Dan Kurzius is an American entrepreneur and the self-made billionaire co-founder of the iconic email marketing platform Mailchimp. His background is rooted in humility and resilience: he grew up in a small town where his father, a first-generation American, owned a bakery/deli in New Mexico, and the family often lived on the edge of poverty. When his father passed away, his family struggled, sometimes facing moldy food and no presents for Christmas.

This early hardship instilled an intense drive. Kurzius worked numerous small jobs (mowing lawns) and later became a competitive skateboarder and DJ. He eventually graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech (Georgia Institute of Technology), where he met his future co-founder, Ben Chestnut. This fusion of technical expertise, creative pursuits, and raw determination formed the basis for his eventual, massive entrepreneurial success.

Dan Kurzius and Ben Chestnut co-founded their first venture, the design consultancy firm The Rocket Science Group, in 2000. The foundational idea for Mailchimp came in 2001 as a simple side-project aimed at solving their small business clients' need for a user-friendly email marketing tool—a niche that quickly proved immensely valuable.

As COO and a core leader, Kurzius was instrumental in maintaining the company's unique, successful strategy: bootstrapping and self-funding Mailchimp for over two decades without taking a single dollar of external venture capital. This strict adherence to self-reliance ensured the founders maintained absolute creative and financial control. This focus on customer needs, combined with the company's famous quirky branding, propelled Mailchimp to dominance. The culmination of this journey was the acquisition of the company by Intuit in 2021 for approximately $12 billion in cash and stock, securing Kurzius's multi-billion dollar fortune and cementing his legacy as a champion of the bootstrapped business model.

Dan Kurzius's social impact is massive and structural, stemming from Mailchimp's role in democratizing digital marketing for small businesses worldwide. His company empowered millions of entrepreneurs, particularly in the creative economy, to compete digitally.

His personal philanthropy is often directed toward supporting education and community initiatives in Atlanta, reflecting his commitment to the local tech ecosystem. His life story provides a powerful narrative of resilience, proving that overcoming poverty and adhering to self-reliance can lead to massive commercial success.

Dan Kurzius maintains the casual, high-energy, and authentic style of a bootstrapped tech founder. His attire is consistently simple, favoring comfortable shirts and jeans, reflecting the anti-corporate culture of Mailchimp. His aesthetic is clean, creative, and focused on product integrity.

Residing in Atlanta, Georgia, his luxury is the immense security and autonomy derived from his multi-billion dollar fortune. His life is dedicated to advocating for the entrepreneur's journey and proving that self-funded businesses can achieve world dominance.