From Hedge Funds to $100M+ Startup Founder with Everett Cook of Rho (Just Go Grind, Episode #359)

Episode 359: Justin Gordon interviews Everett Cook, Co-Founder & CEO of Rho, about how he built the company into a leader in business banking.

Everett Cook’s dream was to start a company.

Even before Rho, he’d always loved markets and finance. So much so that he interned for the Mike Bloomberg, where he got to learn from one of the best entrepreneurs in the world.

Then he spent a decade as Portfolio Manager at multiple macro hedge funds, and had the time of his life.

But still, there was something missing. Something of his own.

So when he got tired of waiting for the ‘spark of opportunity’, he decided to go look for it himself.

That was the start of Rho, the fintech that quickly became a key player in the business finance world.

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This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

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Show Notes:

00:00 What’s coming in the episode…

01:18 Introduction

02:14 The start of Rho

04:14 Everett’s background

9:53 Decision-making in the early days of Rho

14:50 Partnering with banks

17:48 Growth in the early days

20:44 Building community

25:19 Rho’s competition

27:10 How does Rho get feedback

29:16 Rho’s target and non-target market

31:29 The SVB crisis and other challenges

35:22 Hiring in-person vs remote

38:15 Raising capital

47:43 Everett as a founder 

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• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

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• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
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