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In this episode of Financial Freestyle with Ross Mac, Mac welcomes Dave Salvant, entrepreneur, president, and co-founder of Squire Technologies Inc. to the podcast.

Squire is a software platform designed specifically for barbers. “We do everything from online booking to the point of sale to CRM. You name it,” says Salvant, who co-founded the company during business school after identifying a common frustration: the painfully long wait at barbershops for a haircut.

Inspired by the rideshare boom of 2014, Salvant and his co-founder set out to solve this issue. “Rideshare was taking off… You could book a restaurant on your phone and it dawned on us: why couldn't you, uh, book a haircut… get in the chair, no waiting, walk out, everything is paid for. So that was the genesis—like how can we make this process that you feel amazing after, but you dislike… be a game-changing experience?”

However, the journey wasn’t without challenges. “The first product failed, uh, miserably,” recalls Salvant. “It was a marketplace where… we thought if we built a product, barbers would adopt it, and customers would use it. But what happened was… if you didn't control the inventory of the barber and the barbershop, you would end up with a lot of double bookings… What we realized is we really had to control the infrastructure and build a product that the barber shops and barbers use to run their entire business.” As of 2021, squire Technologies is valued at $750 million.

During the interview, Salvant also offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of product-market fit and paying customers. “If people are willing to pay for your service, you don't have to raise as much money… early on, you get less diluted, and… you're more in control of your destiny,” he notes.

Salvant also touches on a challenge all entrepreneurs face: rejection. “People could say no the first time, but it's very difficult to say no the seventh time—the seventh or the eighth time.”

He concludes the podcast by emphasizing the most crucial qualities for entrepreneurial success: grit and determination. “It's not intelligence. It’s not, you know, luck. It is grit and determination. That's what allows people to be successful,” says Salvant.

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This post was written by John Tejada.