Selling a SaaS Business: $150M Exit Then Failure

Hampus Jakobsson co-founded TAT and sold it to BlackBerry for $150 million. Then he started a new SaaS company called Brisk - and it failed completely. Selling a SaaS business made him wealthy, but the failure taught him more about building products. In this episode, Hampus shares how six friends built a mobile UI company into a $150 million startup acquisition, why his next company failed despite money and experience, and what he looks for across 80+ angel investments.

The contrast is striking. TAT succeeded because device manufacturers needed mobile UI software and TAT had unique technology - the SaaS exit came naturally. Brisk failed because the team built technology they thought was cool rather than solving a validated customer problem. Selling a startup is the reward for real product-market fit, not just good engineering.

Hampus Jakobsson is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and venture partner at BlueYard Capital who has invested in over 80 companies after selling a SaaS business for $150M.

🔑 Key Lessons

• 🎯 Selling a SaaS business does not guarantee your next startup succeeds: Hampus had $150M exit experience, money, and talent when he started Brisk - but still failed because the team built what they found interesting rather than what customers needed.
• 📉 Skipping customer validation kills startups faster than bad technology: Brisk spent four years engineering a "smarter" sales tool without confirming teams wanted it. Talking to customers earlier would have saved years of wasted effort.
• 🚀 Use consulting revenue to fund early product development: TAT survived its early years by taking consulting projects alongside core product work. Services revenue kept the company alive on the path to a SaaS exit.
• 🧠 Real product-market fit feels urgent, not polite: Hampus learned that positive conversations do not mean product-market fit. When prospects are politely interested but not desperate, selling a SaaS business on that foundation is impossible.
• 🤝 Invest in founders who obsess over customer problems: After investing in 80+ companies, Hampus says the best returns come from founders with deep domain expertise who talk to customers constantly.
• 💰 Shared founding teams need aligned motivation beyond money: TAT's six co-founders started from genuine friendship in the computer arts scene. That alignment carried them eight years to a $150 million startup acquisition.

Chapters

• Introduction
• What gets Hampus out of bed every day
• Favorite motivational quote
• How six friends started TAT from the computer arts scene
• Building mobile UI software for Motorola, Samsung, Nokia
• TAT's path to selling a SaaS business for $150M
• Life after the exit - adjusting to wealth and identity
• Starting Brisk - the SaaS product for sales teams
• Why Brisk failed - building cool tech vs. solving real pain
• The mistake of not talking to enough customers
• Lessons from failure versus lessons from success
• Becoming an angel investor and joining BlueYard Capital
• What Hampus looks for in founders and startups
• Lightning round
• Wrap-up and contact information

Resources

• Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/192
• Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email