TechCrunch called this YC founder a fraud at 18—then he built a $10M ARR fintech. | Sahil Phadnis, Founder of Affiniti

Sahil was 18 when TechCrunch published a hit piece calling him a copycat. His co-founder Aaron was 16. They'd just raised $6 million from YC and top VCs for their crypto startup, then got subpoenaed by a state government and watched their business implode. 

So they fired everyone, moved back to their parents' homes, and spent months cold-calling dentists and lawn care companies to find a real problem. What they discovered: 80% of SMBs still use community banks from 1995. Now Affiniti has 2,000 customers, $10M ARR run rate, and just raised $17M by partnering with trade associations to acquire customers at 25% the cost of traditional fintech. 

This is the raw story of teenage founders who got punched in the face by Silicon Valley and came back swinging.

Why You Should Listen:

• How getting destroyed on TechCrunch at 18 and subpoenaed by the government led to a $3M revenue pivot in 12 months
• Why going back to square 0 is often the best move
• The trade association go-to-market strategy that worked for SMB.
• Why 200 VC rejections and raising $6M in peak 2021 couldn't save their first startup—but taught them everything they needed to know.
• Get comfortable with bad days—stoicism is the only way to survive.

Keywords:

Affiniti, Sahil Phadnis, SMB fintech, startup pivot, Y Combinator, teenage founders, Series A, B2B payments, startup failure, trade associations

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:50 COVID existential crisis at 16

00:08:36 Building websites for restaurants

00:11:11 Meeting Aaron on Instagram

00:15:17 200 VC rejections then raising $6M

00:23:03 Getting called a fraud on TechCrunch

00:29:15 Firing everyone and moving home

00:31:16 Faking toothaches to research SMBs

00:40:50 Launching Affiniti

00:47:00 The trade association growth hack

00:55:03 Raising Series A in 3 weeks

00:58:30 Stoicism and bad days

Send me a message to let me know what you think!