🍕 The $1.3 Billion Pizza Business: How Ilir Sela (Founder & CEO, Slice) is Arming the Pizza Rebels

Ilir Sela is the Founder & CEO of Slice, the online ordering and all-in-one software platform that helps pizzeria’s manage their business. Ilir started the company in 2010 as MyPizza, rebranded to Slice in 2015, and has since raised over $125 million and supports over 20,000 independent pizza shops. Slice is supported by investors like GGV, KKR, 01 Advisors, Primary Ventures, FJ Labs, and RiverPark Ventures. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/arming-the-pizza-rebels-ilir-sela In this episode we cover - The three reasons small pizza shops are growing 24x faster than big chains - How franchising and "reverse franchising" works - Ilir's biggest mistakes building a franchise business before starting Slice - How to explain a new business model to investors - The customer acquisition benefits of a multi-product model - Bootstrapping Slice to $3 million in profit - Turning down two acquisition offers, one that would have made him nine figures personally - Why MrBeast Burger failed - Why we don't need more cloud kitchens - Empowering entrepreneurs to open their own pizza shops - Building a strong board - Advice for founders selling to small businesses Referenced Cloud Kitchens: ⁠https://www.thefoodcorridor.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cloud-kitchens-ghost-kitchens/ Frank Slootman from Snowflake, who Illir said inspires him: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankslootman/ Growth in independent pizzerias vs big chains in 2022: ⁠https://www.pmq.com/pizza-power-report-2023/ Jeff Richards from GGV Capital, who invested in Slice and gave Illir some advice mentioned in the podcast: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrichards/ Michelle Obama on whether pizza is a vegetable: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G14qNHPE4qo&t=21s ⁠ MrBeast’s MrBeast Burger: ⁠https://www.mrbeastburger.com/ The growth of Domino’s stock since 2010: ⁠https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/dominos-stock-yields-higher-returns-than-google-since-ipos.html Slice’s website: ⁠https://slicelife.com/ Where to find Turner Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Where to find Ilir: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilirsela Twitter: https://twitter.com/ilirsela Timestamps [00:03:34]: The enormous and fascinating pizza industry [00:04:30]: Why there are so many independent pizza shops [00:07:33]: Illir's deep family history with pizza [00:10:43]: What Slice provides independent pizzerias [00:14:21]: The origins of Slice (mypizza.com) [00:16:55]: Building "Nerd Force" before Slice [00:18:22]: How franchises like “Nerd Force” work [00:22:15]: Selling his first company: Nerd Force [00:23:46]: Forming the idea for Slice [00:27:19]: The very first customers [00:32:37]: Turning down $18 million to double down on Slice [00:33:41]: Raising money and starting Slice phase 2.0 [00:39:27]: An acquisition offer that was “tough to say no to” [00:41:55]: Slice's focus now and in the near future [00:45:01]: Why there are so many pizza shops [00:46:46]: Hot takes on Cloud Kitchen and Beast Burgers [00:51:55]: Why online customers are worth 4x more than offline ones [00:53:32]: Why some investors doubted Slice [00:57:58]: The underrated value of a good board [01:00:57]: Advice for founders serving small businesses [01:03:29]: Hitting $500m annual revenue with Slice 3.0 [01:04:31]: Other categories Slice could go after [01:06:25]: Rapid fire questions Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/arming-the-pizza-rebels-ilir-sela Production and distribution by: https://supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform