The SaaS Revolution Show

Break all the rulebooks: How ActiveCampaign reached $70M in ARR


Listen Later

On this week’s episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, we speak with Jason VandeBoom, Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign about all the unusual things he has done to reach $70M in ARR and counting.

A builder and maker of things from an early age, young Jason thought that the best way to cater for that was to attend Fine Arts school. That pursuit brought him to Chicago. However, to pay for Arts school he started doing consulting on the side. He ended up packaging it into an on-premise solution, which he sold for the good part of the following decade, abandoning the pursuit of the fine arts and establishing himself as a tech entrepreneur. In 2013 he began a transition into building a cloud based customer experience automation platform. By 2016, Jason was employing around 20 people and started growing the company.

Three years later the numbers speak for themselves - headcount is nearing 550, the company has 80,000 customers and is on a healthy growth trajectory, currently earning 70M in ARR. What is not so obvious is how Jason got there. Breaking a lot of hard SaaS rules and doing things that on paper made little sense in scaling but in fact have contributed massively to the success of the company, has been the heart of it.

Listen on to hear:

  • An example of an unscalable tactic, many would consider toxic to the bottom line
  • Active campaign’s unusual way of doing customer research
  • How they break the rules of user conferences

Jason VandeBoom is one of many excellent speakers we will host at SaaStock19 in Dublin this October that will be sharing unusual and not often talked about ways to grow. We have over 160 speakers that will be split between 5 stages, including a Podcast stage where your favorite podcasts such as The Top, The Growth Marketing Podcast, Inside Intercom, The SaaS Revolution Show and others will be recording live episodes that you can listen in on. That is just one small part of what you get with your SaaStock ticket so go ahead and grab one now at the best possible price.

 

 

 

Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/

🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Book tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/

🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)

🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The SaaS Revolution ShowBy The SaaS Revolution Show, Alex Theuma

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

28 ratings


More shows like The SaaS Revolution Show

View all
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch by Harry Stebbings

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

538 Listeners

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

172 Listeners

Startups For the Rest of Us by Rob Walling

Startups For the Rest of Us

700 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,091 Listeners

Built to Sell Radio by John Warrillow

Built to Sell Radio

210 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

2,112 Listeners

Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

Masters of Scale

3,990 Listeners

Y Combinator Startup Podcast by Y Combinator

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

236 Listeners

REWORK by 37signals

REWORK

210 Listeners

The Dave Gerhardt Show by Dave Gerhardt

The Dave Gerhardt Show

44 Listeners

The Startup Ideas Podcast by Greg Isenberg

The Startup Ideas Podcast

205 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

131 Listeners

The Next Wave - AI and The Future of Technology by Mindstream (Hubspot Media)

The Next Wave - AI and The Future of Technology

61 Listeners

AI + a16z by a16z

AI + a16z

33 Listeners

Training Data by Sequoia Capital

Training Data

39 Listeners