In this episode, Shane Austrie speaks with Eli Wachs, CEO and co-founder of Footprint, a fast-rising startup tackling one of the internet’s oldest problems—proving who you are. Footprint combines KYC, identity, and passwordless authentication into one secure layer, so companies can onboard users safely without asking them for the same data over and over again.

Together, they dig into:

– How Footprint unifies identity, authentication, and compliance

– Why onboarding is the new product moat

– What data Footprint actually stores—and what it doesn’t

– How to rethink trust in an AI-generated world

– Lessons from building at 20, failing early, and finding focus

– What it means to “play to the long-term” in VC-backed startups

– Why security and UX shouldn’t be a tradeoff

– The role of storytelling in pitching a technical product

– How Footprint handles risk scoring and bad actors

– Advice for founders navigating 0 to 1

If you’re thinking about building in fintech, privacy, or user infrastructure, this episode is your cheat code