How do you build a high-growth company while staying true to your values? In this episode of Not Another CEO Podcast, David Politis sits down with Jindou Lee, the founder and CEO of HappyCo, a company transforming property management through innovative technology. 

Jindou shares his journey from graphic designer to entrepreneur, discussing the challenges of hiring and firing, scaling a business, and learning the rules of the fundraising game. He also reflects on his personal experiences, from his childhood in Australia to launching a successful SaaS company, and offers candid insights on what it takes to build a resilient organization.

Takeaways:

• Culture & Core Values: Jindou stresses the importance of defining company values early. He shares how HappyCo identified its core values and evolved them over time to ensure they remain relevant as the company scales.
• Hiring & Firing with Intention: Building a strong team requires making tough decisions. Jindou reflects on his journey from hesitating to fire underperforming employees to realizing that removing a poor fit benefits both the individual and the organization.
• Lessons in Rapid Growth & Downsizing: Jindou explains how the company became more efficient while continuing to grow revenue, proving that success isn’t about headcount but about having the right people in the right roles.
• Building with the Customer in Mind: Jindou explains why deeply understanding the end user’s needs has been critical to HappyCo’s success. He shares how small design tweaks—like increasing button sizes—can make all the difference.
• Fundraising is a Game: Jindou learned that fundraising is a game with rules that founders must understand. He shares hard-earned lessons about negotiating terms, dealing with investor pressure, and securing critical last-minute funding.

Quote of the Show:

• “Fundraising is a very unfair game for founders… a lot of early stage founders, myself included, we got bullied. We just didn't know we got bullied.” - Jindou Lee

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jindou/
• Twitter: https://x.com/jindoulee
• Website: https://happy.co/

Ways to Tune In:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NQ9oAB2XKlgWeL8iEQXg0 
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-another-ceo-podcast/id1751581707 
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7c6328f0-9b42-41db-8fe2-d263b4fbb261 
• Transistor: https://podcast.notanotherceo.com/ 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotAnotherCEOPodcast 

#NotAnotherCEO #BusinessSuccess #HappyCo

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

1:33 What You’d Do Again As CEO

6:16 Experiences Shaping Values

12:31 Navigating Growth and Downsizing

20:49 The Importance of Customer-Centric Design

31:26 Fundraising Realities and Challenges

35:04 Navigating Term Sheets and Legalities

43:09 Biggest Challenges at HappyCo

47:20 Visions for the Future

49:44 Jindou’s Background and Upbringing

53:39 Career Beginnings and Lessons Learned

58:57 One Piece Of Advice

59:48 Outro