June 2016: Loom was on its last legs. With more than one failed launch + fundraising attempt behind them, the co-founders were maxing out credit cards and had about two weeks of runway left before calling it quits. One idea changed everything: they took a chance on a single piece of their product — the video recorder. They decoupled it from the broader platform they’d been developing, launched it as a standalone offering on Product Hunt, and saw more signups in one day than the past six months combined. Today, the company has raised over $203M and counts 20M users in over 230 countries.
Those first months of tumult aren’t the only ups and downs CEO Joe Thomas and his co-founders have encountered in Loom’s journey. And they’re not alone; today’s tech founders are navigating an increasingly difficult economic climate, shifting expectations from investors + employees, and the need to continue to innovate faster — all with fewer resources.
In this session, Thomas will share some of the lessons he’s learned throughout the past year and beyond, including the need to make agility your superpower. He’ll talk about the need to balance long-term planning with strategic short-term adjustments for when the curveballs come (because they will). Thomas will also share insight into how other founders — including customers/partners of Loom — are adopting new processes, emerging tools, and shifting workplace norms to adapt. With so much uncertainty still ahead in 2023, it’s important for founders to learn how to take a half step back, reevaluate their game plan, and orient their short-term priorities around customers’ needs.
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Slides for this session: https://www.slideshare.net/saastr/from-2-weeks-of-runway-to-a-15b-valuation-the-founder-playbook-with-looms-ceo-joe-thomas-cofounder-and-ceo-loom-492
Joe's 2021 Flywheel session on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/rbOoikTMfyI
The podcast version: SaaStr 445: Loom CEO Joe Thomas On How Speed & Simplicity Can Fuel Your Flywheel https://sites.libsyn.com/77527/saastr-445-loom-ceo-joe-thomas-on-how-speed-simplicity-can-fuel-your-flywheel
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