20VC: Bending Spoons: The Most Untold Success Story in Startups: Lessons Scaling to 500M Downloads, $360M in Reported 2023 Sales and a $2.55BN Valuation... Bootstrapped with Luca Ferrari, Co-Founder and CEO @ Bending Spoons
Mar 15, 2024
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Learn from Luca Ferrari about bootstrapping Bending Spoons to 100M monthly users, acquiring Evernote, pricing assets effectively, and optimizing talent for growth. Explore Luca's journey from McKinsey to $2BN founder, hiring strategies, and future aspirations in the untold startup success story.
Humility is crucial in entrepreneurship to avoid arrogance and learn from past failures.
Shift in strategy from building new products to acquiring successful ventures is key to Bending Spoons' success evolution.
Personal growth from social challenges to self-improvement reflects founder's journey in Bending Spoons' success story.
Deep dives
Learning from Past Mistakes: Humility in Entrepreneurship
Recognizing the importance of humility in entrepreneurship is highlighted as the speaker emphasizes the need to avoid arrogance. Past failures due to overconfidence in predicting market needs led to a new approach focused on improving products already proving market fit.
Transitioning from Failure to Success: The Journey of Bending Spoons
The evolution of Bending Spoons from a failed startup to a highly successful company is outlined. The strategy shift from building new products to acquiring successful ventures and enhancing their potential reflects a learning experience from past setbacks.
Overcoming Social Challenges: The Founder's Personal Journey
Insights into the founder's personal journey from being labeled as shy and weird to navigating social challenges indicate personal growth and resilience. The transformation from feeling like an outsider to striving for social inclusion reveals a journey of self-improvement.
Adopting a Thoughtful Approach to Business Strategy
The significance of being thoughtful in business decisions is emphasized through reflections on previous failures. By prioritizing thorough research, iteration, and avoiding overconfidence in market predictions, the company aims to enhance its success rate and achieve sustainable growth.
Creating Value Through Hands-On Operations and Investment Strategies
The approach of actively enhancing acquired product offerings through hands-on involvement and strategic investments is outlined. By focusing on building team competence, unlocking potential, and making a positive impact, the company aims to achieve long-term success and growth.
Luca Ferrari is Co-Founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, one of the most incredible but untold success stories in startups. Luca has scaled Bending Spoons to 100M monthly active users, $380M in sales in 2023 and aiming to reach $500M in EBITDA by the end of 2026. The company’s products include Evernote, Meetup, Remini, and Splice and their products have now been downloaded more than 500M times.
In Today’s Episode with Luca Ferrari We Discuss:
From McKinsey Associate to $2BN Founder
What was Luca like as a child? How would his parents have described him?
Why did Luca share his McKinsey salary with his co-founders?
What were Luca’s biggest lessons from his failed startup?
Bootstrapping Bending Spoons
Why did Luca decide to bootstrap Bending Spoons?
What does Luca think about the EU vs. US startup environment?
Why did Luca kill a $7M project? What were his lessons?
How did Luca pick his investors?
How to Find the Best Talent
What are the 3 key traits Luca looks for when picking the best talent?
Why does Luca think traditional interview strategies do not work?
What tests does Luca conduct for each candidate?
What were Luca’s biggest hiring mistakes?
Mastering Acquisition & Growth
How does Luca determine which products to acquire? How does he identify signals?
How does Luca approach pricing assets? How does he win every bid?
What are Luca’s biggest lessons from acquiring Evernote?
What key lessons on risk management does Luca wish he’d known 10 years ago?
What are Luca’s biggest challenges on user acquisition?
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