Ian Brodie and his co-founder quit their jobs in March 2020, got laughed out of every VC meeting, and built a services business instead. After selling it for a mid-7-figure deal, they launched Levanta and hit $230K MRR in 9 months through SaaS partnerships with affiliate agencies - without a dollar in paid marketing.
Learn how SaaS partnerships drove 650 brands and 2,500 affiliates to one platform, why validating on Fiverr works, and how partner-led growth replaced traditional acquisition channels entirely.
š Key Lessons
- š¤ SaaS partnerships can replace paid acquisition entirely: Levanta hit $230K MRR in 9 months without spending on paid marketing by partnering with affiliate agencies who brought sellers and affiliates to the platform.
- šÆ Validate demand on Fiverr before building any SaaS partnerships product: Ian posted affiliate recruitment services on Fiverr and got 100+ inquiries within days, proving market demand without a product or website.
- š A failed SaaS product can be a lucky escape: Grovia's self-service tool flopped because customers wanted managed service. Raising VC to build it would have wasted millions.
- š¢ Close aggregators to load your SaaS partnerships marketplace: Levanta partnered with Amazon aggregators owning 100+ brands each, loading the two-sided marketplace quickly through channel partners.
- š Co-create content with SaaS partnerships to scale awareness: Levanta co-authored ebooks and case studies with agency partnerships, then partners distributed content to their own networks.
Chapters
- Introduction
- Ian's favorite quote from Rand Fishkin
- What Levanta does and who it serves
- Current metrics: $230K MRR, 650 brands, 2,500 affiliates
- The backstory begins: wanting to build a SaaS company
- How Ian and Rob met and quit their jobs in March 2020
- Using Fiverr to validate the agency business idea
- Why Fiverr works for demand validation
- Moving upmarket from SMB clients
- Building SaaS partnerships with affiliate tracking platforms
- Funding the SaaS dream from services revenue
- Why the first SaaS product failed as self-service
- Realizing Grovia was a services company, not SaaS
- Selling Grovia: acquisition offers and the mid-7-figure deal
- Bootstrapping Grovia with almost no outside capital
- Transitioning out of Grovia after the acquisition
- The genesis of Levanta and Amazon's Attribution API
- Validating Levanta through months of customer calls
- Building the product with a technical co-founder
- Raising a $430K pre-seed round in two weeks
- From incorporation to beta in three months
- First customers: targeting Amazon aggregators
- Selling to affiliate agencies as channel partners
- Scaling content through co-marketing with agency partners
- Why the partner-led growth model worked for both sides
- Challenges of finding the right level of funding
- Choosing a boutique VC over traditional growth rounds
- Lightning round
- Wrap up
Resources
