Startup Grind: Fireside Chat with Nick Fogle, Founder of ChurnKey @ Charleston Tech Week

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Nick Fogle graduated into the 2008 financial crisis with a law degree and $250k in student debt. Unable to find meaningful attorney work, he drove a shuttle bus, eventually landed a low-paying legal role, and - unable to afford a developer - taught himself to code using free online resources. He worked his way from intern to lead engineer at a publicly traded software company while building his first startup on the side.

In 2016, he and co-founder Baird Hall launched Wavve, a tool that converts audio content into shareable social videos for podcasters. After 18 months building the wrong product (a radio station platform that never caught on), they built an audio-to-video generator in an all-nighter as a last-ditch side project. That side project made money immediately. Wavve scaled to $150k MRR, bootstrapped with no VC, and was acquired by Calm Capital in March 2021.

He then co-founded ChurnKey, a retention automation platform for subscription businesses that has recovered nearly $300M in revenue across its client base. He writes the Bootstacker Substack on bootstrapping, debt, coding as leverage, and building generational wealth without a venture-backed exit.