Fuelled by failure: Liam Millward on Instant’s Rise to $100M+
Nov 19, 2024
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Liam Millward, the founder of Instant, shares his remarkable journey to building a company valued at over $100 million. He recounts how a pivotal rejection fueled his obsession with speed and revenue, radically shifting his focus from perfecting products to maximizing customer impact. Discover why Instant thrives without managers, embracing a flat culture that enhances autonomy and quick decision-making. Liam's insights into adaptation and real-time customer engagement reveal how even failures can lead to extraordinary successes.
Liam Millward's pivotal rejection transformed into motivation, driving him to success through resilience and strategic pivots in his business journey.
A shift from product perfection to revenue obsession enabled Instant to realign its goals, achieving significant growth from zero to one million ARR.
Instant's unique flat sales culture empowers individual contributors, fostering a competitive but collaborative environment that enhances overall company performance.
Deep dives
Shifting to Revenue Focus
The company underwent a significant transformation by shifting its focus solely to revenue generation, honing in on a singular goal of reaching one million dollars in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within six months. Previously, the team had multiple conflicting goals which led to confusion and inefficiency. By establishing this central aim, the organization rallied its efforts, motivating everyone to work collectively towards this common target. This focused approach resulted in a remarkable leap from zero revenue to one million ARR by December of that year.
Overcoming Initial Rejection
The founder faced significant obstacles early on, including rejection from a prominent accelerator program that dismissed his startup idea as not being his life's work. Instead of succumbing to failure, he used this motivational setback to fuel his ambition, ultimately raising $20 million to develop his venture further. This resilience set the stage for rapid growth, demonstrating how reframing negative experiences can lead to unexpected success. The rejection letter became a reminder of the hurdles overcome and the determination required to achieve the company's goals.
Emphasizing Product Revenue Alignment
Initially, the company had a strong product obsession that failed to connect with revenue growth, leading to a misalignment between customer needs and product features. After feedback from key stakeholders, it became evident that a focus on developing solutions directly tied to enhancing merchant revenues was crucial. Thus, the organization realigned its product development strategy to ensure that features actually contributed to customers' revenue outcomes, resulting in significant customer satisfaction and loyalty. This shift towards revenue-focused product development facilitated long-term customer retention and advocacy.
Cohesive Sales Culture
The sales team fosters a highly competitive yet cohesive environment that eschews traditional management hierarchies in favor of empowering individual contributors. Every salesperson is encouraged to take ownership of their roles, aiming to generate substantial revenue monthly without bureaucratic hurdles slowing them down. Regular meetings promote collaboration, allowing team members to openly share insights and strategies that drive results. This structure creates a vibrant sales culture where competition fuels performance, ultimately benefiting the entire company's growth trajectory.
Listening to Customer Feedback
The conception of the new 'audiences' product stemmed directly from attentive listening to customers' needs, focusing on how to better retarget website visitors. By closely engaging with merchants and analyzing their pain points, the company identified a market demand for tools that could optimize customer retargeting and improve conversion rates. This responsive approach not only solidified relationships with existing clients but also established the groundwork for explosive growth with the new product. As a result, the company experienced a substantial revenue increase, demonstrating the efficacy of integrating customer feedback into its product strategy.
How do you transform a rejection into a stepping-stone for success? For Liam Millward, founder of Instant, that rejection sparked an obsession with speed and revenue that would drive his young company to incredible heights. In this conversation, we explore Liam’s journey of rapid growth, strategic pivots, and the lessons learned on the path to building a $100M+ business.
In this episode, we learn:
🚀 The pivotal rejection and how it motivated Liam to persevere.
💼 The early funding struggle and how a $250K angel investment changed Instant’s trajectory.
💡 How revenue obsession became a core philosophy, shifting focus from product perfection to customer impact.
👥 Why Instant operates without managers, and how a flat sales culture drives performance.
🎯 The role of speed in Instant’s DNA—how quick pivots and rapid decision-making fuelled growth.
🔑 The value of a relentless customer focus that has transformed Instant from a “checkbox feature” into an $5M+ ARR product.
Instant’s journey shows that with the right attitude and strategy, even setbacks can be transformed into stepping-stones for success at great heights.
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