🙏 He walked into his boss's office at a top Chicago investment firm to resign and got cut off seven words in with, "Are you quitting right now?"

The LIVing Room welcomes the co-founder of Hallow, the Catholic prayer app that beat six national Super Bowl campaigns to the #1 spot in the entire App Store. Liv Harrison talks with him about the year he went without a paycheck, the Mark Wahlberg ad that changed everything, and why he still insists "nobody needs an app to pray." This one's for you if you've ever wondered whether walking away from a "sure thing" was worth it.

Guest Bio:

Alessandro DiSanto is a co-founder of Hallow, the Catholic prayer and meditation app that became the first faith-based app in history to reach #1 across the entire App Store. He began his career on Wall Street before working as a private equity investor, before leaving finance entirely to help build Hallow with his friends. He and his co-founding team have since led the app through a Mark Wahlberg–fronted Super Bowl campaign and continued growth across 150+ countries. He lives with his wife, Sam, and their three young sons.

In This Episode:

00:00 Conference Fame and Life as "The Guy" Behind Hallow

01:00 Humility, Marriage, and Three Boys Under Four

03:00 Being a "Professional Catholic" and Conference Survival Hacks

05:00 From Wall Street Investor to Founding a Prayer App

07:00 The Late-Night Friend Group That Became Hallow

08:00 "Have Good Breakups": The Ex-Girlfriend's Sister Story

10:00 A Half-Day Retreat and the "Light Switch" Prayer Moment

12:40 Quitting Day: "Are You Quitting Right Now?"

15:00 A Year With No Income — Eggo Waffles and Ramen

18:00 Launch, First Hires, COVID, and 700% Growth

20:00 The Super Bowl Ad Nobody Thought Would Work

21:30 Mark Wahlberg, Jesus, and Beating Temu to #2

22:30 Colbert, Jonathan Roumie, and Hitting #1

23:30 The Risk of Celebrity Partners — Chris Pratt to Gwen Stefani

27:00 "A Heart for the One, Not the 99" and Saints in Seven Days

30:00 Moving People From the App Back to the Altar

32:00 St. Thomas Aquinas, "Everything Is Straw," and St. Joseph's Silent Service