Tom Hunt’s Post

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$3.2m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I'm doing.

0-$1m ARR in 2.5 years, bootstrapped. Here are 7 learnings 👇 1️⃣ The role of the founder Your business is just a collection of deals. You have deals with suppliers, freelancers, employees and of course: customers. Your role is simply to ensure that every one of these groups of people is getting a good deal. Take employees for example…  👉 No one has ever been asked to work late 👉 We have private healthcare 👉 We are 100% remote 👉 We have minimal meetings 👉 All team members and freelancers receive a monthly, performance-based bonus The result? No employees have left in 2.5 years. It seems like the deal is good. 2️⃣ You will f*ck up We have f*cked up on multiple clients. These even ended up in legal proceedings. When you do enough volume, it will happen. You just need to learn how to improve so they happen less often. 3️⃣ The tennis court Once your initial demand problem is solved… you will then develop a delivery problem. Especially if you are a people business. You need to watch the scene from The Founder, where the McDonalds brothers are orchestrating their food delivery system on a tennis court dived up with chalk lines (link in comments 👇). This is the focus and obsession you need to build to solve your delivery problem. 4️⃣ On getting customers As soon as you get your first one… do everything you can to make them happy. Yep, even lose money. Don’t get greedy. You don’t deserve customers if you can’t make them happy. 5️⃣ On getting more customers Start with JUST two channels: 👉 Word of mouth and referrals driven by your work on Step 4️⃣ above 👉 One other that you as the founder are responsible for getting to work Then ONLY once both of these are working, you move on to the next channel, stacking them on top of each other over time. 6️⃣ Ruthlessly strip unnecessary costs Once you have something that is making customers happy: ruthlessly strip costs from anything that isn’t directly tied to what is making customers happy. Jeff Bezos gets this: Amazon is better AND cheaper. If you can be better AND cheaper than your competitors, you will grow much faster. We don’t pay for Slack, Trello, trade shows or anything else that doesn't directly increase client happiness. 7️⃣ Firing people can be kind It’s cute to believe in people that are struggling, keeping them on too long… but ultimately it isn’t good for them, you or the business. The faster you break up and help them find a new and better-suited role, the better off everyone will be. Hope this helps…

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Maria Hvorostovsky

Helping You HIRE the Right C-Suite Talent 🔥 | International Headhunter | Career Coach | 🧠 Anatomy of a Leader Podcast Host | ⚡️Founder & CEO, HVO Search | 🚀 hirewithmaria.com

1y

I like point 2 - failure is part of the process

Judy Warner

Electronics Engineering Podcast Host | Helping Engineers Thrive and Succeed | Engineering SME Wrangler

8mo

Tom Hunt I have been in business for just over a year, after working for others for 30+. The things you've said above definitely resonate with my journey so far. Thanks for sharing the hard-won wisdom and for a helpful sanity check for this bootstrapping newbie with a fledgling b2b podcast. Cheers!

Richard Brenkley

Founder of Better Agency, CompareByReview.com & The B10 Foundation

1y

Enjoyed this Tom Hunt, I can only hope you enjoyed the journey so far, just as much. Many could learn from the fantastic culture you've clearly built.

Dan Murray-Serter 🧠

Follow for daily posts on business & personal growth. 5 time Founder/CEO I Angel Investor In 85 Startups I Top UK Business Podcast, 50M downloads I Tips On Career & Success Without Compromising Your Mental Health.

1y

Amazing mate congratulations!!

Diana Marquez Davila

Raising Human Kindness | Non-Linear Thinking, Digital Innovation

1y

Golden!

Alice Garcia

Investors - Nicent Global Logistics

1y

Patience is one of the most important emotional quotients in investing.

Love this Tom Hunt , thanks for sharing!

Pawel Moczulski

Simpliteca.com - skuteczny marketing branżowy

1y

What kind of business is it? I know that probalby is a SaaS, but more specific?

Mark Probert

Helping independent agency owners scale efficiently with a free online community, consultancy, M&A advisory and board level support.

1y

Love this Tom. So many truths in there, even if folk often don’t want to believe them (or deal with them). Great to see the growth…heres to the Pecha Kucha 👍

Amir Ness

Digital Marketer, Content Writer, A.I.

1y

Great job man...I'm just starting my project, let's see where that takes me:)

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