How much start-up capital do you think you need to build a business empire? Ten thousand dollars? Perhaps 100 thousand dollars? How about a mere $500? That’s all entrepreneur Ivan Pacheco needed to flip a switch and transform his life.

“In business, it’s a common mistake to believe that big investment leads to big success,” explained the self-confessed hustler from Queens, NYC. “That equation fails to factor in the human condition. You give one person a significant chunk of cash and they’ll burn through it in next to no time. You give it to someone else and they’ll build something that lasts. It’s all about long-term thinking.”

No-one can accuse Ivan of not having a long-term plan. After dropping out of college at 18, his first gig involved going from barbershop to barbershop and selling mixtapes from the boot of his car. Opportunity knocked in the form of an income tax refund for $500. He invested the money and made it work for him. Three years later he had three retail stores in Miami, Orlando, and NYC, selling everything and anything associated with street culture.

The ball was rolling and the momentum proved unstoppable. In the last 12 years, Ivan has opened a car insurance consulting agency, a Columbian restaurant, a Crypto education platform called DCX Academy, co-founded the Flair Dapp app and clothing line Sply & Dmnd. He’s come a long way from the kid who sold mixtapes to barbershops, and just as tiny acorns lead to mighty oaks, Ivan will tell you it was the $500 that kickstarted the whole show.

“It’s not about how much start-up capital you have but what you choose to do with it,” explained Ivan. “I didn’t want to be condemned to a life of toiling away for a pittance so when the opportunity came I seized it with both hands. $500 is not a lot of cash to many people but back then it was a significant sum to me and I was determined to make it work for me. It wasn’t easy but I had a fire in my belly and steel in my resolve, and when you got that, anything’s possible.“