#155: SaaS Founder's Crazy Ride: Boom, Bust, Strategic Sale - Jesse Burrell

Aug 1, 2025

Jesse Burrell, CEO and co-founder of BatchData, shares his journey from real estate investor to software entrepreneur. He discusses the explosive growth of his company, reaching $35 million in revenue, followed by the challenges of market shifts and regulatory changes. As they pivoted from B2C to B2B, he highlights the importance of strategic partnerships and innovations in data analytics. Jesse reflects on leadership struggles, maintaining company culture, and the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship, providing valuable insights for aspiring founders.

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ANECDOTE

Friendly Strategic Sale to Competitor

Jesse sold two of BatchService's B2C products to competitor PropStream in a friendly, strategic deal.
About 90-100 employees joined the buyer, ensuring opportunities and continuity for them.

INSIGHT

B2B Data Business is Sticky

The BatchData B2B API business fuels other PropTech companies, including big industry players.
B2B customers offer more stability and lower churn compared to individual real estate agents.

ANECDOTE

Rapid Growth Then Severe Market Hit

BatchService grew rapidly to $35M revenue with over 200 employees at peak.
Covid-related regulation changes and rate hikes caused a severe revenue decline, forcing layoffs and pivots.

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Jesse Burrell is the CEO and co-founder of BatchService, now known as BatchData, a real-time data and API platform designed for prop-tech startups and enterprises requiring massive and current housing data. Jesse was a real estate investor who needed better data to target his marketing efforts. BatchService was launched in 2018 with data brokering and subsequently built additional tools and apps.

BatchService grew rapidly to $35 million in revenue by 2022, but regulation changes and economic shifts contracted their core business, forcing them to make drastic cutbacks and pivots. They launched an enterprise data service with APIs for larger companies in 2021, which is now known as BatchData.

In July 2025, BatchService sold its “B2C” software business, comprising two successful products — BatchLeads and BatchDialer — to PropStream for an undisclosed cash amount. Jesse and his co-founders retained the B2B BatchData enterprise data business, now with 30 employees.

Quote from Jesse Burrell, cofounder and CEO of BatchService

“I had a couple years where I was pinching myself with the amount of money I was taking home every month. It was pretty wild how fast we rose in the first years. So when things changed for us, the fall really hurt, especially when we felt invincible and every idea worked brilliantly for three years.

“When things changed, we stayed pretty patient. We stayed pretty calm, but there was a lot of nights, weeks and months. I went home feeling like a failure and I don't think I was failing. I just think it was the conditions that we got put in. But it was really hard on me mentally. It was very, very tough to get punched so hard in the mouth with like a multitude of things in a short period of time.

“You're not as good as you think you are when it's going good and when it's going bad. It's not typically as bad as you think you are. A lot of it has to do with conditions and things that happen that are out of your control. You're fighting that because you're an entrepreneur and you'll figure it out if you are just persistent and don’t give up.”

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