Adnan Malik bootstrapped Software Finder from two people in 2019 to 340 employees with 100%+ growth every year — without ever taking outside funding.

The engine: a human matchmaking layer between confused software buyers and overwhelmed vendors. We get into why 70-80% of B2B software buyers end up unhappy, how a 120-person content team drove 300% organic growth while competitors collapsed, and the mid-market sales mistake costing SaaS founders their margin.

For SaaS founders, operators, and marketers who want to understand how marketplaces actually scale.

In this episode:

→ Why most B2B software buyers end up dissatisfied

→ The chicken-and-egg problem and the first-mover edge of starting in health IT

→ How content scaled to 300% organic growth while competitors dropped

→ Why 90% sales / 10% marketing is the costly default for mid-size SaaS

→ AEO in practice — and why Adnan calls it "glorified SEO"

→ The personal cost of scaling from 100 to 340 employees

----------- Episode's Chapters -----------

0:05 — Introduction & Guest Welcome

0:49 — What Software Finder Does & How It Started

2:01 — The Business Model: Free for Buyers, Paid by Vendors

5:58 — Solving the Chicken & Egg Problem

9:21 — 5 Years of 100% Growth — What's Driving It

14:43 — SEO Investment & Organic Traffic Wins

17:04 — AEO & How LLMs Are Changing Buyer Search

20:48 — Biggest Mistakes Vendors Make with Buyers

25:22 — Why Brand & Reviews Matter Before the Sale

26:32 — Review Manipulation & How to Build Trust

30:49 — Founder Burnout & Managing Rapid Growth

33:49 — Biggest Win, Biggest Failure & Lessons Learned

36:38 — Advice for Bootstrapped Founders Today

Adnan Malik - linkedin.com/in/adnanmalik1

Software Finder - https://softwarefinder.com

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