Elkhan Shabanov was born in the Soviet Union, and started out in the tech world. He eventually left tech to try some other types of businesses, but eventually returned. He has done a few early stage startups in the past, in particular in the 3d printing space before it was cool. Six years ago, he joined his current venture. Outside of tech, he enjoys traveling, and is in a competition with his daughter to see how many countries he can visit. When he reads, he prefers to go back to the books he has read and enjoyed before, and being in Texas, he is a big fan of grilling out on his big green egg.

As I mentioned, six years ago Elkhan joined a company that wanted to be more than a software development shop. He and the founder of the company wanted to build a company that did more than throw bodies at a problem - but actually because a long term partner to their clients.

This is the creation story of Digicode.

Sponsors

• Speakeasy
• QA Wolf
• SnapTrade

Links

• https://www.mydigicode.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/elkhanshabanov/

Vishal Agarwal was born in India, and did his schooling in Darjeeling. He noted that this city exports some of the best tea in the world! Prior to his current venture, he was the chief marketing officer for Choxi. Outside of tech, he is an avid tennis lover and follows cricket and basketball closely. Though, he admits, now that he has a 2.5 year old child, his time is mostly dedicated to him.

In attempting to solve the problem of "splitting the check", Vishal discovered that restaurants had a real problem with having multiple tablets for the many order and delivery services - like GrubHub, DoorDash, etc. When he saw this problem proliferate, he validated that people were willing to pay for a solution.

This is the creation story of Checkmate.

Sponsors

• Speakeasy
• QA Wolf
• SnapTrade

Links

• https://www.itsacheckmate.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishalagarwal82/

Heiki Riesenkampf is from a tiny country called Estonia, later studying computer science in London and doing his post grad in Zurich. He has been into machine learning since before all of the hype it has now. Outside of technology, he dreams of being a macroeconomist, and spends a ton of time reading about the topic. He lives in New York now, and frequently takes in the architecture, fashion and local art scene.

Previously, Heiki spent time working for a VC, eventually building a product in a completely different domain. After personally realizing that he didn't want to be known for the product he was building, he pivoted towards building something that impacted him personally as an immigrant.

This is the creation story of Commonbase.

Sponsors

• P0 Security
• Speakeasy
• QA Wolf
• SnapTrade

Links

• https://commonbase.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/heikir