I'm very obsessed with creating systems that grow rather than, you know, our hacks or if we can just do this one thing or work type thing. I've always been very heavy on the organic side and I really believe that a lot of people don't pursue organic is they just don't understand it. And so they default instead to pay advertising. There's times when you should be using pay and for certain businesses, it makes sense and there's certain aspects of it that are really good.
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The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
My guest for Ep142 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder & CEO of Simply Wall St., Al Bentley.
Al started Simply Wall St (then known as Ninjavest) as a weekend project from a startup weekend competition back in 2013.
Fast forward 8 years later and the company now has more than 3M users and has raised $3.4M including it’s last round of $2.4M in funding that it raised from its own member base.
In this interview we covered a range of topics including:
How Al built an organic growth engine that allowed Simply Wall St to acquire 3M users
How to prioritise feedback on product requests from customers
How Al created scarcity when fundraising
& much more!
Timestamps
1.51 – Als’ story of starting Simply Wall St.
3.01 – His background as a Naval Architect
4.22 – Launching Simply Wall St. as Ninja Vest at a startup competition weekend
7.10 – The importance of validation and Als’ takeaways from the startup weekend
9.35 – How Simply Wall St. was developed following the weekend
15.29 – Finding a co-founder and why you need one
23.22 – Advice for founders about listening to customer feedback and making decisions on what is worth pursuing
27.27 – The importance of product market fit
32.48 – Focusing on building a quality team and bringing Mahesh onboard
37.34 – Managing a growing team
41.28 – How to identify the needs of the organisation when hiring
42.57 – How and why Simply Wall St. co-founder Nick stepped back from the company
44.47 – Als’ approach to growth
52.39 – Prioritising resource allocation and choosing focus areas
56.46 – Als’ recommended resources for founders
1.02.14 – The challenges of fundraising
1.09.52 – Questions you should be asking investors to ensure alignment
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