Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Gatena and Michael Lynn.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Pray.com was birthed out of a tragedy and realization that everyone can leave a legacy of helping others. My friend Steve Gatena recently left his role as CEO of an Aerial Surveillance and Broadcast Media company because his business partner died in a plane crash outside Medellin, Colombia. I knew Steve was going through a difficult time so I decided to go up to Stonehaus in Westlake Village, have a pizza with him, and just check in. As a blue collar guy from Green Bay, Wisconsin who decided to get into finance after my parents were divorced, I never thought I’d be leaving my 13 year career at Merrill Lynch to start what is now the fast growing social network for faith, pray.com. When Steve explained his vision for pray.com I knew it was something our society was missing and that I had to be a part of this. Shortly after Steve and I paired up, we recruited Ryan Beck, one of Steve’s childhood friends. Shortly after high school Ryan had the opportunity to be mentored by a Pastor. He then went to Bible College, dedicated his life to the ministry, got a degree in computer science, and had been working for a non-profit organization called Mission India. After doing a Summer of research, the three of us had the chance to connect with Matt Potter and Matt became our 4th cofounder. From there the rest is history. Now we are building a platform that empowers people to live with purpose and connect with faith. Where traditional social platforms act as a distraction from life, we are trying to remind people why life is a gift and why they’re really here.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
While building pray.com we spent significant time upfront building our culture and researching our market. Steve and I completed hundreds of interviews with faith leaders. Between the four cofounders we did thousands of hours of research. Steve was also instrumental in building the company vision, mission, service statement, and values in the beginning. The amount of preparation we did was like nothing I had ever done. All of the exercises we did in the beginning around vision and culture were also incredibly unique and I have to admit I was even skeptical at first. As a financial guy, I’m prone to simply getting down to business. After having gone through Steve’s exercises though, I have to say it’s the only way I would ever build a business. The road so far has been one of explosive growth. I’ve never been a part of anything like this before and every time we encounter challenges we simply default back to our Vision, Mission, Service Statement, and Values. These are the things we call our company culture and they have become our operating system for how we do business. For example, when hiring we vet by company culture. When making product decisions we prioritize by company culture. Even with investors, we now choose by company culture. In a startup, everything is hard. We work 100 hour work weeks and there are more things to be solved than people to solve them. Having our culture document as an operating system has been critical and I would say our biggest challenge moving forward will be maintaining that and keeping our organizational health in a peak state.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pray.com story. Tell us more about the business.
Pray.com is a private social network for faith. We empower people to live with purpose and connect with faith by providing people with a way to connect with their favorite non-profits and faith organizations. Pray.com is a place where you can engage in community prayer, partake in small groups, and give to causes you care about. As a result we are creating a world where everyone leaves a legacy of helping others. Facebook is your Social Identity. LinkedIn is your Professional Identity. Pray.com is your Faith Identity. We are known for helping faith organizations connect their communities online and we allow them build stronger relationships offline. We’ve been helping 501(c)3 Organizations raise money and we allow people to explore their spiritual side through a digital faith experience. We have the unbelievable honor and privilege of working with some of the most caring and kind people in the world. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to serve with such a great team at pray.com and to be building a product that empowers people to live with purpose and connect with faith.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I believe that we can make our plans but the Lord directs our steps. An unfortunate circumstance in my family directed me into a career as a financial professional. In that painful period of my life there was both a lesson and a blessing. After 13 tremendously successful years, once I began to reach the pinnacle of my field at Merrill Lynch, another tragedy (one in Steve’s life) created the opportunity for me to join pray.com. I believe in having Faith and doing your best in all circumstance. It also doesn’t hurt to make lemonade out of lemons.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.pray.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pray
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/praymedia
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pray
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