Strictly From Nowhere: A Podcast Experiment by Cause of a Kind Mitchell Jones, Founder @ Lava | 1% Better Every Day
Mitchell Jones built his first FinTech company during COVID. Four days after launching, the world shut down.
In this episode of Forward to Extraordinary, Mitchell shares his journey from Goldman Sachs to founding LendTable and now Lava, a payments platform solving the subscription plus usage billing problem that every AI company faces.
This isn't a story about overnight success. It's about weathering hundreds of rejections, cobbling together small checks to survive, and learning that the best co-founders are the ones who challenge your assumptions and expand your perspective.
We discuss what it takes to build as an outsider to Silicon Valley, why trusting your mechanics matters more than chasing trends, and how to pivot with direction instead of becoming an idea factory that ships nothing.
Topics covered:
Building FinTech companies outside Silicon Valley
How COVID nearly destroyed LendTable four days after launch
Finding and working with co-founders who challenge you
The wet blanket of business pressure and how to navigate it
Why observation and curiosity beat forced innovation
The difference between pivoting and chasing squirrels
How AI accelerates prototyping but demands more focus
Why the next step matters more than seeing the whole mountain
If you're building a startup, struggling with rejections, or trying to figure out how to keep moving forward when everything feels impossible, this episode is for you.
Focus on the rock right in front of you. One step at a time.
Website: https://www.lava.so/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchell-jones-333559a2/
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LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMS
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A boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New York
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