Kate Stinson of CHiPiN: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Launched My Business or…

Authority Magazine: Kate Stinson of CHiPiN: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Launched My Business or Startup -- Listen Share The detours are redirections, not failures. The detours are redirections, not failures. Taking the risk to start a company is a feat few are fully equipped for. Any business owner knows that the first few years in business are anything but glamorous. Building a successful business takes time, lessons learned, and most importantly, enormous growth as a business owner. What works and what doesn’t when one starts a new business?

What are the valuable lessons learned from the “University of Adversity”? As part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kate Stinson. Kate Stinson is a Louisville, KY-based entrepreneur and Co-Founder of CHiPiN by Benevolent Impact, a philanthropic golf experience company that combines fun golf gameplay with charitable giving. She brings over 15 years of growth marketing experience to the role, overseeing marketing, sales, and customer success, and previously led strategic growth for PinSeeker — the world’s first virtual closet-to-the-pin golf game — through its acquisition by Revelyst in 2024.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from Xavier University and has built her career across a range of startups and marketing-focused organizations. Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path? I was working at MGM Resorts International in Las Vegas in my late twenties, and while I loved my career and the friends I made there, something was missing. Las Vegas simply wasn’t the place for me long term.

So I did what many people think about but few actually do: I packed up and moved back to my hometown of Louisville, KY, giving myself permission to spend time with family while I figured out what came next. Louisville was supposed to be a pitstop, but it became a launching pad. My role at a fast-growing marketing agency introduced me to Sean Breslin, the man who would become my longtime business partner including here at ChipIn, and more importantly, it introduced me to the electric, terrifying, intoxicating world of entrepreneurship.

I was bitten by the bug, and there was no going back. Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Before MGM, before the agency and really before any of it, I was grinding in Las Vegas the way most young people do when they arrive in a new city with big ambitions and a thin bank account. I worked at the Player’s Club inside a downtown hotel. The hours were long, the glamour was nonexistent, and the work was humbling but it was a great opportunity to learn about gaming. I followed that with a job at Mandalay Bay, sitting outside a restaurant taking phone reservations.

This was the pre-OpenTable era, so I really was fielding more questions from wandering tourists than I did actual bookings. I remember thinking, what in the world am I doing here? But I kept showing up. I kept learning. I tried to extract something valuable from every unglamorous moment, because that’s what you have to do when you’re determined to get somewhere — you mine even the most difficult seasons for what they can teach you. That persistence paid off. I was accepted into the MGM Resorts International Management Program, a turning point that accelerated my career and built friendships I still carry today.

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The article provides valuable insights from a startup perspective, which can resonate with many in the brand strategy field, though the themes of resilience and adaptability are common in entrepreneurial discussions.