5 figures ARR for Olympia

Hey - It’s Guy & Farzan.

Let’s get into it. Today, we have:

2 founder stories
1 founder playbook
1 founder quote

Estimated reading time: 8 mins

Founder story (1 of 2)

From idea to 5-figure ARR: Inside Olympia's journey to revolutionize businesses with AI-powered teams.

Olympia: transforming businesses with AI-powered teams

See how co-founders Victoria Loskutova & Obie Fernandez have:

💵 Achieved 5-figure annual recurring revenue (ARR)

🚀 Surpassed 100+ customers

✉️ Built a community of 1500+ newsletter subscribers

👀 Attracted 4500 monthly visitors to Olympia.chat

🛠 Remained bootstrapped, maintaining significant ownership and control

My top 5 takeaways:

1. Embrace Your unique journey

   Victoria's diverse background, from journalism to digital nomadism, shaped Olympia's global and inclusive vision. Your past experiences can be a strength, not a detour.
   

2. Solve personal pain points

   The idea for Olympia was born from a personal frustration with a human copywriter. Solutions to your own problems can often have universal appeal.
   

3. Customer feedback is gold

   Olympia's development was heavily influenced by customer feedback. Engaging in meaningful conversations with your users can lead to product improvements and validation.
   

4. Bootstrap to keep control

   Olympia's choice to bootstrap allowed them to maintain control and move quickly without external pressures. Sometimes, slow and steady wins the race, especially in the early days.
   

5. Innovation through technology

   The development of Human Augmented AI (HAAI) showcases Olympia's commitment to innovation. Always look for ways technology can further differentiate your product or service.

Bonus insight: Prioritize talent and motivation in hiring
Olympia's success in building an incredible team underscores the importance of prioritizing talent and motivation over experience. Experience can be gained, but intrinsic motivation and raw talent are invaluable.

Victoria and Obie's journey with Olympia is a testament to the power of technology, the importance of customer feedback, and the strength found in a diverse founding team's experiences and visions. Their story is not just about achieving business success; it's about changing how small businesses operate in the digital age.

Read the full story on Founderoo.

Founder story (2 of 2)

See how Kevin Espiritu built a gardening brand to over $30M a year in revenue.

This story is about Kevin Espiritu's journey. He tried more than five hobbies and his businesses didn't work out several times. Despite that, he created a gardening brand that now earns more than $30 million a year. Kevin shares stories from his childhood, how he developed his business, and what his daily life is like now as he manages one of the largest gardening brands in the world.

Founder playbook

From startup failure to $1.5M in revenue with Scraping Bee: The inspiring comeback story of two founders who refused to quit.

Co-founders Pierre de Wulf & Kevin Sahin have achieved:

💰 $1.5M in ARR (annual recurring revenue)

🌐 Transformed from a B2C to a B2B powerhouse

🔑 Kept innovation and customer needs at the heart of their pivot

My top insights from their journey:

1. The power of community and initial traction

   Starting with a B2C browser extension, they hit 1,000 users by engaging fashion/frugal communities on Reddit. It's about finding where your users live online and speaking directly to them.
   

2. The art of the pivot

   Recognizing the need for change, they pivoted twice: from B2C to a price monitoring tool for e-commerce and then to ScrapingBee, capitalizing on a niche but significant need. Each pivot was a step closer to their true calling.
   

3. Learning from early mistakes

   Their first project didn't scale as hoped. It wasn't just about building something; it was about building something necessary. The lesson? Solve a problem so critical that people are willing to pay for the solution.
   

4. Strategic growth and scalability

   They didn't just build another product; they focused on distribution and sales strategies from the outset. This foresight ensured they weren't just creating a solution but also a path to its adoption.
   

5. Perseverance through adversity

   From near failure to joining the TinySeed accelerator, their story is a testament to not giving up. The path to success is paved with setbacks. What matters is resilience and the ability to adapt.
   

6. Embracing the Full Journey

   Their approach to reducing costs, such as finding deals for essential services and selling non-core assets, highlights the importance of lean operations in the early stages. Every decision made was a step towards greater sustainability and focus.

Pierre de Wulf and Kevin Sahin's journey with ScrapingBee illustrates the importance of persistence, the willingness to pivot, and the necessity of solving real-world problems.

Read the full playbook on Founderoo.

Founder quote

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See you next Sunday.

Guy + Farzan
Founderoo