Kevin Scott’s Post

It’s been almost exactly a year since I quit my job at Google to try my hand at entrepreneurship. The startup journey has been full of ups and downs, but if you told me this is where we would be one year later, I’d be thrilled: • We're finding product-market fit! We have a growing base of happy, paying customers and two distinct paths to refine it that we’re doubling down on. • We’ve established solid partnerships with leading tech partners who offer complementary services and we are being seen as an up-and-coming leader in the Shopify ecosystem. • Our competitors don’t scare us anymore, and we’re actually starting to scare them! We set out to build a great product regardless of the competition, and while we used to be intimidated by the funding and resources of our more established peers, we find ourselves outperforming them over and over again! 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠: • Big companies move really slowly, until they don’t. Our sales conversations with a few enterprise brands and our partnership with Google went from a trickle of conversations to a flood of meaningful activity all at once. This was a lovely surprise. • Actions > Words. We’ve been offered support, resources, intros, etc. along with vague noncommittal promises. I’ve been surprised at how many people are all talk, and have become much more thankful towards the individuals who follow through on their promises. • No professional accomplishments in my former big tech roles have come close to the personal satisfaction that I’ve gotten from building something that didn’t exist before. Getting to help business, earning real dollars from our solutions, and receiving tangible feedback really scratches the “purpose” itch. 𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑 - We’ve successfully carved out a niche as a crucial integration point between Google and Shopify and people are starting to notice! We have a long way to go, but I’m so thankful to the team I get to work with every single day to make it happen. Upwards and onwards to year two!

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝗦𝗸𝘆𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 $𝟭𝟭𝟲 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 $𝟭.𝟴 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 — 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 #𝟵: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 Ever wondered how Dropbox transformed from a startup with modest revenue into a billion-dollar giant? The answer lies in their laser-focused growth strategy. In the fast-paced world of SaaS and marketplaces, knowing what to grow is crucial—whether it's revenue, gross profit, operating profit, or net profit. Break down your revenue equation to see where your efforts should go: 💡𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 = (𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 + 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀) × 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 × (𝟭 - 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲) 💡 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲: 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 = (𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 + 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀) × 𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 × 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 Dropbox’s path to explosive growth involved honing in on specific parts of this equation: ➡️ 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Dropbox’s highly effective referral program drove a massive influx of new customers at minimal cost. ➡️ 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: They focused on improving the user experience, which increased retention rates and drove upgrades from free to paid plans. This focused approach propelled Dropbox’s revenue from $116 million in 2013 to $1.8 billion in 2019, showing how a targeted strategy can lead to incredible success. What parts of your revenue equation are you focusing on? Share your strategies or questions in the comments below! ⬇️ Stay tuned! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you’re into growth strategy, management, and operations, I share new content regularly—three times a week if I stay on track!

Twenty-five years ago, Google was born in a garage, and today, it's worth $1.5 trillion 🚀 But did you know they almost sold very early on? In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's co-founders, approached Excite CEO George Bell with an offer to sell their search engine for just $1 million. Bell countered with $750,000, thinking he was getting a bargain. But Page and Brin stood firm at $1 million. The deal fell through. Fast forward to 2024, and that $1 million investment would have been worth hundreds of billions! But it doesn't end there. Even after Google started gaining traction, they faced skepticism: • In 2002, Yahoo declined to purchase Google for $3 billion • In 2006, Yahoo tried again, offering $1 billion, but Google now wanted $5 billion These pivotal moments in Google's history remind us that even the biggest players can overlook groundbreaking opportunities. Remember this story when facing rejection or doubt. Today's "crazy idea" might be tomorrow's trillion-dollar company. Innovation often looks like madness... until it doesn't. #startup #vc #google #venturecapital

🎂 Today is my 27th birthday, and I couldn’t think of a better moment to reflect on our incredible journey. 🚀 Two years ago, I celebrated with a slice of cake and a Stripe dashboard open on my laptop. We had just launched, and our first paying subscribers felt like a personal milestone. I remember the excitement of seeing that first €100 in MRR and wondering what the future might hold. Fast forward to today, and that same Stripe dashboard tells a different story. We now have 30,000 paying customers and our digital product spans 3 countries and 2 continents, empowering learners every day to achieve more. So, how did we get here? - 📈 Disciplined Growth: We’ve scaled quickly while keeping our burn rate close to zero, proving that sustainable growth and rapid expansion can go hand in hand. - 💡 Real Value: Tens of thousands of paying customers choose us every month because we solve real problems and deliver tangible impact. - ⚙️ Operational Excellence: We’ve designed a product that delivers exceptional value while operating with remarkable efficiency, setting the stage for sustainable and scalable growth. Building a B2C edtech company isn’t easy. Many told us it was too difficult, too expensive. But this journey has shown me that with the right team, a clear vision, and technical excellence, it’s possible to grow sustainably while creating meaningful value for users. On my birthday, I’m grateful for the team that made this possible, for the users who trust us, and for everyone who believed in us from day one. 🙏 Stay tuned. The next chapter is going to be even more exciting!

What can we learn from companies that have successfully scaled? Stripe's exponential growth offers a blueprint for tech scale-ups: prioritise developer-centric solutions, expand product offerings, and maintain transparency. These strategies not only drove Stripe's global success but also resonate with the needs of fast-growing UK tech companies. Learn more about how Stripe achieved its $95bn valuation and why it matters for your scaling journey. Discover the strategies used 👇 https://lnkd.in/e9ziCJP8 #CaseStudy #Scaling #BusinessGrowth

1000 % agree with this A software product is malleable. Your product is not stone, the front end, back end, APIs are ever changing. Every single thing about your product can be changed in ONE second. Inventory understand this you understand why you have to invest in a small but committed team. They in turk will make 1000 iterations if required, and their craft will shine. You want a team that understands the core vision and one that works tirelessly to perfect that vision, the product and the customer outcomes. That's what cost time & some money.

In 2006, Amazon made a startling discovery. Their research showed that for every 100-millisecond delay in their website’s loading time, they lost 1% of sales. That might not seem like much, until you realize how fast those numbers add up in a billion-dollar business. At the same time, Google found something similar. They tested displaying 30 results per page instead of 10, but the extra content slowed load times by half a second. The result? A 20% drop in traffic. These weren’t minor inconveniences. These were tangible, bottom-line losses caused by something as simple as a slow-loading page. Both companies acted decisively. Amazon invested heavily in infrastructure and optimization, ensuring lightning-fast speeds for every visitor. Google doubled down on simplicity and performance, prioritizing speed as a core metric for everything they built. The lesson was clear: speed isn’t just a technical detail, it’s a business strategy. And the impact isn’t just limited to global giants. Whether it’s a startup fighting for its first customers or an established company looking to grow, a fast, responsive website can mean the difference between engagement and abandonment. So, ask yourself Is your website delivering the experience your audience deserves? If not, I can help, just like I helped my company. From optimizing load times to building sleek, performance-driven platforms. I’ll make sure your digital front door is always wide open. Let’s connect and get started. 🌐

I lost 20% of my net worth in my first year after leaving Google to run my startup. For much of the 2010s, my net worth growth was fueled by a golden goose: Google employee stock options. From 2014 to 2021, the value of my Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) nearly tripled, delivering an impressive 16% annual growth. When you're making money on something, its hard to see why you should get off the ride. Then came the post-COVID interest rate hikes, responding to inflationary pressures from supply chain disruptions and pent-up pandemic demand. Interest rates are like gravity - when they go up, prices come crashing down. The result? My net worth took a 20% the same year I left Google to work on my startup. I've developed a simple, AI-powered portfolio rebalancing simulator for all my friends who work in tech. Check it out in my blog article, or watch a video walkthrough of it on YouTube (links in the comments)!

Alphabet-Wiz has one of the highest revenue multiples we've ever seen for large software industry M&A deals. $23 billion is a lot to pay for Wiz. Looking at some specific comparables tells us more about why. (Note: The data isn't a banker-level comp set, so don't make any serious decisions from it. I just wanted to give you some context on where the valuation for this potential deal stands against recent history.) → WhatsApp is in a category of its own WhatsApp is the undisputed champion of the world for billion-dollar-plus M&A revenue multiples. Meta (then Facebook) paid $17.2 billion for ~$30 million of revenue (according to PitchBook, reportedly lower in other sources). That's a 573x revenue multiple (or higher)! It's a consumer app with a completely different business model, though. I only included this example to show how high the ceiling can go with a motivated strategic buyer. → Adobe-Figma is a good recent comp, even though it didn't close The Adobe-Figma deal (RIP) is pretty instructive for the narrative around Alphabet-Wiz. It costs a lot of money to buy a market-leading growth company in its prime — 50x in the case of Figma. Put differently, Wiz is right around this valuation. They're somewhere between a 45-65x multiple on current revenue (current revenue is undisclosed, most recent was $350M). → Other acquisitions with lower multiples turned out to be pretty good deals The rest of this chart looks like a hall of fame for software industry M&A — large acquisitions that mostly turned out well. Microsoft-GitHub is a good example because revenue was relatively similar at the time of purchase. GitHub is now a $1B+ business unit for Microsoft. SAP-Qualtrics also had similar revenue scale. The acquisition didn't last, but it was still a fairly good outcome. Qualtrics was spun off as a public company and later taken private again for $12.5B. --- Alphabet could be paying one of the highest revenue multiples in history to buy Wiz. But deals like this aren't completely unheard of. Buying one of the top startups in cybersecurity is expensive — that's what it takes to make a deal like this happen.