Internet Pipes
Seth Smith noticed a recurring pattern in conversations: people constantly asked her how she found all the cool information and trends she shared. After running Trends.co and joining A16Z as a venture capitalist, she recognized a genuine market need—people wanted to understand her discovery process, not just hear the findings.
Internet Pipes launched as a Notion-based book with accompanying videos and text content. The core thesis was simple: teach people how to use existing tools (Amazon, Wikipedia, Google, Ahrefs) like "pipes" to surface hidden data and trends. The product showed users how to make sense of massive datasets that already existed but were largely undiscovered by mainstream audiences.
The product gained traction through organic interest and word-of-mouth. Seth leveraged her existing audience and credibility from her work at A16Z and Trends.co. The straightforward value proposition—learn how to find trends yourself rather than relying on her—resonated with entrepreneurs, builders, and creators looking for competitive advantages.
Internet Pipes evolved beyond the initial book format by building community features and specialized databases. The Digits database, featuring 100+ "generation-defining statistics" (like the 2.5 billion people expected to experience hearing loss by 2050), became a signature offering. Seth incorporated user feedback through surveys asking community members about their favorite tools, which surfaced hidden gems like AskNature—a biomimicry resource that inspired product ideas.
Internet Pipes has grown to eight-figure annual revenue and maintains an active community. The platform combines educational content, curated databases, and community insights. Seth continues to appear on podcasts and share trend analysis, using the platform as both a revenue driver and a mechanism to validate emerging opportunities across industries—from hearing aids to psychedelics to AI applications in nursing and accounting.
Similar Companies
Brandwatch
$5.0M/moBrandwatch is an enterprise SaaS social intelligence platform founded in August 2007 by Giles Palmer that crawls 80 million websites and aggregates social media feeds to provide brands with real-time insights about conversations mentioning them and competitors. Operating profitably at scale with 1,500 enterprise customers paying an average ACV of $30,000, the company generated over $60M ARR in 2017 and grew approximately 30% year-over-year while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital deployment.
Ahrefs
$3.3M/moAhrefs is a bootstrapped SaaS company providing SEO and backlink analysis tools, currently generating over $40M ARR with 45 employees. After joining in 2015, Tim Solo transformed the blog from 15,000 to 250,000+ monthly Google visitors by shifting from publishing what they wanted to write about to targeting keywords people actually search for, creating high-quality content with direct product integration, and continuously updating articles to accumulate backlinks. The company breaks conventional marketing wisdom by not using customer personas, growth hacks, or detailed analytics—instead focusing entirely on product quality and audience education through blog content.
Host Analytics
$3.3M/moHost Analytics is a SaaS company providing enterprise performance management software for corporate finance departments. Founded in 2001 as a consulting firm and bootstrapped for seven years before raising VC funding, the company has grown to serving 700 customers with a $40-50M ARR run rate and has raised $85M in total capital. CEO Dave Kellogg, who joined in 2014 when ARR was ~$10M, has grown the company 4X through a focus on nurture marketing, unconventional tactics like EBITDA stickers, and long-term customer relationship building in a market where only 5% adoption of cloud solutions exists.
Solides
$2.6M/moSolides is the leading HR tech platform for small and medium companies in Brazil, providing talent management software for hiring, development, and retention. Founded in 2010 but pivoted to a subscription model in 2015, the company achieved $31.2M ARR as of March 2023 (100% growth YoY) with 20,000 paying customers managing close to 2 million employees. Alessandro Garcia raised a $100M Series B at an $800M valuation in 2022 and is targeting a $60M run rate by end of 2023, with plans to IPO once reaching $200M in revenue.
QA Symphony
$1.6M/moQA Symphony is a 100% SaaS platform providing end-to-end workflow testing solutions for large and mid-sized enterprises. Founded in 2011 and stalled at $500k ARR in 2014, the company exploded to $20M ARR by 2017 under David Kyle's leadership by moving upmarket, building enterprise-grade scalability, and establishing a strong JIRA integration that drove 80% of leads through inbound marketing. With 570 customers paying an average of $50k per year, 115% gross revenue retention, and a team of 130, QA Symphony became the #8 fastest-growing software company in 2017.