BOT platform

Tom Gibby and his co-founders launched BOT platform in 2016 during the chatbot craze, riding the wave as an original Facebook Messenger launch partner. They built one of the first bots on Messenger—notably the first bot for the music industry, deployed by one of the world's biggest DJs. The buzz was real, with major brands and entertainment clients knocking on their door. But success bred a critical insight: the market was becoming cluttered, and more importantly, Tom realized automation would deliver far greater value inside enterprises than in the consumer space.

About a year after launch, the founders ran a beta experiment on the side, testing whether their Messenger bot software could be repurposed for Workplace from Facebook. Because they were already a Messenger partner with existing infrastructure, they could plug their software directly into Workplace without rebuilding everything from scratch. This wasn't a traditional app store download—it was enterprise software requiring direct integration with customer instances. The pivot proved the concept: customers saw real value in internal automation.

The first 100 customers came through channel partnerships, primarily from Facebook and Microsoft Teams promotions. Facebook, impressed by their Messenger work, wanted to see if automation benefits could extend to their workplace collaboration tool. Microsoft Teams partnership followed about six to nine months later. The enterprise motion was deliberate from the start: they were selling to HR, internal comms, and people operations teams—professionals focused on employee experience. Early pricing ranged from $1,400 to $15,000-$20,000 per month depending on company size, with their largest customer paying $240,000 annually.

The founders made a strategic decision around 2019 to bootstrap rather than raise venture capital. Instead of spending months pitching VCs, they focused that time and energy on sales. That bet paid off dramatically. In 2016, they were doing roughly $100,000 in professional services revenue to fund SaaS development. By the time of this interview, they had raised just $300,000 in a small friends and family round in 2018 (at a $4M valuation), and the business had grown to 35 customers. Their SaaS revenue hit $1.2 million annually while professional services (building custom bots for time-constrained customers) contributed another $800,000. Monthly churn sat at a healthy 2.9%, and net revenue retention reached 118%—meaning expansion revenue ($54% growth) was outpacing churn ($36% loss). Upsells came through usage-based pricing tied to the number of bots and active users, though they increasingly priced based on ROI value: one customer calculated they achieved 15.6x ROI in year one.

With 16 team members (including 5 engineers and 3 quota-carrying sales reps), the company was scaling deliberately and profitably. Current MRR stands at $110,000, up from $70,000 just one year prior—a 57% annual growth rate. Tom and his three co-founders retain about 75% of the company, employees own roughly 10%, and early investors own about 10%, with 15% unallocated for future hires or strategic raises. When asked if they'd accept a $6 million acquisition offer, Tom's instant "absolutely not" reflected genuine conviction: the employee experience market is booming post-pandemic, and they believe the business will grow "much, much bigger in the future." For a 16-person bootstrapped team, that confidence is backed by real numbers.