Founder Spotlight: Elias Guerra (Popwallet)
Company name: Popwallet
Company blurb: Mobile Wallet Marketing and CX platform, working with some of the most innovative brands in the world to deliver contactless customer experiences to people through mobile wallets like Apple Wallet and Google Pay.
Company website: https://popwallet.com
Company headquarters: New York, NY
Founder’s hometown: San Diego, CA
Founder fun fact: I play soccer year-round, even in a pandemic, even in the freezing cold NYC winter (wearing a mask while playing actually helps with both these conditions, ironically).
Why did you decide to start your company? My co-founder Wes and I had both worked in the mobile app advertising world and just thought there was a better way for big brands to reach and engage people on their mobile devices. We’d both had long careers working in technology, and figured we could build and bring to market a solution that brands would want and decided to just go for it.
What is one thing that you want people to know about your company? We operate at the forefront of a paradigm shift in consumer behavior, from the mobile device being used primarily in a heads-down immersive way, to it being used as a means of interacting with the world around you in a safe, secure, and contactless way. And we’re hiring (I guess that’s two things).
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur? When I was younger I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. I remember reading about the history of the law and being captivated by historical figures like Cicero and Justinian and thinking that I wanted to do what they did. Turns out I was more interested in them as leaders and orators, rather than anything to do with the practical application of the law. I later discovered that their lessons were very relevant to entrepreneurship which was a calling for me a bit later in life.
What is one piece of advice you’d like to pass on to new founders? Treat your time as your most precious asset, because it is. There are a lot of distractions at the early stage and plenty of people happy to have meetings after meetings that don’t go anywhere and waste your time. Identify what matters most, not only for your fledgling business but also for your own health and sanity. Spend your time on those things, and let everything else fall aside.
