Meet Chelsie Patterson, CEO of Give Memento Inc.
Chelsie Patterson had been to eight weddings in 2018. One by one, for each wedding, she added money to a registry or wrote check last minute and put it in a card. By the time she got to the last wedding, she realized that weddings were the only thing she used her checkbook for any more and the online registry felt too transactional. For important events like weddings, checks felt old-fashioned and inconvenient, while existing services like Venmo were too casual.
As Chelsie explored whether her idea could become something more, she “started talking to people– friends who had similar pain points, Jeff from a technology standpoint, and fellow Boothies for their different perspectives.” She recalls, “I was convinced that something like this had to already exist, so I went on an internet scavenger hunt, but I couldn’t find anything.” As a result, Chelsie founded Memento, a personalized digital cash giving company that commemorates big events like weddings.
For Chelsie, the passion for entrepreneurship runs in her blood. “My parents have owned and operated their own company since 1983 and are truly an inspiration,” she recalls. Accordingly, her entrepreneurial spirit played an important role in spurring Chelsie to launch Memento. When Chelsie was 22 and backpacking around the world, she started a project called R.A.G.S tags (Random Acts of Goodness), where people could track good deeds on a Wordpress website that she built. Then, at 25, she created a game called “craption” and launched it on Kickstarter.
Chelsie had spent the past 10-years in marketing which helped her transition into entrepreneurship. “Marketing is a crucial component to startups so I am extremely grateful for my background. I’ve also spent the last 2.5 years going to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business part-time program which has provided a really strong foundation and network to support other critical aspects of a startup,” says Chelsie.
Earlier this year, Chelsie and her partnerJeff were accepted to the Polsky Accelerator Program to work intensively on Memento over the summer. Chelsie says, “my friend Meenakshi told me about it at a friend’s birthday party. She had recently started working out of the Polsky Incubator and encouraged me to apply to their Accelerator program. The program awards 13 startup teams with 10-weeks of incubator space, coaching, mentorships, and a SAFE agreement.”
When asked about Memento’s future, Chelsie says, “We want to get it out there for people to use! We love the value and the experience that we are building and can’t wait to share it with people. [In the long term], we want to continuously build and iterate Memento for our customers. There is so much potential in the fintech space, especially as technology and user behavior continues to change.”
For Chelsie, the most gratifying aspect of Memento is the people. She says, “The most rewarding aspect of Memento is the incredible team that we are building and all of the amazing people that have supported us along the way.” Throughout the experience, she has formed partnerships and gained mentorship with a variety of people in the fintech, wedding, and startup industries. “We’ve been introduced to people from Discover, Venmo, LovePop to wedding planners, VCs and more. It’s humbling to see how many people will offer 30 minutes of their time to a stranger.”
Ultimately, although there are uncertainties that come with building a company from scratch, Chelsie harbors an optimistic and enthusiastic attitude as she leads and builds Memento. She says, “The most challenging aspect is all the unknowns. It is such a rollercoaster ride of emotions and decisions. You never know what each day is going to bring or the best way to react. The experience of it all is worth the ride.” Hence, Chelsie realized, “there should be an easier and more personal way to give money to our friends,” which spurred the idea of personalized digital cash gifting.