Partnerships Playbook

Bitnami, founded in 2013 (building on predecessor BitRock since 2005), provides a catalog of over 140 packaged applications across 14 different platforms for leading cloud vendors like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud. With over one million deployments per month, the company generates revenue by selling to cloud vendors directly and is launching a new productized offering for corporate IT departments in Q1. Almost entirely bootstrapped with $2M from Y Combinator and convertible notes, Bitnami has grown to 75 employees across San Francisco and distributed globally.

Anise Onyando founded Green Room Creative, a digital growth agency serving early-stage and mid-sized companies. The agency grew from $700k in revenue last year to a projected $1.5M+ this year by synthesizing creative production, paid media strategy, and consulting to drive conversions rather than impressions. Anise survived end-stage kidney failure at 24 (receiving a transplant from his father) and has built the agency while maintaining 5-6 hours of sleep nightly and full energy.

Tech Capital is a UK-based intellectual property investment company that acquires and commercializes university discoveries through a global network of 4,500 research universities. The company generated £3.8 million in revenue in the first half of 2017 by providing three core services: invention discovery, invention evaluation, and executive placement in technology transfer, while also building a portfolio of seven maturing companies. Founded in 2014 with £9 million in capital raised through a listing on the London stock exchange's AIM junior market, Tech Capital exemplifies the partnership-driven approach to scaling university IP commercialization.

Transamerica Ventures is a corporate venture capital fund launched in 2014 with $140 million in capital, investing in InsurTech, FinTech, and enterprise software companies. To date, they have deployed over $60 million across 17 unique companies through 23 investments, averaging $1-5 million per initial check. The fund pursues a hybrid strategy combining financial returns with strategic value for the parent insurance company, including fund-to-fund deals with partners like FinTech Collective and Lear Hippo Ventures.

Youths is a location-based mobile advertising company founded in 2008 that helps global brands target consumers at specific geographic locations like airports and retail outlets. By 2016, the bootstrapped company had grown to over $1M in annual revenue with a 15-person team based in Vietnam, serving approximately 30 agency customers through a CPM arbitrage model and partnership-driven sales strategy across 60+ countries.

Full Circle Insights is a B2B SaaS company founded by Bonnie Crater and three co-founders in 2012 that helps marketing teams measure and track campaign impact on pipeline and revenue. Built on the Salesforce platform with just $22,000 in initial capital and sweat equity, the company has grown to $4M ARR with 150 enterprise customers, achieving a 90% renewal rate and a six-month CAC payback period through event-driven sales and partnerships.

Matchcraft is a 20-year-old ad tech platform that helps businesses run programmatic search, display, and social campaigns across multiple channels. Operating as both a managed service (70% of revenue) and SaaS model, the company charges between 12-17% of media spend for managed services and up to 7% for SaaS. Under CEO Sandy Lowe since 2016, Matchcraft has grown to ~100 employees across 43 countries and processes over $100M in annual media spend, consistently growing at 2x the industry rate.

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.

Poseidon Asset Management is a venture capital firm founded by Emily Paxia and her brother Morgan in 2013, focused exclusively on investing in the cannabis industry. The fund has grown from $20 million to approximately $25 million under management, making late seed and early Series A investments while achieving a 40-44% internal rate of return over 3.5 years. With 30 active companies in their portfolio spanning business technology, agriculture technology, and consumer engagement solutions, the firm targets the rapidly growing cannabis market that Emily saw as a significant white space of opportunity.

Shoppable is a SaaS platform that enables purchases from anywhere consumers discover products online by bringing checkout experiences to social media, blogs, videos, and other digital channels. Founded by Heather Marie in 2011 and officially launched in 2012, the company has grown to 20 employees in New York, 438 merchants, 2,000+ brands, and generates well over $500k per month in revenue with customers paying $10k-$90k annually.

Truebill is a free subscription management tool launched in January 2016 that helps users track, manage, and cancel recurring payments by connecting to their bank accounts. The company monetizes through affiliate partnerships and commission deals with companies like Spotify and Plated, earning money when users click recommendations or sign up for offers. By the time of this interview, Truebill had reached 50,000 total users with 10-15,000 new signups monthly, raised $1.75M in funding, and grew from $500 in first-month revenue to $4,000 in the second month.

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.

Liquor.com is a media and partnership platform founded in 1991 that connects major liquor brands with the world's largest database of bartenders and liquor enthusiasts. The company generates approximately $7.5M in annual revenue through brand sponsorships, partnerships, and offline events, leveraging 36 million monthly uniques and 1.8 million email subscribers primarily sourced through native advertising on Zergnet.

Ash Kumara built Trade Craft as a digital content network for millennials while generating significant revenue through book sales and speaking engagements. His book 'Confessions from an Entrepreneur' sold over 150,000 copies, generating approximately $300,000-$450,000 in revenue through a B2B approach targeting college entrepreneurship programs. By 2015, Kumara was generating approximately $90,000+ annually from speaking engagements (averaging $5,000 per speech) plus book royalties and startup advisory work.

Verbal Plus Visual is a digital agency founded by Anshay Bhatia in 2009 that specializes in e-commerce strategy, design, development, and optimization for innovative brands. The company grew from $150k in first-year revenue to low seven figures by 2015 with a healthy 20% net margin, and has become a premier Shopify partner. Their growth is driven primarily through strategic partnerships with complementary agencies and inbound leads from their strong portfolio.

Mojio is a connected car platform launched in 2012 and backed by Deutsche Telekom and Amazon that enables existing cars to connect to the internet. Kenny Hawke, who previously took iGo public in 1999, took over as CEO in fall 2015 and has landed major contracts including rollouts with Deutsche Telekom in Europe and a North American carrier. The company operates on a revenue-share model with telecom operators and projects to have millions of units installed within 2-3 years.

Woosh is a screen and device cleaning product company founded in 2012 by Jason Greenspan that pivoted from car cleaning products after discovering their formula worked exceptionally well on electronics. The company achieved over 200-300% year-over-year growth, reaching $5-10 million in projected 2016 revenue through primarily wholesale distribution across retailers like Apple Store and Staples, with the product available in multiple form factors including a $10 spray-and-cloth combo.

Yo Shirt is a mobile app enabling users to design and order custom on-demand apparel directly from their iOS device. Founded in 2014 by Ben Williamson (former senior-level Apple engineer), the company raised $1.1M in a priced equity round in early 2015 and reached $3M in revenue by end of 2015, with projections to hit $10M in 2016. Growth was driven primarily through strategic brand partnerships (notably Fallout Boy, which generated over 1,000 units in a single tour activation) and organic marketing including Apple App Store features.

Laurie Lane Zucker founded Impact Entrepreneur Center after 10+ years in social enterprise and impact investing to build an ecosystem for entrepreneurs focused on triple bottom line business (financial, social, and environmental returns). The organization operates as a LinkedIn-based network of 10,700+ members across 150+ countries and generates revenue through consulting engagements, success fees on funded deals (typically 5% of seed rounds), retainers, speaking engagements, and mentoring. Laurie is now scaling the model into a physical center combining incubation, acceleration, remote learning, and regional economic development initiatives in Massachusetts.

Doorman is an on-demand package delivery service founded by Xander Adel, a former Pixar technical director, that solves last-mile delivery problems by allowing customers to schedule package arrivals at convenient evening hours (6 PM to midnight). By 2016, the company had raised over $3 million, built a team of 10, and delivered over 100,000 packages across three markets (San Francisco, Chicago, and New York) with both direct-to-consumer and retail partnership models.