Founders Unfound tells stories about successful startup entrepreneurs who also faced down the challenges that come with diversity. Dan Kihanya, who started the site and is also a serial entrepreneur, describes Founders Unfound as a resource focused on telling the stories of startup trailblazers from underrepresented backgrounds.
Currently, the site focuses on companies headed by those of African descent. However, Kihanya intends to expand the site's scope soon. Founders Unfound showcases each startup and its founder in an hour-long podcast format.
A recent interviewee with an interesting story to tell is Patrick Paul, co-founder of Ikos, a venture targeting the problems faced by rental landlords with small portfolios, a segment that makes up more than half of the nation's 40 million rental properties. The interview also details his entrepreneurial journey from growing up in Florida to raising millions for his startup and doing so at a time when the nationwide business community was dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.
Summing up Ikos, Paul says, "[Ikos] helps these landlords open the door. We show the unit. We collect a lot of information and data, and we help them fill the vacancy. We do it for half a month’s rent."
The Ikos Startup Journey
The youngest of seven siblings, Paul was born in Patterson, New Jersey after the rest of his family migrated there from Haiti. The family then moved to Port Charlotte, Florida where Paul grew up. From there, his entrepreneurial journey took him to Valley Forge Military College, and then St. Francis University, a small division one school.
After school, Paul joined a Florida investment bank where he met a mentor working at Goldman Sacks. That relationship got him to Pittsburgh and into a new company focused on housing. After gaining some experience in the real estate vertical, in part by working with San Francisco-based and publicly-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), Ikos emerged after a chance encounter with a small-portfolio landlord in a Pittsburgh coffee shop.
That conversation highlighted the everyday problems that common rental landlords face. Galvanized by this knowledge, Paul and his co-founders did additional research and then applied technology to solve those issues. Ikos was born.
Check out Paul's Founders Unfound interview for more detail on Ikos' services, its evolution, and its path to success. An interesting discussion for any entrepreneur, and a conversation that's especially valuable because it also covers the challenges Paul faced along the way.