He hit $40M ARR, exited for over $100M—& raised only $1.5M. Here's how | Ian MacKinnon, Co-Founder of Later.com

In 2014, Ian launched a simple product: it let social media marketers buffer Instagram posts. It was originally a hackathon project. But it quickly gained users. So he and his co-founders went all in.

They raised just one small seed round. His main competitor, HootSuite, raised over $300M. In spite of that, he built a $40M ARR business that sold for well over $100M.

Here's the story of how it all happened. And why there's an option besides bootstrapping and raising round after round: it's called the one & done.

Why you should listen:

• Why you won't know if people love your product until you charge them. 
• How to use content marketing to drive inbound traffic. 
• How user experience can be a big differentiator even in a competitive market.
• What the acquisition process is like and why it often drags on. 

Keywords

startup, product market fit, user feedback, monetization, content marketing, growth strategies, social media management, entrepreneurship, user acquisition, pricing strategy, startup, growth, competition, user experience, influencer marketing, acquisition, exit process, founder advice

Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:03:05) "Ian's dumb ideas"
(00:07:27) Hackathons
(00:10:41) Finding a market
(00:13:30) Early feedback
(00:17:50) The growth curve
(00:21:08) Turning on pricing
(00:26:35) A seed strapper
(00:31:58) Focusing on small and medium businesses
(00:38:24) Being well positioned
(00:43:19) Bough by private equity
(00:47:50) Relief
(00:50:59) A new project and a piece of advice

Send me a message to let me know what you think!