Rob Walling

And if you're in venture capital land, that is bootstrap. Usually it's anything less than a million is considered bootstrap. built his company with a co-founder for 15 years, and had three subsequent exits to private equity, where he sold a portion of his equity in each one. The last exit was for $615 million.

It's an incredible story, and my guest today is extremely knowledgeable and extremely accomplished. Before we dive into my conversation, the SaaS Launchpad is live. It is the best course I have ever created. It is the most comprehensive. There are reviews coming in already of people who are blown away by the depth and the quality and the quantity of the content.

It's an incredible story, and my guest today is extremely knowledgeable and extremely accomplished. Before we dive into my conversation, the SaaS Launchpad is live. It is the best course I have ever created. It is the most comprehensive. There are reviews coming in already of people who are blown away by the depth and the quality and the quantity of the content.

It's at saslaunchpad.co if you're interested. And as of the day this episode goes live, if you buy the course in the next six days before September 30th, you're going to be able to get on a live Q&A call with me where we're going to do a group call, talk about questions people have from the course, or probably about anything else, to be honest. saslaunchpad.co. I'm so confident in this course.

It's at saslaunchpad.co if you're interested. And as of the day this episode goes live, if you buy the course in the next six days before September 30th, you're going to be able to get on a live Q&A call with me where we're going to do a group call, talk about questions people have from the course, or probably about anything else, to be honest. saslaunchpad.co. I'm so confident in this course.

We have a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee, so really there is no risk for you to check it out. That's saslaunchpad.co. And with that, let's dive into my conversation. Jeff, thanks so much for joining me on Startups for the Rest of Us.

We have a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee, so really there is no risk for you to check it out. That's saslaunchpad.co. And with that, let's dive into my conversation. Jeff, thanks so much for joining me on Startups for the Rest of Us.

So as background for folks, you are at Retired Founder on Twitter. And your story is pretty incredible. I'll call it your personal H1, which is your Twitter bio. It says, Retired SaaS Founder sold the business for more than $600 million. seeking purpose and community post exit. You bootstrapped a company and sold it for a crazy amount of money. So why hasn't everyone heard of you?

So as background for folks, you are at Retired Founder on Twitter. And your story is pretty incredible. I'll call it your personal H1, which is your Twitter bio. It says, Retired SaaS Founder sold the business for more than $600 million. seeking purpose and community post exit. You bootstrapped a company and sold it for a crazy amount of money. So why hasn't everyone heard of you?

Why does it, why is it in your name across the marquee? You know, there's people with huge YouTube followings that have like done a fraction of what you've done. What is the, what's going on there?

Why does it, why is it in your name across the marquee? You know, there's people with huge YouTube followings that have like done a fraction of what you've done. What is the, what's going on there?

And then we'll dig into that today. You're willing to talk numbers and all this stuff you were telling me in the pre-interview. I was like, whoa, okay, that's great. And so that is, you're anonymous, but I have vetted that you, in fact, have done these things. And so folks listening, as the first anonymous guest, it's kind of neat to have someone who has had... such an incredible journey.

And then we'll dig into that today. You're willing to talk numbers and all this stuff you were telling me in the pre-interview. I was like, whoa, okay, that's great. And so that is, you're anonymous, but I have vetted that you, in fact, have done these things. And so folks listening, as the first anonymous guest, it's kind of neat to have someone who has had... such an incredible journey.

I want to start by taking us to the end, so to speak, the exit, and you can explain how it's actually exits. But what I really want to go to is that moment that you refresh that bank balance and you realize I never have to work again. Like I'm all set. What was that emotion? What was that feeling?

I want to start by taking us to the end, so to speak, the exit, and you can explain how it's actually exits. But what I really want to go to is that moment that you refresh that bank balance and you realize I never have to work again. Like I'm all set. What was that emotion? What was that feeling?

The biggest perk, yeah. And to give folks an idea of the timeline real quick, we'll talk through this in more detail, but you co-founded the business in 2003. You sold a majority share of it to private equity in 2017, so 14 years ago.

The biggest perk, yeah. And to give folks an idea of the timeline real quick, we'll talk through this in more detail, but you co-founded the business in 2003. You sold a majority share of it to private equity in 2017, so 14 years ago.

But then you got what they call a second bite at the apple and a third bite at the apple, meaning you rolled equity and you had another exit in 2020 and then you had a final exit in 2022. That's the $615 million exit. And it was 14 times ARR. So that's an interesting thing.

But then you got what they call a second bite at the apple and a third bite at the apple, meaning you rolled equity and you had another exit in 2020 and then you had a final exit in 2022. That's the $615 million exit. And it was 14 times ARR. So that's an interesting thing.

Let's talk about that real quick because people ask all the time, like if I'm doing 2 million and growing at blah, what's my revenue multiple? And it's always like, it just depends. You know, I can do a bell curve of like of the past, 20 exits that I know of. I can give you the range, but I know a friend of mine who is a M&A advisor and he got someone a 23X ARR offer.