Key Takeaways Joe Spector, 45, is the CEO of Dutch, an online veterinary care service.
In a new interview, Spector shares how he went from living on food stamps to becoming CEO of his own startup.
Spector also co-founded $9.3 billion telehealth startup Hims & Hers.
Joe Spector and his family immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union, now Uzbekistan, in 1990, when Spector was 10 years old. When they arrived in Fremont, California, the family lived in low-income housing and relied heavily on welfare and food stamps as they adjusted to their new life.
“Coming to America was like going to Mars,” Spector tells Entrepreneur. “It’s really a different planet.”
Basic things like culture and clothing were different, but Spector also noticed a difference in the classroom. In the Soviet Union, kids were told not to ask questions, but in the U.S., teachers encouraged students to ask questions and be curious.
“That alone highlights the freedoms that we have in this country,” Spector says.
Related: This 29-Year-Old Founder Took a $150,000 Pay Cut to Become CEO of His Own Startup. Here’s Why He Says It Was Worth It.
Spector’s limited finances played a role in major life decisions, like deciding to finish college — which he was paying for himself — in three years instead of four.
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in business in 2001, Spector moved to New York to work for JPMorgan as an investment banker. He ended up making over $200,000 in salary at just 25 years old.
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