented team to reinvent search, and we're thrilled to have
@mavolpi
joining the board.
Hiring out of our Soho office--join us!
Life is too short to not chase your dreams. I had wanted to start my company for two years by the time I did. Each day I continue building, I can’t believe there was a life before it. We have no second chances in life—only to feel regret.
Have been on 3 sales calls today where customers said their biggest pain point in KYC was secure PII storage...a company should really try to build this ;)
Tough for me to properly stress that we will genuinely adopt a penguin in your honor at the SF zoo if you refer us a frontend engineer
@Footprint_HQ
this month
My heart goes out to everyone impacted by the SVB situation. Hourly workers who didn’t get paid, companies who won’t be able to make payroll, and employees at SVB. This is a cruel and unfair panic you did not deserve. I really hope this weekend we get a resolution 🙏
.
@Footprint_HQ
is doing work on the leading edge of digital identity + fraud/risk.
To continue this work, we're looking to hire amazing engineers with backend experience on risk/fraud. If you know someone, please send them our way! We'll adopt a penguin in the name of anyone…
$56B of losses due to identity fraud in 2020 and the problem is only getting worse. We need a new philosophical approach to identity on the internet, and that's exactly what we're building
@Footprint_HQ
The current system clearly doesn't work if this is the result. If you only look for fraud, you'll find more fraud modules to sell. We instead need to unify the identity layer of the digital realm with the ecosystem of good actors to transact with interoperability.
.
@AlexGrinman
and I will be in SF next week. Have heard rumblings of a happy hour. Who should we invite? Will be a lively discussion on KYC, the ephemerality of love and life, and of course NFT horses.
I want to better appreciate the magic of
@Footprint_HQ
under the hood. So my first baby step toward getting there is completing Day 1 of the
@Replit
100-day course.
@AlexGrinman
can you give me back GitHub access now?
Going to be at
@FintechMeetup
in two weeks with
@peter_sweeney0
. Want to discuss how to improve your onboarding over a romantic gondola ride through the canals of the Venetian? Drop a comment or DM me and we'll boost your conversion while being serenaded by the best opera voice a…
Approach people with empathy. We’ve all been through a lot—but that means everyone you interact with has a unique journey to that moment. What works for you may not for them. Create win-wins because life is a long game.
When I first met
@EliWachs
, it was clear he was brilliant & thoughtful - w/ a passion to create transformative tech. He joined forces w/
@AlexGrinman
, a bona fide cryptography wizard & it was magic (
@Footprint_HQ
)
I’d bet my wand on this winning team 🪄
This is a uniquely stressful situation for those who banked with SVB. We want to share what
@tryramp
is doing to support our customers through this challenge and provide options to those in need of immediate assistance. 🧵
@meaganloyst
Get you a friend and investor like
@meaganloyst
and you’ll feel happy, confident, and inspired for a life time 🥺. Thank you for the late night calls to talk startups, love, comedy, and anything else.
I get more excited to speak with a customer using a a competitor’s solution than nothing at all. Best way to prove if building something that actually meaningfully moves the needle.
To build a great company, there are some things which you need to happen which aren't reputable at all. I guess in other words, you need luck. Meeting Pedro was one of the luckiest things to ever happen for Alex and I. Thank you for bringing emotion and beauty to Footprint, and…
Important Startup Traits:
1. Tenacity--send the extra email
2. Honesty--don't deceive yourself about the task at hand
3. Ambition--build the dream platform that customers need
4. Accountability--do the actions to put ambition into action. See 1.
As a founder, it’s important to set boundaries for mental health. For example, every Friday
@AlexGrinman
and I say we are going to take the weekend off before breaking that and resuming work Saturday morning. Those 10 hours of pretend are vital.
A huge shout out to the best in the business
@marques_ph
and
@rafaelmotta021
on this. We are very excited to tell the world our full story soon, but fun to share this for now :)