Solo Founder to Funded FinTech Startup Scaling Rapidly: Torpago CEO Brent Jackson (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Did you need equity financing or were you doing it completely on the basis of that seed round and these lending facilities?

Brent Jackson: In between, we did do another seed round for $2.4 million in equity fund.

Sramana Mitra: This was from a VC?

Featured Videos

Cloud Stocks: Analysis of BlackLine’s FourQ Systems Acquisition

According to a recent report, the global accounting software market is set to grow at 9.64% CAGR from $7.04 billion in 2021. Recently, financial software provider, BlackLine (NASDAQ: BL) announced its quarterly results that surpassed market expectations.

From Developer to Successful Entrepreneur with Exit: ACCELQ CEO Mahendra Alladi (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Do you primarily go after the large enterprises?

Mahendra Alladi: Of late, we focus more on the large enterprises, but it’s a mix.

Sramana Mitra: How long did it take you to a million-dollar ARR?

Mahendra Alladi: Within the first year.

Sramana Mitra: You continue to bootstrap?

Video FAQs

Best of Bootstrapping: More Bootstrapping to Exit Case Studies

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

I hope you read my article Bootstrapping to Exit. As a follow-up, let me offer you some case studies.

From Freshworks Has Acquired Nine Capital Efficient Startups:

All the nine acquisitions by Freshworks have been for undisclosed amounts. Cloud-based video collaboration platform 1CLICK, acquired in 2015, was founded in 2012 and had raised an undisclosed seed round from Blume Ventures and The Chennai Angels in 2014.

Online social discovery platform Frilp, acquired in 2015, was founded in 2012 and had raised $500K in funding from angel investors, including Freshdesk CEO Girish Mathrubootham in August 2014 and an undisclosed venture round with Microsoft Accelerator. It had over 100K users.

>>>

Solo Founder to Funded FinTech Startup Scaling Rapidly: Torpago CEO Brent Jackson (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Who was doing the software work?

Brent Jackson: We have a team in India. I’m a sole founder. One of the investors at the last company had a lot of ties to consultants in India. We used them to build the first prototype.

Sramana Mitra: What about the earliest customers? Did you go back to the people you were working with?

Cloud Stocks: Analysis of Fastly’s Fanout Acquisition

According to a recent report, the content delivery network (CDN) market was estimated at $11.76 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow 27% annually to reach $49.61 billion by 2026. Fastly (NYSE: FSLY) recently reported its quarterly results that surpassed the market’s expectations.

From Developer to Successful Entrepreneur with Exit: ACCELQ CEO Mahendra Alladi (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What was the MVP that you came up with? You had worked in that domain and created a vision for what would be the product that you wanted to go out with. You say it’s accidental, but a lot of developers transitioning to entrepreneurs encounter problems in their work life and go on to solve that problem. It is a common path.

By the time you were in the second one, you had a very deep view having worked with thousands of customers. Out of all that you observed, what was the minimum that you could start getting into the market with?

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

I wrote a book called Billion Dollar Unicorns a few years back. Writing this book took me through the extensive process of talking to entrepreneurs who have built tech companies with valuations above a billion dollars. While there is a tremendous amount of serendipity involved in any extraordinary success story, one recurring theme comes up in these case studies. I am particularly excited to share this nugget because it applies broadly to all classes of entrepreneurial ventures.

Bootstrap first, raise money later.

That’s what Fred Luddy did when he founded ServiceNow back in 2005. Leveraging his domain knowledge and expertise in IT ServiceDesk software, he rapidly acquired 12 customers before raising funding. Initially, he started charging $25 per seat and the 12 customers paid up. He raised $2.5 million in venture capital WITH 12 customers, and ample validation.

Soon they clocked $850,000 in revenues in their first year as a real company. In 2010, they had grown to $45 million annual revenue run rate with 350 enterprise customers. They ended fiscal 2013 with revenues of $424.7 million.

Prior to listing on the NYSE in 2012, ServiceNow was venture funded with $83.7 million in investments received from JMI equity, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital. They raised $162 million in their IPO. Soon after listing, ServiceNow had touched a valuation of $3 billion. Since then, the stock has skyrocketed. It is currently trading at $234.03 with a market capitalization of $41.96 billion. Clearly, a mega hit Unicorn that started, however, by bootstrapping first.

>>>