Hi Spencer, thanks so much for offering to participate in the AMA here! I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time, and the design of Podia has always impressed me. I also remember Carbonmade — this brings back memories!
Happy to be here! Your name is familiar too!
Very interested in your journey to where Podia is today — how has raising money changed the way you run Podia? It’s awesome to hear you’re profitable (rock on!) — but do your investors expect a big return in the next 5-10 years?
We’ve been really fortunate that our main investors are not concerned with liquidity any time soon. They simply want to see us continue to grow and innovate, which completely align with how I want to build Podia.
Raising money versus bootstrapping has meant:
- We can focus more on the long-term as we had money to get us through the early days. This is the key one.
- We have a board who we meet with quarterly and provides me with helpful external feedback. It provides me an opportunity to sit back and reflect on the business.
- It made it easier for us to hire new employees as they knew they were joining a “serious” business. Always found it tough hiring for my bootstrapped businesses until those became profitable.