Browse Case Studies

Celitech is an eSIM platform that helps travel and hospitality companies like Expedia monetize connectivity services for their customers. The company is targeting a $1.5M raise to scale their enterprise partnerships and expand their eSIM distribution network.

Swag.com is a corporate swag and merchandise platform acquired by CustomInk for over $20 million. The company is projected to do $60 million+ in annual revenue this year with 30% margins, demonstrating strong unit economics in the B2B merchandise space.

This startup offers a pay-per-scan model for vehicle inspection technology targeted at insurance companies to reduce fraud. The company has achieved $30k MRR by solving a specific pain point for insurers—automated vehicle damage assessment and verification.

DataLab is an agricultural SaaS company that charges farmers on a per-cow basis, reaching $15M in annual revenue. Their pricing model aligns customer value with usage, resulting in ACVs as high as $100,000 for large farming operations.

Scoop is a news discovery network and marketplace connecting journalists with newsmakers/companies. Founded by Bill Hanks, former VP of Corporate Communications at Real Networks and PR director at Microsoft, the platform has 630 registered journalists (6% of business journalism market) after 7 months and recently began generating revenue (~$1,000/month) by charging companies $250 to algorithmically match their news to relevant reporters.

Sellbreaker is a legal-tech SaaS platform founded by John Colgan that helps consumers cancel cell phone contracts without paying early termination fees by identifying carrier breaches in contracts. The company charges 35% of the savings (ETF amounts) and achieved a $13 million annual run rate by August 2015 with 13,000 users, maintaining a 100% success rate. Colgan raised just under $300,000 in convertible notes (partly from 500 Startups) and planned to expand to other consumer contracts under a new vertical-agnostic brand called Vito.

AdSend Media, founded in 2009 by then-20-year-old Fizan Ali, operates a performance-based advertising platform that rewards users for engaging with ads, shifting focus from advertiser/publisher profit to user experience. The company pivoted from desktop to mobile and now manages approximately $700,000 in monthly media spend ($8.4M annually), taking a 30% cut while distributing 70% to publishers, with 20 employees based in Austin, Texas.

DO is a bills and payments platform founded by John Rampton in 2015 that helps businesses get paid faster through invoicing, time tracking, and payroll features. Nine months after launch (as of the February 2016 interview), the platform had processed $4 million in transaction volume in February 2016 alone, generating approximately $40,000 in monthly revenue through credit card transaction fees. John leveraged his expertise in SEO and online marketing to drive tens of thousands of customer signups, with about 60,000 total users and 20,000-30,000 active users.

Pixie is an image optimization SaaS platform launched in 2014 by Holly Cardew that helps e-commerce merchants automatically edit and optimize product photos for multiple platforms within 24 hours. The company is self-funded with $150k in angel investment, operates with a distributed team of 16 (plus 100+ freelance designers), and is processing hundreds of thousands of images with over 7,000 customers. Holly grew the company to breakeven by 2015 and found the most explosive growth through an affiliate program that generated 1,000 signups and 70 paying customers in just three weeks.

Call Loop is a voice and text messaging platform founded in 2009 and soft-launched in 2011 by Chris Brisson and co-founders. The company operates on a usage-based model where customers buy credits in bulk or pay monthly depending on their use case. By 2015, Call Loop had generated $385,000 in top-line revenue and was on track to exceed $450,000 in 2016, serving 2,000-3,000 total customers and sending 300,000-400,000 text messages monthly.

AMP Live, founded by Eddie Vaca in 2014, is a live video distribution platform that connects broadcasters with audiences in real time. The company generated $1.3M in revenue in 2015 and was on track to reach ~$3.9M in 2016 by selling audience delivery services to major brands like Microsoft, Salesforce, Martha Stewart, and Home Depot. Eddie bootstrapped the company with a small $100K friends and family round and built it into an enterprise direct-sales operation using outbound sales tools.

Loot is a platform helping brands engage customers through incentivized user-generated content at scale, enabling micro-influencer marketing. Founded in 2012 by Nicholas Haas at age 22, the company grew from $200 in first-year revenue to over $500,000 by 2015, using a usage-based pricing model where brands pay a multiple of the rewards given to users. Nicholas also experimented with e-commerce through a side project called Startup Drugs, which generated mid-five figures in monthly revenue through Facebook ads.

Netline is the largest B2B content syndication and lead generation platform, operating a network of over 15,000 publishers to match enterprise technology companies' thought leadership content with targeted audience segments. Founded after David Fortuno pitched himself to the company at age 26, the platform has processed over 30 million leads and currently generates $20 million in annual run rate revenue with 300-400 active client campaigns at any given time.

Pear 3D is an augmented reality app that lets consumers visualize home furnishings in their actual spaces before purchasing. Founded by Andrew Commendoni in 2015, the company pivoted from a B2B architecture model to a B2C consumer model with manufacturer partnerships, generating revenue through CPM and CPC advertising. With over 2,000 products in their catalog from 15 major manufacturers and ~20,000 monthly object placements, they project $1.5M in annual revenue.

CleverTap is a mobile analytics and user engagement platform founded by Sunil Thomas and two co-founders in 2013. The company combines analytics with real-time user engagement (push notifications, email, in-app messaging) and raised $9.6M total ($1.6M seed, $8M Series A) from Sequoia and Excel. By May 2017, CleverTap reached $400K MRR and $5M ARR from 200 paying customers, growing from $1.5M revenue in 2016 through content marketing and direct sales.

Miracle is a SaaS platform launched in 2012 that enables large retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, and Urban Outfitters to operate their own third-party vendor marketplaces on their websites. The company has raised $22M in equity funding and serves over 125 customers across 25 countries, using a percentage-based pricing model tied to incremental revenue generated through the marketplace. Adrian Nossenbaum bootstrapped the initial development with proceeds from his previous exit (Split Games to Fnac) and built a 160-person team focused on enterprise B2B sales with a sub-one-year payback period target.

Livepeer is a decentralized video transcoding and live streaming platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. It solves the problem of centralized video streaming services failing in censorship-prone environments by allowing users to earn tokens as miners and stake in the network. The platform incentivizes participation through token economics, where participants benefit from network growth similar to early Bitcoin or Ethereum adopters.

Christoph Jentzsch, a theoretical physicist and early Ethereum contributor, co-founded Sloc.it in 2015 to enable decentralized sharing economy through blockchain and IoT integration. After learning hard lessons from the failed DAO project, he pivoted to building software that sits on top of IoT devices (like smart locks and EV charging stations), allowing asset owners to receive payments via smart contracts. The company raised $2M in seed funding in early 2017 and deployed its solution on over 1,000 EV charging stations.

June Group is an ad tech platform founded by Mitchell Rich in 2005 that connects brands with consumers through non-interruptive video advertising in mobile apps. The company bootstrapped profitably for 10 years before raising $28 million in mezzanine debt and a private equity investment in 2015, growing to 75 employees with consistent 10-25% year-over-year growth while maintaining profitability.

Widespace is a mobile ad tech platform founded by Patrick Figerland in 2007 that evolved from selling media to building enterprise SaaS technology. The company processes approximately $36-40 million in annual ad spend through its system, serving ~1,000 advertisers (including 75% of top 50 global advertisers like Procter & Gamble) and 500+ publications, generating ~$17 million in gross profit in 2016 with 130 employees. After raising $30 million in VC funding, Widespace shifted to a high-margin technology model charging usage-based fees (typically 50% of spend for demand-side, with supply-side cuts as well) rather than media margins.