Hey - Marc here.
Happy Saturday morning, motivated B2B SaaS Founders!
Here's at least one tip to keep in mind as you grow your B2B SaaS company:
Today's issue takes about 5 minutes to read.
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In today's issue, I share some key takeaways from a recent interview between Nathan Latka, the host of Daily Interviews with SaaS Founders, and Martin Ondas, the CEO and founder of BizMachine. They discussed how he bootstrapped to $1.5m and used his agency to hyper-scale his SaaS.
Martin is a savvy entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in building B2B sales intelligence and prospecting tools for Central Europe. With his success with BizMachine as a testament to his expertise and business acumen, he’s now on a mission to give sellers just the right information at the right time.
About BizMachine
BizMachine was founded by Martin Ondas back in 2017 as a marketing agency that specialized in lead generation and sales. However, Martin soon realized that there was a pressing need for a tool that could automate the process and help his team save valuable time.
In 2018, Martin pivoted to a SaaS model and launched BizMachine as a lead generation software. By following the digital footprints of companies, applying advanced analytics and industry expertise, and generating surprising insights at scale, BizMachine quickly established itself as a game-changer in the E-commerce, Fintech, ICT, and Automotive Fleet markets.
But what truly sets BizMachine apart is its unique agency model. Martin leveraged his agency to drive traffic and generate leads for the software, using it as a testing ground to refine the product and gather feedback from clients. With a bootstrapped approach, he scaled the business and reinvested profits back into the company, paving the way for BizMachine's meteoric rise to success.
PS As of the interview, BizMachine had grown to over $1.5 million in ARR with a team of 30 employees.
Challenges
Managing a team of developers.
It's like trying to herd cats – they have their own ideas, their own quirks, and their own way of doing things. Martin had to be a master communicator, a patient teacher, and a benevolent dictator all rolled into one.
Advice to Other Founders
Pivot when necessary.
Starting as an agency before pivoting to SaaS had several advantages for BizMachine. It allowed them to build a network of potential customers that later became early adopters of their SaaS product. It also gave them an opportunity to validate their product idea before investing heavily in development.
Bootstrap and reinvest profits.
Without the pressure of meeting investor expectations, Martin was able to prioritize the needs of his customers and build a product that truly solved their pain points. Forced to be resourceful and operate with limited resources, bootstrapping helped him build an efficient and lean organization.
Don't just solve a problem, create a delight.
Martin's focus on customer needs, simplicity, and continuous improvement sets him apart in creating a delightful user experience for his customers. He ensures the user interface is intuitive and user-friendly to avoid confusing his customers.
Bonus
- Martin recommends "Principles," a business book by Ray Dalio.
- He gets inspired by people who are hustlers, go through a difficult story, and are successful in the end. He recently follows Patrick Bet-David from Valuetainment quite a lot.
- At 47, he’s married with five kids and gets 7 hours of sleep.
- Martin wishes he knew when he was 20 to trust his own judgment more.
TL;DR
Martin Ondas launched BizMachine.com as an agency in 2017. Today, it has almost 90 SaaS products and generates about $1.4 million in revenue across 250 customers. The average customer pays $350 per month to license data and seats from the B2B SaaS sales tool, which is based in Prague and focuses on European customers.
PS Here is a link to the full interview if you are interested in listening to the full episode: Bootstrapped to $1.5m how this founder used his agency to hyper-scale his SaaS
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See you again next week.
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