The Path from Entrepreneur to Executive with Pete Maldonado

Pete Maldonado, CEO and co-founder of CHOMPS is a natural entrepreneur. Prior to CHOMPS Maldonado spent the majority of his twenties, during and after college, as a Personal Trainer carefully studying product labels, nutrition facts and ingredients lists to build custom meal plans for his clients.

Busy with work and always on-the-go, Maldonado was on the hunt for healthy snacks that were truly “clean”, high in protein, low in calories, and didn’t sacrifice quality for taste. Upon realizing that options were limited and identifying a market need, Maldonado was determined to develop his own better-for-you meat snack alternative. 

Having met his business partner and fellow Co-founder, Rashid Ali, at a poker game in Chicago, Maldonado knew immediately that Ali’s critical thinking coupled with his knowledge in finance and operations would perfectly compliment his own creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Together, their two-man team kicked off selling meat sticks direct-to-consumer through Facebook ads out of Pete’s spare apartment bedroom. Chomps was profitable within the first 30 days and today, nearly  9 years later, Chomps is one of the fastest growing snack brands in the country, and the fastest growing natural meat stick brand on the market.

In this conversation, Pete and I discuss the path to learning how to be a leader, “on the go",” and the power of transparency, asking for feedback, delegation, and proactive learning.

Learn more about CHOMPs at chomps.com and follow Pete and CHOMPs on LinkedIn

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Interested in coaching services, check out Live for Yourself Consulting and Dr. Benjamin Ritter