Leveraging Community Engagement for Startup Growth

What’s it take to bootstrap a niche SaaS to $90M without raising a dime?

In this episode, Kevin Wagstaff joins Rob Walling to share how he and his brother bootstrapped Spectora from a scrappy MVP to a $90M valuation. It’s a masterclass in finding traction in unsexy markets, building with empathy, and making smart bets like embedded payments.

Topics we cover: 

• (4:39) – The surreal moment Kevin and his brother became multimillionaires
• (9:14) – Why a mobile-first approach won in an outdated, overlooked niche
• (17:39) – How adding payments created a second revenue stream and bigger valuation
• (20:36) – The early hustle: trade shows, 6 AM demos, and Facebook group tactics

Links from the Show: 

• SaaS Launchpad Course
• MicroConf
• Kevin Wagstaff | LinkedIn
• Kevin Wagstaff (@KevinWagstaff3) | X
• Spectora
• Kevin’s Built to Sell Radio Episode

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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