Practical Founders Podcast

#81: Bootstrapped Founder Sells His Profitable SaaS Company with $4 Million ARR – Esben Friis-Jensen

Feb 9, 2024

Esben Friis-Jensen, founder of Userflow, sold his profitable SaaS company with $4 million ARR to Beamer for $60 million. Insights include benefits of a buyout deal, efficient communication, AI assistant integration, and lessons for bootstrapped founders in the SaaS industry.

24:53

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Episode guests

Esben Friis-Jensen

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Quick takeaways

Bootstrapped User Flow achieved $4 million ARR with 3 employees, emphasizing profitability and efficiency.

Maintaining work-life balance while building a successful company is achievable by optimizing time management and team effectiveness.

Deep dives

User Flow and Beamer merge to create a combined company

User Flow, a bootstrapped software company, has announced its merger with Beamer, an application focused on in-app change logs and product feedback. The two companies found synergies in their target markets and decided to join forces. User Flow had reached a revenue of $4.6 million and continued to grow steadily with only three employees. While the financial details were not disclosed, the founders of User Flow expressed personal and financial benefits from the merger. The combined company aims to build a product growth toolkit, offering a wider range of features and creating more value for their customers.

Don’t Kill Yourself Running a Business - Just Make It Profitable

02:12

Small Company, 3 people, all async

00:40

Introduction

3min

Selling a Successful SaaS Company for $60 Million

6min

Efficient Communication and Company Transition

5min

Adapting to Industry Changes and Introducing AI Assistant to Product

2min

Lessons from a Bootstrapped Founder

10min

Esben Friis-Jensen and his cofounder, Sebastian Seilund, teamed up in 2021 to create Userflow, a no-code user onboarding product for SaaS companies. This week, it was announced that Userflow has been acquired by Beamer, a maker of product user engagement software that also used product-led growth strategies just like Userflow.

Userflow is profitable and growing, with over $4 million in ARR, 750 customers, and just three employees with no outside funding. Techcrunch reported that Userflow was acquired in a $60 million deal, supported by Beamer investors Camber Partners and other investors.

Esben told the Userflow story on the Practical Founders Podcast in episode 42 last year. This is an update about the recent acquisition and his thinking behind selling the company.

Learn more at practicalfounders.com.