Financial Inclusion & Finding Your Purpose As A Founder with Sho Sugihara, Founder & CEO of Pave

“It's really demotivating in the early days to keep building, keep building but nothing seems to happen. You need tenacity and planning skills to get you through that.”

In this week’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Sho Sugihara, Founder and CEO of Pave, the FinTech-for-good helping customers improve their credit score and history with bill monitoring and credit building.

Sho started his career working with NGOs around the world, driven by the desire to build a world free of financial inequality which led him to start Pave, out of Entrepreneur First in 2017.

In this episode, we learn more about his brilliant journey with Pave alongside his candid advice and mentorship for any aspiring Founders, including:

➡️ How his education has shaped him into the leader he is today [04:50]

➡️ Where Sho got his entrepreneurial spirit from and why he went into consulting before starting Pave [07:05]

➡️ The most difficult part of switching from a consulting mindset to a Founder mindset [13:48]

➡️ How becoming a Deliveroo driver shaped the early days of Pave [16:05]

➡️ How the business has evolved since and why it’s so important to evolve your product with the market climate [19:58]

➡️ How Pave have shifted from a pure B2C product to a B2B offering [25:27]

➡️ The importance of getting the hiring of your leadership team right [28:09]

➡️ Why tenacity and conviction will set you apart as a Founder in tougher economic times [30:44]

➡️ Small but meaningful things we can all do to improve our financial health [32:25]

➡️ Why Founders need to think about their bigger purpose before starting a business [34:32]

➡️ How Sho’s own leadership style has evolved over the years and his own battles with imposter syndrome [38:09]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ More about Sho: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoalexander/

➡️ More about Pave: https://www.paveapp.com/

➡️More about the Unrest Accelerator: https://www.unrest.world/

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