High Platform

Marcello's entrepreneurial journey began in 2000 with Direct Talk, a Brazilian startup focused on social media customer care. Fast forward to 2017: Direct Talk had developed solid chatbot products but needed a fresh approach. A Brazilian social media customer care startup approached Marcello about merging, envisioning a combined platform that could serve both sales and customer support. The vision was compelling—complementary products under one roof. The four co-founders (including Marcello as CEO from day one) dove in, though they only owned 20% collectively. The remaining 80% was held by investors from both merged companies, creating a fragmented cap table that would require years of patient equity recovery.

By June 2018/2019, High Platform had already built significant traction: 1,100 customers paying an average of $1,000 USD per month, generating $800,000 in MRR ($9.6M ARR annualized). The company stayed bootstrapped through organic growth, relying on direct sales efforts to acquire enterprise customers. Marcello built a sales organization that would eventually scale to 20-25 quota-carrying reps, with senior reps tasked with landing $6,000/month in new ARR and junior reps targeting $3,000/month. By 2023, the company had grown to 1,700 customers and $1.1M MRR, representing steady but measured growth.

The founders chose a deliberate, platform-first strategy over hypergrowth. Rather than doubling down on one feature, they built a 10-feature platform designed to help companies sell and manage customer care. This meant integrating multiple products post-merger and hunting for the right market fit—a process that took years. The trade-off: growth remained moderate (28% YoY at one point, then 20-22%), which some VCs found frustrating. However, Marcello's team presented a five-year vision to their board, promising accelerated growth in later years as the platform unlocked new revenue streams. In August 2023, they closed their first external funding round: $7M at a $40M valuation (roughly 18% dilution), validating the vision.

As of the interview, High Platform had 250 full-time employees (65 engineers, 20-25 sales reps) and was projecting $15M ARR for 2024—a 15% growth rate that Marcello believed would accelerate. The four co-founders had strategically bought back equity using company bonuses and now owned 40% combined, a significant climb from their initial 20%. Marcello, now 46 and married with one child, reflected on the long road: building a B2B SaaS platform in Brazil, bootstrapping for six years, managing a complex cap table, and staying disciplined while waiting for the right investor. His vision for the next 3-5 years centered on using technology (WhatsApp, Messenger integrations) to reimagine how B2B software delivers customer success at scale.