Ep 317 - The Hustle Behind Mochi
EPISODE INTRODUCTION
Guaya Melgar, CEO/Co-Founder, and Adrian Co, CTO, share their journeys leading up to co-founding Mochi, a receivables management platform designed to improve billing and collections. Adrian Co “Pete” discusses his early self-taught coding experiences and forming a dev group, which led him to Proudcloud and later to Logitech. Meanwhile, Guaya reflects on her first startup, Vesl, which addressed credit access for small businesses, and how these experiences prepared her for Mochi’s creation. They both recount their initial meeting and partnership, explaining the intensive early product testing and the decision to build Mochi using TypeScript and Next.js for scalability, and Foxmont’s early investment that helped them launch. They share candid insights on navigating funding challenges, product bugs, and finding validation in their first paying customer, all while building a strong co-founder relationship based on transparency and resilience.
Episode Timeline:
[00:03:11] - What is Mochi
[00:04:46] - Pete’s Backstory
[00:08:24] - Pete learning to code on his own
[00:10:04] - Pete forms a dev group for student projects
[00:10:21] - Pete joins Proudcloud
[00:17:23] - Pete moves to other tech roles and joins Logitech
[00:19:48] - Guaya’s Early Hustle
[00:22:47] - Guaya’s first startup, founding Vesl
[00:31:12] - The Beginning of Mochi
[00:36:18] - Guaya’s First Meet Up with Pete
[00:39:09] - Early usability tests and prototyping to refine Mochi
[00:44:13] - Chose TypeScript and Next.js for Mochi’s Tech Stack
[00:46:59] - Free trials to gather feedback and improve Mochi
[00:49:10] - Foxmont became an early investor
[00:50:10] - Operating with a runway of only three months at times
[00:56:43] - Initial struggles with bugs during beta phase
[00:57:20] - First customer starts paying, validating product value
[01:01:10] - Defining core user segments
[01:06:33] - Building a strong co-founder relationship
[01:08:51] - Refining the product based on user feedback
[01:12:39] - Rebuilding a feature for significant performance improvements
[01:13:08] - Founders’ Sacrifices
"I always believe that building a product means knowing your customers first. As an engineer, I'm excited to build things, but without direction, you're like a headless chicken. Talking to users gives you that purpose—so you’re building something they actually need." - Adrian Co
Links:
Guaya Melgar (LinkedIn): linkedin.com/in/yroen-guaya-melgar-16213a57
Adrian Co (LinkedIn): linkedin.com/in/adrianpetersonco
Mochi: https://www.mochi.ph/
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