Episode #2 –

Brian Pontarelli, Founder and CEO of Inversoft, shares the history of Inversoft, what’s behind the explosive growth in the Colorado tech industry, and challenges associated with bootstrapping a company

In this episode, I will speak with Brian Pontarelli, founder and CEO of Inversoft a startup software company specializing in systematic language censoring and highly scalable identity and access management software, based right in the heart of Denver.  Born and raised in Colorado, Brian has entrepreneurship in his blood – having come from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners.

Brian’s passion for technology drove him to researching and developing a product called CleanSpeak that would block and filter profanity for chat rooms.  Brian’s hard work paid off, as the automated, scalable solution was very attractive to Nintendo – in a deal that enabled Brian to fully invest his time at Inversoft.

Brian has some great advise and interesting stories to share with us about the challenges and opportunities associated with entrepreneurship, building a team, and technology – thanks for listening!

Links to things we talk about:

• Check out Brian’s Linkedin profile [Here]
• Learn more about Inversoft [Here]
• Denver Startup Week [Here]
• Brian’s presentation on Productivity at Denver Startup Week [Here]
• Avery Rumkin Beer [Here]

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Inversoft got started [1:12]
• On finding an overlooked niche [01:50]
• Biography [3:51]
• Brief history of the Denver’s startup frenzy [4:08]
• How the tech community helped establish the scene [6:42]
• How customers can help in defining your product [9:45]
• How success with one product lead to discovering the need for another product [11:20]
• About Inversoft and the explosive growth [14:30]
• Maturing the company and adding leadership [15:27]
• Challenges associated with finding software developers in Colorado [17:05]
• Constraints and rewards of being bootstrapped [19:25]
• Culture of Inversoft and best part about being CEO [21:05]
• Never shipping crappy code, ever [22:26]
• Productivity Hacks [26:24]
• Who and what Brian reads [28:11]
• Using Google Alerts to stay attuned to the market[29:36]
• Best beers in Colorado and drinks at WeWork [30:14]
• How it feels to have to fire someone off [32:42]
• What is Clean Speak and Passport and what it can do for you [34:03]

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