Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Lawline CEO David Schnurman ( Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: I think I’ve got the story. Is there anything that I should have asked you that I did not?

David Schnurman: I think the part that we didn’t talk about is the part where I realize that the most important thing is the mindset. One of the things that has been amazing for me is recognizing a couple of important things.

Bootstrapping to $130M: Pura Vida CEO Griffin Thall (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What was the customer acquisition strategy on each track? 

Griffin Thall: For B2C, we would pass out bracelets to people in college campuses. We would go to street fairs. We would do anything that we could that was the grassroots to grow in marketing.

Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Lawline CEO David Schnurman ( Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: How many people are there now?

David Schnurman: About 25 or so. We have partners, but we try to keep everything that is core to ourselves and then outsource everything else. We have many agencies that we work with from a marketing standpoint to manage AdWords and rebranding.

Bootstrapping to $130M: Pura Vida CEO Griffin Thall (Part 1)

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

Griffin and his partner have turned an investment of $200 into a $130M company. Amazing execution!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Lawline CEO David Schnurman ( Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: When did you introduce the subscription revenue model?

David Schnurman: We introduced it several times, but the time that we got it right was four years ago in 2016.

Sramana Mitra: At that point, you were in that transaction revenue model? Were you still in that $5 million range?

Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Lawline CEO David Schnurman ( Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You had about five employees. What revenue level did you reach with them on board? How many people did you have when you hit the one million point and five million point? Can you give me a sense of the scale of the operation?

David Schnurman: We got to a million with five employees. That was in 2008. 

Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Lawline CEO David Schnurman ( Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to when you were going to decide that you were going to do Lawline as a business. You got to a quarter-million dollars in revenue. Double click down into that zero to quarter million dollars in revenue phase.

What was the business model? Whom were you selling to? How were you acquiring customers? Talk to me about the specifics of that part of the journey.

Bootstrapping to $10 Million: Lawline CEO David Schnurman ( Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What happens after you come out of law school?

David Schnurman: I graduated from law school in 2006. I did internships each summer at different law firms. It became clear to me that being a lawyer is not that different than being a salesperson, especially if you want to be a lawyer who is trying to get business. This is true because you still have to sell the business.