Episode 492 | From Zero to $55k MRR to Exit (in 2 Years) with Feedback Panda

In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob interviews Danielle Simpson and Arvid Kahl, co-founders of FeedbackPanda, a SaaS business they bootstrapped to $55k MRR with no outside funding and no employees. They sold directly to teachers, a price-sensitive market, and they used referral programs and word of mouth to create rapid growth. You will hear about the struggles, victories, highs, and lows of their startup journey. Arvid and Danielle give honest, powerful insight into what it was really like to manage their company just the two of them, and what ultimately led to their decision to sell their company for a life-changing amount of money. 

 * We are in a slightly different headspace in this episode, because we recorded this before the COVID-19 crisis. But we still wanted to share this episode, because we want you to benefit from this powerful conversation. 

The finer points of the episode:

2:12 - What it was like to sell FeedbackPanda for a lifechanging sum of money 

6:40 - Why they ultimately made the decision to sell their business 

12:40 - How the perfect combination of luck and skill led to their business’ huge success 

14:38 - What it was like selling to teachers, a price-sensitive market 

18:44 - Using referral programs and word-of-mouth to generate extremely rapid growth 

24:20 - Can their approach to growth be replicated in other industries? 

29:11 - More about their decision not to hire anyone 

33:49 - The biggest low point of their startup journey and how they overcame them 

38:25 - When did they start thinking about selling their company? 

40:34 - What is next for Arvid and Danielle?

Items mentioned in this episode:

The Bootstrapped Founder

Danielle Simpson

Danielle's Twitter

Arvid's Twitter