Eighteen Months on Washington Avenue
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Two Founders, One Quarter
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Show notes
Two Founders, One Quarter
Nadia Okonkwo built a logistics software startup in Atlanta for three years. In the first quarter of 2022 her co-founder left, her lead investor pulled out, and she had put her last savings into payroll. This episode traces that quarter and the year that followed through interviews with Nadia, her former co-founder and her mother.
- The week she chose payroll over her own rent
- The conversation with her co-founder, from both sides
- Taking a salaried job and why it was not a surrender
- The small consultancy she runs now from her kitchen
Marcus reflects on how differently two people can remember the same ending.
Transcript
Welcome back to The Year It Fell Apart. I am Marcus Delgado-Reyes. Today's story belongs to Nadia Okonkwo, who spent three years building a logistics software company in Atlanta and lost almost all of it in about ninety days. In one quarter of 2022 her co-founder walked out, her main investor pulled their money, and Nadia paid her staff with the last of her own savings. I spoke with Nadia across several months, and I also spoke with her former co-founder, which Nadia agreed to even though she had not heard his side. Their two versions of the same ending do not match, and I think that is the most honest thing in this episode. Stay with us for what she did next, which started at her mother's kitchen table. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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