Pat Kinsel, founder and CEO of Proof, shares his journey from a notary service to a robust transaction security platform. He discusses how COVID-19 reshaped demand and pushed innovation for enterprise clients. The conversation highlights the importance of consumer engagement and strategic growth, navigating regulatory challenges, and adapting business models. Kinsel also offers quick insights on productivity, finishing tasks, and the essence of successful entrepreneurship, all while emphasizing the balance between technology and market needs.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Notary Error Sparked The Startup
Pat Kinsel's notary error after selling his startup to Twitter inspired him to fix a broken process.
That personal pain led him to build Notarize and spend years changing state laws for online notarization.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Validate With A Landing Page First
Validate demand with the cheapest test you can run before building product.
Pat used a simple landing page and Google Ads to measure clicks and CAC before writing any code.
question_answer ANECDOTE
MVP Was Telemedicine For Notaries
The initial MVP was a mobile marketplace connecting consumers to notaries for instant video notarizations.
Pat paid notaries to be online and lost money on each transaction during early years.
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Pat Kinsel went from years of painful struggle at Notarize to building Proof, a SaaS platform approaching $100M ARR with 230 employees and $260M raised. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn the growth strategy that turned a notary error into a market-defining company.
Pat explains how he validated demand with a simple landing page before writing a line of code, how he endured years of negative margins, and the specific "Regulatory Moat" strategy of lobbying to change state laws. You will also learn why the 100x COVID demand spike was actually a "false signal" that nearly killed the company, and how he pivoted from a point solution to a full transaction security platform.
In this episode, Pat also shares the "Sunday Night" habit that keeps him connected to the product, why he rebranded to expand his TAM, and the reality of firing non-strategic customers to save the business.
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