Waqas Ali is the co-founder of Atoms, a shoe that is designed for the everyday.
Ali started building a startup and businesses after discovering the internet and realizing you could sell products online.
While there were a ton of insurmountable challenges, Waqas and his co-founder Sidra persevered – launching a custom dress shoe company called Markhor.
They eventually made it to the US, ran a massive Kickstarter campaigns and got into YC on their second attempt.
Today, Ali and Sidra are at it again, working on an everyday shoe targeted to creatives.
Ali joins us to share his story, how he discovered the internet and startups in his home country of Pakistan, all the challenges they had to go through just to start a company, his advice for getting into YC, what really goes into creating a product and story, how they’ve approached launching Atoms, and much more.
Hack To Start is a weekly podcast focused on interesting people and the innovative ways they achieve success hosted by @FrancoVarriano and @TylerCopeland.