David Pawlan is a 24-year-old entrepreneur. After graduating from Vanderbilt in 2019, David jumped full-time into his startup, Aloa, that he helped found with four others. David and his team are driven to create a world where anyone can innovate freely. Today, he and his team see software as a barrier to innovation. In just over three years, David and his team have grown Aloa to over 150 projects across over 30 different industries. Last year, David was named to Chicago’s 25 under 25 in Tech.
In his free time, David is working with a handful of other entrepreneurs in Chicago, creating a venture philanthropy fund: Fifth Star Funds. Focused on the family and friends around (early stage), Fifth Star is building equity and accessibility in venture capital for Black founders. As an evergreen model, all equity the fund takes is reinvested into the fund itself; there is no financial return for the team (hence venture philanthropy) as the intention is to create a brighter and better future for all entrepreneurs, no matter your background.
What is Aloa all about?
Aloa is a platform for outsourcing software development for startups. We believe in a world where anyone can innovate freely, and at this point, we see software development as a barrier to innovation for far too many. So, rather than trying to build a blanket solution, we studied the pain points themselves, and built out from there, falling in love with the problem of outsourcing software development itself.
We’ve approached this space slightly differently, through a three-pronged approach: Aloa Partner Network, Platform, Strategist.
At the end of the day, we have continued to work and grow Aloa through an iterative process. We take our learnings from all of our experiences and apply them to every day as we move forward, to ensure that we continue innovating and pursuing our mission to create a world where anyone can innovate freely.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I started working on Aloa while I was in college and jumped into it full-time after graduating, so to be honest. I don’t have much of a background to share!
While in college, we were building out apps and doing student tech consulting ourselves. We wanted to expand our dev team so we began looking for resources. We looked domestically, but it was too expensive. We looked overseas, and every one said to avoid it because of all the horror stories. To us, that didn’t make sense. Why have we figured out how to work with every other industry overseas, yet we haven’t been able to figure out a predictable and consistent experience for outsourcing software? That caused us to fall in love with the problem of outsourcing software development, to create a more seamless path so anyone, even non-technical individuals, could innovate freely.
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
I would say the biggest hurdle that we have had to overcome is fighting client fires. It isn’t easy starting a service-based company, especially in an industry that is so competitive. As we progressed through our business, different fires would come up that would cause us a lot of stress, making us question whether we are doing the right thing.
There was one time specifically that stands out, as it was New Years’. Within a matter of 24 hours, we had three client fires hit all at the same time. It was unbelievably stressful, especially given all of us were on vacation with our family, so we all had to forget about vacation and get back to work.
We overcome all of our problems we face in the same manner, and it works great. Every day we are constantly logging pain points. Every week, we review those pain points and determine what is creating disruption to our flow. As a team, we brainstorm and figure out how to innovate in a manner that helps us mitigate these pain points and build a better company. For example, the New Years’ fires were horrible at the moment, but that was probably one of the most pivotal moments that has helped our business scale without sacrificing the integrity of our service. It forced us to look at the problem differently, ultimately leading to development audits and strategies that we implement for every client experience to ensure we are more preventative rather than reactive.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
What a great question. We made TONS of mistakes. A motto that we follow: fail fast, fail frequently. Starting a company is all about learning. You will never do it perfectly, just not how the world works. The first piece of advice I would give to this point is to reframe your perspective. Assume that you ARE going to fail at different things you do. Failure is one of the most beautiful things for a startup as it forces you into a valuable iteration.
At the end of the day, it is all about A/B testing, just giving it a shot and if it works, great, if it doesn’t work, try something else. Making a mistake is the easy part, having the discipline to study the mistake and build a plan as to how you will avoid that same mistake in the future is the important part.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
I meditate for 20 minutes every single morning before I check a single message. To grow as an entrepreneur, you first need to learn how to manage yourself. You are your boss, so understanding your own body and how to give you the best mentality and perspective on life is key. The calmer and more level-headed you can remain, the more you can take advantage of opportunities to grow as an entrepreneur.
If you don’t take care of yourself, your career won’t have as good of a chance of being a long-term success.
What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (it is behavioral economics and helps you better understand the psychology behind decision making).
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (it offers invaluable insights into the strength of the people side of the business).
Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom (it helps you keep perspective on what matters in life, going back to the point of taking care of yourself is the first step in entrepreneurship).
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?
You don’t need to know everything; it is okay to learn on the go! One of the coolest things I’ve learned is that nobody knows anything, we all just try our best and put our effort towards what seems to work. Things are constantly changing, so nothing is ever a ‘constant’ – so you being young can equally serve as an advantage as it allows you to view the world through a lens of fresh eyes and unbiased perspectives (in terms of industry biases).
As a young entrepreneur, what matters more is your ability and willingness to reach out and ask for help. People LOVE to mentor others, and if you can build the confidence to cold reach out to tons of people who know more about something than you do, then you can quickly learn a ton about something you didn’t know much about. Learn from the success and mistakes of others so you don’t have to figure it out on your own.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Referrals, 100%. It is a very empowering and energizing marketing strategy as well, as it validates the value that our business provides. A vast majority of our business comes from referrals, though we also do spend on ads and continue to perform cold email outreach.
If you only had 1000 dollars to start a new startup, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
Wow, very tough question. For me, the first thing I would spend it on is something that I can’t do myself. For example, anybody can build a website these days, especially with all of the no-code solutions. I would put that $1000 towards something that helps legitimize myself as a business/individual, so I would first purchase a g-suite or something of the likes so I have an actual business email address that I can use and communicate from.
Then, for whatever is left over, I would put that money towards something that helps me reach my next goal. If my goal is cold email outreach, I would spend it on a subscription to tools like Mailshake, Norbert, Hunter.io, etc.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Take advantage of your youth! People are eager to mentor and share their wealth of knowledge – especially with young, aspiring individuals. We as humans innately find joy in providing value to others, so the ability to reach out to random people who have expertise in your space and ask them for help is massive. Be genuine, show that you are interested in learning, and stay in touch with those who take time to help you – it does wonders for your growth both personally and professionally.
What is your favorite quote?
Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
Besides the obvious social media tools available, what are the top 3 most useful tools or resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
- Mailshake – cold email campaign outreach
- Slack – joining communities and building relationships, as well as efficient communication
- Airtable – it is where we log our pain points to ensure that we are growing/iterating efficiently
How is running a tech company different than what you thought it would be?
I would say the biggest difference is that I don’t know how to code myself. I always thought I would be behind in life for not knowing how to code, but what my experience has shown me is that as long as you can speak the language of technology and have intelligent conversations, you can still be incredibly dangerous.
How can readers get in touch with you?
The best way to get in touch would be through LinkedIn David Pawlan or Twitter @DavidPawlan. I am active on both and always engaging/interacting with people. I’d also say you can subscribe to our blog as we are pumping out content every single week to provide value however we can!
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