Venturo

Venturo was born out of the frustration of navigating the complex world of employee stock options, a pain point I experienced firsthand as an 8 year tech employee grappling with ISOs and NSOs. The real problem we’re solving is the lack of accessible, affordable tools for tech employees. Recently, my company had a tender offer I wanted to participate in. It was also the first year I was planning to exercise my stock options. I hired an accountant to do both sets of analysis (planning what I can buy/sell to minimize taxes based on my personal income, etc.). This analysis cost thousand's of dollars each year and is something that most of my coworkers would also default to; because managing the tax impacts of these instruments is difficult and time consuming. In addition, I also noticed that many net worth/personal finance tools completely ignored employee stock options (which for many are actually a big contributor to wealth creation). This drove me to build Venturo, a simple yet powerful tool to empower employees to self-serve, track their options, and make informed financial decisions without needing expensive advisors.

Before building Venturo, I validated the idea by conducting surveys and one-on-one interviews with tech employees at startups in my network and current/former coworkers. I spoke with over 25 individuals to understand their pain points with stock options. I also posted polls on X and tech-focused communities to gauge demand, asking about their biggest challenges with equity compensation. Unsurprisingly, many didn’t even know their vesting schedules or the tax implications of exercising options, they simply defer to their accountants, which confirmed the need for an intuitive tool. The validation process revealed a strong demand for a solution that simplifies the process without requiring deep financial expertise.

I built Venturo end to end myself using AI tools. I leveraged cursor (mostly using the Claude 3.5 and 4 models) building on js, html, css, and python files. I built user authentication and data storage using Supabase (as it was an all in one free solution) and integrated Stripe for transaction processing (for premium features). I deploy and host on Vercel as it is low cost and offers multiple deployments and analytics. My biggest challenge was early tech stack issues (lack of knowledge) that prevented me from moving fast. For example, I was using Replit and building locally before learning about Cursor + Vercel, and most importantly, version control with GitHub (understanding and leveraging Git is the biggest unlock). I strongly advice any solo founder, who is non-technical, really plan out the stack before starting!

To get our first 10 users, I spread the word to friends in my network and former coworkers. I also launched Venturo on Peerlist (https://peerlist.io/jsigs/project/venturo), where it was ranked #1 by the community in one of their weekly launches, driving significant early traction. I also shared the product in niche tech communities on X and Reddit, targeting early-career engineers. In general, marketing has been tough.. but I suggest very targeted strategies. For example, early inspiration for the tool came from certain subreddits where users struggled with personal finance tools. These are the same subreddits I look to target. In addition, I noticed that genuine user stories tend to work well to build traction. Displaying actual use cases resonates well.

My biggest advice would be to plan early and rigorously define your MVP. In addition, take a customer-centric approach when thinking about workflows within your product. There are many "quality of life" features I didn't account for early on, but were totally necessary for a good user experience in MVP. Thinking back a key challenge was design and UX and re-factoring code to be server vs. client side to hide my "secret sauce" financial calculations. It taught me alot. Also, if leveraging AI tools, do not forget to prioritize security. Solving real niche problems, making people's lives easier (saving time and money) is what motivates me.