The Founderpath Story: How a Dorm Room Founder Built the Most Founder-Friendly Funding Platform

Founderpath is a non-dilutive funding company for bootstrapped software founders, launched in January 2020 by Nathan Latka, who had started and sold the SaaS company Heyo before it. Founders connect their billing, banking and accounting tools, automated underwriting turns that data into a funding offer, and they keep 100% of their equity.

Key Takeaways

• Nathan Latka launched Founderpath in January 2020, he told TechCrunch in August 2022, and FinTech Futures and Founderpath’s own 2022 announcement also date the launch to 2020.
• Before Founderpath, Latka started Heyo as a Virginia Tech student, raised a $2M Series A for it in 2014 (VC Post) and sold it to Votigo in a deal that closed on January 4, 2016, per Votigo’s press release.
• In August 2022 Founderpath raised $145M in debt and equity: Coromandel Capital led the debt and brought in Forbright Bank, and Singh Capital Partners led the equity, as TechCrunch and Founderpath’s announcement reported.
• Founderpath announced in October 2022 that it had bought the SaaSOpen conference, SaaStock bought Latka’s SaaSOpen Austin event for $1.6M in December 2024 (SaaStock, TNW), and by May 2026 Founderpath had acquired SaaStock’s US and European events, TNW reported.
• Founderpath’s live site stats showed $281M wired across 760 funded deals on October 23, 2026.

Who Founded Founderpath?

Nathan Latka founded Founderpath and runs it as CEO. TechCrunch’s August 2022 profile names him as the founder and CEO, TNW called Founderpath the funding platform founded by Nathan Latka in May 2026, and Fox Business described him as Founderpath’s CEO in March 2023; his LinkedIn profile lists Founderpath as his current company. Founderpath is based in Austin, Texas.

Latka studied architecture and business at Virginia Tech and left without finishing his degree, according to a 2018 Virginia Tech alumni profile and a 2013 WVTF report. He started his first software company, Heyo, as a student there. He hosts the Top Founders podcast, formerly The Top Entrepreneurs, where he interviews software founders about their numbers, and in March 2019 Portfolio published his book How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital (publisher details).

In a September 2024 Founderpath talk, Latka counted Heyo as his first company, GetLatka as his second and Founderpath as his third (watch at 32:24). GetLatka is a separate company: it publishes his founder interviews and the revenue figures founders share in them. Founderpath is the one that provides capital.

Founderpath Timeline

The main dates in Founderpath’s history, and in Latka’s before it, each with its source:

When	What happened	Source
At Virginia Tech	Latka starts Heyo, first called Lujure, while studying there	Virginia Tech, WVTF, Latka, 2016; Lujure: the letter (below), VC Post
2011	iContact sends a letter of intent to buy the business for up to $6.5M; the sale does not happen	The letter (below), Latka, 2019
March 2014	Heyo closes a $2M Series A	VC Post, TechCrunch
January 2016	Votigo acquires Heyo; the deal closes on January 4	Votigo release, Latka, 2016
March 2019	Portfolio publishes Latka’s book	Amazon, Porchlight
January 2020	Founderpath launches	TechCrunch, FinTech Futures
2021	Founderpath partners with Coromandel Capital on a $50M debt facility	Founderpath, 2022
August 2022	Founderpath raises $145M in debt and equity	TechCrunch, FinTech Futures, Founderpath
October 2022	Founderpath acquires the SaaSOpen conference	Founderpath, Latka on LinkedIn
March 2023	Latka explains on Fox Business how Founderpath helped startups make payroll during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse	Fox Business
December 2024	SaaStock buys SaaSOpen Austin for $1.6M	SaaStock, TNW
May 2026	Founderpath has acquired SaaStock’s US and European conference operations	TNW, saastock.com (now Founderpath’s)
October 2026	$281M wired across 760 funded deals	Founderpath site stats

Heyo: The Company Before Founderpath

Heyo sold small businesses software for building Facebook pages and promotions. WVTF covered it in March 2013 as a Blacksburg startup invited to South by Southwest, and Votigo later described it as a contest platform for small businesses.

In 2011 iContact sent Latka a letter of intent to buy the business, then run as Lujure Media, for up to $6.5M. Latka told The Investor’s Podcast in 2019 that it was making about $700,000 a year in revenue at the time and that he turned the offer down because he thought the company was worth more. In a December 2024 Founderpath webinar he told it differently: he took the offer to his board, which turned it down.

Heyo went on to raise a $2M Series A in March 2014, VC Post reported, at a $10.5M post-money valuation, Latka told TechCrunch. He told TechCrunch he owned less than 40% of the business on a fully diluted basis. Recalling that board meeting in the December 2024 webinar, he put the lesson this way:

I learned the hard lesson that the second you take a dollar of outside capital, you have effectively given up control. And it’s at this moment when I said VC dollars are the best marketed dollars in the world.

Nathan Latka, founder and CEO, Founderpath. Watch at 6:04

Selling Heyo to Votigo

Votigo, a competitor, bought Heyo in a deal that closed on January 4, 2016, Votigo announced. Latka wrote that month that Heyo had reached $5M in sales and raised $2.5M in venture capital, and he recorded the sale on his podcast as it happened. He later told TechCrunch the sale came at less than 1x ARR.

How Founderpath Started

Founderpath grew out of Latka’s podcast and the debt investments he started making in software companies. It launched in January 2020, and the model is the same today: it underwrites the recurring revenue a company already earns, and it takes no equity.

From Podcast Conversations to Debt Deals

Latka told TechCrunch in August 2022 that after recordings, founders often asked him about taking on debt. As he helped them negotiate it, he concluded that many debt terms were not founder-friendly: prepayment penalties, 1 to 2% warrants, equity kickers and repayment caps that hid the true interest rate. He found it hard to track the debt investments he was making without software, so he built a tool that lets founders connect their subscription billing and shows him who their customers are and what they pay.

Launching in January 2020

By 2020 he had formalized that lending as Founderpath, which launched in January 2020, per TechCrunch, FinTech Futures and Founderpath’s own 2022 announcement. Latka told TechCrunch in 2022 that the company had deployed over $60M to 130 SaaS founders since launch, had eight employees and had reached profitability the year before. When Silicon Valley Bank failed in March 2023, he went on Fox Business to explain how Founderpath was helping startups whose cash was stuck at the bank make payroll.

How Founderpath Raised Its Own Capital

Founderpath lends money it raises as debt and equity. Its August 2022 announcement says it had partnered with Coromandel Capital on a $50M debt facility the year before. That same month it announced $145M in debt and equity funding: Coromandel Capital led the debt and brought in Forbright Bank, and Singh Capital Partners led the equity, as TechCrunch and Founderpath’s announcement reported. TechCrunch put the split at $135M of debt and $10M of equity, and both TechCrunch and Founderpath named the founders of ZoomInfo and Brandwatch among the backers.

SaaSOpen, SaaStock and Founderpath’s Events

Founderpath’s announcement, dated October 3, 2022, says it had acquired SaaSOpen, a SaaS conference held in New York each spring. Latka explained why in a LinkedIn post on October 11, 2022:

Today, your code can be stolen. Your team can get recruited away. Your VC’s can stop funding you. … but if you invest in community, they will never leave you.

Nathan Latka, founder and CEO, Founderpath. LinkedIn, October 11, 2022

In December 2024, SaaStock bought Latka’s SaaSOpen Austin event for $1.6M, SaaStock founder Alex Theuma wrote, adding that Latka would curate a Founderpath stage at SaaStock USA in May 2025. By May 2026 the deal had run the other way: TNW reported that Founderpath had acquired SaaStock’s US and European conference operations, which had drawn a cumulative 30,000 attendees and 900 speakers since 2016. TNW said the events would be renamed the AI Growth Summit; saastock.com, which Founderpath now runs, says as of October 2026 that they are rebranding as Top Founders Summit. Founderpath lists its current conferences and webinars on its SaaS events page.

What Founderpath Does Today

Founderpath offers five financing products: revenue financing, term loans, a line of credit, Payday advances and merchant cash advances. None of them takes equity or warrants, its products page says. Its homepage says most founders see funds within 24-48 hours of connecting their billing, bank and accounting data.

Its eligibility panel, shown on the homepage in October 2026, asks for at least $500K in last-year revenue, recurring or repeat revenue, and healthy retention. Software, brick-and-mortar and CPG businesses can apply, and deals are available in most countries. Our Founderpath FAQ goes through each product’s terms, and the Founderpath reviews post covers what founders say about it. For how this kind of capital compares with equity, see our guide to non-dilutive funding.

As of October 23, 2026, Founderpath’s live site stats show $281M wired across 760 funded deals.

See Your Founderpath Offer

Connect your billing, banking and accounting data, and Founderpath shows you what you qualify for, with every figure disclosed up front. There’s no pitch deck, no equity and no board seats.

Check what you qualify for. It takes less than 5 minutes.

Founderpath and Nathan Latka FAQ

Who is the CEO of Founderpath?

Nathan Latka is Founderpath’s founder and CEO. TechCrunch’s August 2022 profile names him as founder and CEO, TNW called Founderpath the funding platform founded by Nathan Latka in May 2026, and Fox Business described him as Founderpath’s CEO in March 2023.

When was Founderpath founded?

Founderpath launched in January 2020, Nathan Latka told TechCrunch in August 2022. FinTech Futures and Founderpath’s own August 2022 funding announcement also give 2020 as the launch year.

Where is Founderpath based?

Austin, Texas. TechCrunch called Founderpath Austin-based in 2022, FinTech Futures called it Texas-based, and Founderpath’s own August 2022 funding announcement is datelined Austin, Texas.

Who is Founderpath for?

Founders who want capital without giving up equity. Founderpath’s homepage eligibility panel, in October 2026, asks for at least $500K in last-year revenue, recurring or repeat revenue, and healthy retention, and says software, brick-and-mortar and CPG businesses in most countries can apply.

What companies has Nathan Latka founded?

Heyo, a social marketing software company he started at Virginia Tech and sold to Votigo in January 2016; GetLatka, which publishes his founder interviews and revenue data; and Founderpath, launched in January 2020. In a September 2024 Founderpath talk he called them his first, second and third companies.

What podcast does Nathan Latka host?

Top Founders, formerly The Top Entrepreneurs. Its Apple Podcasts listing describes 15-minute interviews in which he asks SaaS founders how they launched and grew their companies.

What book did Nathan Latka write?

How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital, published by Portfolio on March 5, 2019.

Does Founderpath take equity?

No. Founderpath’s products page says every product is fully non-dilutive, with no warrants and no equity, so founders keep 100% ownership.

How much has Founderpath funded?

Founderpath’s live site stats showed $281M wired across 760 funded deals on October 23, 2026. In August 2022, Nathan Latka told TechCrunch it had deployed over $60M to 130 SaaS founders since launching.

Sources and Method

We rechecked every fact on this page on October 23, 2026. Each history fact has two independent sources, or is attributed and dated where it rests on Founderpath’s or Nathan Latka’s own words. Totals come from the site-stats feed that also powers the homepage. Where sources disagree, this page says so or leaves the detail out: Latka has said he started Heyo at 19, while Votigo’s 2016 release says it was founded in 2012, so the page gives no founding year for Heyo; TechCrunch reported the August 2022 split as $135M of debt and $10M of equity, while Founderpath’s release described the debt facility as extended to $145M; Latka’s accounts of the iContact offer differ (in 2019 he said he turned it down himself, and in a December 2024 webinar he described his board turning it down after a raise that VC Post and TechCrunch date to 2014, three years after the letter), so the page gives both; and TNW and saastock.com name the renamed events differently. Founderpath’s homepage says it has supported founders since 2021, while Latka’s 2022 interview and Founderpath’s own 2022 announcement give 2020 as the launch year, which this page follows. An earlier version of this page dated Founderpath to 2019; we found no source for that and follow the January 2020 launch date.

• TechCrunch, Founderpath secures $145M in debt and equity, August 9, 2022
• FinTech Futures, Founderpath bags $145m to fund bootstrapped SaaS ventures, August 15, 2022
• Founderpath, Founderpath raises $145m, August 9, 2022, and Founderpath acquires SaaSOpen, October 3, 2022
• Votigo, Votigo completes acquisition of Heyo.com, February 2, 2016
• Nathan Latka, Sold my company yesterday, January 28, 2016
• VC Post, SaaS firm Heyo closes Series A round with $2M, March 19, 2014
• The Investor’s Podcast, MI003 with Nathan Latka, August 28, 2019
• Virginia Tech, interview with Nathan Latka, 2018, and WVTF, Hello Heyo, March 8, 2013
• SaaStock, SaaStock closes $1.6M acquisition of SaaSOpen Austin, December 11, 2024
• TNW, Founderpath acquires SaaStock, updated May 27, 2026, and saastock.com (now run by Founderpath), read October 23, 2026
• Fox Business, Varney and Co., March 14, 2023
• Founderpath webinar with Nathan Latka, December 2024
• Founderpath homepage, products page and site stats, read October 23, 2026