Skype Startups

GrowthMentor is a two-sided marketplace connecting entrepreneurs and growth marketers with vetted mentors for 1:1 Skype calls, charging $99/year per mentee. Foti Panagio bootstrapped the platform from his own pain point of rapid skill-building through expert calls rather than courses, launching the public beta in October 2018 after 3 months of customer development and 6 months of development. Through community-focused word-of-mouth marketing via Facebook groups, LinkedIn, and niche communities, the platform grew to $3.5K/month ARR by June 2019, with mentors becoming natural advocates due to their strong networks in the startup ecosystem.

ClaimCompass helps travelers automatically process flight disruption claims and receive compensation up to $700 per flight, taking a commission from successful cases. Founded in 2015 by Alexander Sumin and others, the company raised $200K from 500 Startups in October 2016 and grew 10x within months through aggressive paid advertising and a successful Product Hunt launch that generated 1,500 free leads.

Lewis Lautman founded Supreme Outsourcing after going broke funding 'The Yes Movie' in 2007, spending over $200,000 and realizing the pain of paying $80-120/hour for U.S.-based freelancers. Between 2008-2010, while building his entrepreneur training business, he began outsourcing overseas and discovered he was making more money fulfilling outsourcing work for other entrepreneurs than from his training business itself. He launched Supreme Outsourcing full-time in 2010 with a tiered pricing model ranging from $15/hour pay-as-you-go to $1,000/month for full-time virtual assistants, using customer financing to fund operations.

Vinny Fisher is the co-founder of Fully Accountable and founder of multiple businesses including Leading Health Supplements, which does $1.3 million in gross monthly revenue. His approach focuses on building quarterback/project manager operators within businesses to scale without being trapped in day-to-day operations, allowing him to maintain majority or senior minority interests across three operating businesses while also maintaining a personal coaching practice generating $5-10k monthly per client with 10-20 active clients.

Funded Today is a crowdfunding agency co-founded by Zach Smith that has raised over $40 million for 300+ campaigns on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The company started when Zach's consulting client proposed paying via revenue share instead of upfront fees, which evolved into a three-tiered service offering paid media, press landing, and cross-collaborations. With 31 remote employees and $8M in 2015 revenue, Funded Today takes a 30-35% percentage of funds raised and operates with a unique due diligence testing phase to predict campaign success.

John Bowen is a serial entrepreneur who built and sold multiple financial services businesses, including a $2 billion advisory firm and a company taken public on the Canadian market. He now runs CEG Worldwide, which coaches top financial advisors through a subscription model, and co-founded AESNation.com with thought leaders like Dan Sullivan and Joe Polish to research and educate entrepreneurs on wealth creation and best practices.

Insight Squared is a sales analytics and business intelligence SaaS platform launched in 2011 by Fred Shohmer and two co-founders. The company raised $1M initially and $27M total in venture capital, growing to 750+ customers (primarily mid-market and enterprise) with a team of 135 in Boston. They focus exclusively on sales operations and analytics, positioning themselves uniquely in the intersection of business intelligence and sales enablement.

SalesSeek is a combined CRM and marketing automation platform launched in late 2012 that spent three years in product development before entering sales mode. Founded by Tim Hampson and self-funded initially, the company has grown to 150 customers with an average seat count of 80-100 users, achieving over 100% net revenue retention. With approximately $240K+ in ARR and a lean 20-person team, SalesSeek targets mid-market companies and is pursuing profitability while maintaining strong growth rates.