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Highlights

 

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, CEO & Founder of Pomelo, a money transfer platform that’s raised over $70 Million in funding.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

  • Innovative Money Transfer: Pomelo uses credit to facilitate international money transfers, reducing transfer fees to zero and providing instant access to funds.
  • Founder’s Journey: Eric transitioned from leading SingleStore, a successful database technology startup, to founding Pomelo after identifying a personal need for a better money transfer solution.
  • Military Influence: The responsibility and problem-solving skills Eric gained in the Israeli military significantly shaped his approach to entrepreneurship.
  • Product-Led Growth: Pomelo focuses on a product-led growth strategy, emphasizing customer experience and community engagement.
  • Market Validation: The initial launch saw 125,000 people sign up on the waitlist, validating strong market demand.
  • Regulatory Navigation: Pomelo leverages the Visa and Mastercard networks to provide a secure, transparent money transfer solution, avoiding the traditional pitfalls of cash-based systems.

 

Actionable
Takeaways

Embrace Product-Led Growth:

Focus on making your product accessible and easy to use. This can drive growth and improve user experience.

Identify Personal Problems:

Use personal experiences to identify and solve real-world problems, creating products that resonate deeply with users.

Leverage Existing Networks:

Utilize established networks (like Visa and Mastercard) to enhance your product's reach and reliability.

Innovate Within Existing Categories:

Introduce new methods within traditional categories to disrupt and improve current standards, like using credit for money transfers.

Validate Market Demand Early:

Build a waitlist or similar pre-launch strategy to gauge interest and validate demand before fully launching a product.

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