Word Of Mouth for SaaS Startups

Jumeo is a SaaS platform providing trusted identity verification services (ID verification, identity verification, and document verification) primarily for merchants in the sharing economy, fintech, and online gaming sectors. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Stephen Stude since 2015, the company has raised $60 million and serves 350-400 customers across 40 countries with a 1,500-person team. Growing 46% year-over-year, Jumeo processed 26 million identity verifications in 2016 and is on track to exceed 30 million in 2017.

Riskalyze is a SaaS platform launched in 2011 by Aaron Klein that helps financial advisors align client portfolios with their actual risk tolerance using a quantitative "risk number" score. The company achieved $24M in total capital raised (mostly bootstrapped until late-stage institutional funding), serves 19,000+ paying financial advisors at $145/month base pricing, and maintains industry-leading 90%+ annual retention by focusing on solving the behavioral finance problem of investors making poor short-term decisions driven by fear and greed.

Stowaway Cosmetics is a venture-backed direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand founded by Julie Frederick that creates right-sized makeup products (half the size and half the price of prestige cosmetics) targeting women who don't finish traditional full-size products. Launched in February 2015 after raising $1.5M in seed funding led by Gary Vaynerchuk and Metamorphic Ventures, the company has sold over 100,000 units in 18 months with impressive 40% repeat purchase rates and 80-90% gross margins through their DTC model.

Carissa Hill built a Facebook marketing course teaching small businesses how to acquire customers through Facebook. After launching in February 2015 with $100k annual revenue, she discovered Facebook Live in June 2016 and dramatically accelerated growth, generating $105k in sales in one week and $180k in June 2016 alone. She now replicates her Facebook Live model across multiple partner groups, converting warm audiences at 50% rates.

Todd Tresetter is a hedge fund manager who retired at 35 and launched Financial Mentor (financialmentor.com) to teach unconventional investment and retirement planning strategies. Starting as a boutique coaching practice, the platform has grown significantly through word-of-mouth, with Todd now converting one-on-one coaching into scalable courses. The site offers free resources including an ebook and a 52-week financial freedom course to build community and provide value-based education.

Map My Fitness (Map My Ride, Map My Run, Map My Walk, Map My Hike) was founded in 2006 by Robin Thurston after a cycling trip in Switzerland. The company grew to 20 million monthly active users by 2013 through purely organic, word-of-mouth growth with no paid customer acquisition. At exit, the company had $17 million in trailing 12-month revenue across multiple business lines (advertising, subscriptions, and SaaS API licensing) and was acquired by Under Armour for approximately $150 million.

John Bowen is a serial entrepreneur who built and sold multiple financial services businesses, including a $2 billion advisory firm and a company taken public on the Canadian market. He now runs CEG Worldwide, which coaches top financial advisors through a subscription model, and co-founded AESNation.com with thought leaders like Dan Sullivan and Joe Polish to research and educate entrepreneurs on wealth creation and best practices.

Bounce Exchange is a behavioral automation software company that helps e-commerce and publisher sites increase conversion rates by reacting to users' digital body language. Founded by Ryan Urban in 2012, the company grew to $17M in 2015 revenue with a run rate goal of $40M by end of 2016, serving 250-300 paying customers across ~700 websites. The company eschewed traditional VC-funded growth models, staying mostly inbound, hiring minimal sales staff, and maintaining nearly break-even profitability while scaling.

Molly Marie Kaiser is a serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped her way from $50,000 in debt to building multiple six-figure businesses. Her most recent venture, Venture Shorts, is an online info product platform that teaches creative entrepreneurs how to build their own knowledge-based businesses, generating just over six figures in its first year through course sales and eBooks.

Vincenzo Villamina left private equity in 2009 during the financial crisis and moved to South America, where he discovered an untapped market: US expatriates needing tax preparation services. He built Online Taxman to serve this niche with expertise in expat-specific tax rules and compliance. By January 2016, the business was generating $20-30k monthly during tax season and was on track to do nearly $1 million in annual revenue.

Matthew Berman built Sonar (sendsonar.com) to enable customer communication via SMS and messaging platforms. Starting from a prototype built in 6 weeks nights-and-weekends, he raised $1M in seed funding and grew to 120 paying customers with 35% month-over-month revenue growth in 2015, targeting $1M ARR by end of 2016 for Series A.

Sean Malarkey founded Inspired Marketing, an e-learning company selling digital marketing courses focused on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. The flagship LinkedIn Influence course has generated over $2 million in revenue with over 20,000 customers, driven primarily through 60-70% affiliate commissions and 30-40% direct marketing through Facebook ads and funnel optimization. The business generates approximately $40,000 monthly from the LinkedIn course alone, representing about 25% of total company revenue.

The Foundation is a 6-month SaaS education program founded by Dane Maxwell that teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to build lucrative software companies from scratch. With approximately 1,400 students trained over four years and total revenue between $5-6 million, the program focuses on integrating emotional, logical, and physical development alongside business fundamentals. While less than 10% of students graduate with 10 paying customers within six months, 40% launch with at least one paying customer, and the program maintains an impressive 8/10 Net Promoter Score.

Aunchport is a 10-year-old SaaS platform founded by Landon Ray that helps entrepreneurs remove the burden of technology to focus on building their businesses. Starting from hundreds of thousands of dollars invested over 5 years of failure from 2004-2009, the company exploded in 2009 and has grown to serve 6,000+ paying customers with approximately $14-20 million in annual recurring revenue, 100 employees, and profitability—all while maintaining very limited external investment.

Batchbook is a SaaS CRM platform founded by Pam O'Hara in 2006 to help small businesses manage customer relationships. The company bootstrapped to over 10,000 paying customers with an average monthly spend of $42 per customer and above 95% retention rates, using word-of-mouth and targeted paid social as primary growth channels.

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.

BrainChase is an online learning platform that gamifies education through a semester-long adventure treasure hunt, curating the best third-party curriculum providers. The company grew from 500 participants in summer 2014 to 2,000 in summer 2015 (generating ~$400K in revenue), and is expanding from a seasonal summer model to year-round offerings through after-school and school district partnerships.

Peter Shankman built Harro, an advertising-based SaaS platform, from his couch with his two cats while working under the LLC 'Two Cats and a Cup of Coffee LLC.' The company grew to nearly $2 million in annual revenue through word-of-mouth and audience building before he sold it to Vocus. Since then, Shankman has leveraged his audience across email, social media, and his personal brand to sell high-ticket items like $600 mastermind seats and bestselling books.

Brandon Epstein built Zendude Fitness as an anti-establishment fitness brand focused on simplifying fat loss and moving beyond physical transformation to life fulfillment. He generates revenue through three streams: a $10/month mastermind community (just launched), $500/month high-level coaching clients, and an Instagram consulting agency charging $300-$1,000/month for clients like Athletic Greens and FitLife TV. His most effective growth channel is Instagram, where he leverages direct messaging and creator collaboration networks.

James Hickey built an internet marketing consulting business serving 6-8 retail and local service clients at $750-$5,000/month, then scaled into a digital course business in 2011 after his mentor suggested he train people nationally. The 12-module course with 45-50 training videos has enrolled approximately 300 people, generating significant revenue through a tiered funnel of $295 digital products, $1,000 group coaching, and $2,000 one-on-one coaching.