#156: Bootstrapper Built Vertical CRM to $10M ARR with Co-founder Dad - Shoanak (Sean) Mallapurkar

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Aug 8, 2025

Shoanok (Sean) Mallapurkar, Founder and CEO of RecruitCRM, shares insights on building a successful family business with his father. They highlight the challenges of managing a remote team while achieving nearly $10 million in recurring revenue. The duo discusses their innovative approach to CRM solutions tailored for staffing agencies, emphasizing performance-based compensation. Sean also explores the transformative role of AI in business operations and their vision of creating a billion-dollar company without venture capital, focusing on sustainable growth and family legacy.

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ANECDOTE

Early Global Customer Spread

RecruitCRM started with its first customers outside India, relying on global agencies switching from Bullhorn.
Their first 20 customers were spread across 12 countries, showing early global traction through SEO and free trials.

ANECDOTE

Father-Son Founders' Journey

Sean and his father dreamed early of building a billion-dollar family-owned company.
Sean initially started a college peer-to-peer commerce startup, which failed, leading them to focus on recruitment software.

ADVICE

Remote Tracking Drives Performance

Track both input and output KPIs for all remote employees, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Reward top performers with significant raises while holding all staff to Western standards of productivity.

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Shoanak (Sean) Mallapurkar is the founder and CEO of Recruit CRM, a complete CRM and business management system for global staffing companies and recruiting agencies. He started the company in 2017 with his father, a technical expert who had experience as a senior executive in large staffing companies.

Sean handled customer-facing jobs in sales, success, and product management, and his Dad managed engineering, finance, and marketing. They started in Pune, India, but both Sean and his father moved to Dubai in 2023 for lifestyle and tax benefits. Recruit CRM employs over 150 remote employees in India to serve thousands of customers in more than 100 countries.

Recruit CRM revenues grew quickly to nearly $10 million ARR in 2025. Their product suite includes CRM, billing, applicant tracking, AI resume parsing, financial management, and more. The company is very profitable and growing steadily (Rule of 70) and the co-owners/co-founders have no intention of selling. They see a steady path to a $100 million revenue business as an independent company.

Quote from Soanak (Sean) Mallapurkar, founder and CEO of Recruit CRM

“The one thing that really worked for us was keeping costs extremely low and having over three years of capital runway. That wasn't millions of dollars for us. It was $100,000. And we didn't even spend it. We only spent about $80K before we started selling and got to breakeven.

“When you have enough time,you can you can do more things, you can try more things, and make it happen. If you only have a year to succeed, you're screwed. Get through the really hard stuff and get to a million in revenue

“Then resist the urge to raise capital until you are at a million dollars in revenue. Then ask yourself if you need it. If you can resist the urge to raise capital, a lot of opportunities open up to you. And it’s a very different financial outcome than having investors.”

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