LIFTOFF LIVE | KAAREL KOTKAS | Veriff CEO | Y Combinator, Earning the Trust of the Internet

LIFTOFF LIVE - Startup Stories from Inspiring Founders

LIFT99 Presents: LIFTOFF LIVE 🚀 Kaarel Kotkas is the 23 year old CEO of Veriff, a company which recently raised $7.7 million, after pitching masterfully on the Y Combinator stage.

In this interview, Kaarel sits down with Avery Schrader for an interview covering topics ranging from how Veriff got started, to how a 23 year old raised almost 8 million dollars, a top secret acquisition attempt and how Veriff plans to gain the trust of entire internet.

00:30 Intro to Veriff

08:43 Transferwise - How did Veriff Begin?

15:20 Why Identity Verification?

16:50 Who were Veriff’s First Customers?

20:00 Veriff’s Secret Sauce - First Employees & Culture

23:00 Getting Rejected by Y Combinator (Yes, that happened!)

26:30 Founder Tip: Don’t sell 95% of your company!

31:20 How Veriff Finally got into Y Combinator - “You Have to Have Balls!”

38:50 LIFTOFF: The value of Y Combinator & a Huge Acquisition Offer

37:30 Veriff’s Future Vision: Earning the Trust of the Internet

About LIFTOFF

LIFT99.co is Estonia’s most prolific startup hub. Featuring the Estonian Mafia Wall of Fame, a buzzing "co-growing" community, and office spaces packed to the brim with startupers and creatives.

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LIFT99 started LIFTOFF as a continuation of their mission to spread the incredible Stories of Startup Founders in Eastern Europe and by doing so, inspire others to shoot for the moon.

You can find LIFT99 here: https://www.lift99.co/

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Avery Schrader, the host of the show, is the CEO of Modash.io, an Estonian startup with the mission of paying every creator. To do that, they have developed an end to end solution for marketers struggling to collaborate with social media influencers.

You can find Modash here: https://www.modash.io/