#109 Tom Milar: Building Equista + Cheqly. Equity pricing, founder dilution, and Hong Kong speed

Tom Milar shares how he’s building Equista, a platform for equity management and valuations—and why he believes the private markets need better pricing infrastructure before liquidity can truly scale. Tom explains how the company evolved from stock issuance and cap table administration into a valuation engine that aims to price private companies in real time, from early-stage startups to unicorns.Tom also introduces Cheqly, his neobank built to serve startups with business accounts and payment rails that can eventually connect directly to equity transactions—making “cash for equity” workflows easier for buyers and sellers of private stock. He traces the roots of this work back to his earlier companies in Hong Kong, where speed and regulation shaped his thinking: forming a company could happen incredibly fast, and the AML (anti–money laundering) environment was advanced and demanding—an early “business shock” that pushed him to build robust compliance systems.On founder lessons, Tom is direct: the biggest equity mistake is giving it away too easily. He argues for bootstrapping longer, being minimalist, and treating equity like something to protect—because most companies won’t become unicorns, and heavy dilution can turn a big outcome into a disappointing one. His practical playbook for new founders is to create hundreds of small tasks, execute quickly, and follow one rule: prioritize cash flow and paying customers first. For Tom, the hard part of entrepreneurship is the daily grind and constant worry—but he frames it as the price of building something meaningful.He closes with a clear mission: make Equista the trusted source for private-company pricing, and keep building toward a world where private stock is easier to understand, value, and transact.About Tomas Milar:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasmilar/- https://eqvista.com/- https://cheqly.com/About Federico Ramallo ✨👨‍💻🌎🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io- ✅ https://prevetted.ai🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast00:00 Introduction to EQVista and Thomas Millar03:59 Understanding Equity and Common Misconceptions07:28 The Journey of Checkly and Its Purpose11:13 Cultural Insights from Hong Kong's Business Environment15:28 Challenges in Entrepreneurship and Building Companies19:28 Practical Advice for New Entrepreneurs23:40 Future Aspirations for Equista and Market Impact