Reply.io

Oleg Campbell was a programmer from Ukraine who moved to Canada and founded his first startup at 24. That business, built on QR codes, grew to about $150K annually before the QR code trend faded and sales flattened. Rather than sell it, Oleg put it on autopilot as a lifestyle business. He was influenced by Tim Ferriss's *The 4-Hour Workweek* and wanted software that worked for him rather than a job building software.

When Oleg started Reply.io at 27, he kept the savings-free approach he had used before. He put in what he describes as "around like 20 to 30k, probably 30k," funded by his salary from the previous startup. He hired a senior developer in Ukraine right away, paying about $2,000 per month, and took on marketing and sales himself. Because Ukraine had a strong developer community that he knew well, he found the talent online through a developer portal. The company launched in 2015.

The company's biggest single growth event came from Product Hunt. Oleg estimated the launch sent about 10,000 visitors and 600 signups over two days, with roughly 10% converting, or about 60 new customers. He estimated that launch added around $60K in lifetime value. Content marketing, featuring interviews with sales experts that those experts then shared, also helped. Oleg described the Product Hunt launch as the most exciting organic channel.

Oleg used the company's own software to cold email investors. He said that approach put him in front of Sequoia and Augusto Capital and helped him meet about 15 investors in three weeks. The company raised a $400,000 convertible note after an investor who had portfolio companies using the product approached them. Growth has come mostly through seat expansion: customers start with one seat and add team members, which keeps revenue churn at about 2-3% even though logo churn is around 5% per month. Oleg said the company was only beginning paid acquisition, testing AdWords and Facebook ads, and that it was looking for more predictable growth channels.

Reply.io had about 1,000 customers paying an average of about $90 per month, and Oleg said the company had just reached $100,000 in monthly revenue. The company had been profitable for four months and reinvests nearly all its profit. The team has 34 people split between Ukraine (development and marketing), Toronto (sales and support), and San Francisco. Oleg estimated the company's sale value at $20 to $30 million, though he said he was not planning to sell soon.