Practical Founders Podcast

Oliver Low worked for Microsoft and then MySpace in London before creating a successful digital agency in 2010 with two friends. Their agency grew fast and was profitable, so they invested in building software apps to solve problems that they faced helping big brands promote on the web. One of those products, Platform360, turned into a real SaaS product business which became their focus in 2013. Platform360 was a programmatic ad platform for large brands to manage digital advertising in the changing digital privacy environment. They grew quickly with extreme effort and no outside funding, but eventually decided to sell the Platform360 business in 2018 for a modest exit. Oliver is a savvy and practical "0 to 1" entrepreneur and business builder. He now runs Tiny Studio, the venture builder inside Tiny.com. Tiny is one of the largest "buy and hold" acquirers of bootstrapped and profitable SaaS companies, continuing to run those companies as independent and sustainable businesses. We talk at length about what we are both seeing in the big wave of successful practical software companies that are starting, growing, and thriving without any VC funding. Bootstrapped SaaS Topics Discussed on This Podcast with Oliver Low Why Oliver created a digital agency in 2007 after working at Microsoft and Myspace How they built and grew a programmatic ad-tech platform without outside funding Why they chose to sell the company at a challenging time rather than raise big VC funding How Tiny.com works as a holding company that acquires bootstrapped SaaS businesses and holds them long-term as independent companies What Oliver sees in the world of practical SaaS founders from his global perspective Why he started a venture studio inside Tiny.com to incubate practical SaaS businesses Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

In this expert interview, Vik Thapar of Cypress Growth Capital explains revenue-based financing (RBF) and how it can be very useful for practical SaaS founders. In the last 10 years, Vik and the Cypress team have funded over 50 SaaS and tech-enabled services businesses that have steady recurring revenues and predictable customer acquisition approaches. Revenue-based financing is a form of non-dilutive funding that is paid back as a fixed percentage of cash receipts until the investment is paid off. Unlike raising funding from VC or other equity investors, founders with $3M-$10M ARR can use RBF as an efficient option to accelerate growth and increase the value of their companies without losing control or diluting their equity. Royalty-Based Funding Topics Discussed on This Podcast What is royalty-based financing and how is it different than other non-dilutive funding options like venture debt or equity funding from VCs? When is royalty-based financing useful for practical founders by company size and capital needs? When doesn't royalty-based financing make sense for founders? What time frame is typical for founders to use funding to grow and then exit at a much higher price? What has happened in the royalty-based financing industry in the last 10 years? What's the typical process and timeline for a founder to receive funding and start paying it back? Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

Bryan Clayton, Co-founder and CEO of Greenpal, discusses the growth and challenges of building a bootstrapped lawncare services marketplace. They focus on the importance of addressing consumer and vendor needs, and share milestones that validated their potential. They also emphasize the potential for growth in the industry and the challenges of scaling a business.

Ben Murray is a former SaaS CFO and finance professional who helps SaaS founders understand the basics of SaaS accounting, finance, and metrics for their growing businesses. Ben has a popular blog and podcast with free educational resources to learn advanced SaaS metrics, learn finance best practices, and hear stories from other founders. In this expert interview, I ask Ben all the questions that I hear from startup founders and SaaS CEOs about finance and accounting operations. Ben is very experienced and very practical about doing the simple practices that help software companies grow efficiently and confidently. Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

Wissam Tabbara is a serial entrepreneur who has created multiple software startups in Seattle since 2009 when he left Microsoft where he was a software development manager. He led multiple startup technology teams and now is an experienced CEO and business builder. In 2021 he founded Truebase, a B2B prospecting platform for revenue teams using the power of generative AI accelerates the prospecting journey. Wissam steps back to assess his startup adventures more objectively and shares his biggest learnings around leveraging the latest technologies, funding, and acquisitions, and staying ahead of giant tech companies in the same space. He talks about his biggest learning as a technical founder: how the revenue and growth side of the business is where "all the action is at" when creating a valuable software company. Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

Lloyed Lobo is the co-founder and former president of Boast.ai, a leading platform to help software companies in the US and Canada to redeem available government tax credits. Initially started in 2012 as a services business helping companies administer tax credits, Boast.ai was launched as a technology-powered platform that scaled their business much faster. Technology-powered Boast.ai was launched in 2017 after starting a services business in 2012 that helped larger company administer their R&D tax credits. Boast.ai bootstrapped their growth to $10 million ARR before taking an investment from Radian Capital that also allowed Lloyed and his cofounder to cash out some of their equity for life-changing cash payouts. Their growth was fueled by the active startup community they built called Traction. Lloyed faced many challenges as an immigrant, startup adventurer, frugal entrepreneur, and hyperactive community builder. He also struggled after the investment when he finally had monetary wealth and experienced depression. With the support of his family and therapy, he moved forward to prioritize his health and family and limit his startup addiction. Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

Ryan Goodman joined the startup in the early days of the business intelligence and analytics market in 2003 as a specialist helping large customers adopt this new technology. This startup was acquired by the successful BI company Business Objects, which was then acquired by the huge software company SAP. Ryan left to start consulting and build niche add-on "feature products" in the SAP Business Objects ecosystem. They experimented with product ideas and consulting services before finding an opportunity to help Business Objects users easily visualize data on Google Maps. They grew fast as an add-on product selling to large companies all over the world, reaching 700 customers and $1.4 million ARR. But new BI platforms and technology changes slowed their growth and completely changed the market opportunity. Ryan talks about the pivots and experiments they tried before deciding to shut down the company and sunset their core product. He shares his difficult decision process and the emotional journey, including lessons learned and perspective gained in hindsight. In this episode, Ryan explains: How he started in the pioneering early days of business intelligence and analytics for big customers Why he left SAP after being acquired twice to start his own add-on software business in the Business Objects community How he experimented and survived long enough to find a compelling product opportunity that quickly grew to over $1M ARR How the market changed and how that eventually led him and his cofounder to shut down the business slowly How he feels about the successes and failures of his software startup journey Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

As the host of the Practical Founders Podcast, I have interviewed 46 successful SaaS founders and 6 savvy experts in the first year of weekly episodes. In this episode, I share some of the deeper insights, surprising lessons, and useful perspective that I have learned after so many great conversations. Practical founders are building valuable software companies without big funding all over the world and in every corner of the software business. It's an amazing time to be a practical founder. Practical founders are solving problems, changing the world, and doing it their way. The founder equity value and founder wealth created by just the 46 founders I interviewed this year is over $1 billion. Tune in to this episode where I share what's going on right now and how these founders are succeeding in their own ways. In this episode, Greg explains: What characteristics that all successful practical founders have in common Why there are so many variations and ways to create a successful software company when you don't raise big funding What has happened in the last 5 years that makes it better for most new founders to grow a serious software company without big funding Why we don't see the hundreds of billions of founder equity value and wealth that have been created by practical founders who have grown thousands of valuable software companies without big funding Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

Patrick Fingles grew a successful roofing company with hundreds of employees in the Baltimore-Washington DC area. In 2013, they created their own software to help new salespeople estimate, quote, and close new roofing sales. They started selling the software to other contractors in 2016 and called it Leap. Leap grew fast to $7 million ARR in 2021 with Patrick as the CEO. In 2021, they decided to take some growth funding from Nexa Equity to give Patrick and his cofounders their "first bite" of successful liquidity and support future growth and acquisitions. Leap is now the leading contractor management software with CRM, project management, and point-of-sale functionality specifically designed for the unique needs of home improvement contractor and remodelers in the U.S. Leap is now over $20 million in ARR with over 150 employees and full-time contractors and is still growing fast. Learn more at practicalfounders.com.

Jordan Fleming grew up in Toronto and New York, then lived in Edinburgh, Scotland for 15 years where he created a successful consultancy helping larger businesses automate and improve their processes. His experience developing workflow apps led him and his cofounders to create a tightly-integrated phone system solution called smrtPhone built just for the Podio workflow platform, which is very popular in several industries. Jordan now lives in Poland and most of the team works in their office in Romania. The bootstrapped and profitable smrtStudio Global company is now growing fast with 2400 customers, 45 employees, and nearly $5 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue). They are very disciplined about company culture, building a scalable organization, growing employees, and preparing for growth before problems arise. Learn more at practicalfounders.com.