Founder Of The Week: Rugi Kavamahanga

• Rugi is the co-founder of Apostille, building the platform alongside Ralph Reijs with a shared vision for simplifying global document authentication.
• He plays a leading role in shaping Apostille’s product strategy, ensuring the service removes unnecessary complexity for users who need trusted, cross-border verification.
• Rugi’s background in problem-solving and operational efficiency drives Apostille’s mission to modernise a traditionally slow and manual process.
• Through his collaborative partnership with Ralph, Rugi has helped position Apostille as an emerging solution for fast, reliable and user-friendly document certification.

Tell Us About Yourself and Apostille USA

I’m a serial entrepreneur with Rwandese-American roots and an MBA from Penn State, raised by a father who spent decades teaching mathematics. That background gave me both discipline and imagination. I started in influencer marketing back in 2014, built my own Amazon brand, and then helped raise over $150M for crypto projects during the early ICO boom.

Co-founder of Apostille, Rugi Kavamahanga

Apostille-USA came from that same creative instinct – seeing an industry stuck in the past and rebuilding it for the modern world. Today, I, along with my co-founder, Ralph Reijs, are creating a full-stack platform for global identity transitions, helping people turn their international plans into reality with clarity, speed, and trust.

Co-founder of Apostille, Ralph Reijs

What Inspired You to Start Apostille USA? What Problem Were You Aiming To Solve?

When I applied for a nomad visa in Brazil, I experienced the Apostille world firsthand – and it was awful. No transparency, terrible websites, slow timelines, zero communication. My immigration lawyer told me this pain point was universal, and that’s when it clicked: a global industry was ripe for reinvention.

I then teamed up with my co-founder, Ralph, who was an old friend and a brilliant technologist, to build a platform that automated the chaos while giving customers real human support. After that, I emailed 2,000 immigration law firms and built a network of 100 partners. We didn’t just fix my problem – we fixed one of their biggest problems too.

What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge So Far? How Did You Overcome It?

My biggest misconception was thinking Google was simple. I assumed you built a great site, and the traffic just came. Instead, I discovered an entire universe – SEO, search intent, algorithm volatility, page speed, mobile-first rules, ad compliance. It felt like learning a new language on the fly. Ralph and I spent months studying, experimenting, and failing forward.

Eventually, we cracked it. Today, Google recognizes us as a high-potential company, and their performance team works directly with us. Our topical mesh strategy and disciplined execution were born from that struggle. We didn’t guess our way into visibility—we earned it.

Can You Describe A Pivotal Moment That Significantly Shaped the Direction of Apostille USA?

Two weeks after launching, our Google Ads account was banned – no warning, no clear explanation. It was a punch to the gut. Instead of collapsing, we reframed it. If ads were off the table, we would become the strongest organic and relationship-driven company in the industry. For a full year, we focused on content, SEO, affiliate partnerships, and long-term trust. That “detour” made us anti-fragile. When we finally mastered Google’s rules and relaunched ads, we weren’t dependent on them – we were strengthened by everything we built in their absence. That setback changed our entire philosophy: knowledge first, ads second.

How Do You Define Success? 

For Your Business: For the company, success means becoming the most trusted name in global mobility – the team people rely on when their next chapter in life depends on paperwork being perfect. Our clients are often stressed, often racing deadlines, and we take that responsibility seriously.

As A Founder: For me personally, success is about integrity. Doing things the right way, treating people well, and never compromising values for speed or convenience. I want partners, employees, and clients to walk away saying, “They kept their word.” If people speak positively about you when you’re not in the room, you’ve truly succeeded.

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Considering Launching Their Own Startup?

Prepare for discomfort. Entrepreneurship isn’t a straight line – it’s long stretches of uncertainty broken by moments of clarity. The smartest thing a founder can do is lower their personal burn rate so decisions aren’t driven by panic. I moved back home to Pennsylvania to eliminate rent and support my parents, and it allowed me to pour everything into Apostille-USA. No distractions, no financial chaos – just pure focus. Building a company is an endurance sport: you win by staying in the game longer than others. Simplify your life, stay patient, and commit to the long road.

What’s Next For Apostille USA? Are There Any Exciting Developments We Should Keep An Eye Out For?

We’re entering one of the most exciting expansions in our history: citizenship by descent. More than 100 million Americans may qualify for European citizenship, and these cases require deep document work—entire family trees, old birth and marriage certificates, multi-country processes. We recently elevated our partnership with Atlantic Bridge, one of Europe’s top citizenship and residency law firms, beginning with Portugal and expanding into Italy, Spain, France, and Greece. Our topical mesh strategy—blogs, podcasts, and social content—positions us as the leading voice in this space across Google and AI platforms. It’s a massive new chapter for the company.

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.

Founder’s Five with Rugi Kavamahanga

It’s one thing to build a fast-growing startup; it’s another to redefine an entire process used worldwide. We wanted to find out a little bit more about one of the founders behind Apostille. Here’s TechRound’s exclusive Founder’s Five with Rugi Kavamahanga.

1. Favourite Business Tool?

Automation tools are the heartbeat of our operations. They connect everything – database, forms, shipping management, and dozens of other tools – to create an invisible, seamless workflow behind the scenes. They let us automate what should be automated and frees our team to focus on what actually matters: delivering an exceptional customer experience.

2. One Lesson You’ve Learned the Hard Way?

I once believed routing documents would be simple – just match country, document type, and send it off. In reality, every “simple” decision creates layers of technical complexity when you try to scale it. There were moments where my ideas created ten unexpected problems for Ralph to solve. That experience taught me deep respect for the technical side of business. Without a world-class co-founder / CTO like Ralph – someone who can translate vision into reality – we wouldn’t be here. A great technical partner doesn’t just help you build; they prevent you from accidentally breaking everything.

3. A Future Trend You’re Watching?

AI will become the new page one of the internet. Instead of Googling “How do I apostille my FBI background check?”, people will ask ChatGPT or other models – and those models will point to whoever has the deepest, clearest, most trustworthy information. That insight drives our weekly content strategy: one country, one visa program, one complete set of assets across blogs, podcasts, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. We want to be the company AI recognizes as the authority in global mobility.

4. One Quote You Live By?

A line that’s shaped my entire approach to leadership comes from James Brown: “You got to pay the cost to be the boss.” As a founder, that means owning every decision, every mistake, every unexpected hit. When things go wrong—financially or operationally—you don’t point fingers. You absorb it with strength and grace. I’m trying to build something extraordinary, and extraordinary things come with extraordinary costs, often paid upfront. This quote reminds me that leadership isn’t about titles or rewards—it’s about carrying the weight, taking responsibility, and continuing forward no matter what.

5. A book/podcast you recommend?

Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla by Marc J. Seifer. Tesla’s story grounds me. He built world-changing ideas while facing setbacks that would break most people. His conviction, imagination, and willingness to pay the price for his vision remind me that entrepreneurship is bigger than profit – it’s about purpose. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, his story puts everything back in perspective.

Tesla lived James Brown’s line. He paid the cost – financially, emotionally, and personally – to bring ideas into the world nobody else could see. He sacrificed everything for his vision, and that’s what true leadership looks like

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Know someone who deserves to be recognised as a founder making waves in the startup landscape? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.