Founder's Story
He Said No to Goldman Sachs. Said Yes to $3B+ — Michael Paulus' Journey from Underdog to Billionaire Builder | Ep. 192
21 Mar 2025
In this inspiring episode of Founder’s Story, we sit down with self-made billionaire and serial entrepreneur Mike Paulus. From humble beginnings on a blueberry farm to founding multi-billion dollar companies like Adapar and Assurance IQ, Mike shares powerful insights into building businesses that last, navigating liquidity events, and why he still identifies as a gritty operator rather than a yacht-dwelling billionaire.What You’ll Learn:Why saying no early in your career can lead to massive opportunityThe underrated power of bootstrapping and how it sharpens your edgeHow to think like an investor—even as a founderThe future of lean teams, AI, and the one-person billion-dollar businessPractical advice for young professionals entering the workforce todayWhat it means to build with conviction and stay close to the customerQuotes to Remember:“I like to think of myself as the underdog, even now.”“Your customer is your real boss—not the VC.”“Put your investor hat on before you commit your time.”“Find a rocket ship. Don’t ask what seat. Just get on.”Follow Mike Paulus:💼 LinkedIn🌐 EncoreInvestment.comOur Sponsors:* Check out Indeed: https://indeed.com/FOUNDERSSTORY* Check out Northwest Registered Agent and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: https://northwestregisteredagent.com* Check out Plus500: https://plus500.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com
Full Episode
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Hey everyone, welcome back to Founders Story. Today we have Mike Paulus, the billionaire founder and CEO of PCM Encore. Mike, normally we kick it off with, you know, tell us how you became an entrepreneur, but I think I want to do something slightly different. How is it when you hear somebody introduce you as Mike Paulus, billionaire founder and CEO?
You know, it's interesting. And I talk to a lot of my portfolio companies now. I love being in the fight and I love being the underdog in industries. And it's funny, you know, when I remember after we had sold and I was done at Assurance, I wouldn't play golf for a couple of weeks and I guess was living that like, quote unquote, billionaire life. And I was kind of miserable. I'm terrible at golf.
And I love building things. I love being with teams. So for me, I like to think of identifying myself still as that kind of gritty entrepreneur and not as the person that's kind of made it and is on their yacht in the Caribbean. You still identify as an entrepreneur. I like that, Mike. That's really good. So let's go back in your story. What even made you start the first company that you had?
Yeah, it's a great story. So I grew up on a farm in Washington State, a blueberry farm, and those were long, hard hours, and I knew that wasn't for me. So headed down to Stanford, and that was the first turning point in my life, being in Silicon Valley, understanding technology, getting to meet a lot of really smart people, changing the world, and It's kind of a funny story.
I was going to go be an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and I'd accepted the offer. I was going to start that summer. And I met Joe Lonsdale, one of the Palantir co-founders, and met him in the Palantir office. And it was the middle of the financial crisis. And he said, man, what could we do to prevent something like this from happening again?
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