From reluctant founder to $2B valuation: The story of Persona | Rick Song (Co-founder and CEO)
May 8, 2025
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Rick Song, co-founder and CEO of Persona, shares insights from his journey transitioning from a secure role at Square to launching a game-changing identity verification platform. He discusses the importance of skepticism in shaping early strategies and explores the challenges of scaling in competitive markets. The conversation also highlights unexpected customer validations, evolving pricing strategies, and lessons learned from his co-founder. Rick emphasizes the critical nature of product-market fit in an AI-driven world and the value of strong partnerships in entrepreneurship.
Rick Song's initial skepticism about entrepreneurship was transformed into action by his co-founder Charles, leading them to develop Persona's robust platform.
Persona's success was driven by a consultative sales approach that allowed them to deeply understand and address varied customer needs and pain points.
Rick emphasizes the importance of enjoying the startup journey and building a positive work culture to sustain long-term motivation and collaboration.
Deep dives
The Reluctant Journey to Entrepreneurship
Rick Song, the co-founder and CEO of Persona, shares his initial hesitations about becoming an entrepreneur, stemming from a fear of failure. Having worked at Square for several years, he was hesitant to commit to a long journey that might only lead to disappointment. Encouraged by co-founder Charles, Rick eventually decided to explore the startup world, driven by a desire to validate their ideas rather than settling for an obvious path. This mindset fostered their commitment to creating a robust identity verification platform while addressing the real challenges they identified during their time at Square.
Finding the First Customers
The duo quickly focused on obtaining their first customers, aware that initial traction would help solidify their business concept. Their first customer emerged almost serendipitously, as they tapped into a friend's e-commerce shop that needed a simple solution for age verification. Starting small with a $50 monthly payment, Rick and Charles were motivated by the challenge to meet customer needs. This early approach of deeply engaging with customers allowed them to identify pain points and iterate on their offerings, setting the groundwork for more complex solutions down the line.
Rewarding the Consultative Sales Approach
In the early stages, Persona adopted a heavily consultative sales approach, tailoring solutions to a myriad of different customer needs and industries. By ensuring an adaptable and responsive product development cycle, they capitalized on unique opportunities within various sectors. This method not only built strong relationships with their clients but also garnered invaluable insights that would later inform their platform's evolution. They continuously highlighted the importance of understanding customer problems, which became essential to their strategy and product design.
The Challenge of Scaling and Evolution
As Persona grew, Rick realized the importance of refining their offerings and the complexities that came with scaling a platform business. Despite early successes, there were doubts about whether they could adapt their consultative selling approach to larger enterprise clients. Acknowledging that existing companies often depend on systematized processes, Rick focused on ensuring that Persona's platform could effectively serve varied market demands. This adaptability would ultimately facilitate growth, making the firm a viable contender even in crowded spaces.
The Importance of Maintaining Motivation
Rick emphasizes the need for founders to focus on the journey rather than fixating solely on potential outcomes or success metrics. He stresses that maintaining enthusiasm and enjoyment in the startup process is crucial for long-term perseverance. This reflective approach aids in cultivating connections and camaraderie among team members, fostering a positive work culture. In Rick's case, creating an environment that values collaboration has been key to motivating himself and the team through uncertainties.
Leaning on Collaboration and Strengths
Rick highlights Charles's significant impact on Persona, underscoring their complementary strengths in building the company. Charles's calm, driven nature fosters an environment where ambition and quality work can thrive, preventing the insecurities often felt in startup life. The partnership emphasizes the need for mutual understanding and shared vision, creating a collective effort towards success. Rick believes that this dynamic enables their company to maintain stability while adapting to challenges in the competitive landscape.
Rick Song is the co-founder and CEO of Persona, the identity verification platform used by some of the world’s largest companies. Before starting Persona, Rick worked on identity fraud and risk products at Square, which laid the groundwork for what would become Persona’s highly technical, horizontal platform. Since founding the company, Rick has scaled Persona into a category-defining leader, recently raising a $200M Series D at a $2B valuation.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
How Rick’s skepticism shaped Persona’s early strategy
What it takes to scale a true platform company
Successful execution in hypercompetitive markets
What Rick’s learned from his co-founder, Charles Yeh
