SPRIBE co-founder and CEO David Natroshvili has shared the first part of his personal history on Instagram, and it’s a rather different genre from what usually appears on his account. Instead of the luxury lifestyle and business milestones, the post traces his path from a difficult childhood in Georgia through government work, several small businesses, and the chance meeting that eventually produced a software partnership.
Natroshvili said he was born in Georgia during the 1970s, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. His post characterizes the period through poverty and the influence of the country’s “thieves-in-law” culture, adding that he wanted a good life before he had any clear idea of what that even meant.
His first job was working as a driver for an American family in Georgia while learning English. Natroshvili said he bought his first car, a Volvo 740, for $3,500, and that car quite literally became his ticket out: after receiving a scholarship from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, he sold it and flew to the United States with $3,000 and a one-way ticket.
The Instagram carousel skips over most of his time in the US and returns to Georgia in 2004, when Natroshvili said he came back wanting to participate in rebuilding the country. He went on to serve as First Deputy Minister of Economy, head of the state property agency, and head of the investment agency, and the post includes a photograph from an official signing during that period.
Government work was not followed by an immediate jump into iGaming, however. Natroshvili said he ran several smaller ventures afterward, including laser hair-removal centers, restaurants, and a summer club called Sky Lounge. This list is noticeably less polished than the standard founder story, which usually edits the unsuccessful businesses out entirely and jumps straight from “early struggle” to the company that worked.
Sky Lounge also produced the most consequential connection in the whole post. While searching classified newspaper ads for speakers to rent, Natroshvili met two men identified as Nick and Morris. He said he was surprised to learn that both were young software engineers, and that the meeting became the beginning of their partnership. A gambling company that traces its origins to a classified ad for rental speakers is not something you read every day.
SPRIBE identifies Natroshvili as its co-founder and CEO. The company was founded in August 2018, with Aviator going live in January 2019, though those achievements are omitted from the carousel on purpose; the post deliberately concentrates on the years before SPRIBE rather than repeating growth figures its followers have already seen.
The carousel ends before explaining how the partnership actually developed into SPRIBE. Natroshvili instead asks his followers whether they want a second part, leaving the company’s creation and subsequent expansion for another post. To be continued, apparently.
“Success doesn’t happen overnight,” he wrote, arguing that the visible results followed failures, difficult decisions, and several moments that could have persuaded him to quit. The framing is familiar social-media founder material, admittedly.