Episodios

  • #107: Brothers Sold Their Bootstrapped Software Company for $40 Million – David and Chris Sinkinson

    #107: Brothers Sold Their Bootstrapped Software Company for $40 Million – David and Chris Sinkinson
    Aug 23 2024
    Brothers David and Chris Sinkinson attended Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, when David learned of the problems maintaining the blue emergency phones on campus. He proposed a location-aware mobile safety app, so Chris built it himself, and it worked great. AppArmor grew steadily to become the most popular university mobile safety platform in Canada and the US, and over 250 universities use it. With no outside investors, they bootstrapped the company to $6 million ARR with serious profits before selling the company to Rave Mobile Security for $40 million. They stayed on for another year in transition before writing a book and running a podcast called Startup Different. Quote from Dave Sinkinson, CEO and co-founder of AppArmor ”The biggest advice I give new founders is to ‘ignore that startup noise.’ Throughout our experience, we had lots of people who I loosely referred to as haters. People who said we’re "just a lifestyle business” or our idea is never going to work. One person literally told my cofounder brother Chris that we weren’t even a startup. “Just ignore those people. Don’t pursue validation from your peers. Instead, pursue validation in the market. A couple of years into the business, that realization was a big change that helped me stay on track. So, my advice for SaaS founders is to ignore the haters and enjoy the journey.” Links David Sinkinson on LinkedInChris Sinkinson on LinkedInAppArmor on LinkedInAppArmor websiteRave Mobile Security websiteStartup Different podcast and book Sponsor This week’s podcast is sponsored by Full Scale, one of the fastest-growing software development companies in any region. Full Scale vets, employs, and supports over 300 professional developers, designers, and testers in the Philippines, who can augment and extend your core dev team. Learn more at fullscale.io. The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 9 m
  • #106: SaaS Pricing Expert Shares Useful Strategies for Practical Founders – Dan Balcauski

    #106: SaaS Pricing Expert Shares Useful Strategies for Practical Founders – Dan Balcauski
    Aug 16 2024
    Dan Balcauski is the founder and principal consultant of Product Tranquility, a SaaS pricing consultancy. Dan shares the core building blocks of SaaS pricing, including customer segments, value, competition, and positioning strategy. Dan also describes the common mistakes in pricing and the importance of having structured pricing conversations with customers. In this expert interview, Dan shares his perspectives on key SaaS pricing challenges: Why CEOs need to be involved in pricing decisions as pricing and packaging affect everyone in the organization.How understanding customer segments, value drivers, competitive alternatives, and differentiation are key building blocks of SaaS pricing.Why choosing the right pricing metric and offer configurations can help target multiple customer segments.Why having pricing conversations with customers can provide valuable insights into their perception of value and willingness to pay.How pricing plays a role in positioning and branding.How AI is impacting pricing strategies in the SaaS industry. Quote from Dan Balcauski, Principal at Product Tranquility “One of the healthiest ways to think about pricing is that price is a thing, but pricing is a process. Like any other process in your company, it probably will have a process owner and some sort of document to describe it. “Your first pricing iteration is probably not going to be your best iteration. You’ll keep improving it. You don’t prevent your team from answering customer support tickets until you have the perfect customer support process. It’s the same with your pricing. “You’re going to make mistakes. Those mistakes will be way less fatal than you imagine they will be in your head. But as long as you’re committed to improving that process over time, you’re going to start moving in the right direction.” Links Dan Balcauski on LinkedInProduct Tranquility websiteSaaS Scaling Secrets podcast Sponsor This week’s podcast is sponsored by Cypress Growth Capital. For 15 years, Cypress has provided non-dilutive growth funding to bootstrapped SaaS founders, including many successful founders I’ve interviewed here on this podcast. Learn more at cypressgrowthcapital.com, then connect with Cliff Sentell at Cypress to have a conversation about your growth plans. The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 3 m
  • #105: Husband and Wife Team Built Popular Software for Wedding Planner Pros - Rob Farrow

    #105: Husband and Wife Team Built Popular Software for Wedding Planner Pros - Rob Farrow
    Aug 9 2024

    Rob Farrow was an experienced marketing executive and his wife Christina Farrow was a successful professional wedding planner. They discovered there was no good software for wedding planner pros, so they decided to build software themselves. They invested their savings, built a loyal team, and started Aisle Planner to serve other wedding planner pros with a complete solution to power their businesses.

    Aisle Planner grew slowly as they overcame huge obstacles, listened to their customers, and built world-class software that changed how events are managed. Aisle Planner is now the leading all-in-one software for wedding planners and event professionals with over 4000 customers.

    After struggling through the COVID-19 shutdown several times, Rob and Christina decided to sell Aisle Planner to Fullsteam, a software holding company. They stayed for several years to meet their earn-out commitments and run the company with the same team.

    Quote from Rob Farrow, co-founder of Aisle Planner

    ”There’s a very fine line between arrogance and ignorance. And somewhere in there is where I was living in this. When we started, I was so sure we would succeed that I ignored obvious signs of failure. I just believed wholeheartedly. I believe in myself, I believe in my wife, and I believe in our team.

    “If you have that belief, you can achieve things. And I know that sounds very cliche, but you have to have that belief. If you’re doing it for the right reasons, you’ll have that belief. If you’re doing it to get rich quick, you won’t.

    “There’s a bunch of obstacles that you don’t even know are coming our way. With that mindset of belief and just forging ahead, you’re ready for any obstacle. They’re not obstacles; they’re just things you deal with.”

    The Practical Founders Podcast

    Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app.

    Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 17 m
  • #104: Turning VC-Funded Startups Into Profitable, Thriving SaaS Companies – Krista Morgan

    #104: Turning VC-Funded Startups Into Profitable, Thriving SaaS Companies – Krista Morgan
    Aug 2 2024

    Krista Morgan started her first tech company by raising funding and trying to grow very fast. When the company faced a big issue and failed, she learned that big funding was more of a problem than a help in the growth and wind-down processes.

    Krista is now CEO and General Partner of Stage Fund, an early-stage private equity fund that makes control acquisitions of venture-funded SaaS companies that are stuck and need an alternative option to continue in a practical and profitable way.

    In this expert episode, Krista explains:

    • Why “growth at all costs” rarely works for software companies
    • Why VCs and funded founders don’t plan for the likely scenario that the company won’t have a successful exit
    • What’s happening in M&A for practical SaaS companies
    • Why acquiring software companies to grow is often less risky than growing organically
    • How to approach potential future acquirers to have a conversation about someday joining forces
    Quote from Krista Morgan, General Partner of Stage Fund

    “The game for practical startup founders is to find a way to make good decisions in the reality of today while still holding this big vision of the future. We can’t just grow at all costs, and we can’t just make all these big investments.

    “There’s this misconception that practical founders don’t have a big vision of the future. Of course, they do. They’re just thinking about it and getting there in a different way. And that’s where we want to be.

    “When I was founder of my first tech company, I thought money was always the answer. But money is usually NOT the answer. There is usually an answer, and maybe it takes money to get there, but it’s not the magical thinking of, If I just had five more people, I’d be here. Maybe, or maybe you wouldn’t. There’s no guarantee on that.”

    Links
    • Krista Morgan on LinkedIn
    • Stage Fund on LinkedIn
    • Stage Fund website
    The Practical Founders Podcast

    Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app.

    Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 3 m
  • #103: Healthcare Software Startup Sold to VC-Funded Competitor During COVID Era – Ian Manners

    #103: Healthcare Software Startup Sold to VC-Funded Competitor During COVID Era – Ian Manners
    Jul 26 2024
    Ian Manners was a successful consultant for pharmaceutical companies in the US when he discovered a major problem that needed a software solution. Big pharma companies provide financial assistance funding for patients who require their drugs but struggle with high costs, but these funds are difficult to access and manage for patients and healthcare providers. Ian and his cofounder created Vivor in 2014 to connect this financial assistance funding to patients through healthcare providers like hospitals, medical offices, and healthcare networks. The bootstrapped software startup grew slowly at first but eventually became profitable as it scaled up. Since inception, Vivor has helped over 100,000 patients receive over $2 billion in financial assistance to offset the high costs of prescriptions. During the COVID crisis that hit the US healthcare industry, Ian decided to merge Vivor with TailorMed, a VC-funded competitor, in a cash and stock deal. He stayed on for two years during the transition and is now looking for his next entrepreneurial adventure in healthcare software. Quote from Ian Manners, cofounder and former CEO of Vivor “The overall idea of merging our companies and having stock and some cash in our acquisition structure made sense for both parties. If the company that’s acquiring your company is huge and they’ve got big cash reserves, they buy someone out. But if you’re combining with another startup, that cash is precious. They don’t want to spend all of it. “So it really makes sense to do a combination of the two and to include equity in the deal. I think that part was absolutely a win-win, even when, as you’re going through that process, you negotiate all the details. “It’s a huge bet for us to take equity as part of our deal, We became an investor in the company that bought us.. I think for anyone facing something similar, my advice would be to just slow down that part of it and really think about and digest the fact that you’re becoming an investor in the combined company. “ Links Ian Manners on LinkedInVivor websiteTailorMed on LinkedInTailorMed website The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 5 m
  • #102: Practical VC Shares Advice for SaaS Founders From Over 2000 Investments – Dave Lambert

    #102: Practical VC Shares Advice for SaaS Founders From Over 2000 Investments – Dave Lambert
    Jul 19 2024
    Dave Lambert and the team at Right Side Capital Management are the most active venture capital investors, having invested in over 2,000 startups since 2009. Right Side Capital is a “pre-VC” institutional investor that operates very differently from traditional VCs: investing when SaaS companies have just a little revenue using a submission form on their website, then responding quickly and making investment decisions in a week. They also invest in practical SaaS founders with capital-efficient approaches who expect to sell their companies someday for less than $100M. In this expert episode, Dave shares practical insights for SaaS founders who don’t expect to play the big VC funding game: Why raising Series A or B funding rounds from VCs reduces your odds of a successful exitWhat founders should be focused on when they get their first customers and revenueWhy most VCs don’t invest when you have just a few customers and a little revenueHow the founders they invested in are using AI technology to grow more efficientlyWhat’s happening right now with acquisitions of SaaS companies for $25-$100M enterprise value Quote from Dave Lambert, Right Side Capital “More often than not, at the stages that we’re investing and someone has $4K, $8K, $20K MRR, the founders are still supremely confident and think they figured out their exact ICP and how it’s going to grow in scale. They think, We’re just going to take your money, and it’s going to be straight up from here. And it never does, or almost never does. “We’re having conversations with founders where we’re sharing, Hey, just so you know, 90% of our companies miss their revenue targets massively in their first year. So you should assume that you are going to as well. “But guess what? They all spend exactly what they thought they were gonna spend or more, usually. Just know that that’s gonna be the case and have a plan for where you’re still alive if things don’t go as expected.” Links Dave Lambert on LinkedInRight Side Capital Management on LinkedInRight Side Capital Management website The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 6 m
  • #101: Bootstrapped SaaS Founder Has No Intention of Selling Even as They Grow Big – Todd Watson

    #101: Bootstrapped SaaS Founder Has No Intention of Selling Even as They Grow Big – Todd Watson
    Jul 12 2024

    Todd Watson is the owner and CEO of Showit, a popular no-code website builder and platform for designers and photographers. Todd is a native of Phoenix, Arizona where he started as a videographer before joining a friend in 2007 to create a scrappy software business that made inexpensive photo-presenting and sharing tools for photographers.

    The Showit company was created when Todd took one of their two products and half the small team in 2010 to spin off Showit as an independent business. The small revenue from the small customer base and his own savings allowed them to rewrite Showit for the cloud and then continue their fanatic customer focus to keep growing every year—without any outside funding.

    Now Showit is used by 50,000 designers, photographers, and small businesses as their website platform using its elegant “Photoshop-like” no-code visual builder. The Showit company is growing quickly every year and is profitable, yet Todd has no interest in taking outside funding or selling his beloved company.

    Links
    • Todd Watson on LinkedIn
    • Showit website
    • Showit website design marketplace:
    • Showit on LinkedIn
    The Practical Founders Podcast

    Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app.

    Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 2 m
  • #100: She Scaled Her Software App as a Successful Franchised Service Business – Erin Fletter

    #100: She Scaled Her Software App as a Successful Franchised Service Business – Erin Fletter
    Jul 5 2024
    Erin Fletter had a long career in the restaurant business before starting an after-school enrichment program to teach kids how to cook at her daughters’ school in 2011. Her cooking program became popular, and she improved and expanded it to become a paid program called Sticky Fingers Cooking. Soon, she had a sizable business with over 100 chef-instructor employees who conducted engaging classes daily in Denver. Her team created custom software to help manage their complicated operations, from enrolling students, coordinating instructors, and building relationships with schools to handling payments and payroll. The software grew slowly initially but eventually became a powerful system that helped them scale their business and run efficiently. Erin considered turning her business into a software company, as many tech-powered businesses do. Instead, they kept improving the software and expanding operations, serving over 100,000 students and thousands of schools and venues. Now Sticky Fingers Cooling is a fast-growing and successful franchise business with a software superpower. Quote from Erin Fletter, CEO of Sticky Fingers Cooking “Our business has a lot of logistics, coordination, and operations. Our own custom software, we call it the Dash, it takes about 85% of all operations off the table for humans. This enables our chef-instructors to connect with their students and our franchise owners and regional directors to focus on building relationships with schools and parents. “Over the years, we have been contacted by very large organizations like YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, and other after-school enrichments about our software. They would see our automatic rosters getting texted and emailed at the venues that we were teaching in, and they asked, What are you using? What is this? And we told them, Well, it’s our own software, sorry. “We had talked for years about selling our software as a white-label solution because the demand is there. We’ve had inquiries for the last 10 years. That was a direction we could have taken. “But I’m just laser-focused on Sticky Fingers Cooking. It’s a very simple business, and our technology helps us do it incredibly well. We want to be the best at what we do. I didn’t really want a diversion from the path of taking our business national through franchising.” Links Erin Fletter on LinkedInSticky Fingers Cooking on LinkedInSticky Fingers Cooking website The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.
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    1 h y 5 m