Bootstrapping A Billion Dollar Company From A Dorm Room

Austin McChord is the CEO of Casana, a healthcare technology start-up dedicated to improving the health and wellness of patients via at-home health monitoring. Austin was previously the founder and CEO of Datto incorporated, exited that company in a $1.5 Billion acquisition, and is the Founder of Norwalk Havoc Combat Robotics. 

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In this episode, explore Austin’s incredible journey from getting terrible grades at Rochester Institute of Technology, to founding and exiting a company valued at $1.5 Billion. Learn about incrementally building a new company, what selling your business really feels like, why every interaction that a leader has is meaningful, and why having fun is always the most important goal.

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OUTLINE:

Here's the timestamps for the episode:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (03:15) - Getting a bad GPA at Rochester Institute of Technology
• (12:45) - Being told not to start a company by an advisor
• (15:25) - What is Datto? 
• (17:10) - Losing a million dollars from a small mistake
• (22:01) - Where confidence comes from
• (25:55) - Building Datto and taking it public
• (31:20) - What it’s like to sell a company
• (34:29) - Evolving into a leader of over 700 employees
• (37:20) - Learning how to evolve and delegating tasks
• (47:35) - Becoming a different version of myself
• (49:30) - Founding Havoc Robotics
• (54:45) - Founding Casana
• (1:00:12) - Learning to have fun in life

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EPISODE LINKS:

• Datto: https://www.datto.com/
• Casana: https://casanacare.com/
• Norwalk Havoc Robotics League: https://nhrl.io/
• Outsiders Fund: https://outsidersfund.com/
• Austin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/austinmcchord

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