MBA2279 Extended Interview: Nathan Barry – How to Grow a Self-Funded Software Business to $34 Million and Beyond

The $100 MBA Show

Omar Zenhom

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers, Marketing

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2023

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you need proof that a self-funded, bootstrapping startup can make it big — with no special advantages or even extraordinary luck — this is the episode for you.

Creator-focused email marketing software ConvertKit is the company. College dropout Nathan Barry is the founder. And his story will erase any doubts you have about your own business potential.

Omar and Nathan go way back, to a time before both had achieved real escape velocity with their SaaS products. In today’s extended conversation, they reflect on the journey from there to here, and what allowed Nathan to turn a side project into a multi-million dollar company.

From his rural home-schooled childhood to his early exit (for good reasons) from higher education, Nathan learned very early how much our destinies are really within our control.

Because of that, he was able to take his own, much shorter path to success. It’s enough to make you wonder why everyone doesn’t cut their own path — until you hear how challenging the independent road can be.

Learn how the freedom of entrepreneurship is a double-edged sword, and what it takes to make it on your own. This interview is full of priceless lessons for anyone wondering what’s truly possible. Click Play!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Heyo! Welcome to the $100 MBA Show where you get better at business every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world
0:17.5	I'm your host your coach your teacher Omar Zen Home I'm also the co-founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started
0:24.6	with my co-founder back in 2014. And today's episode is a special episode, an
0:28.9	extended interview with Nathan Barry, the founder of Convert Kit.
0:33.0	Nathan and I are old friends that came up together in business,
0:37.0	starting and growing in our entrepreneurial journey at the same time.
0:41.0	I was lucky enough to sit down with Nathan to learn how he grew one of the most popular email marketing
0:46.6	softwares out there. Totally bootstrapped. No funding, no investors, nothing.
0:53.0	Convert Kit does well over $34 million in annual revenue.
0:57.0	It has become one of the shining examples
0:59.8	of how you can self-fund a successful software company.
1:03.6	But he started at zero, and in fact struggled at first.
1:07.2	I sat down and even to find out how he got out of the trough of sorrow, not getting
1:11.3	enough traction at the start.
1:13.0	Got some insights on how he makes his decisions and how he balances this huge business
1:18.2	with his family life, personal life, and ambitions.
1:20.9	This one's special, you're going to want to stick around. Let's get
1:23.8	down to business.
1:25.8	Today's extended interview is with Nathan Berry, the founder of Convert Kit over at convertkit.com.
1:31.2	Whenever I have the chance to sit down with an entrepreneur and do this type of episode, the extended interviews,
1:35.4	I'm always thinking about what are some of the things that our audience at the 100
1:39.0	NBA want to know from this expert?
	...

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