Bootstrapping Daylite: Alykhan Jetha on 25 Years, No VC

Bootstrapping, immigration, and surviving two crashes: Alykhan Jetha, founder and CEO of Marketcircle (Daylite), on building a 25-year software company with no venture capital. AJ was expelled from the Congo as a child and arrived in Canada as a refugee in 1974. His father died two weeks later. Decades on, he runs a CRM company used by small businesses in over 80 countries — built without a single outside investor. In this episode of The Seventh Voice podcast, AJ covers: - The childhood in Kinshasa that made him unshakeable under business stress - The Silicon Valley VC meeting that ended in ten seconds as the dot-com bubble burst - Why he spent years consulting to pay back friends-and-family investors - What bootstrapping a startup actually costs — the part nobody posts about - Why he bet everything on the Apple ecosystem when Apple was the underdog - Whether the AI bubble will burst, from someone who lived through the last one - Why most founders fail — and the difference between working IN and ON your business A conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, immigrant experience in Canada, and building a small business that lasts. Guest: Alykhan Jetha (AJ), Founder, President & CEO, Marketcircle The 7th Voice Podcast Host: Azeez Adesanya