Point of Sale & Payments Venture
A full-stack restaurant operating system designed by restaurateurs, for restaurateurs — simplifying tech, slashing fees, and delivering real-time operational insights.
Location:
New York, United States
Role:
Co-Founder, CTO
Date:
2023-2024
Capital Raise:
$2.5M of $3M (Seed)
As Co-Founder and CTO of WelcomeOS, I led product and technology from inception through MVP and go-to-market.
I helped raise $2.5M of our $3M seed round, built a category-defining POS platform with embedded payments, and secured 150+ pre-sold customers.
We are now actively exploring the sale of our IP.
The Challenge
The restaurant tech stack was a fragmented mess. Restaurateurs were forced to “Frankenstein” legacy POS systems with bolt-ons — paying high payment processing fees (~3.4% NEF) and getting little real-time insight. Meanwhile, industry tailwinds like inflation, labor shortages, and changing consumer preferences accelerated the need for modernization. Welcome was born to solve it.
My Role
Founding CTO
Co-founded the company with Shane Fox, shaped the vision, and led all product, technical architecture, and vendor decisions. My role covered early wireframing through launch strategy and technical team oversight.Product & Platform Design
Built a unified Restaurant OS that consolidated POS, loyalty, ordering, payments, and insights. Integrated real-time performance dashboards, predictive AI for guest segmentation, and upsell automation for margin expansion.Fundraising & Strategic Finance
Co-led the $3M seed round, raising $2.5M. Developed financial models, ACV/LCV logic, and go-to-market materials used in investor discussions.Go-to-Market Execution
Drove sales support and technical enablement that led to over 150 units pre-sold, spanning 5 restaurant groups and significant MRR across SaaS and payment revenue.Resilience in Volatility
Navigated a brutal macro backdrop (two wars, U.S. election, fintech headwinds). With product complete and commercial validation in-hand, the business was paused pre-deployment to preserve capital and evaluate IP acquisition pathways.
Outcome
WelcomeOS delivered a polished, battle-tested platform with significant early market validation. Though commercial launch was paused, the business built a differentiated product with clear economic impact — saving restaurants 20%+ on payment fees and unlocking 1–2% margin gains. We’re now actively exploring strategic sale of the IP.