Sramana Mitra: Could you double click down and explain with a bit more color and depth exactly what it was that you were doing at Retention.com, which had a different name at that time. Explain the workflow, the value proposition, and the complexity of it. Adam Robinson: The value proposition was that we can identify
Adam has bootstrapped his first company to exit, and before the acquisition, incubated his second one within it. He’s repeating the same incubation model by incubating a third company within his second one. Really cool strategy and a great interview.
Sramana Mitra: So you exited this company, and you have started another company now, right? Emad Daghreri: Yes. Sramana Mitra: You and your partner bootstrapped the first company. You did not take any external financing and you were profitable all along. Can you speak on how you feel about bootstrapping to exit versus company that
Sramana Mitra: So, Emad, I’m going to try to synthesize all the things that you said into something that people can understand better. What I’m hearing is that in 2019 when you started restructuring the company, you created platforms for doing not only competitions and engagement but also event management and grant management.
Sramana Mitra: How did your journey evolve in that 2012-17 period. How far did you get from a revenue growth point of view? Emad Daghreri: Until 2017, the demand was high, and we started getting million dollars contracts. I had to open a technology hub in Bangalore and Jordan just to be able to keep
Sramana Mitra: So in the early stages, you’re doing $50K to $300K projects across two or three different types of work – the technology, the consulting, the project management, etc. How does the revenue progress in 2013-14? What kind of revenue levels did you reach? Emad Daghreri: I’m not sure about the specific numbers, but
Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to the 2012-13 time frame. You’ve done this $50,000 project, are seeing other kinds of competitive situations where you can play a role, are automating, and you’re turning everything into a digital competition. At that point in the 2012-2013 time frame, what was the price point? Emad Daghreri: It was
Sramana Mitra: Interesting. This particular project that really gave you this breakthrough situation, was it paid or was it just a complimentary thing that you were doing for Mr. Ahmed? Emad Daghreri: It was a complimentary thing. Sramana Mitra: So, once this worked, you took it to other people to replicate this kind of situation.