Before joining Amplo, Dennis Thankachan spent years studying technology and telecom companies as a public markets investor, then used that experience to build a company in the telecom space himself, later sharing his industry knowledge through outlets like No Jitter and TeleGeography. His path there wasn't typical either—before finance he sold eBooks, imported Japanese game consoles to resell, and made hip-hop beats, and he now describes running his company like a professional sports team with a culture he calls proudly dorky.