In this episode of Founder to Founder, Luke Johnstone sits down with Andy McNulty, co-founder of Touch Stay, to explore the journey of building, scaling and ultimately selling a SaaS business with no technical background.

Before founding Touch Stay, Andy held senior leadership roles at brands including Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Victoria Beckham. But it was a frustrating holiday rental experience and a strong entrepreneurial instinct that led him to launch Touch Stay, a digital guidebook platform now used by thousands of hospitality businesses around the world.

Andy shares the realities of startup life, raising investment through the Virgin StartUp Accelerator, navigating rapid growth during Covid, and the emotional challenges of selling a business he had spent a decade building.

Together they discuss intuition, mentorship, community, fundraising, product-market fit, startup exits and what founders often underestimate when building a technology business.

Whether you're launching a SaaS startup, preparing to raise investment or wondering what life looks like after an exit, this episode offers honest lessons from a founder who has experienced the full journey.

In this episode:

• How a holiday rental binder inspired the idea for Touch Stay
• Building a SaaS business without a technical background
• The role Virgin StartUp played in raising early investment
• Finding product-market fit and scaling sustainably
• How Covid accelerated growth rather than slowed it down
• Lessons on fundraising, mentorship and founder intuition
• The emotional reality of selling your business
• Life after exit and what comes next

Looking for support on your own founder journey?

Founder to Founder is brought to you by Virgin StartUp, the not-for-profit organisation helping founders start, grow and thrive through funding, mentoring, expert advice and community.

Find out more at virginstartup.org

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