This is a powerful interview with Christian entrepreneur and startup founder, Ryan Rafols. He shares biblical and practical advice for anyone who is interested in starting a business or who is already running a business. As CEO of Newchip he has successfully raise close to $3 million in venture funding, grown Newchip’s user base to over 130K users, and has helped hundreds of companies raise millions of dollars. He gives all the glory to God, and is on a mission to change the world for the better.
Ryan Rafols is first and foremost a Christian entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Newchip, a FinTech startup reinventing the financial landscape to bring exciting investment opportunities in emerging companies to small investors, new investors and millennials.
As the visionary behind Newchip, Ryan identified a critical opportunity and need for the average person to invest in private companies that have the potential for high growth. With military leadership experience, he has marshaled a leadership team of senior finance and technology thought leaders with a combined 40 years of experience. He passionately drives Newchip business development and personally engages in the critical task of navigating complicated regulations.
Shortly after graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Army. During his service, he worked as a missile defense engineer, operating military defense systems, calculating targets and maintaining computer systems and weapons modernization. Honored for his service by congressmen, senators and President Barack Obama. He left the military to switch gears and pursue his interest in political science. While attending the University of Texas at Austin, Ryan was appointed to serve on a number of local government roles, including as the co-director of the University of Texas City Relations Agency, a member of the Board of Directors for University Area Partners and a member of the Mayor’s Task Force for University of Texas City Relations Agency.
After a tragedy on his campus, Ryan came up with the idea for Campus Watch, an app that improves the safety of colleges and universities. Campus Watch used emerging technology to drastically reduce the response time by campus and city police departments. The app was created in just 30 days and is currently partnered with colleges and universities all over the world. His experience in developing new, globally used technology allows him to bring his innovative expertise to Newchip. Promoting positive community and social entrepreneurship, Ryan sees Newchip as a way to connect people around the world with investment opportunities they are passionate about. He is driving the Newchip team to revolutionize the financial industry, so the average person can invest in emerging private companies with high growth potential.
