Practical Founders Podcast

Wes Bush, CEO of ProductLed and expert in product-led growth strategies for SaaS founders, discusses the essential shift from sales-led to product-led approaches. He highlights common pitfalls and the importance of genuine customer value. Wes emphasizes the need for well-defined customer outcomes, effective user experiences, and strategic pricing. He also contrasts various PLG models and underscores the significance of empathy in understanding user challenges to thrive in a competitive market. Tune in for actionable insights!

Michael McAllister is the founder and former CEO of The CE Shop, the leading provider of pre-licensing and continuing education for real estate professionals in the U.S. Michael started The CE Shop in 2005 by distributing existing training materials from a continuing education provider. They quickly created their own online education solution and proceeded to expand with specific content and compliance elements for each state.  The CE Shop grew steadily without outside funding for 15 years by building a 5-star team, adding partner channels, expanding to new states, and providing more content for the pre-licensing of new real estate agents. The company grew to over 130 employees and expanded faster during COVID. Michael successfully sold the company to private equity investors in 2020 for a “9-figure exit,” meaning more than $100 million, to Waud Capital. On this podcast, Michael shares the realities of their growth journey, including their special emphasis on culture, people, and practical expansion as a bootstrapped technology business.  Podcast Sponsor – Cypress Growth Capital This week’s podcast is sponsored by my friends at Cypress Growth Capital. For 15 years, Cypress has provided non-dilutive growth funding to bootstrapped SaaS founders, including many successful founders I’ve interviewed here on this podcast. Quote from Michael McAllister, Founder of the CE Shop “When founders sell their companies, I'd suggest they need to do it when they hold all the cards. During our first experience with a serious potential buyer, we asked for a lot of information about their business. It was reverse due diligence since I’d be the biggest private investor in their company. “We were two weeks before closing, and I called our banker and said, this is really frustrating that we’re asking for all this information and not getting it back. Unless we do, we may need to pull the plug on this deal. We held all the cards. We had a great business. We didn’t need to sell like we were completely in the driver’s seat.  “It was really difficult but we decided to pull the plug on the deal. The biggest thing was that there was a real mismatch in core values. Our core values were foundational to who we were and who we are as a company. One of them was doing what we said we’d do. And it was a $100 million question. It was a big deal.“ Links Michael McAllister on LinkedIn The CE Shop on LinkedIn The CE Shop website Waud Capital website (acquirer)   The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. 

Last year I interviewed three-time software founder Matt Watson on this podcast about his successful practical founder journeys. Matt leveraged offshore software development talent in his last two SaaS companies to staff up quickly and grow efficiently. His top developers and designers were offshore in the Philippines, but they weren’t one-off contractors or difficult-to-manage outsourced agencies. He found an endless supply of top tech talent who became savvy members of his team, working hard every day to get things done fast. So, for his fourth venture, Matt created Full Scale, one of the fastest-growing software development companies in any region. Full Scale vets, employs, and supports over 300 professional developers, designers, and testers in the Philippines who augment and extend your core dev team. In this expert session with a Practical Founders Podcast sponsor, Matt shares what works and doesn’t work for practical SaaS founders who want to offshore some or all of their software development. Links Matt Watson on LinkedIn Full Scale on LinkedIn Full Scale website Startup Hustle podcast Product Driven video channel The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.

Eric Dill was a successful mortgage broker in Sydney, Australia, who struggled with the same painful problem as every other broker: manually checking with multiple banks to validate and price mortgages for homeowners. Eric and his good friend Angus Keatinge resolved to create a software product to solve this complicated and chronic problem. Quickli was launched in late 2021 and it immediately gained happy customers and fans without any proactive marketing or sales. Three years later, more than 10,000 mortgage brokers use Quickli every week—that's over 50% market share. Quickli has AUD $5 million in ARR with 40 employees. This is an amazing story of two product-focused entrepreneurs who solved a difficult problem and grew a successful software company without any outside funding. Quickli still has almost no marketing staff and no salespeople. Most of their employees are engineers working on the product and customer service. Quote from Eric Dill, cofounder and co-CEO of Quickli “We just cracked the $5 million ARR figure in just three years, which is a big milestone for us. We have 10,000 brokers on the platform, which is over 50% of the total market in Australia. We also have 40 employees, mostly in engineering. “It’s been very, very much a story of product-led growth. Our product completely solves the biggest problem that every broker has every day. No other product has solved it. Brokers have been telling each other about Quickli, and we have some really big fans. It’s a very tight community of brokers who help each other. ‘How lucky did we get? Because we didn’t do anything. Almost marketing and no sales. We have a website. To say we have half a marketing person feels like an overstatement because we have a customer service person who also does some marketing on the side for us.” Links Angus Keatinge on LinkedIn Eric Dill on LinkedIn Quickli on Linkedin Quickli website Podcast Sponsor – Cypress Growth Capital This week’s podcast is sponsored by my friends at Cypress Growth Capital. For 15 years, Cypress has provided non-dilutive growth funding to bootstrapped SaaS founders, including many successful founders I’ve interviewed here on this podcast. The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.   

Guy Rubin, co-founder and CEO of ebsta, shares insights from his journey in building a revenue intelligence platform without VC funding. He discusses competing with industry giants while thriving in London’s tech scene. Guy highlights the importance of data quality and AI-driven insights for B2B sales success, addressing the challenges sales teams face with technology adoption. The conversation also touches on the uniqueness of bootstrapped growth strategies and how navigating entrepreneurship with a spouse brings both benefits and challenges.

Stuart Draper founded Stukent, an innovative ed-tech company that provides simulated internships for business students. Stukent started by focusing on high-quality digital marketing education for colleges and universities using up-to-date digital textbooks and content. They then added a simulation system for students to practice their digital marketing skills. Stukent grew steadily with less than $1M in outside funding, which helped them bridge the long and seasonal buying cycles of big schools. The team grew to over 100 employees and nearly $10 million in revenue serving marketing professors and their students.  In 2021, they engaged with Vista Point Advisors, an M&A advisor firm, to shop the company to prospective buyers and investors, eventually getting a majority investment from Tritium Partners. Stuart describes the M&A process, what worked well, and how he transitioned out of the company after two years of continued growth.  Podcast Sponsor – Cypress Growth Capital This week’s podcast is sponsored by my friends at Cypress Growth Capital. For 15 years, Cypress has provided non-dilutive growth funding to bootstrapped SaaS founders, including many successful founders I’ve interviewed here on this podcast. Quote from Stuart Draper, founder of Stukent “When we officially sold a major part of our company to investors, we had a brief celebration. My CFO and I called each other and screamed as loud as we could on the phone in a fun moment. We got there, we did this. My family also took a big trip and I got a break. “But then it was back to work. I was still the CEO and I still run this thing and I’ve got new investors that also need returns. I’m going to go deliver for these guys. They gave me a big payday, so I’m going to make sure they have a win too. “After the second board meeting with our investors, I realized this is way harder than I thought. After eight board meetings and doubling the business again, I wasn’t enjoying this as much anymore. The board meetings were hard for me. Prepping for them was super stressful. “So we found a new CEO for Stukent, and he’s doing great. Now I get to sit back in my chair at the board meeting, listen in, share my advice and opinions and come back in three months.” Links Stuart Draper on LinkedIn Stukent on LinkedIn Stukent website Tritium Partners website The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.

John Stewart, a tech entrepreneur known for creating and selling an engineering services business, shares his transformative journey in building MapAnything, a Salesforce integration services company. He discusses the shift from bootstrapping to securing VC funding, the rapid growth to over $2 million ARR, and the eventual $250 million sale to Salesforce. John emphasizes the vital role of sales and distribution in a startup’s success and reveals insights from launching his new venture, Fastbreak.ai, focused on optimizing sports schedules.

Landon Taylor created two successful digital marketing services businesses before starting a product-powered business with recurring revenues. His first agency drove traffic to its customers, which led to his second business, Best Company, which produced qualified leads for large home services businesses through its bestcompany.com consumer review site.  Their work in consumer reviews led them to his latest business, Snoball, a word-of-mouth marketing platform they use to predictably and efficiently drive customer referrals. With their systematic approach and some human-in-the-loop help, Snoball creates a scalable customer acquisition channel for large home services businesses in the US.  Landon speaks openly about his approach to “parlay” one business into another to create new businesses that are larger and more valuable than the last. Rather than raising big VC funding, Landon invests his own resources to find and create new businesses.  Quote from Landon Taylor, CEO of Snoball “Fear can be debilitating for an entrepreneur. If you fear failure, if you take a leap and you’re gonna fail, you’ll be paralyzed. You won’t be able to move forward, see opportunities, and take risks that will open up doors. “You’ve gotta get to the mindset that failure is not fatal. Everybody who’s been successful has failed multiple times, right? So just take the leap. It can be a small leap. Or it could be a mental leap of believing that I can build, I can create, I’ve got something unique. “It might be as simple as wanting to do a LinkedIn post, but you hit this wall of ‘I can’t.’ So get beyond that to believe I can, I’ve got something unique, I can build, I can create.” Links Landon Taylor on LinkedIn Snoball on LinkedIn Snoball website BestCompany.com website Sponsor This week’s podcast is sponsored by my friends at Cypress Growth Capital. For 15 years, Cypress has provided non-dilutive growth funding to bootstrapped SaaS founders, including many successful founders I’ve interviewed here on this podcast. Connect with Cliff Sentell at cypressgrowthcapital.com/practical to find out how they can help with your practical growth plans.  The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.

Kyle York, former Chief Revenue Officer of Dyn, now invests in SaaS startups through his firm York IE. In this engaging discussion, he delves into the differences between traditional VC funding and his practical funding approach. Discover the challenges SaaS founders face with funding and growth strategies, the evolving role of AI, and the importance of strategic vision in decision-making. York emphasizes creating a coherent long-term vision and how operational support can fuel capital-efficient growth, especially in niche markets.

Mike Kovarik, founder and former CEO of Attribytes, shares his entrepreneurial journey from data analytics leader to SaaS founder. He discusses the critical challenge of low-quality product data in e-commerce, which led him to create Attribytes. Mike reflects on navigating fundraising, achieving nearly $5 million in ARR, and ultimately selling his company to Syndigo. The conversation also touches on balancing business and family, the emotional challenges of strategic decisions, and his plans to acquire and innovate with a new venture.