#3 AI & the Church, Founding Hallow, & His Origin Story w/ Alessandro DiSanto (Hallow)

In this episode of Catholic Founders, we continue our conversation with Alessandro DiSanto, co-founder of Hallow, the #1 Catholic prayer app. If you missed our first episode with Alessandro, go back and check it out—we focused on how to pray as a Catholic entrepreneur, how to discern your call to entrepreneurship, and how to integrate prayer into both success and failure.

But today we’ve got something a bit different.

This time, Alessandro pulls back the curtain on the founding of Hallow—including a never-before-shared moment of full commitment to launching the app. We also dive deep into:

* Alessandro’s Entrepreneurial Roots – From family businesses in pizza and real estate to a career in finance, Alessandro’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t the obvious choice. (In fact he never planned to start a biz)

* The Unexpected Call to Found Hallow – How a journey of rediscovering prayer led Alessandro and his co-founders to leave cushy careers and take the leap into building a prayer app. (We got a pretty unique version of the founding story out of him today)

* The Financial Realities of Quitting for a Startup – How the founders made it work with zero income for over a year, living frugally and taking personal financial risks.

* Hallow’s Early Days – The scrappy beginnings of recording prayers, coding the first version, and testing it with friends before realizing the impact it could have.

* The Church & Technology: Hallow at the Vatican – Alessandro shares insights from a recent Vatican conference on AI and evangelization, discussing the Church’s approach to guiding technology’s role in society.

Final Takeaway:

At the heart of this episode is a simple but crucial lesson: You’ll never discern God’s call for you without prayer. Alessandro’s story is a powerful testament to the importance of not just knowing about prayer but discovering and truly listening to God’s voice in your life.

If you’re serious about deepening your prayer life, download Hallow today. There’s a free version available, with guided prayers, Lectio Divina, the Examen, and much more. Don’t just think about praying more—start now! Visit https://hallow.com/ to get started.

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Until next time—God bless and happy building!

Silas Mähner

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