How to Build a Unicorn with Yahya Mokhtarzada, Co-Founder of Truebill

Startup Renegades

Before co-founding Truebill (now Rocket Money), Yahya Mokhtarzada and his brothers were always starting companies together. From the traditional lemonade stand to shoveling driveways, their ventures were always evolving. Together, they launched Free Webs—which became Webs.com—and Yahya found himself (and his brothers!) raising Series A when Yahya was graduating college.

He left after a few years to serve as Vice President of Business Development at Nanigans where he helped grow the company from less than $1 million to over $20 million in run rate.

After getting the gang back together, the team of brothers couldn’t find a million dollar idea—so they started with a small one. The pain point was huge for people and momentum grew quickly. In late 2021, Truebill was bought by Rocket Companies for $1.275 billion. Yahya continues to serve as the CRO at Truebill, which is now called Rocket Money.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How Yahya and his brothers started Truebill with a very small, specific pain point that he didn’t believe had potential to be a big business
• The PR strategy Yahya used to do PR in-house and grow users from 3,000 to 30,000
• Why you need PR in the early stages of your startup, but should focus your energy on the channels you can control in later stages

Connect with your host on Instagram at @shauna.armitage and listen to more Startup Renegade stories at www.startuprenegades.com