『Practical Founders Podcast』のカバーアート

Practical Founders Podcast

Practical Founders Podcast

著者： Greg Head
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概要

 Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast with host Greg Head for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies--without big funding.2025 Scaling Point LLC マネジメント・リーダーシップ リーダーシップ 経済学
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  • #188: The Practical Long Game: 25 Years Scaling QuestionPro - Vivek Bhaskaran

    #188: The Practical Long Game: 25 Years Scaling QuestionPro - Vivek Bhaskaran
    2026/03/20
    Vivek Bhaskaran is the founder and CEO of QuestionPro, a bootstrapped survey and customer-experience research software platform they have been building for more than 25 years. Based in the Bay Area, Vivek has grown the company globally without venture capital, staying deeply involved in product and running the business as both CEO and de-facto chief product officer. As QuestionPro crossed $10M then $30M in revenue years ago, private equity firms and acquirers started calling. Vivek chose not to sell and instead kept building. Over the years he has completed about ten small acquisitions and expanded the platform while staying nimble as an independent company. In this conversation, Vivek explains why having fun, liking your team, and taking some profits along the way makes it possible for founders to play the long game. He also shares how AI is changing market research and why most AI use cases still need experimentation. Key Takeaways Founder Product Ownership – Vivek still acts as chief product officer, believing founders should stay close to the product and customer problems.Small Acquisitions Strategy – Rather than selling, QuestionPro grew through about ten small acquisitions that expanded capabilities and distribution.Practical AI Adoption – Most AI experimentation fails early, so the team tests many use cases and keeps the ones customers actually adopt.Sales Efficiency Gains – AI dramatically improves painful processes like RFP responses and compliance questionnaires that previously took hours.Synthetic Research Data – Vivek believes AI-generated personas and synthetic respondents will transform early-stage market research within a few years. Quote from Vivek Bhaskaran, founder and CEO of QuestionPro "Two things matter to me that have allowed me to be the founder and CEO for 25 years. Number one, can I wake up every day and have the same level of energy, enthusiasm, and fun? Work and fun, and everything has to be correlated at this point. There is just one life. "Number two is the people around me. I love the team that works with me and hopefully they like working with me too. These are the two things that matter to me: Am I having fun? Am I having fun with the people around me? You got one life, so can you mesh those two things together? "Ask yourself, am I personally in the game? Do I really want to do this? If those two things are true, then I'd say keep going. How you feel, what you're doing in the morning, how you show up all day, and then who you work with. These are not external. You control both these variables reasonably well." Links Vivek Bhaskaran on LinkedInQuestionPro on LinkedInQuestionPro website Podcast Sponsor – Full Scale This podcast is sponsored by 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 can augment and extend your core dev team. Learn more at fullscale.io. 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 or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding. A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.
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    1 時間 10 分
  • #187: Practical Rule of 40 Growth+Profits Still Works for SaaS Acquirers - Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi

    #187: Practical Rule of 40 Growth+Profits Still Works for SaaS Acquirers - Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi
    2026/03/13
    Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi is a partner at L40, a boutique SaaS M&A advisory firm with offices in Madrid, Lisbon, and Miami. After two decades in banking, private equity, and operating roles, including serving as CFO of ride-hailing company Cabify, he now helps SaaS founders sell companies typically valued between $20M and $200M. L40 works primarily with B2B SaaS companies doing $5M–$50M ARR, most of them bootstrapped or lightly funded, including companies in Europe and Latin America. Juan explains how today's buyers evaluate SaaS companies, why Rule-of-40 performance still matters even with AI, and how growth rate, retention, and profitability determine valuation ranges of roughly 4–8x ARR. Key Takeaways Growth Drives Valuation: Growth rate correlates most strongly with SaaS multiples. Companies growing 50% command much higher valuations than those growing 20%.Rule Of 40 Still Matters: Buyers increasingly expect SaaS companies to combine strong growth with some profitability.Financial Buyers Dominant: Private-equity-backed platforms acquiring add-ons are the most active buyers for $50M–$100M SaaS companies today.Sell During Momentum: Smaller companies growing 20–40% annually can be an ideal window for acquisition before growth naturally slows. Quote from Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi, Managing Director and Partner at L40 "If you think that you're going to sell your SaaS company, you should think of that two years ahead of when you want to sell. So don't wait until you're burned out. "Keep in mind that you will have to make a profit at some point to sell to serious financial buyers. So when your company is growing at decent 20, 30, 40% year over year rates, that's probably the sweet spot for selling. "Significant funds have been raised in the past 24 months and that has to be deployed. Traditional private equity firms are more more interested in tech. These days you see more and more traditional private equity firms going into tech and that's increasing competition and driving multiples up." Links Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi on LinkedInL40 on LinkedInL40 website Podcast Sponsor – Lighter Capital This podcast is sponsored by Lighter Capital. In the last 15 years, Lighter Capital has helped over 600 software and SaaS founders secure simple, non-dilutive financing to grow a little faster—without giving up any precious equity or board seats to investors. Simple debt funding from Lighter Capital can range from $50K to $10 million, with straightforward terms, no personal guarantees or covenants, and up to a 4-year payback period. Go to LighterCapital.com to apply and get a quick pre-qualification. Then talk with their experienced team to create a practical funding plan to achieve your goals. 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 or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding. A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.
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    57 分
  • #186: The Grind Behind a Stellar SaaS Exit in the UK - Simon Swords

    #186: The Grind Behind a Stellar SaaS Exit in the UK - Simon Swords
    2026/03/06
    Simon Swords founded Fundipedia after starting in a backyard shed building bespoke software. Originally a custom development shop, his firm built a data governance platform for major buy-side asset managers including HSBC, Barclays, and Legal & General. Over time, Fundipedia evolved into a high-retention enterprise SaaS platform with strong net revenue retention and Rule of 40 performance. Simon navigated long consultative sales cycles, regulatory tailwinds, and a tightly networked financial services market to build a durable recurring revenue engine. After turning down an initial offer, Simon grew ARR further and ultimately sold in 2024 at approximately 10x ARR. He exited fully, used ChatGPT extensively in diligence, and now reflects on endurance, discipline, and surviving long enough for luck to compound. Key Takeaways Survive First — Don't make a mistake that kills you or the business. Staying alive creates the opportunity for luck to compound.Enterprise Patience — Two-year sales cycles are normal at the top end. Persistence and reputation matter more than speed.Rule Of 40 Discipline — Strong growth plus profitability gives founders leverage in exit timing and valuation.Problems Over Product — Founders obsess over product; buyers care about solving painful, expensive problems.Build To Exit Cleanly — Structure the company so it runs without you before you start acquisition conversations. Quote from Simon Swords, Founder of Fundipedia "I think the most important thing is not to make a mistake that kills you or the business. While you're in the arena and you've not been taken out yet, dragged off by the hyenas or lions, whatever they used back in the Roman days, you've still got a chance to make something magical happen. "You do something stupid, kill the business, kill your reputation, you're done. Entrepreneurs hate the word luck. I do feel luck. I am lucky. Of course I'm lucky. I have to be lucky. You make your own luck. "But I'll tell you what I didn't do. I didn't make a mistake that killed me or the business and the entire way through. Even when I was going through hell, never, no matter how neurotic or anxious or all the negative kind of traits you can imagine would have flown through me. I never made a mistake that killed the business." Links Simon Swords on LinkedInFundipedia on LinkedInFundipedia websiteFE fundinfo website Podcast Sponsor – LaunchBay LaunchBay helps B2B software companies automate client onboarding and implementation so customers activate faster and everyone stays aligned. If your onboarding includes data collection, setup steps, approvals, training, or any level of customization, LaunchBay replaces the messy mix of emails, spreadsheets, and meetings with a clear, all-in-one onboarding system. Teams use LaunchBay to onboard clients faster, stay on top of follow-ups automatically, and deliver a smoother experience, without hiring more people or adding more tools. Visit launchbay.com/practical and get 25% off your first 3 months on any LaunchBay plan. 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 or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding. A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.
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    1 時間 13 分
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