Скачать или смотреть Bootstrapping a $200M Exit

I interviewed ‪@patticus‬!

Today's sponsor is https://www.belkadigital.com

Patrick Campbell went from milking cows in Wisconsin to bootstrapping ProfitWell and selling it for $200M.
In this interview, he breaks down the hard lessons on pricing, freemium, culture, and what it really takes to scale without VC money.

🚀 What you’ll learn in this episode:
Why pricing is the biggest growth lever founders ignore
The truth about freemium (it’s not what you think)
How to use hunger and constraints as your best co-founder
Bootstrapping vs. raising VC — what most people get wrong
The cultural mistakes that almost killed ProfitWell
What changes after the exit (and what doesn’t)

Patrick is raw, tactical, and brutally honest. If you’re building SaaS, bootstrapping, or just trying to scale smarter, this is a masterclass.

Chapters
[00:00:00] - Intro: “Hunger is the best sauce”
[00:01:20] - After the sale: what to do with $200M?
[00:02:23] - Start of interview with Patrick
[00:03:06] - Childhood in rural Wisconsin
[00:03:47] - From the farm to NSA and Google
[00:04:12] - Formation of values: money, equity, success
[00:06:05] - Why not business at first
[00:06:47] - Bureaucracy: government, Google, startups
[00:07:34] - Discovering entrepreneurship as personal fit
[00:08:11] - What to avoid in organizations
[00:11:08] - Company politics and the 2020 moments
[00:14:07] - Defend your values with courage
[00:15:24] - Timing: realization after ~7 years
[00:15:57] - Interview everyone and filter by values
[00:16:53] - Getting off the linear path
[00:18:50] - Discovering pricing as a lever
[00:19:31] - Start: what to sell and how
[00:21:01] - “Hunger is the best sauce” applied
[00:22:01] - Mission: solve pricing
[00:22:41] - First software product at $50/month
[00:23:02] - Service demand and first sales
[00:24:45] - Why no VC at the start
[00:29:16] - From Price Intelligently to ProfitWell
[00:29:28] - Why offer analytics for free
[00:32:26] - Freemium as an acquisition model
[00:34:42] - Media and scalable content
[00:37:15] - Rich medium beats just blog posts
[00:37:46] - The “churn” stunt idea
[00:41:27] - Nine years and sale to Paddle
[00:41:47] - Why sell and why Paddle
[00:43:22] - Criteria: team, contracts, vision, staying
[00:46:00] - Staying and building together post-acquisition
[00:46:13] - Due diligence and no “horse trading” on price
[00:47:06] - Closing: what it was really like
[00:49:24] - After the exit: emptiness, responsibility, “cocaine energy”
[00:51:27] - Clarify what you truly want
[00:54:22] - Curiosity, creativity, and new direction
[00:57:28] - Sector choice: US healthcare
[00:59:41] - New project: incentives for real health
[01:01:10] - First product: sensors in gyms
[01:01:56] - What moves the needle for Patrick
[01:05:25] - Episode closing and call to action