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Art Pappas

Founder and CEO, Bullhorn, Inc. · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutiveengineer@artpapas ↗LinkedIn ↗bullhorn.com ↗

Papas co-founded Bullhorn in 1999, originally serving as Chief Technology Officer and architect of its core recruiting CRM before becoming CEO in 2003. Under his leadership, Bullhorn became a global software provider for the staffing industry, scaling past $200 million in ARR and completing major recapitalizations and acquisitions.

18statements → 14claims → 2claims resolved → 4.06/5average certainty → 1.06/5average debate potential →

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 12 not checkable as stated how the 14 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

14 assertions · 4 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 14 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 12 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Art argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Bullhorn grew revenue from $40 million to $130 million under Vista
“We started revenues at 40, and we ended at one 30.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 13:17 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Art Pappas on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Art Pappas said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn operates at a run rate of over $200 million ARR
“Correct.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 2:29 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Disclosure
Bullhorn sets sales quotas at 3x to 5x on-target earnings
“So in the SMB, it's about Three to three and a half. And then in the enterprise, it's a full five.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 19:52 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Disclosure
Pappas enormously regrets selling early secondary shares during the Vista deal
“No, with the Vista deal, I did quite a bit and regretted that actually. Like enormously because, you know, you saw what happened to the revenue, right? Like had I just held on”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 21:44 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Art Pappas: Bullhorn has 10,000 paying customers primarily in US and EMEA
“10,000 paying customers. Majority are in the United States and EMEA.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 3:06 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn maintains an average annual contract value of approximately $20,000
“Yeah, that's right.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 3:23 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn blew its entire $4 million Series A on its original idea
“Then we raised like nine months in, we raised four million dollars series a, which was promptly blown on the original marketplace idea.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 5:26 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn survived a 2002 down round with a 50% valuation haircut
“And we did a very small, like 700 K round. At a 50% haircut to the prior round.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 6:28 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn reached $13.5 million trailing revenue before its 2008 recapitalization
“We were 13 and a half trailing.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 7:34 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn achieved continuous profitability starting in 2003
“We were always profitable after 2003.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 7:53 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Most of Bullhorn's $26M round in 2008 went to secondary share purchases
“A lot of it, most of it was secondary.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 8:15 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn established a 20% option pool during its 2008 recapitalization
“It was a 20% option pool.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 9:20 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn reached $40 million ARR prior to its 2012 Vista acquisition
“20 12 was like 40.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 10:18 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Vista acquired Bullhorn in 2012 in a low nine-figure transaction
“It did leak that it was a nine figure deal. So yeah. And it wasn't high nine figures, obviously.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 10:37 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Supported
Bullhorn grew revenue from $40 million to $130 million under Vista
“We started revenues at 40, and we ended at one 30.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 13:17 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Disclosure
Bullhorn maintains low-90s gross revenue retention and around 100% net retention
“We're in the low nineties gross and around a hundred percent net.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 16:39 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Disclosure
Bullhorn spends $1.10 to $1.50 to acquire one dollar of ARR
“We'll spend about 22, five to 25. Depends on the segment. So bigger customers, more expensive. So you'll spend up to 25, you know, a dollar 50. To acquire a dollar of recurring revenue. Smaller customers, you'll spend about a dollar 10.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 18:08 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Supported
Bullhorn launched in 1999 as a creative talent marketplace before pivoting
“So we started Bullhorn in 1999 and we were originally We were a online service, kind of like if you've ever used or seen Upwork or Fiverr, we were an online marketplace and specifically we were focused on creative talent and it was really too early for that bu…”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 0:51 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bullhorn's total employee headcount is just under 1,000
“We're just under a thousand.”
Art Pappas Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 19:25 1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
1500 BullHorn Sold 60% Early On, Now $200m in ARR, E50+ Sep 2, 2019 12m
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