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May 24, 2018 · 19m · top-founders

1034 How GetResponse Bootstrapped to $50m+ Revenue

Simon Grabowski · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews GetResponse founder and CEO Simon Grabowski to examine how he bootstrapped his all-in-one marketing platform to over $60 million in annual recurring revenue. Grabowski details key SaaS unit economics, pricing strategies, customer retention breakthroughs, and scalable acquisition channels across 100,000 paying small business customers.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 38.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.5 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:002:10–4:28 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Pricing Structure, Founding Background, and Global Team Growth Nathan asks basic background metrics regarding average revenue per user and team size goals. Simon gently clarifies that reaching 400 employees was merely a discussion from a recent meeting rather than a strict corporate target.4:28–7:47 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Bootstrapped Financial Milestones and Revenue Growth Nathan does rapid mental math using customer count and ARPU to estimate monthly run rate, pressing Simon when Simon notes the estimated growth numbers are not exact. Simon concedes that Nathan's calculated numbers are roughly accurate.7:47–10:51 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Product Expansion and Feature Adoption Dynamics Nathan probes how product expansion impacts customer uptake and sales playbook strategies. Simon provides specific adoption numbers from free trials and explains the rationale behind self-serve in-app upgrades.10:51–13:21 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Customer Churn Analysis and Demographics Nathan clarifies whether reported 6% churn is logo or revenue churn. Simon explains the customer demographic nuances across small business sizes and emerging geographic markets.13:24–17:01 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Product Philosophy and Frictionless Cancellation Impact Nathan asks whether added complexity creates churn risk and later quickly converts Simon's CAC and ARPU data into a payback period. Simon shares counterintuitive insights about how frictionless cancellations reduced net churn.17:01–19:28 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five sequence where Simon immediately rejects hypothetical acquisition offers and Nathan summarizes all core SaaS unit metrics.2:10–4:28 · Guest teaching 2/10 Pricing Structure, Founding Background, and Global Team Growth Nathan asks basic background metrics regarding average revenue per user and team size goals. Simon gently clarifies that reaching 400 employees was merely a discussion from a recent meeting rather than a strict corporate target.4:28–7:47 · Guest teaching 2/10 Bootstrapped Financial Milestones and Revenue Growth Nathan does rapid mental math using customer count and ARPU to estimate monthly run rate, pressing Simon when Simon notes the estimated growth numbers are not exact. Simon concedes that Nathan's calculated numbers are roughly accurate.7:47–10:51 · Guest teaching 3/10 Product Expansion and Feature Adoption Dynamics Nathan probes how product expansion impacts customer uptake and sales playbook strategies. Simon provides specific adoption numbers from free trials and explains the rationale behind self-serve in-app upgrades.10:51–13:21 · Guest teaching 3/10 Customer Churn Analysis and Demographics Nathan clarifies whether reported 6% churn is logo or revenue churn. Simon explains the customer demographic nuances across small business sizes and emerging geographic markets.13:24–17:01 · Guest teaching 3/10 Product Philosophy and Frictionless Cancellation Impact Nathan asks whether added complexity creates churn risk and later quickly converts Simon's CAC and ARPU data into a payback period. Simon shares counterintuitive insights about how frictionless cancellations reduced net churn.17:01–19:28 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five sequence where Simon immediately rejects hypothetical acquisition offers and Nathan summarizes all core SaaS unit metrics.2:10–4:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Pricing Structure, Founding Background, and Global Team Growth Nathan asks basic background metrics regarding average revenue per user and team size goals. Simon gently clarifies that reaching 400 employees was merely a discussion from a recent meeting rather than a strict corporate target.4:28–7:47 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Bootstrapped Financial Milestones and Revenue Growth Nathan does rapid mental math using customer count and ARPU to estimate monthly run rate, pressing Simon when Simon notes the estimated growth numbers are not exact. Simon concedes that Nathan's calculated numbers are roughly accurate.7:47–10:51 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Product Expansion and Feature Adoption Dynamics Nathan probes how product expansion impacts customer uptake and sales playbook strategies. Simon provides specific adoption numbers from free trials and explains the rationale behind self-serve in-app upgrades.10:51–13:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Churn Analysis and Demographics Nathan clarifies whether reported 6% churn is logo or revenue churn. Simon explains the customer demographic nuances across small business sizes and emerging geographic markets.13:24–17:01 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Product Philosophy and Frictionless Cancellation Impact Nathan asks whether added complexity creates churn risk and later quickly converts Simon's CAC and ARPU data into a payback period. Simon shares counterintuitive insights about how frictionless cancellations reduced net churn.17:01–19:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five sequence where Simon immediately rejects hypothetical acquisition offers and Nathan summarizes all core SaaS unit metrics.2:10–4:28 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Pricing Structure, Founding Background, and Global Team Growth Nathan asks basic background metrics regarding average revenue per user and team size goals. Simon gently clarifies that reaching 400 employees was merely a discussion from a recent meeting rather than a strict corporate target.4:28–7:47 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Bootstrapped Financial Milestones and Revenue Growth Nathan does rapid mental math using customer count and ARPU to estimate monthly run rate, pressing Simon when Simon notes the estimated growth numbers are not exact. Simon concedes that Nathan's calculated numbers are roughly accurate.7:47–10:51 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Product Expansion and Feature Adoption Dynamics Nathan probes how product expansion impacts customer uptake and sales playbook strategies. Simon provides specific adoption numbers from free trials and explains the rationale behind self-serve in-app upgrades.10:51–13:21 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Customer Churn Analysis and Demographics Nathan clarifies whether reported 6% churn is logo or revenue churn. Simon explains the customer demographic nuances across small business sizes and emerging geographic markets.13:24–17:01 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Product Philosophy and Frictionless Cancellation Impact Nathan asks whether added complexity creates churn risk and later quickly converts Simon's CAC and ARPU data into a payback period. Simon shares counterintuitive insights about how frictionless cancellations reduced net churn.17:01–19:28 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five sequence where Simon immediately rejects hypothetical acquisition offers and Nathan summarizes all core SaaS unit metrics.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%0:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%3:00 · Nathan 26.2% · guest 73.8%3:00 · Nathan 26.2% · guest 73.8%6:00 · Nathan 39.5% · guest 60.5%6:00 · Nathan 39.5% · guest 60.5%9:00 · Nathan 14.9% · guest 85.1%9:00 · Nathan 14.9% · guest 85.1%12:00 · Nathan 48% · guest 52%12:00 · Nathan 48% · guest 52%15:00 · Nathan 31.9% · guest 68.1%15:00 · Nathan 31.9% · guest 68.1%18:00 · Nathan 66.3% · guest 33.7%18:00 · Nathan 66.3% · guest 33.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:28 Rejection of buyout scenario

Simon flatly and instantly dismisses Nathan's hypothetical buyout offer from Salesforce, asserting he has zero interest in selling.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:01 Challenging revenue discrepancy

Nathan refuses to drop his calculation, pressing Simon on whether the 100k customer figure or the $50 ARPU was incorrect.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 14:38 Easy cancellations decreasing churn

Simon explains the counterintuitive dynamic of how introducing an unhindered self-serve cancellation button lowered overall churn by 30%.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 7:01 Mathematical breakdown of ARR growth

Nathan walks through unit economics and year-over-year revenue pacing, defending his mathematical estimation against Simon's hesitation.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Pricing Structure, Founding Background, and Global Team Growth 4212 Nathan asks basic background metrics regarding average revenue per user and team size goals. Simon gently clarifies that reaching 400 employees was merely a discussion from a recent meeting rather than a strict corporate target.
Bootstrapped Financial Milestones and Revenue Growth 7225 Nathan does rapid mental math using customer count and ARPU to estimate monthly run rate, pressing Simon when Simon notes the estimated growth numbers are not exact. Simon concedes that Nathan's calculated numbers are roughly accurate.
Product Expansion and Feature Adoption Dynamics 5312 Nathan probes how product expansion impacts customer uptake and sales playbook strategies. Simon provides specific adoption numbers from free trials and explains the rationale behind self-serve in-app upgrades.
Customer Churn Analysis and Demographics 6313 Nathan clarifies whether reported 6% churn is logo or revenue churn. Simon explains the customer demographic nuances across small business sizes and emerging geographic markets.
Product Philosophy and Frictionless Cancellation Impact 6312 Nathan asks whether added complexity creates churn risk and later quickly converts Simon's CAC and ARPU data into a payback period. Simon shares counterintuitive insights about how frictionless cancellations reduced net churn.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 5011 Standard rapid-fire Famous Five sequence where Simon immediately rejects hypothetical acquisition offers and Nathan summarizes all core SaaS unit metrics.

Statements from this episode (16)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse ARPU is approximately $50 per month
“Our average revenue per user is approximately 50 dollars a month.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 2:18
Disclosure
Grabowski: GetResponse aims to exceed 400 employees this year
“That is right. Yeah. We're shooting for crossing 400 this year.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 3:15
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse employs about 100 engineers, primarily in Poland
“So we have about a hundred engineers right now and growing. And yes, that's mainly in our Git response headquarters in Poland.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 4:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse has nearly 100,000 paying customers
“We actually have about well, almost a 100,000 paying customers right now.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 4:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse adds roughly 2,000 free trials daily
“We're adding about 2000 free trials every single day.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 4:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse was bootstrapped starting with $200
“So we bootstrapped. We I started the company just like you said, 200 bucks in my pocket.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 5:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse grew paying customers by about 20% in 2017
“We actually added about 20% new customers, new paying customers.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 5:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse saw 30% free trial adoption for landing pages
“I'm talking about free free trial users. Approximately 30% of them would try a landing pages which was phenomenal result. We did not expect anything over 20%. So we were really shocked to see to see that rate at about 30%.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 9:00
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse experiences about 6% monthly logo churn
“So our churn has been I guess you could call it a little bit high because we are at about six percent right now, but when you think about.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 10:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: Churn is higher in Asian markets than in the US or Europe
“We also serve a lot of markets like you know, India, Malaysia Asia and so on, where we see a little bit higher churn than let's say in the United States where the churn is super low or in Europe.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 11:40
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grabowski: GetResponse reduced monthly churn by 30% relative around 2015
“Like I remember that I think this was about three years ago. We reduced our churn by like 30% when we when we no, this was like, no, this was monthly 30% relative, right?”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 14:27
Insight
Grabowski: Self-serve cancellation button helped reduce GetResponse churn
“By adding a simple button like cancel membership without you know, having to ask, having the customer to ask for cancel or canceling their account. So that was like, Instrumental in reducing churn because people figured out, hey, we can do it on our own, it's …”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 14:48
Disclosure
Grabowski: GetResponse typically spends $200 to $300 to acquire a customer
“So we would typically spend up to 203 hundred dollars to acquire a new customer.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 15:31
Disclosure
Grabowski: Conferences drive 10% to 15% of GetResponse enterprise sales
“I would say conferences maybe account for about 10 to 15% of our enterprise sales because we also have an enterprise SAS version of our product for larger customers.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 16:37
Disclosure
Grabowski: GetResponse spends under $1 million annually on conferences
“I would say that that would be, yeah it would be less than one million dollars.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 16:56
Disclosure
Grabowski: GetResponse is not for sale despite large buyout offers
“I'm not looking to sell the company. I just love what we're doing so much. There's no intention to sell.”
Simon Grabowski May 24, 2018 ▶ 17:39
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