Oliver Palmer helped start a mobile app development agency in Sydney, Australia that built simple apps for early mobile phones. When the iPhone launched, Tigerspike grew very fast by creating branded mobile apps for large companies with its high-end design and development services.

Tigerspike also created its own software product—a mobile application development platform with subscription fees—to try to transition into a product-based company to grow faster with VC funding. This was difficult as they prioritized their urgent custom software projects for big clients and chronically underfunded their software product development

Tigerspike eventually raised $11M of outside funding from strategic partners and kept growing. The software platform also grew, but Tigerspike never made the full transition to a product-first software company. They sold the company in 2017 for $85 million. Oliver is open about their vision and their challenges as they grew Tigerspike into a large and successful global company.

In this episode, Oliver explains:

• How their mobile app design and development agency grew into a large global provider serving large companies
• Why they created a SaaS software platform product to grow faster and make their company more valuable
• How they struggled to invest in and grow their software app with their “addiction” to services revenue and custom development
• How potential VC investors viewed their services and product revenue streams
• How they sold the company and what it felt like for founders to make that transition
• What he’s working on now to help practically-funded software startup founders in Australia and Southeast Asia

Find more episodes of the Practical Founders Podcast at practicalfounders.com.