Investor Connect - 606 - Josh Chodniewicz of Fundify

In this episode, Hall welcomes Josh Chodniewicz, Founder and CEO at Fundify. 

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Fundify is a tech-driven equity crowdfunding marketplace that enables anyone to invest in next-gen startups alongside industry experts. They work closely with experts in a wide variety of industries to review and comment on investment opportunities. Fundify makes it simple for anyone and everyone to invest in startups and build a portfolio, with as little as $10 per investment.

Josh previously co-founded and served as CEO of Art.com/Allposters.com, where they built the world’s most successful online art retailer selling more than $3 billion in posters and framing services and satisfying more than 20 million paying customers.

The experience of co-founding Art.com showed Josh how difficult and time-consuming it can be to raise capital for a business. In fact, in the early years, he bootstrapped the business on just $35,000 and was continually told “no” by potential investors. Josh and his team went on to raise a $58M Series A for Art.com before it was acquired by Walmart. 

Josh began angel investing to help other founders build their dreams. He founded his own venture company and incubator called Mach 10 Ventures and has invested in dozens of startups including Mixbook.com ($11m+ in follow-on funding), Collectrium (acquired by Christie’s), Moolala (acquired by Ncrowd), Pixowl (acquired by Animoca), True Impact Media and others.

As an early-stage investor, he once again found a time-consuming, inefficient process, especially when considering investments in industries outside of his expertise. 

Josh founded Fundify to simplify startup funding and investing. Josh has won numerous awards and honors, including Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, 40 Under 40, among others. While Josh was CEO of Art.com, the company earned recognition from Inc. Magazine as the 2nd fastest-growing company in the nation. 

Josh lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Natalie and three sons: Beckham, Asher, and Edison.

Josh shares with Hall what excites him now and how he sees the industry evolving. He discusses his investment thesis and some of the companies in his portfolio which fit the thesis.

You can visit Fundify at www.fundify.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/fundify-inc/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/fundify?lang=en.  

Josh can be contacted via email at [e-mail], and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jchod/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.