we sat down with ceo ben chestnut to ask them why this tech company has chosen to do things differently than its silicone valley peers. a lean and scrappy start. >> occasional interns here and there. it was tough. i remember being in a -- like a 900 square foot office. >> a quirky mascot. >> in the early days we had this fascination of monkeys. they make everyone laugh. >>nd attempt to solve a problem. >> our customers needed e-mail markets. >> ben chestnut and dan launched atlanta based e-mail marketing platform e chimp. today the company is doing more than half a billion dollars in revenue and it's likely you have an e-mail powered by them in your inbox right now. >> we send about a billion e-mails a day. >> as you walk around their offices it feels like a silicone valley tech company, cool art and modern architecture, a casual environment but where mail chimp differs from many fast growing companies is in the financing. >> you've taken how much money in outside funding? >> i haven't taken any. >> that's right. it's 100% owned by the founders. in spied of the formidable competition th

we sat down with the ceo, ben chestnut and why they have chosen to do things differently than their silicon valley peers. ♪ >> a lean and scrappy start. >> occasional interns here and there. it was tough. i remember being in a 900 square foot office. >> a quirky mascot. >> in the early days, we had a fascination with monkeys. they make everyone laugh. >> and an attempt to solve a problem. >> they needed e-mail machting. >> in 2001, they launched e-mail marketing platform mail chimp. it was a side hustle. today, they are doing a half billion dollars in revenue and it's likely you have an e-mail powered by them. as you walk around their offices, it feels like a silicon valley tech company, cool art, modern architecture. where mail chimp differs from fast growing companies is the financing. you have taken how much money in outside fund sng. >> zero. no funding. >> that's right. this company is 100% owned by the founders. in spite of the formidable competition, they used only the company's profits to grow. was there a time you thought, we are running a nice company, but if we want to grow quick