Episode 118: How to Raise $48M for a Startup with Ariana Pareja

Acquania Escarne 0:00

What's up guys? Welcome back to the Purpose of Money podcast. I'm your host Acquania Escarne. A, and today I am joined by a magnificent superstar. Her name is Ariana Pareja. And if I got that wrong, please correct me honey. But Ariana is an entrepreneur, investor and founder with over 18 years of experience in business. She has started operated and existed and created more than three SMB businesses and one of them as early as age 21. Her primary expertise is centred around recruiting, training and growing an enterprise of sales teams, and in turn producing many satisfied clients. And I brought her on the show today, because I want to know her success story, how she made businesses that she was later able to sell, and even create the best life for her and her family and use the proceeds of her sale to relocate to areas where she likes and loves. She has raised $48 million in venture capital funding for her tech startup. And she's also the president and co founder of her family foundation. So let's talk about that too. Because I love people who create foundations in honour of their family. That is the type of legacy we do on the Purpose of Money podcast. And without further ado, Ariana, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here today.

Ariana Pareja 1:21

Thank you so much for having me.

Acquania Escarne 1:23

So I'm so embarrassed. I worked really hard on this last name in the beginning. And then butchered it in the intro. But honey, you have such an amazing story. You have now a tech startup with $150 million valuation. So before we get into all of that, because I can't wait to talk about it. I want to first figure out who are you? And what was money like for you when you were growing up?

Ariana Pareja 1:50

Oh, man. So there, there was no money growing up? To answer your question. But my parents were immigrants. I'm first generation I was the anchor baby. They came here for a better life. And I was the first in my family to be born in the Washington DC area not too far from where you're located in Northern Virginia, and yeah, I mean, growing up there, there really wasn't much to go by. My parents had to come here as political refugees. They were escaping war from Afghanistan. And my entire family got displaced. So you know, I have relatives that are in Europe, some got visas to the US, we came to the US, my sons, my not my son, my foot, my father's youngest brother came to the US, he got settled. We lived in his apartment for a while. We were on section, we were living in Section Eight housing for the first, probably four years of my life. There was a period of time when I was about seven, I'll never forget this. We went to the grocery store. And my mom hands me what looked like kind of Monopoly money. And she was like, I need you to go to the line and pay for this. And I'm like seven at the time. I didn't understand what's going on. And I go to pay and then I look back at my mom. And I can see she's like crying a little bit. And I didn't understand at the time what was going on. I'm like, Why is she crying just because I'm paying for something. Of course later on. When I got a little bit older, I realised we were using food stamps. And my my mom and my dad, they're not the type of people that like handouts. They are very hardworking people. And so that moment was one of one of many pivotal moments that I had growing up of like, I've got to figure this out. I've got to make a lot of money because I never want to see my mom cry like that upright. Yeah.

Acquania Escarne 3:37

Wow, that that is a moving money story. And one I haven't had on the show yet. So thank you for your honesty and transparency and, and just keeping it real. And you are not the first I am Panamanian and Brooklyn mix. My dad's from Panama. And my mom is from Brooklyn, and my dad's family immigrated here different circumstances his father, father, grandfather used to work on a canal and then sent everyone over later when he could send for each of his kids. And so my dad basically was born in Panama but then moved to New York while he was a young child like slightly before middle school, and they all had to adjust right like it's just an adjustment and that pressure to do better because you can right your parents sacrifice for you to be here and now it's on your shoulders to go above and beyond whatever they could accomplish because you have the education the language the citizenship, all the things that lead to a success path right or you have all the puzzle pieces it's up to you to put them together. So let's talk about how Ariana the seven year old who witnessed parents adjusting and and the business owner and I want to say mogul up calm like what how I've been what even sparked your interest in becoming an entrepreneur, especially at such a young age, I 21 I was probably, I did have my money together, but I wasn't thinking about starting a business. So what sparked that inspiration?

Ariana Pareja 5:15

So, again, I think because of my circumstances, I fell into entrepreneurship more out of necessity, right? So I remember being like in second grade, third grade and coming home with like wads of cash in my backpack, my mom finding like, what are you doing, selling cookies, selling whatever I could, whether it was like playing cards, you know, this that, like, I would just sell, sell, sell. When I was 18 years old, I got into real estate. And at that time of my life, there was, at that point, the market, you know, real estate was at the height of its market, you know, it's cyclical. And at that time, I could see the opportunity of being able to work commission, and making a big salary, not salary, but commission without having to take on student debt. And around that time, my dad got sick, he had got diagnosed with cancer. And by the time I was 19, he had passed away. And unfortunately, my parents did not have good life insurance set up. And when he passed away, I was 19 years old, I was all I thought was Holy shit, I need to figure this out. Because my mom was, you know, she worked at CVS, like she didn't have a savings plan, she had nothing. And so I got into real estate, and I saw the big opportunity there. And when I first got into this commission position, it taught me how to manage my finances, it taught me how to essentially run a business because I was responsible for everything that I brought in every month, right? Like, if I didn't hit X amount of sales, X amount of closings, I wasn't gonna be able to feed myself. So it taught me how to manage money. So that was kind of like the initial kind of, I guess, opening to the entrepreneurial world is being 100% Commission being a 1099. That gave me the practice.

Ariana Pareja 5:16

From there, you know, when I was younger, it was it was tough, too, because being a young woman and starting a company at 21 years old, like you have a lot of insecurities, especially, you know, a minority woman, right? Like, I didn't go to an Ivy League school, I had a lot of insecurities. And I used to try to put my hair back in a bun, and look older, to feel, you know, fit in with my clients. And then shortly after about, say, about six, eight months, I realised I had this unique gift that I was younger than everybody else. And I was super ambitious. And I'd go knock on doors to get clients. And sooner or later, I would just get clients because they felt bad for me. They're like, Oh, look at this little kid who has all this energy, let me let me throw them a deal and see where it goes. And then I realised I'm like, I have an unfair advantage here. I'm the young in that everybody wants to help and mentor. So as long as I go in with this, like, open, like vulnerability of like, please send me some business. I'm a young kid, I'm working really hard. People will give you a shot, eventually. Not everybody. But some, a lot of people will admire that. And they'll say, you know, good for you, kid. You know,

Acquania Escarne 8:31

I love it, and then have support. And I love how you took what some people would have considered a disadvantage, right? Because they think, Oh, if they if they don't know, I haven't been in business for 10 years, and I don't have this many, you know, things that I've done or accomplished. They may not want to work with me. You were like, No, I'm young. I'm enthusiastic, and I have all the energy. Let me just hit him with that and see where it goes. So being responsible. Another thing you said, that's really interesting, because as a financial coach, I work with a lot of different income levels and job types. Some people who are commission base find it really difficult to manage their income, but you seem to have mastered it or found a way to master it. Do you recall any of the tips or tools that you use to help you when you didn't have a set income? You literally didn't close? Didn't when didn't make money? How did you manage that on a day to day, especially if you are trying to help your mom.

Ariana Pareja 9:28

So here's the thing about what I think differentiates the successful entrepreneurs with the unsuccessful entrepreneurs. If you don't have a manage, if you don't know how to manage your personal finances, you'll never be able to manage your business correctly. And what I mean by that is like, for example, so i We've mentioned this, and I've mentioned it again, two, I've had three companies, three exits. The first two companies were bootstrapped. And the third company excuse me, we raised $48 million at 100. That's a million dollar valuation. And whether it's a small little mom and pop shop or big company, the number one key is managing your p&l and having the discipline to manage your p&l, you know, I see so many entrepreneurs that will go out, and they'll be killing it. And they'll finally get to a post revenue position where they're making, you know, 510 15 million in revenue. And they're driving these expensive cars, they're living in these expensive rentals or houses or going on these lavish vacations, you have to have that discipline to live beneath your means for a long time. Okay, so when when my husband and I, we had a real estate team, and we were getting several awards, from the Wall Street Journal, we were the number one Keller Williams team in the entire country by units and volume. By any means, from the outside world, we should have been driving Mercedes Benz X fives, we should have had a really nice expensive house, we would get these listing appointments for $13 million for the year, the Hungarian embassy, and we'd show up in a beat up Honda.

Ariana Pareja 11:07

What are you doing? Like I thought you guys were the number one team in the entire country? Why are you driving a beat up Honda? Well, because we were super disciplined any money we made any profit we put back into the business. And that's, that's what sets the entrepreneurs that make it and don't make it apart. It's like you have to live beneath your means for a very long time. Oh, yeah. Until you get to a point where you can buy like, I have a rule. Now I don't buy anything unless I buy it cash, oh, my car's cash. Like my house, we only have a couple 100,000 left on it. But everything I do I buy cash.

Acquania Escarne 11:40

And it's very interesting. So you know, Jay Z said he doesn't buy anything if you can buy it twice. So that's still being able to be in a financial position where you could literally buy two of something and it doesn't affect you, right. But if you can't buy two of it, then maybe you're not in a position to buy it. And now you're saying you're at the point where if you can't buy it in cash, then it's not the time to make the purchase. So that's a very interesting way to think especially as someone coming out of the real estate space selling homes where credit is leveraged so much in real estate. So do you still believe in using credit when it suits you? Or what are your thoughts on that?

Ariana Pareja 12:20

Absolutely. Like I think that when it makes sense, of course, but when it comes to like if you're in building mode, and you're trying to figure out how to really get your your bootstrapped company off the ground, and you're bootstrapping everything, like you shouldn't be living in extravagant high rise, you should live in someone's basement, like seriously until you can until you have enough cash flow, like the thing is most people live check to check. And then this is actually one of the reasons why my husband I through our foundation, we have a financial literacy course that we launched through Miami Dade College last year. And we do it for free. We do it for free. Anyone in Miami Dade is available to this financial literacy programme. And we did it because we saw that the the middle class is shrinking in this country. And the reason why is because we're in this, everyone's on Instagram, comparing their lives the next person or the whole younger generation, they don't have the discipline that older generations previous generations have had. Because they're just living for the moment. They're living for the next vacation, they're living for the next thing that they can post about on Instagram. It's sad to see this happening to America, like, You got to have more discipline, if you want to be successful in people don't understand that they think, Oh, well, if I have the right product, if I get the right funding, if I have the this amazing, you know, startup that goes off and I could be living lavishly. It's like, no, no, you need to earn that lifestyle, you need to earn it. And it takes patience, it takes discipline,

Acquania Escarne 13:53

That is so good. And I'm so glad you have this course you're offering. And there is their studies, it's not just like, you know, Ariana said so but there are a lot of people who are shrinking, the middle class is shrinking the evidence and data supports it. And the income is just not there. So you're either lower income or higher and no in between, but it is still I know 100 You know, 100,000 plus people who are income earners, so 100k or more a year and they're living paycheck to paycheck just like someone who makes $30,000 a year and a lot of times it's exactly what you said they got the high paying jobs so they went to get the fancy car than they had to have the house with the fence and the house note is two three times what it should be. And then you just have this maintenance you're literally getting a paycheck to maintain your lifestyle and you are struggling with credit card debt as well or some other type of situation student loans, you know, because you got the six figure job but it came with the six figure student loans. So that's, that is Those are real issues. So I do believe that entrepreneurship has proven time and time again to create millionaires. Because as an entrepreneur, your income is limitless, you know, sell more widgets, do the digital product, sell more houses, whatever it is for you. But when it comes to raising capital, you know what, when, first of all, let's talk about when do you know it's time to seek capital for your business? Because I don't think everyone even goes that route. And then once you answer that, can you give us some tips on how to do it?

Ariana Pareja 15:33

Sure, absolutely. So when it comes to raising capital, I always tell entrepreneurs, that one, you have to make sure that your company is even worth funding, right? So a lot of folks say, oh, I want to go raise funding, and then they'll see their pitch deck. I'm like, but it's not highly scalable. This, like, nobody's going to put money into this go to go get an SBA loan, you know, bootstrap it. So one, you have to identify, is this actually scalable enough? Like, could there actually be a multiple? That's interesting enough for an angel investor for a VC to put money into this? Second, do you have an MVP? Do you have a working MVP that do you have skin in the game doesn't work? I can't stand when I see a pitch deck. And I asked them, Okay, so you know, how's your MVP? Can I see a working example of this product? And like, Well, it hasn't been built out yet? And I'm like, Well, then why the hell are you asking me for money? Like, if you can't figure out the 100k, or whatever it cost to build that initial prototype? Why are you coming up to me? Because like, that shows me as an entrepreneur, if you can't figure out that piece, how are you gonna solve all the other problems? How are you going to solve all the other million problems that are going to come your way, when you launch this off the ground? Right, figuring out the money, the initial money to come up with the MVP, that's, that's not that big of a problem, you got to figure that part out.

Acquania Escarne 16:59

And it's the basics, like, I think that's where you can see, as an investor, I've been an angel angel investor for a couple of companies now. And one of the things I look for is like, how much skin do you have in the game, and the prototype is, is the one thing that I think you should be able to do, even if it's really, really drawn a well and put together and it's, it's not perfect, but it is functional. That's a start. Otherwise, to me, it's still an imagination, right? You're still dreaming of what this looks like. But you don't know if it really works, because you haven't put it together. So I think that's a minimal investment. But it could be expensive. Like you said, it could be $100,000. To put together this book could be 600,000.

Ariana Pareja 17:42

Hey, 500, or whatever the case may be. But if you can't figure that out, if you can't maybe perhaps find a co founder CTO that can build out the tech stack for some sweat equity, or any whatever the case may be, can't figure that easy part out, you're not going to be able to figure out everything else. So if somebody hands you $10 million, yeah, you'll blow through that money. Yeah,

Acquania Escarne 18:01

you raised a good point, though. Sweat equity. So everyone assumes, you know, when you're building a team for a new venture, it's all about money, right? I have to finance it myself. Or I have to have cash or I have to have capital. So we talked about like how No, you could go to people like you or people like me to get cash. But you could also have sweat equity. So for those who are listening and have no idea what that means, that could be the legwork. The admin the hustle the grit, the person who's doing the grunt work of getting something to a place where you can sell it, produce it or get investors on the table, because they may not have the money to put into the deal or not as much money to put into the deal. So I know for my real estate ventures sweat equity sometimes looks like finding the deal. Sometimes looks like finding investors sometimes looks like figuring out the analysis like do crunching the numbers, making sure that this is even a good deal. Identifying potential hard money lenders, there's like so many ways to put sweat equity into an opportunity. But I wanted to kind of explain that for anyone who didn't know but let's go back to how do you raise capital? So let's assume you come to me I have a viable product. I have a prototype, and now I want to raise money where

Ariana Pareja 19:18

on the way you still don't start yet you have okay solid you need at least a couple loi is letters of intent, okay? Meaning you have potential customers that say you will they will deliver on this on paying you on this product. You have a solid go to market strategy, which includes a distribution channel because that's what investors always want to know. It's like okay, how are your potential customers going to find you what's your go to market strategy so making sure that you have product market fit. And again, this is this is you can all you can do all of this once you have your we are working MVP. For us, for example, we were trying to solve a problem. So I actually don't have a background in tech. Neither does any of my co founders or my husband who's Also my co founder, none of us had a background in tech, we all had a background in real estate, we understood the market. And we understood that the problem that we were trying to solve. So when we were setting out to develop this again, it wasn't even on purpose, it was even more by accident. For those of you that don't know, aren't familiar with real estate, every single real estate agent, they use what's called an MLS system to list properties. So we found that matrix inside MLS was very old, outdated, it hadn't been updated since the 80s. And we thought, Okay, what if we aggregate all the different data sets from different platforms and put it into one user interface that's very similar to like Zillow, but only Realtors would have access to it. And so we called CoreLogic, and Blacknight, which is the two largest data providers in the country. And we said, we want the datasets for these six counties that we were servicing in the DC metro area, tell us a very expensive number we cannot afford. We found out that Zillow, which was hosting a hackathon in this was November of 2015. And basically over 300, teams from all over the country came and they competed. We again, no tech background, but we understood what we were trying to solve, hire two programmers went there won the competition. And that gave us gave us an open API to all the public record data in the United States.

Acquania Escarne 21:19

Wow, see, so you were frozen. You were focused on six counties, and you won, and now you have access to the whole United States.

Ariana Pareja 21:29

Yeah. So from there, we built out our first MVP with our own money, which was $650,000. Then we went around the country showing the idea the concept to all these different big brands, and Keller Williams and Rilla G at the time said, we want to buy it, we said Holy shit, this is bigger than we thought, how do we level out the playing field? And the idea was, what if we sell this to every single MLS that we every single Realtor in the United States would have access to this, instead of just one particular brokerage. And so that's what we did got on planes, trains, and automobiles, pitch this to everyone. And then we said, Let's go to every single, big major broker and major team in the country and show this to them, because they would understand the power of this. Just show it to them.

Ariana Pareja 22:16

And guess what happened? They all wanted it. We raised $6 million, just from doing that. Because we went to our potential customers saying, What do you think of this product? Do you think this would help you with their daily workflow in they're like, Oh, my God, this is revolutionary, let me write you a check. And so we raised our six, our first 6 million that way. And then we went on to raise another 5 million from a family office based out of Canada, and then got our Series A from stripes, which is out of New York, they funded a couple of other big unicorns like monday.com. And that valuation was at 150 million this was by this was all between 2000, end of 2015 and 2018. Okay, and then got acquired by a conglomerate of our MLS customers in October of 2021.

Acquania Escarne 23:00

Wow. So there's quite a few books out there that talk about building a business to sell, right? With that intent that even from the beginning, you're building something you don't intend to keep forever, and you want it to be attractive to anyone who might acquire it. Be honest, were you and your husband have that mindset? Or did you think this would be your baby project forever.

Ariana Pareja 23:25

So at the beginning, we were like, this is going to be forever. This is like we we didn't have this intention to sell. It was more of like, we just needed the funding in the beginning to get off the ground and to compete, because there were companies like CoreLogic, that were literally at a conference coming up to us and saying, we're gonna put you out of business, Gary Keller said, I'm gonna build, I'm gonna hire out engineers and build this out if you won't sell it to me, and I'll squash you. And so we had this immense pressure of like, okay, what can we do? And the idea was, how about, we just go faster than everybody else? We raise the capital, we hire the engineers, and we just deliver this humanly faster than everybody else and be first to market. And that's what we did. So we didn't have the intent to raise venture capital. But then once we raised venture capital, obviously, if a VC is getting bothered, like, Yeah, you better sell this. They want to get their money back. Yeah, exactly. So so the know obviously, we had to pivot our ideas, but.

Acquania Escarne 24:33

Wow. So that's interesting, too, because there's this concept of the original right, the person who gets to market first, and then there's also the people who get their second and they maximise everything you did wrong, or things that you made a mistake on, and they make a better product and then they become the dominating force. But you fortunately, didn't have to do any of that because you ended up being acquired. Can you tell us a little bit more about what does that not necessarily the numbers. But what does that look like? Like how, as a business owner and a founder? Do you decide to sell your baby? Is? Was it a financial decision? Was it a freedom decision? You know, what were some of the thoughts you guys discussed and then eventually settled on?

Ariana Pareja 25:16

So, obviously, once we took the VC money, there was no question that we had to set it up to sell to exit. So we already had that in mind. So there wasn't this big conversation of like, okay, it was going to exit it was more of a question of like, do we want to stay on once it gets acquired? And then what does that look like? What is the convey process look like? I think all of us for the most part, all of the cofounders, we kind of were just so burnt out, because between November 2015, and pretty much 2020. All of us just worked 1000, like 1000 hours a week, it felt like and didn't sleep and the stress and all the things that you seen the movies, you're like, that doesn't happen in real life. Oh, it does. But it does, but it does. And I had to get to witness that firsthand. And as a mother, right. And as a woman, as a mother, my kids were really young at the time. My second, I had my second child right before our Series A, and I gave birth to him. Within 10 days, I was back at the office. So it was intense. It was a very intense time. And those years, those really young formative years, my children's life, I don't really remember being there. And I had to live my life like most women would never, so that I can live the rest of my life so that most like most women can't write, and love. And so it was it was a sacrifice. It was a big sacrifice. There were times where, you know, I was travelling between Texas and you know, the East Coast and my husband was on the West Coast. And my kids were literally being raised by nannies overnight, like two three nights in a row. And I remember being on the road. I remember being in like a shitty three star hotel with having to pitch our product the next morning and like crying myself to sleep like oh my god, I miss my kids. And it was awful. So back to your question I'm rambling on. But while I was burnt out, everybody was burnt out. We were ready to take a break.

Acquania Escarne 27:10

I believe it I believe Yeah. And it's so funny. I this is a me being vulnerable and transparent on air. I am addicted to documentaries, or not even documentaries, but also Docu series. So I don't know if you've ever seen the story of Uber start or jewel. So Uber start was like a show on Showtime I think for a little bit. So it was a doc it was a drama Docu series, but it kind of outlined the progression of that company. And then right after I saw that I watched the documentary on jewel, which technically is a vaping device. So they modelled themselves as a tech startup, but they were selling you know tobacco in a vape canister that allowed it to be easily more easily absorbed into the body and enjoyed right. That was such an interesting story. But in both of those youth, you heard the similar stories where they were up all night, trying to get things ready for production. Even that that process of launching like for jewel, for example. They came up with a marketing plan where they were in clubs, and then they had advertisements, which they were allowed to do because they weren't a tobacco company, they were a tech company. So it was so interesting to see how they were able to market big marketing campaigns in Times Square and magazines that tobacco companies couldn't do because of the lawsuits and the changes in the advertising of tobacco products.

Acquania Escarne 28:39

So even seeing that tradition, ditch changing of how things are done and how you categorise your business and then raise money and then get valued because jewel had a was a unicorn at one point, before it became a device too many kids were using right and it became a health issue. And it you know, so it's just so interesting to me to see the startup world, especially in these multimillion dollar companies that we have come to know as household names Uber, everybody knows Uber, everybody, you know, got into this jewel vaping situation. But you actually, I think you what you produce is even more phenomenal because you saw something everyone uses MLS and you saw how you could make it better. So you didn't have what we would call an original original idea because they're the software existed. It was just archaic. You saw a room for improvement. And you You went for it and then you race to get out there before everyone else. But then you were smart. You were like listen, it's time to sell. So and you and honestly in answering that question, you answered one of my other questions about balancing motherhood and business. And it sounds like you sacrifice in the beginning but you saw the light at the end of the tunnel. And now you get to do more things. Things like you said that women cannot. So what is life for Arianna on a day to day basis?

Ariana Pareja 30:06

Oh, yeah. I mean, now I'm at a point where I don't miss anything that my kids have at their school. I can take them to school every morning. I could pick them up if that both my husband and I and my husband runs a publicly traded company now exp. But both of us will both walk to the mall to the kids school in the morning, drop them off, pick them up, like we're both super active parents and we get to overcompensate for those years that we weren't. We weren't. We were absentee parents. And so yeah, it's it's a it's a different lifestyle now that I can I have the flexibility, I feel like I've earned, you know, because a lot of times with a lot of entrepreneurs, we have this insecurity of like, I've got to put in those 12 hours, 16 hour days. Now I feel like I'm at a point where I've earned my way. And so I don't feel guilty. If I put in a six hour day, or an eight hour day, the way I used to write before was like, Oh, my gosh, the sun's still out. I better still be on my laptop. Right? I don't I don't have that. That mentality anymore.

Acquania Escarne 31:04

I like, I like that. And I love that you're like, we do what we want to do, and we're present. But do you feel like your kids even remember the days you weren't there?

Ariana Pareja 31:16

So funny enough. One time I was talking to my daughter, she's eight now. And she was talking about something about when we lived in Virginia, US you guys used to drive me to school every morning and me and my husband looked at each other. We're like, Yeah, we probably definitely did not. opare did that. And so it's just funny. So they don't remember when they're that little they don't really remember anyways, so

Acquania Escarne 31:41

Gotta love it. I love it. Because then you're like, Yeah, whatever you remember. As long as it's good. No, I love that. No, this has been an awesome conversation. And I know for my mompreneurs who listen to the show, this is going to be inspiring for them. Because I know a lot of us hustle and grind just to get to a point where the business takes off. And sometimes the goal is six figures, then it's seven figures, then in your case, it's by me get someone to buy this company and take it off my hands. But I really love the journey. I mean, you went from being the firstborn. So first generation American, who built a business at 21, and then built two other businesses. So you clearly know the guidebook and you can execute it, do you genuinely feel that building a business is pretty much the same? It's just what do you want to do? And that's what changes? Or were they three completely different experiences for you? Does that mean

Ariana Pareja 32:42

Every experience is a different experience? Why you've learned different things. And there's definitely been some businesses that have failed miserably that you'll never see on my LinkedIn, or hear me talk about because they were so awful embarrassing, I'll never mention it. But you know, every time you try, it's okay, you fail, you get up you try again, fail again. Try again, it's, I'd say there's one key component when you're taking a company from zero to one. And that is, are you solving a problem? That's big enough? Are you the person to solve that problem? Are you and your team right? Or whoever? If you hire an operator? And like, yeah, it's just Do you have the passion to see it through when your backs up against the wall, and you have those days where you're burnt out? And you're like, Oh, my God, I'm so done with this? Like, do you have that passion to push through? Right? If you can add, if you can have those three things, you'll have a successful company. Oh, I

Acquania Escarne 33:39

Love it. That is so good. So Arianna, the name of the show was called The Purpose of Money. So I asked all of my guests this question, what is your purpose for money?

Ariana Pareja 33:49

The Purpose of Money for me is a tool to be able to do what I want when I want the freedom, the freedom to, to do what I want when I want.

Acquania Escarne 33:59

I love it. And that's a great answer. Before you go, please let listeners know how can they find you? You know, where can they follow you on social drop everything now so we can include it in the show notes?

Ariana Pareja 34:11

Sure. You can find me on Instagram at Ariana Pareja That's with one n AR I A N A Pareja P AR EJ A. You could also find our Family Foundation, which is at Pareja family foundation on Instagram. I'm also on LinkedIn at Ariana Pareja. And yeah, I don't bite if you ever have any questions. If you just say, Hey, I have this pitch deck and I'm looking to you know, go through a round of funding and I know can I just get a set of eyes on my pitch deck I'm more than happy to take a look at it and give you feedback. And if it's a good product or good idea, I'd be more than happy to put you in touch with the right people.

Acquania Escarne 34:49

I love it. Thank you so much for that offer. You heard it here guys. It'll be on you if you don't take off the offer for yourself. Thank you so much for being on the show today and just sharing Your journey I think this is going to be a powerhouse episode for so many people so you guys know what to do. If you liked this episode, don't forget to leave a five star review wherever you're listening and don't forget to share it with anyone who needs to hear it too. Until next time, guys keep building generational wealth. Bye bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai