Pete Maldonado
Pete Maldonado is the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Chomps, a company producing high-quality, naturally sourced beef snack sticks. He leads commercial strategy and operations, focusing on sustainable sourcing and product quality. Based in Florida, Pete Maldonado has helped grow Chomp...
Pete Maldonado's Bio
Pete Maldonado is co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Chomps, a Naples, Florida-based company producing grass-fed beef snack sticks — no sugar, no preservatives.
Before Chomps, Pete attended Palm Beach Atlantic University but left early to become a certified personal trainer in Chicago. Educating clients on clean eating opened his eyes to a gap: every bar and jerky on the shelf was loaded with sugar and fillers. That frustration became the seed of Chomps.
Pete co-founded Chomps in 2012 alongside Rashid Ali, whom he met at a poker game in Chicago. Pete brought the product vision; Rashid brought operations and finance. Each invested $3,250, and Chomps turned profitable within its first month. It ran as a side hustle for nearly four years before Pete went full-time.
The early years were brutal. COVID-19 crushed food-service sales in 2020 and brought Chomps to the brink. Pete and Rashid fought to keep the team together and pivoted to direct-to-consumer. By 2023 demand was routinely outpacing supply. Chomps appeared on How I Built This and closed an $80 million growth equity round from Stride Consumer Partners. Forbes projected it would top $900 million in revenue for 2026.
Pete lives in Naples, Florida with his wife Stephanie and their two children, Rocklyn and Maverick. He is Colombian, and the empanadas his grandmother made remain a birthday tradition.
Career Timeline
2003 — Left Palm Beach Atlantic University
Left university before graduating to pursue personal training.
2004 — Became Certified Personal Trainer
Trained clients in Chicago and educated them on clean eating.
2008 — Worked in Real Estate
Worked in real estate; filed for bankruptcy during this period.
2012 — Co-founded Chomps
Met Rashid Ali at a Chicago poker game; each invested $3,250 and launched from Maldonado's condo.
2016 — Went Full-Time at Chomps
Left other work to focus on Chomps full-time; Rashid Ali joined full-time in 2018.
2020 — COVID Pivot to Direct-to-Consumer
Food-service sales collapsed; pivoted to DTC to keep the business alive.
2023 — How I Built This + $80M Stride Round
Appeared on How I Built This; closed $80M growth equity from Stride Consumer Partners.
2025 — $100M Wells Fargo Facility at Chomps
Secured $100M revolving credit facility from Wells Fargo.
Episodes
Advice Line: What’s Your Value?
Guy Raz brings together four legendary founders—Miguel McKelvey (WeWork), Alexa Hirschfeld (Paperless Post), and Chomps co-founders Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali—for a special mashup tackling one of the hardest challenges in entrepreneurship: communicating your value proposition. Three founders call in with distinct dilemmas: Megan Downey struggles to prove the ROI of time-intensive pop-up demos for her reusable gift wrap, Amanda Ballweg can't make her dog enrichment cards make sense to online shoppers, and Mark Goldfarb needs to hire help without sacrificing the artisanal quality that defines his premium pesto. Each conversation reveals how to translate intangible benefits into clear, compelling messages that customers instantly understand. You'll learn why leading with the problem you solve beats listing product features, how to turn live experiences into scalable content, and why hiring for belief matters more than résumé prestige at the early stage.
Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps
Guy Raz hosts an Advice Line special with Chomps co-founders Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali, who offer real-time guidance to three founders facing growth dilemmas. Yadi Derisse contemplates expansion beyond her successful campus empanada shop. Zachary Bonder wrestles with e-commerce logistics for his frozen pies. Josh Shrenko seeks direction for his niche Smallmouth Bass apparel brand. The Chomps founders draw on their 13-year journey to advise on scaling thoughtfully, avoiding premature complexity, and staying close to core customers.
