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Bootstrapped SaaS Strategy: $0 to $27M ARR by Serving vs Selling | Spectora
Manage episode 513971659 series 61396
Kevin Wagstaff and his brother Michael turned a $5,000 investment into a $27 million ARR home inspection software business—without raising venture capital for the first six years. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn the "Serve Before Selling" strategy that beat well-funded incumbents.
Kevin breaks down how he spent 12 months building an SEO moat before launching, creating an "unfair advantage" in a skeptical market. You will learn his "Agency Wedge" tactic (building websites manually to sell software), the specific pricing psychology needed to move an old-school industry to SaaS subscriptions, and why he stepped down as CEO at the peak of growth.
In this episode, Kevin also reveals the "6 AM Sunday Demo" that unlocked their biggest growth wave, how to use community engagement to sell without pitching, and the "Secondary Offering" exit path that lets founders take money off the table while staying in the game.
This episode is brought to you by:
💖 Sprinto → Learn more and book a demo today
🚀 SaaS Club Launch → Build your SaaS to $10K MRR
🔑 Key Lessons
- 🚀 The SEO Head Start: Why writing content 12 months before launch created an unfair advantage.
- 🛠️ The Agency Wedge: How building 200+ websites manually became a critical wedge to sell software.
- 💰 Pricing Wars: How to convince an old-school industry to switch from one-time fees to monthly subscriptions.
- 🤝 Community Growth: The strategy of being the "first to comment" in Facebook groups for 12 hours a day.
- 🛑 Founder Transition: Recognizing when you are the bottleneck and how to exit gracefully to Private Equity.
📖 Chapters
- The "Zero to 10" Founder Mindset
- The $5k Bootstrap Origin Story
- 9 Months of Customer Interviews (That Actually Worked)
- The MVP: Focusing on Workflow vs. Features
- The "Smart Home Inspector" SEO Strategy
- The Agency Wedge: Building Websites to Sell Software
- Serving vs. Selling: The 10-Year Trust Game
- The 6 AM Sunday Demo: Doing Things That Don't Scale
- The Failed $10k Ad Experiment
- Raising Capital via Private Equity (Secondary Offering)
- Stepping Down as CEO
💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email
SaaS Club Programs
- Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus
- Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch
- Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind
Resources
- Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/457
- Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe
629 episodes
Manage episode 513971659 series 61396
Kevin Wagstaff and his brother Michael turned a $5,000 investment into a $27 million ARR home inspection software business—without raising venture capital for the first six years. In this episode, early-stage B2B SaaS founders will learn the "Serve Before Selling" strategy that beat well-funded incumbents.
Kevin breaks down how he spent 12 months building an SEO moat before launching, creating an "unfair advantage" in a skeptical market. You will learn his "Agency Wedge" tactic (building websites manually to sell software), the specific pricing psychology needed to move an old-school industry to SaaS subscriptions, and why he stepped down as CEO at the peak of growth.
In this episode, Kevin also reveals the "6 AM Sunday Demo" that unlocked their biggest growth wave, how to use community engagement to sell without pitching, and the "Secondary Offering" exit path that lets founders take money off the table while staying in the game.
This episode is brought to you by:
💖 Sprinto → Learn more and book a demo today
🚀 SaaS Club Launch → Build your SaaS to $10K MRR
🔑 Key Lessons
- 🚀 The SEO Head Start: Why writing content 12 months before launch created an unfair advantage.
- 🛠️ The Agency Wedge: How building 200+ websites manually became a critical wedge to sell software.
- 💰 Pricing Wars: How to convince an old-school industry to switch from one-time fees to monthly subscriptions.
- 🤝 Community Growth: The strategy of being the "first to comment" in Facebook groups for 12 hours a day.
- 🛑 Founder Transition: Recognizing when you are the bottleneck and how to exit gracefully to Private Equity.
📖 Chapters
- The "Zero to 10" Founder Mindset
- The $5k Bootstrap Origin Story
- 9 Months of Customer Interviews (That Actually Worked)
- The MVP: Focusing on Workflow vs. Features
- The "Smart Home Inspector" SEO Strategy
- The Agency Wedge: Building Websites to Sell Software
- Serving vs. Selling: The 10-Year Trust Game
- The 6 AM Sunday Demo: Doing Things That Don't Scale
- The Failed $10k Ad Experiment
- Raising Capital via Private Equity (Secondary Offering)
- Stepping Down as CEO
💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: https://saasclub.io/email
SaaS Club Programs
- Join the SaaS Club founder community: https://saasclub.co/plus
- Build your $10K MRR SaaS: https://saasclub.io/launch
- Scale from 6-figures to $1M ARR Faster: https://saasclub.io/mastermind
Resources
- Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/457
- Subscribe to the podcast: https://saasclub.io/subscribe
629 episodes
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