S3E3 - Lessons learned; Bootstrapping to 20M ARR With Emeric Ernoult
Bootstrapping a B2B SaaS to 20M ARR in revenue without significant external funding is challenging. Even though it might seem extremely difficult, you can do it using solid processes, having skilled people on the team, and the founder staying motivated and focused on the goal. This big goal is doable and possible with the right plan and determination. In this episode of the Grow Your B2B SaaS Podcast, host Joran Hofman interviews Emeric Ernoult, Co-founder of Agorapulse, a social media management software. Emeric shares his experiences and insights on growing a bootstrap SaaS to over 20 million ARR and the lessons learned. Emeric Ernoult co-founded Agorapulse, a social media management software company. Before entering the SaaS industry, Emeric worked as a business lawyer and launched a social network. He is passionate about growing SaaS companies and has valuable experience mentoring and advising other founders. Key Timecodes (0:40) Show and guest intro (1:18) Why you should listed to Emeric Ernoult (2:39) What is bootstrapping? (3:34) Why Emeric Ernoult never raised any outside capital (5:33)The most common mistakes bootstrap founders make (10:31) The ideal processes or strategies recommended to bootstrapped founders? (15:38) How to keep people accountable on certain set deadlines? (17:54) Reasons behind the rapid growth of Agorapulse (21:55) Advice on how to recruit, manage and keep talent in a bootstrapped SaaS? (26:36) How to invest in talent? (30:19) How to grow towards 10K MRR (31:09) How to grow towards 10 million ARR (33:51) Emeric’s crucial advice to SaaS founders (36:46) What Emeric wishes he knew 10 years ago