Navigating Art Industry Challenges

This chapter discusses the hurdles of launching a new business in the art sector, emphasizing the importance of vision and instinct in the face of skepticism. It also covers the journey of raising capital for a SaaS venture, reflecting on the emotional complexities and critical milestones that can draw investor interest.

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Episode notes

My guest for Ep204 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was George Hartley.

George is the Co-founder & Co-CEO of Bluethumb, Australia’s largest art marketplace.

Since its launch in 2012, Bluethumb has grown into the leading art marketplace platform, connecting over 23,000 artists with buyers and selling more than $100 million worth of artwork.

In addition to Bluethumb, George was also the Co-founder and CEO of SmartrMail, an email marketing platform designed to help e-commerce businesses delight their customers and boost sales. SmartrMail’s success led to its acquisition by Relay Commerce in 2022, delivering a 5x return to its seed investors.

In this episode, George shares insights into:

Why Bluethumb waited three years to raise their seed round and why they’ve stayed bootstrapped since
The importance of continuously taking risks and experimenting to drive growth
The unique challenges and strategies for scaling consumer marketplaces versus SaaS companies

Timestamps:

1:49 George’s background
7:30 His journey from music to tech
11:33 How to know when to stick with something vs pivot
15:45 The early days of Bluethumb
19:52 Staying true to your vision despite external noise
24:18 The fundraising journey for Bluethumb
32:03 The SmarterMail journey
38:02 Identifying and hiring talent
45:34 How he thinks about taking risks and running experiments
52:54 US Expansion

Our partners:

A big thank you to Freddy Grant and Ed Hartley for their help with this interview!

Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:

Scendar

Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com

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