Sahil was 18 when TechCrunch published a hit piece calling him a copycat. His co-founder Aaron was 16. They'd just raised $6 million from YC and top VCs for their crypto startup, then got subpoenaed by a state government and watched their business implode.
So they fired everyone, moved back to their parents' homes, and spent months cold-calling dentists and lawn care companies to find a real problem. What they discovered: 80% of SMBs still use community banks from 1995. Now Affiniti has 2,000 customers, $10M ARR run rate, and just raised $17M by partnering with trade associations to acquire customers at 25% the cost of traditional fintech.
This is the raw story of teenage founders who got punched in the face by Silicon Valley and came back swinging.
Why You Should Listen:
- How getting destroyed on TechCrunch at 18 and subpoenaed by the government led to a $3M revenue pivot in 12 months
- Why going back to square 0 is often the best move
- The trade association go-to-market strategy that worked for SMB.
- Why 200 VC rejections and raising $6M in peak 2021 couldn't save their first startup—but taught them everything they needed to know.
- Get comfortable with bad days—stoicism is the only way to survive.
Keywords:
Affiniti, Sahil Phadnis, SMB fintech, startup pivot, Y Combinator, teenage founders, Series A, B2B payments, startup failure, trade associations
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:50 COVID existential crisis at 16
00:08:36 Building websites for restaurants
00:11:11 Meeting Aaron on Instagram
00:15:17 200 VC rejections then raising $6M
00:23:03 Getting called a fraud on TechCrunch
00:29:15 Firing everyone and moving home
00:31:16 Faking toothaches to research SMBs
00:40:50 Launching Affiniti
00:47:00 The trade association growth hack
00:55:03 Raising Series A in 3 weeks
00:58:30 Stoicism and bad days
Send me a message to let me know what you think!
