From Shutterstock to Pareto: How John Oringer and Orlando Built a 48-Hour Startup Engine.
Company profile
Company business details
Motivation to build the product
After 18 years leading Shutterstock, John Oringer and his co-founder Orlando were frustrated by how traditional investors slowed down early-stage startups. They set out to recreate the dynamism of a fast-moving startup environment by launching a fund-incubator hybrid that runs on their own capital with no committee bottlenecks. Their goal was to give founders both runway and hands-on support to iterate ideas and secure funding within days, rather than months.Problem that their product solves
Many first-time and serial founders struggle to secure the right blend of capital, mentorship, and operational support needed to validate and scale new ventures. Weeks or months of waiting for investment and fragmented services can cause timing misalignments and missed market opportunities. Pareto solves this by offering immediate funding alongside embedded services, allowing founders to rapidly build and test MVPs, reduce risk, and seize market windows before competitors can react.Their unfair advantage
Pareto uses its own capital with no investment committee, enabling 48-hour funding decisions, and combines deep operator experience—from building Shutterstock to scaling SaaS and AI ventures—with a multi-idea incubation model that traditional VCs can’t match in speed or integration.Strategies
Idea Validation Stage
Bootstrapped Content Marketing
In the earliest days, John Chang marketed his dorm-room software products entirely online by creating and uploading original photo content and selling subscriptions. This lightweight, self-funded approach validated demand without outside investment by directly engaging potential customers.
Customer Immersion Research
In the earliest phase, the founder personally took on every role—from customer support to UX design—to gather direct feedback, understand pain points, and refine messaging and positioning before scaling.
Frictionless Fintech Positioning
Identifying excessive settlement times and cross-border hurdles as key pain points, the company emphasized payment solutions with minimal friction and near-instant settlement to attract customers seeking a smoother experience.
Pre-Launch (Product Development & MVP)
Supply-Side Seeding for Two-Sided Marketplace
To solve the classic chicken-and-egg problem at Shutterstock’s outset, John Chang personally seeded the platform with initial images, then onboarded other photographers once user demand was evident. This jump-started network effects and accelerated marketplace growth.
Niche Telemedicine Targeting
Pareto Holdings focused initial telemedicine efforts on specialties like dermatology and mental health, where remote consultations offer clear convenience benefits, leveraging COVID-driven behavior changes to secure early adopters.
