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Practical Founders Podcast

#111: Bootstrapped Then Raised VC Funding Before Selling to Salesforce for $250 Million

Sep 20, 2024
John Stewart, a tech entrepreneur known for creating and selling an engineering services business, shares his transformative journey in building MapAnything, a Salesforce integration services company. He discusses the shift from bootstrapping to securing VC funding, the rapid growth to over $2 million ARR, and the eventual $250 million sale to Salesforce. John emphasizes the vital role of sales and distribution in a startup’s success and reveals insights from launching his new venture, Fastbreak.ai, focused on optimizing sports schedules.
57:55

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • John Stewart's transition from a services-focused model to a software-driven approach was essential for scaling MapAnything's growth.
  • Strategic venture capital funding played a crucial role in accelerating revenue growth at the right time, emphasizing financial timing's importance.

Deep dives

Bootstrapping to Success

Jon Stewart's journey with Map Anything illustrates the potential of bootstrapping a business before eventually seeking venture capital. Initially starting as a Salesforce services company in 2009, Map Anything pivoted towards creating a software product after identifying a market need for mapping solutions within the Salesforce ecosystem. Early on, a key customer prompted the development of a mapping tool, which initiated the company’s path toward software as a service (SaaS). By the time of acquisition by Salesforce in 2019, Map Anything had grown to $25 million in recurring revenue and boasted a peak employee count of 225.

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