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Founders fired entire agency staff to instantly rehire them for Penji
“We actually did something very interesting. We fired every single person on Waterfront Media, and then rehired them under Penji.”
Penji maintains 60% to 70% net profit margins on design subscriptions
“Oh, absolutely. We're definitely profitable. You know, I'd say somewhere in the realm of 60 to 70%, depending on the month.”
Grzbowski: Founders are better off bootstrapping than taking early capital without MVP
“If you can go as long as possible and eat as much dirt, if not more dirt than we did I think that you'd be far better off as a business and as a human being than just succumbing to capital right out the gate without an MVP or initial idea.”
Venture-backed competitors cannot defeat Penji with paid ads due to SEO
“I don't think that that would work because at the end of the day our SEO in particular and our just brand recognition is going to speak for itself.”
Penji is completely bootstrapped and plans to never seek outside capital
“So we're actually bootstrapped. We've never received an ounce of funding. We've, don't plan on ever looking for funding, et cetera.”
Grzbowski took no formal paycheck for six years while building Penji
“There was a time where I didn't receive a paycheck for close to six years of just of saving and just driving it back into the business.”
Penji sources full-time design talent from South America, Vietnam, and Philippines
“We primarily source our talent in South America. We primarily source our talent in Vietnam. My business partner is actually Vietnamese and also the Philippines.”
Grzbowski: Penji's average customer stays for four to six months
“Somewhere around four to six months.”
Grzbowski: Unlimited design businesses require minimal upfront capital
“The thing is, this is a super easy to understand this is a super easy to set up type of market where it doesn't necessarily require a lot of straight up investment. You know, on your end, you can literally start a business like this with a website and a funnel…”
Founders leveraged up to $100,000 in agency resources to build Penji
“Waterfront Media, we use the leverage and the resources from Waterfront Media, which was the agency to fuel that. So, I mean, if you're looking for that, I would say in all maybe 50 to a 100,000 dollars.”
Grzbowski: Penji's average customer pays around $499 per month
“Our middle package is four 99. So I would say, and on average would be that.”
Penji employs 150 full-time designers rather than operating a freelance marketplace
“We have a 150 designers essentially working for us. We pay them full time. They're under our brand. They do not work for anybody else.”
Penji is approaching 1,000 active monthly design subscription customers
“Yeah, we're approaching a thousand now.”
Penji generates over $350,000 in monthly recurring revenue
“You're looking at around a little bit over three 50.”
Penji acquires $499-per-month customers for just $250 via paid ads
“I would be somewhere around two something two 42 50, somewhere around there.”
Penji monthly revenue churn is between 10% and 20%
“So it's somewhere between 10 to 20, excuse me, 10 to 20%, depending upon the month. And I say that because it was skewed because of COVID. But in short, we want to get under 15. Last month in particular, it was somewhere around 12%.”
Grzbowski: 99designs is probably Penji's biggest competitor
“I would either say that or not like a 99 design for sure. That's probably our biggest our biggest competitor is that.”
Grzbowski: Penji MRR was $160,000 to $175,000 one year prior
“I would say probably around one 61 75 this time last year.”