ProfitLed Podcast

It took eWebinar 18 months to go from idea to product launch, then another 36 months to hit $1M ARR; this is the core theme of this season. That's a total of 54 months from incorporation date.You might have read about companies that get to $1M in a year, much less now with AI startups and the world riding that wave. Those are outliers and not the norm. 36 months to $1M is actually the median, even for funded companies.“Normal” is not newsworthy and doesn't get the media spotlight it deserves so you might feel like you're moving too slow even when you're in the right place.On this season finale episode, Melissa and Todd dive into the 12 most shocking surprises on their way to $1M ARR after everything they tried, learned, and failed, which formed the foundation by which they continued to iterate on the business and product.Thank you for tuning into Season 2 of ProfitLed!! Your support is deeply appreciated.If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving us a review as that will help us continue to make episodes for you. Takeaways:• Things they thought would have a huge impact, but didn't• Assumptions that made them think they'd get to $1M faster• Things that took a lot more effort and time than anticipated• Why you don't need fancy metrics to prioritize roadmap• Why $1M is not the magic number even though it seems like it isContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Subscribe to 'your founder next door', Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar. Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

When Melissa cofounded eWebinar, she had no idea it was going to be “product-led”. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she had always been in B2B sales and biz dev roles. She was always a sales-led founder as both her previous startups were enterprise SaaS. The word “product-led growth” didn't even exist in her vocabulary!When she ran out of leads to sell to in her network 9 months after launching eWebinar, she asked other founders for help. You can imagine her surprise when she learned that low cost, self-serve SaaS products were sold in a completely different way. Turns out, people don't pick up the phone for $99/month products; they prefer to do their own research and sign up at their own pace.On this episode, Melissa and Todd dive into the 9 most important PLG (product-led growth) lessons learned as they powered through and figured things out by trying everything under the sun from playbooks, experts, and friends.Takeaways:• Marketing strategies that worked, and ones that didn't• Why you should invest in high quality, engaging content• Why customers aren't always your greatest source of info• Hardships and beauty of making a self-serve SaaS startup workContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Subscribe to 'your founder next door', Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

“This is fine as a lifestyle business.” Says every VC with a slight look of disdain after you pitch them your brilliant idea they don't want to invest in. The industry has given “lifestyle business” such a bad reputation by commonly using it to describe non-venture scalable businesses with less ambitious founders. Only 1% of startups are venture funded, which means the other 99% are bootstrapped and by industry standard, lifestyle businesses. If anything between zero and unicorn is “lifestyle”, I'd happily take it.eWebinar was founded intentionally as a lifestyle business, and that means choosing happiness over revenue for all decisions as it relates to the wellbeing of every team member, product, pricing, customer support, operations…On this episode, Melissa and Todd discuss what a “lifestyle business” is for them, and the things they do to achieve the dream company that gives everyone involved (not just the founders) a great lifestyle.Takeaways:• How the industry and VCs (negatively) perceive lifestyle businesses• Melissa's 10 non-negotiables to happiness that led her to found eWebinar• Intentional decisions we make to achieve our dream lifestyle business• How choosing happiness over revenue impact product, operations and team• The culture we try to create at eWebinar and what it's like to work hereContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Subscribe to 'your founder next door', Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Should you “do right by your customers” at the expense of the company, your team, and your own wellbeing? Your answer might be “yes”, until you realize a small change that customers would barely feel could mean instant profitability for your bootstrapped startup.Having said that, hindsight is always 20/20. There are some mistakes that you just have to make yourself, no matter how many warnings you get.On this episode, Melissa and Todd share the five pricing mistakes they made, why they were so costly (including one that would've given them $30k/month overnight), and what they could have done differently.Takeaways:• The pros and cons of not offering annual plans• Why you need to put usage limits on your trial period• Why “being fair” has little to no impact for your customers• Why you shouldn't grandfather and increase pricing across the board• The importance of understanding every cost that drives your platformContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Most companies think the answer to more revenue is to sell enterprise, but they aren't aware of the massive hassle and costs that come with going upmarket.There's no such thing as free money. The bigger the deal, the more attention you need to give your customer. The more customizations you offer, the more versions of your product you have to maintain.Many founders think the air is better up there because they think it'll solve their money problems. Spoiler alert: It won't.On this episode, Melissa and Todd discuss all things enterprise sales and why they stayed away from it, and why they think you should too if you have a good thing going with self-serve SaaS.Takeaways:• What we learned from spending a decade selling to big companies• The not-so-hidden costs of enterprise: sales, operations, product• Why going upmarket is not always a path to more revenue• Things you should consider before going upmarketContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Hiring is one of the biggest challenges every company faces. For bootstrapped startups, this challenge is even bigger as we have to compete against funded companies and tech giants.Part of building a startup is trial and error, throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. Hiring is no different - it's a learning process that can sometimes get expensive if you don't “fire fast”.On this episode, Melissa and Todd dives into their 5 most costly hiring mistakes, what happened, and what they learned from each experience that helps them better define job requirements and run interviews in the future.Takeaways:• The profile of people startups should never hire• Why marketing agencies can't take a company from 0-to-1• When dev shops make sense (and when they don't)• What “firing fast” means and why it matters for startups• Hard lessons we learned about hiring and firingContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

eWebinar was built in a silo for 18 months before the first person signed up for a trial. Melissa and her team had no idea if this business would become “real”, and if people were going to pay for the service.On this episode, Melissa and Todd recount stories of when they knew they were onto something, through customer interactions and feedback, outgrowing their marketing website, and hitting scaling issues from increased usage.Takeaways:• Signs of our business business becoming “real” post launch• How customers, marketing, and pricing changed as business grew• Product enhancements we had to do as a result of scaling issues• How growth changed the way we approached the businessContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

If you've been following Melissa on LinkedIn, you'll know that she's a frequent contributor on the platform, sharing lessons and stories from her journey bootstrapping three startups. What you might not know is the backstory of WHY she turned to social selling after running out of leads to sell to.On this episode, Melissa shares her “hacks” of building a content machine starting with taking Justin Welsh's “LinkedIn OS” course, how she experimented with different content styles, and eventually found her own.Wondering if all this effort was worth her time?Hear Melissa dive into the benefits and ROI of spending time writing content, which goes far beyond building an audience who she hopes to one day sign up for eWebinar.Takeaways:• Why I turned to LinkedIn when we ran out of leads• Why your personal brand matters now more than ever• How I went viral on LinkedIn 8 weeks in a row (the good old days!)• 11 “hacks” to build your own content machine and get engagement• The benefits of writing content, social selling, and personal brandingContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Spending money on marketing is often not an option for bootstrapped startups, at least not enough to make a meaningful impact.Without an abundance of resources, there's no choice but to get creative.While found-led sales can get you off the ground, your network can exhaust pretty quickly, leaving you with the challenge of figuring out new ways to generate demand.On this episode, Melissa and Todd share the 12 most effective zero-dollar marketing strategies that got eWebinar to $1M ARR.Takeaways:• Why paid marketing should be your last resort• How to create evergreen content that lasts forever• 12 $0 strategies you can steal to grow your own businessContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Companies like Amazon and Costco who pride themselves on customer service conditioned consumers (me and you) to think that customers are always right - but, are they?In the faceless world of software, customer demands can be brutal, leading to soul crushing and demoralizing support. Training your customers to respect your team and product sets the foundation for healthy business relationships that make you feel appreciated.On this episode, Melissa and Todd recount customers from hell, the things they did to try and get around paying for the service, and how they dealt with demanding and rude customers.Takeaways:• What happens to your business when the customer is always right• Our customer horror stories and what they did to game the system• How we set expectations for customer relationships• How to deal with customers from hellContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

15 years ago, Dropbox spread like wildfire with their freemium product and that gave us the impression that free = more users. It deluded companies to think that giving something away for free is a go-to-market strategy, when it's far from that.Giving away something for free has many negative implications that aren't often talked about. The most irritating one being the fact that it attracts the worst customer profiles. The people who are least tech savvy, most time consuming on support, and never end up converting.On this episode, Melissa and Todd share stories about the different campaigns they tried to get users into eWebinar and why removing price friction is one of the worst things you can do for your business..Takeaways:• How price perception affect how people evaluate products • Types of users who have never activated on our platform• Why free users are the worst and suck all your time and energy• Reasons we no longer offer discounts, no exceptions• What happened when we charged more and shortened trial periodContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

If you have a great product and offer a commission for people to promote it, they'd happily do it and you'd just make money, right? Not so fast…On this episode, Melissa and Todd recount the painful memories of spending $130k on affiliate marketing over 10 months; an experience Melissa considers the “biggest financial mistake she's made in her career”.Takeaways:• Why we jumped into this channel too early• Reasons why this strategy was a colossal failure for us• Why you should stay away from affiliate marketing (for now)• The complexities of affiliate marketing nobody told you about• Things you need in place before affiliate marketing might workContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Everyone says you need to measure everything so you can make data-driven decisions on your product. That's exactly the strategy eWebinar DID NOT follow, especially when there's not going to be enough data when you don't have enough users.On this episode, Melissa and Todd shares how they decided on priorities even before having a significant customer base, and the lean process their product team goes through to execute on feature development and roll out.Takeaways: • How we came up with an initial wishlist as a guideline• How we prioritized by listening to customers (but not always)• Why we didn't measure anything nor make data-drive decisions• The process of deciding on features per quarter and executing• Things we do that are significantly different than large companiesContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Running a startup is a lot of throwing things against the wall to see what sticks (and what doesn't). The hard truth is, majority of things you do won't work...but you need to do them anyway to find the few things that do.On this episode, Melissa and Todd dives into the 10 go-to-marketing strategies that didn't work for them, why, and what they learned from each one.Takeaways: • Think twice before putting effort into Product Hunt.• Things they wasted too much money on too early.• What they thought would have a huge impact, but didn't.• Should you pay to be in a newsletter with massive reach?• There are a lot of things you think will move the needle, but do they?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

In the last 13 years, Melissa has worked with over 10 marketing agencies/contractors to execute a content strategy. Most couldn't deliver on their promise. It was incredibly frustrating. You may have experienced something similar.The vicious cycle went something like this:→ Hire company experienced in digital marketing for min 3-6 months→ Get proposal of new content strategy because old one was bad→ Technical and content audit, keyword research→ Receive mediocre pieces of content→ Realize company is not a good fit→ Start over after spending $10k+Most writers wrote for the sake of generating more clicks without a deep understanding of our business and customers.  As a result, their content was basic and boring. Most pieces were not written for the advanced business users they wanted to attract.Melissa and Todd finally decided to take back control and learn SEO and content writing from the ground up.Takeaways:• Why marketing agencies suck• The importance of owning your SEO when it's a primary revenue source• Benefits of knowing how SEO and content works• How to own your SEO, and skills required• Companies that can help you on this journeyContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Melissa and Todd talks about how they stay super lead as a bootstrapped startup,  how they decide what to and what not to spend money on,  and how to avoid money mistakes they've made in the last few years.Takeaways: •  What "lean" means especially for bootstrapped startups•  The importance of optimizing cost versus being cheap•  What to spend money on (software, people, operations)•  What not to spend money on until absolutely necessary•  Money mistakes they made and how to avoid themContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Melissa and Todd talks about how (and why) they leveraged their best customers to sell and market eWebinar by using the language they used to describe value propositions and how the product solves their problems.Takeaways: •  The moment Melissa realized 1on1 sales was never going to cut it•  How to extract the best product marketing language from your customers•  The process of doing customer interviews and deep dives to create a database of marketing language•  Identifying your best customers and creating an "Ideal Customer Profile" (ICP)•  What to do with the content you extract and how to get help•  Why this is the most valuable exercise you can do for your startupContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Founder-led sales is the ONLY way to get your startup off the ground. If you can't sell your own product, how can you expect someone else to? On this episode, Melissa digs into why every founder needs to be the first to sell their product, and how anyone can learn how to sell today.Takeaways: •  Where to find your first set of prospects to sell to•  Using sales as a way to talk to customers and get feedback•  Separating good feedback from bad feedback•  Verifying and discrediting assumptions made about the product•  Disconnect between what you're selling and what others think you're selling•  Using objections to prioritize your roadmap•  How anyone can learn how to sell by using Melissa's scriptContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Launching eWebinar after 18 months was a huge milestone, but then what? On this episode, Melissa and Todd discuss what it was like to wake up from the dream that if you build it, they'll come. Spoiler alert: That didn't happen.Takeaways:• When reality set in after months of daydreaming• Product assumptions that worked and didn't work• Initial user reactions, the good, the bad, and the ugly• Why the market wasn't as ripe as they thought• Things that went well and things that didn't• Realizing people didn't always understand the solution• What to do when it's going to take way longer to hit profitability than anticipatedContact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Melissa and Todd dive  into the thrilling and nerve-wracking experience of launching eWebinar's MVP.  While  many people see product launches as the end goal and celebratory occasion, Melissa explains why it's often more stressful instead because that's when the dreams you've sold become reality.They reminisce about getting stuck in a never-ending rabbit hole of features, how frustrated David (CTO) was, and how they ultimately had to choose a launch date just to get the product out the door.  Melissa recounts the fascinating experience of seeing users (webinar attendees) interactive with eWebinar for the first time and the pressure she felt from her startup finally coming to life.Tune in and learn how Melissa got their first trial users on board, and how they ended up converting 85% of those users at the first billing date.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

Melissa and Todd discuss how they established eWebinar's pricing model, focusing on aligning their business strategy with their lifestyle goals and market approach. Melissa shares insights from her past ventures, highlighting her shift towards a product-led strategy to ensure the business supports a hands-off lifestyle, avoiding the demanding nature of sales-led models. Melissa explains why she's against freemium and opted for free trial instead, and the reason they chose a low cost pricing structure to temper customer expectations about service levels.They talk about how eWebinar's automated functionality required a unique pricing model based on the number of active webinars instead of live concurrent attendees, a risk they took as it moved away from traditional webinar software business models. This resulted in challenges and difficulty in explaining their model to prospective customers unfamiliar with automated webinars. Melissa and Todd reflect on the importance of pricing in shaping customer relationships and the need for ongoing adjustments based on usage and user exploitation.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Follow eWebinar: LinkedIn – YouTube – Instagram – Twitter. Visit them online at www.ewebinar.com, and find out more about how you can turn your pre-recorded video into an automated webinar that performs better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

When Melissa first went to Todd with the idea of eWebinar, he wasn't immediately convinced the product was solving a much needed problem. She engaged him as a contractor to write the first version of the website which started with competitive research. During that process, he grew passionate about the idea because he identified a gap in the market for a product that could offer a superior automated webinar experience.On this episode, Todd describes the process he went through in doing market research and how he came up with the set of launch features. Melissa and Todd also discuss how they strategically cut things down to speed up their launch date, otherwise they would've been stuck in a perpetual rabbit hole of never-ending development.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.Follow eWebinar: LinkedIn – YouTube – Instagram – Twitter. Visit them online at www.ewebinar.com, and find out more about how you can turn your pre-recorded video into an automated webinar that performs better than a live webinar.Thanks for listening!

David, eWebinar's CTO and Cofounder, floated around for 2 years as a fractional CTO before joining the company. Previous to that, he was the cofounder for a New York telecomm startup that raised $10m, but shut down after they failed to find enough traction after 4 years to continue raising capital.Melissa shares David's story and what his mindset was after quitting Microsoft for startup life, and how his beliefs shifted away from gunning for "all or nothing" to "how do I not end up with nothing?"On this episode, Melissa talks about what founders should know when they're pitching an experienced CTO who has an abundance of options, what a top 1% CTO/Cofounder looks like, and how to navigate equity split when they decide to join your team.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to have a cofounder to start a company. But, that may work for or against you if you're a business cofounder, depending on whether or not you have the technical chops (or lead on your side) to manage a development team.After two previous startups, Melissa was sick of (not doing a good job) managing engineers and thought she could start eWebinar by hiring a dev shop to build their v1 before outsourcing to a team in Vietnam.That experience was a disaster, but it led her to her now cofounder and CTO, David, who's also her life partner.Melissa shares her perspective on what a great founding team looks like and how to go about convincing people to join you before there's even a product.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

People think bootstrapping is a financial decision, when it's really a lifestyle choice.  Read that again.In this episode, Melissa talks about the reasons behind choosing to build eWebinar as a lifestyle company and how that shapes every decision they make from how they operate, to who they hire, to company culture.Melissa and Todd discuss the benefits of bootstrapping over venture capital, what it means to run a bootstrapped company, and misconceptions about bootstrapping which include things like: they raise zero capital, founders don't want to give away equity, they have smaller exits...Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

Melissa founded eWebinar two months after her last startup (real estate SaaS software) was acquired. This episode is the origin story of eWebinar: how she finally settled on eWebinar vs all the other ideas she had, and why she was determined to bootstrap this startup over raising venture capital.Melissa talks about the importance of choosing an idea/product that makes you happy over what you have experience in and why the traditional model of building a career on top of your education is counter-intuitive.Todd (co-host and COO of eWebinar) tells his story of working with startups that never took off, and why he still decided to take a chance in eWebinar from day one, long before there was a product. He shares insights around what it takes to recruit your first hire who is an experienced, high-paying, seasoned executive.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

Hey there! It's Melissa, and I'm  the Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar. At the time of this recording, we'd just crossed $1m ARR , 36 months after product launch.In the last 1.5 years posting on LinkedIn about my experiences bootstrapping three startups, I noticed that the stories that get the most engagement are the ones that gave people a window into the reality of what it's like to build a startup with very few resources. The feedback I've gotten has been about how relatable it was to hear from a non-unicorn founder.That got me thinking: There isn't much original content that dives into a day in the life of an average, non-venture backed founder. That's why I decided to switch things up. This season, rather than focus on the experience of others by interviewing them like in Season One, I want to tell you what it was actually like for us to bootstrap a startup to $1m in 36 months.On each episode, my co-host (Todd Parmley, our COO) and I will go in-depth into one major aspect of our journey. We'll share war stories, mistakes, and lessons learned. Todd was a customer of mine in my last startup, and the first person I went to when I decided to start eWebinar. He's just as much of a cofounder as my CTO/cofounder who joined me a year into this venture - but we'll get into that in the later episodes.You'll be getting two different perspectives: one from a founder and the other from the first person to join a startup.So then, what can you expect from this season? We'll talk about things ranging from how we put together an all-star team with limited capital to the best and worst investments we made in our business to key pricing decisions that turned out to be costly mistakes. You'll hear horror stories like how users figured out loopholes to misuse our free trial, costing us $8000 in 10 days, and success stories like how we ended up owning our SEO strategy having zero experience in digital marketing, which now makes up over 50% of our demo traffic.Though our story won't always be pretty, we hope it will be insightful. Our goal is to demystify bootstrapping by sharing our experience of it, and tell you what it's really like to figure things out as you go, so that A) You'll know you're not alone in the struggle and B) Maybe you can find some of the inspiration you need to forge your own success.If these topics resonate with you, subscribe to ProfitLed on your favorite podcast app to get notified of new episodes and also join our mailing list by going to profitled.fm. P.S. I promise to only share things you'll actually care about.If there are particular topics you want us to get into this season, let me know by connecting with me on LinkedIn. I'd love to hear from you.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this last episode of Season One, Lloyed Lobo, Cofounder of Boast.AI and Traction shares:Why he took investment after bootstrapping to 8-figure ARRDifference between venture capital, growth capital, and private equityWhat drove him to depression after cashing out and how he got out of itTraction is a global community of more than 100k entrepreneurs and innovators. Traction Conference has consistently been ranked one of the top 9 marketing conferences in North America by Inc.com, Forbes and Huffington Post.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Lloyed also discusses:Why is chasing money as a form of success bad?How value alignment with life and work enhances both?How founders can find out whether their values align with VCs/funders?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Thomas Vervik, Founder of seniordev.com shares:The benefits of working with dev shopsHow agencies recruit high quality talent and retain themWhat it costs to hire senior devsSeniorDev is a software development shop based in Norway with an office in Ukraine.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Thomas also discusses:Why wouldn't you just hire direct?What is the process of interviewing for great developers?What should companies know before building an outsourced team?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Devesh Khanal, Co-founder of growandconvert.com shares:Why most content sucksWhy vast marketing budget is spent on things with no ROIHow to create content that converts by focusing on customer pain pointsGrow and Convert is a content marketing agency and consultancy that helps growing businesses.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Devesh also discusses:What are some things content agencies do that have zero ROI?Why do you need to sell yourself in your own content?How do you hire a good writer or agency?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Greg Head, Founder at Practical Founders shares:What every founder should know before raising venture capitalThe roles VCs play in your company after writing a big checkWhy VC backed companies need to grow at all costs or risk becoming "zombie startups"Practical Founders is a podcast and peer group designed for practical founders who are building valuable software companies without big funding.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Amman also discusses:What was your experience with VC funded companies that ultimately gave you the perspective that you have today?How are Practical Founders are different from VC backed?What recommendations would you have for founders who need funding but don't want to go the VC route?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Amman Ahmed, Founder at MusicForPets shares:Why running a VC-backed startup turned Amman into a bootstrapperHow he came up with the idea to make music for petsHow he got the company off the ground as a non-technical solo founderMusicForPets has been making relaxing music for pets since 2011 to help with a range of anxiety issues. Their two main channels include RelaxMyDog and RelaxMyCat.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Amman also discusses:What was your go-to-market strategy for MusicForPets?What were the biggest challenges of being a non technical founder, and how did you overcome them?What should founders think about before going out to raise venture capital?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this second ProfitLed Office Hours episode, Troy Munson, 2x bootstrapped founder and large enterprise sales rep connects with host, Melissa Kwan, to discuss questions like:Where is eWebinar at today in terms of size and revenue?How do you find contractors you trust?How did you get your first customers, then get customers who didn't know you to buy the product?Did you get your first customers to pay you or were they free?What are some $0 marketing strategies you use?How should entrepreneurs think about side hustles?Fellow bootstrapped founders are invited on ProfitLed Office Hours to discuss or ask anything they want around building their company.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Gavin Hammar, Founder at StoryPrompt shares:His most important learnings post acquisition after bootstrapping for 12 yearsWhat made him decide to sell the company and how he felt after it closedThe things he's doing different this time around with StoryPromptStoryPrompt empowers brands to strengthen relationships with customers, employees, and their community through asynchronous face-to-face video conversations – either in groups or one-on-one. ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Gavin also discusses:How did you get Sendible off the ground as a side project?What happened when you tried raising capital?What hiring mistakes did you make before and what does culture mean to you now?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Justin Welsh shares:What living an intentional life means and how to define itThe mission that gets him out of bed every morningWhy it's important for everyone to have a system for content creationJustin is a solopreneur who is building a portfolio of one-person businesses to $5M in revenue. Be sure to follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter as he shares his processes daily.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Justin also discusses:What are some things you're struggling with now and how do you overcome them?What were the different phases in your journey that you've progressed through? What would you say to people who follow your method but are not seeing the results they want to see yet?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Aaron Krall, Founder at SaaS Growth Hacks shares:What SaaS founders are talking about most nowdaysThe psychology behind using your best customers to craft your product messagingHow to conduct customer interviews to let them tell you the problem you're solvingSaaS Growth Hacks is the largest SaaS community on Facebook.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Aaron also discusses:How SaaS Growth Hacks started and the future of this community.What are the key things you want to extract from customer interviews?What's the best content structure for a homepage that converts?When should companies to go through this messaging exercise?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Alan Macek & Geoff Mowatt, Partners at the law firm, DLA Piper shares:What patents are (provisional, non-provisional, patent pending)How businesses can determine if they have something patentableHow patents can help or hurt businessesProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan, Alan, and Geoff also discusses:What are some common misconceptions about patents?How can a business determine if they have something that is patentable?What's the process for filing for a patent and what does it cost?When should companies start thinking about patents?DLA Piper is a global law firm capable of taking care of the most important legal needs of clients wherever they do business.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Miguel Fernandez, Cofounder & CEO at Capchase shares:What it's really like running a venture backed unicornWhat non-dilutive capital is and who it's designed forHow you can qualify in 48 hours so you don't have to raise more capitalCapchase is the most flexible, non-dilutive funding for your subscription-based or SaaS business.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Miguel also discusses:The failed ventures that enabled the founding of Capchase.What's the hardest thing about running a venture backed company?How do you stay nimble and move quickly as your company gets larger?What are your thoughts on startups raising venture capital vs. other financing options?What kind of companies are best suited for non-dilutive funding?What are the minimum requirements to get funding from Capchase?What are the steps to get approval and how long does it take?How is funding structured and what is the payback period?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this first ProfitLed Office Hours episode, Meaghan Burns from Dunyasi Ventures connects with host, Melissa Kwan, to discuss questions like:How are you building your company around your life?What's your advice on how non-technical founders can find cofounders?What has been your biggest challenge building your company on the road as a digital nomad?Do you hire developers direct or through an agency?How did you transition from founder to CEO?How did you structure your business so your team can also have flexibility?How did you stay motivated through the hard times in your previous startup?Fellow bootstrapped founders are invited on ProfitLed Office Hours to discuss or ask anything they want around building their company.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Tehsin Bhayani, Founder & CEO of AirMason and Serind Labs shares:How he accidentally stumbled upon a great SaaS business by buying a product his friend didn't want for $8000How he balanced workload between maintaining his agency and growing AirMasonWhat he learned from working with hundreds of founders that he's applying to his business todayAirMason helps HR teams and business leaders save time, engage teams, and retain staff with beautifully designed digital employee handbooks.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Tehsin also discusses:How did you split time and investment between your agency and AirMasonHow did you come to realize AirMason was an opportunity worth pursuing?You guys now have a list of marquee customers like Softbank, Soho House, and P&G, how did you level up to start closing these kinds of deals?When were you able to completely move off the agency?How did you balance their time and how did that change as the business progressed?What's the best advice or framework you have for founders who are looking to transition from service to product?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Zvi Band, Founder at Relatable shares:Why it's so hard to get off the venture train once you get onWhy funded startups need "growth at all costs"Personal and professional learnings 2 years after selling his startup for 8-figuresRelatable is the CRM for people who love people, the platform for you to capture, prioritize, remember, and nurture your relationships... authentically.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Zvi also discusses:What does building a venture-scale company mean and what are the expectations that come with it?What were some decisions you made because you took capital? Was your exit the one your investors hoped for?What were the most important learnings from this experience and how did you apply them to what you are doing now?What advice do you have for founders who already got on the venture train, and want to get off?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Trevor Larson, Cofounder and CEO at Nectar shares:The scrappy ways he got PerkNow off the ground and how that became NectarBenefits of bootstrapping vs having too much capitalWhy putting yourself in your customers' shoes is the key to winning their heartsNectar is a 360 employee recognition and rewards solution for companies investing in culture.ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Trevor also discusses:What were some things you prioritized and some things you chose not to invest in?How did you balance needing to pay yourselves vs investing into the company?Looking back, what are some things you would have done differently? How did you arrive at your focus on buyer-centric sales process?What feedback have you heard from prospects since designing your sales process around their preferred buying journey?What would you say to someone who's afraid of oversharing info especially to their competitors?As a bootstrapped company, how do you recruit and retain talent?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this episode, Farzad Rashidi, Lead Innovator at Respona shares:How to figure out whether SEO is the right acquisition channel for your businessThe process of finding "opportunity" keywordsThe 3-step outreach strategy to consistently earn editorial backlinks to boost rankingsRespona offers an all-in-one link building outreach software that helps companies to raise their ranking on Google by building quality backlinks to their website. ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan and Farzad also discusses:What's the outcome you're trying to achieve with SEO?What skills do you look for in a new hire to run backlink outreach strategy?How often do you need to do outreach?How much time and effort should one expect to put in before seeing results? How viable is it for a founder with no SEO experience to learn this?Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.

In this first ever episode, ProfitLed host, Melissa Kwan, shares her own story of bootstrapping, why she felt the need to start this podcast, and why she thinks more spotlight should be given to non-venture backed founders who have forged their own path to success.Melissa is the Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, a 3rd time bootstrapped founder who has had the privilege of growing a startup to profitability and acquisition without taking venture capital, something that ultimately gave her the freedom to live the life she wanted to live on her terms.Along her journey, she saw how the allure and perceived reality of building a venture-backed company drove many  founder friends down a path that turned out not to be true to who they are and what they want.There is nothing wrong with venture capital, but it's not for everyone. In fact, it's only right for a very few.ProfitLed is a podcast that focuses on growth strategies for bootstrapped entrepreneurs from proven founders and strategists.Melissa and her guests will explore the truth around how to build a company fully on your own terms and what it's like to be able to design a life around the way you want to live as a result.Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host, Melissa on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Thanks for listening!This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.