How to Use Virality to Grow Your Software Company

In this article you will learn how to add $1m of revenue, fast, using Virality

• Learn how Boomerang’s “snooze” button created an embedded viral loop that brought in thousands of new users, helping them scale to $8M ARR.
• Discover the framework Chili Piper used to turn prospects into viral marketers, doubling their inbound pipeline conversion to 80% on their way to $30M ARR.
• See how vFairs leveraged system-driven word-of-mouth, turning customers into their primary sales channel and scaling past $30M in revenue.

40 Examples of Product Virality from Top SaaS CEOs

1. Boomerang – Embedded Virality: Aye Moah, CEO of Boomerang, explained that their meeting scheduling feature is inherently viral. Every time a user sends a meeting invite, hundreds of non-users experience the Boomerang product, creating a constant stream of free, qualified sign-ups that helped the company reach $8M ARR. Aye teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
2. vFairs – System-Driven Word-of-Mouth: CEO Muhammad Younas detailed how vFairs built a referral system directly into their product. They prompt happy customers to recommend vFairs to other departments, turning their existing user base into their primary sales engine and scaling the company beyond $30M in revenue. Muhammad teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
3. Chili Piper – Form Conversion Virality: Co-CEO Nicolas Vandenberghe shared how their product turns a prospect’s demo request into a viral marketing event. By allowing qualified leads to book meetings instantly on a company’s website, the prospect experiences the value firsthand. This led to companies like Segment doubling their conversion rates to 80% and becoming Chili Piper customers, fueling their growth to $30M ARR. Nicolas teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
4. Security Scorecard – Freemium Widget: CEO Aleksandr Yampolskiy revealed an accidental viral loop where a developer built a free website widget for anyone to check their security score. This simple tool generated over 80,000 company reports, becoming a massive lead generation engine that was crucial to scaling to over $130M ARR. Aleksandr teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
5. YouCanBookMe – Scheduling Link Virality: Co-founder Bridget Harris built her $5M ARR business on the embedded virality of a simple scheduling link. With over a million bookings per month, every user sharing their calendar link acts as a salesperson, introducing the YouCanBookMe brand to countless new potential users with zero acquisition cost. Bridget teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
6. Funnelytics – Facebook Group Launch: CEO Mikael Dia launched his software by first building a Facebook community. He grew a group to 3,000 members in two months, which led to a $28,000 launch in 48 hours. The group, now at 27,000 members, acts as a viral engine that generates over $1M per year for his company. Mikael teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
7. Expandi – Micro-Influencer Engagement: Founder Stefan Smulders drove Expandi from $0 to $7M in 20 months by creating a “Free Customer Formula” that leveraged micro-influencers. By engaging with influential figures on LinkedIn, he tapped into their trusted audiences, creating a viral wave of adoption for his automation tool. Stefan teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
8. Retention.com – Founder-Led Virality: Adam Robinson built a massive personal following on LinkedIn which directly fuels the growth of his bootstrapped $22M ARR company. His transparent, sometimes controversial content generates millions of impressions, creating a viral loop of engagement that drives a constant stream of inbound leads for his new B2B product. Adam teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
9. PandaDoc – Document Sharing Loop: CEO Mikita Mikado explained that PandaDoc’s core e-signature product has a built-in viral loop. Every time a user sends a proposal or contract, the recipient interacts with the PandaDoc platform, exposing them to the product’s value and driving new signups on their path to $100M ARR. Mikita teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
10. Mighty Digits – Audience-First Launch: Fractional CFO Josh Aharonoff leveraged his 375,000+ LinkedIn followers to instantly create a customer base for his new SaaS product. He used his audience, built through viral content, to launch an Excel plugin and acquire 40 paying customers almost overnight, demonstrating the power of community-led virality. Josh teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
11. YouMail – Network Effect Data: CEO Alex Quilici built a $10M+ ARR business by leveraging the network effects of his 13 million consumer users. The massive dataset of spam calls gathered from the consumer app makes his B2B data API exponentially more valuable, creating a powerful moat where more users lead to a better product. Alex teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
12. Carabiner Group – Community Engagement: Founder Cliff Simon grew his consultancy to $6M by embedding himself in Slack communities. He set up keyword alerts to be hyper-responsive and helpful, booking an average of 83 meetings a month through this community-led, word-of-mouth strategy without any direct selling. Cliff teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
13. QuestionPro – Survey Sharing Loop: Founder Vivek Bhaskaran bootstrapped his company to $30M ARR, partly thanks to the inherent virality of his survey product. Every user who creates and shares a survey introduces the QuestionPro brand to all of their respondents, creating millions of free impressions and a steady flow of new users. Vivek teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
14. Issuu – Content Distribution Virality: Joe Hyrkin scaled Issuu to a nine-figure acquisition by building a platform designed for sharing. Marketers upload content to Issuu to distribute it, and every reader of that content is exposed to the Issuu brand, creating a massive embedded viral loop that attracted 65,000 paying customers and over $30M in revenue. Joe teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
15. Offsite – LinkedIn Content Virality: CEO Jared Kleinert generated over 10.5 million impressions in 8 months by creating viral content on LinkedIn. This strategy led directly to multiple five and six-figure deals, including a $100,000 contract, proving how personal brand building can create a word-of-mouth flywheel for a high-ACV business. Jared teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
16. Storylane – Demo-Led SEO: Co-founder Madhav Bhandari explained how they used their own interactive demo product to create a viral SEO engine. By creating hundreds of “how-to” pages featuring an interactive demo, they outranked major competitors and increased traffic 8x to 200k visitors/month, doubling their PLG revenue. Madhav teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
17. Hootsuite – Social Discovery: CEO Irina Novoselsky highlighted that with 65% of B2B searches starting on social media, building a presence where users share and discover is critical. Hootsuite’s product enables this social virality for other companies, a strategy that has propelled them to over $200M in revenue. Irina teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
18. GTMfund – Flywheel Model: VP of Marketing Sophie Buonassisi detailed their “Product, Media, and Community” flywheel. Each component feeds the others, creating a self-reinforcing viral loop. Their community provides content for media, which drives awareness for their product (the fund), which in turn grows the community. Sophie teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
19. Loom – Video Sharing Loop: As discussed by Brian Belhumeur, Loom’s growth, leading to a $975M acquisition, was powered by one of the most effective embedded viral loops. Every shared Loom video is a seamless ad for the product, which helped them 2.6x daily signups by making it incredibly simple for recipients to become users. Brian teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
20. Clickup – Fast Follower Strategy: Co-founder Chris Cunningham explained that their early success, leading to their current $25M+ ARR, came from being “fast followers.” They identified what was working for competitors and built viral features and automations faster and better, leveraging the market education others had already done. Chris teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
21. Stack Overflow – Community Network Effects: CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar explained how they built a community of 100 million people based on a powerful network effect. The more developers ask and answer questions, the more valuable the platform becomes, attracting even more users and creating an unstoppable viral growth engine. Prashanth teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
22. ZoomInfo – Data Network Effects: Founder Henry Schuck built a multi-billion dollar public company by leveraging data network effects. As more customers use the platform, the data becomes richer and more accurate, creating a more valuable product that attracts even more customers, forming a powerful viral loop. Henry teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
23. Cognism – Acquisition for PLG Motion: CEO James Isilay shared how his sales-led growth company, on its way to $52M ARR, acquired a competitor for its product-led, viral motion. They paid $20M for a company with a $2.2M run rate specifically to gain their PLG expertise and viral user acquisition model. James teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
24. Creator Match – Influencer Marketing: CEO AJ Eckstein built his business around enabling virality through influencer marketing on LinkedIn. By connecting SaaS brands to hundreds of creators for sponsored posts, his platform taps into existing audiences to generate trusted, word-of-mouth growth for his clients. AJ teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
25. Factors.ai – Employee Social Amplification: Co-founder Sri Swaminathan scaled his company 6x by turning his entire team into a viral marketing engine on LinkedIn. By encouraging founders and employees to post consistently, they generate over 200,000 impressions monthly, driving inbound intent and helping the company grow toward $2M ARR. Sri teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
26. Blackthorn – App Exchange Virality: CEO Chris Federspiel leveraged the Salesforce App Exchange as a viral channel, bootstrapping to $16M ARR. By focusing on a niche (Higher Ed, Non-Profit) within the ecosystem, positive reviews and word-of-mouth among Salesforce admins created a targeted viral loop, making them a top choice in their category. Chris teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
27. Fullfunnel.io – Proactive Network Growth: Co-founder Vladimir Blagojevic explained how proactively growing his network on LinkedIn led to 61 inbound five-figure opportunities in the first year. By connecting with the entire buying committee at target accounts, his content and messaging benefit from a network effect, driving awareness and inbound requests. Vladimir teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
28. Ovation – Podcast Guesting: CEO Zack Oates used a podcasting strategy to create word-of-mouth virality for his restaurant feedback platform. By launching his own podcast and being a guest on others, he built relationships with key industry influencers (his “pip cats”), which became a primary driver for his company’s growth. Zack teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
29. Guestio – The $1 Guarantee: Founder Travis Chappell used a “$1 Guarantee” offer to drive virality and achieve instant CAC payback on his way to $75k MRR. The irresistible, low-risk offer encouraged widespread sharing and quick adoption among podcast hosts and guests, fueling a rapid viral growth loop. Travis teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
30. Cyvatar – Freemium Model for Trust: CEO Corey White launched a freemium model that attracted over 1,000 cybersecurity users. By providing real, tangible value for free (like external risk scans), they build trust and generate word-of-mouth referrals from small businesses, which is the primary viral driver for their paid subscriptions. Corey teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
31. Surfer SEO – Affiliate Marketing Engine: CEO Michał Suski revealed that affiliate marketing is a massive viral driver for their growth to $15M ARR. By offering a competitive 30% recurring commission, they incentivized over 3,000 marketers to promote their product, creating a huge, scalable, and cost-effective word-of-mouth salesforce. Michał teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
32. Ninety.io – Leveraging a Movement: CEO Mark Abbott built his company to over $10M ARR by tapping into the existing EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) community. He served thousands of coaches who use the EOS playbook, turning them into a massive, built-in viral channel who brought his software to all their clients. Mark teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
33. Educational Email Courses (EECs) – Value-Based Virality: Nils Liedlich from Letter Leverage explained how creating educational email courses lowers CAC by capturing users not yet ready to buy. These high-value courses are highly shareable, creating a word-of-mouth loop that converts 2-10% of leads into paying customers. Nils teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
34. Recapped – Collaborative Deal Rooms: CEO Mark Fershteyn’s product, Recapped, creates virality within the sales process. By creating a collaborative deal room, sellers invite prospects, who in turn invite their colleagues (legal, finance), naturally expanding the product’s footprint and exposing it to new users within a target account, accelerating their growth. Mark teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
35. Tally – Building in Public: Co-founder Marie Martens shared how they bootstrapped to $50k MRR by “building in public.” They shared revenue numbers and processes openly, which built trust and a community of early adopters who became passionate advocates, virally spreading the word on platforms like Product Hunt and Twitter. Marie teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
36. LCPTracker – Customer-Centric Focus: CEO Mark Douglas grew his bootstrapped company to $32M by focusing obsessively on existing customers. This focus led to an nrr of 117% and an average customer lifespan of 12+ years. Happy, long-term customers became his best viral marketing channel through strong word-of-mouth in the construction industry. Mark teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
37. Chameleon – Interactive Demos: Director of Marketing Kirsty Finlayson explained how they added interactive demos to their blog pages, which created a viral engagement loop. This tactic resulted in a 3% conversion rate to sign-up (vs. a 1% baseline), as engaged users were more likely to share the useful, hands-on content with colleagues. Kirsty teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
38. Dealpad – Founder-Led Sales Virality: Three-time founder Adam Baker, now building Dealpad to over $20M in lifetime ARR, emphasized that early virality comes from the founder. He stated that his outreach on LinkedIn as a founder gets a much higher response rate than from his sales team, creating initial word-of-mouth traction that is impossible to replicate otherwise. Adam teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
39. Grasshopper – Paid Ad Scaling: Co-founder David Hauser scaled Grasshopper to a $175M exit by pouring fuel on what was working. Once they identified a marketing channel (like radio ads) that was driving word-of-mouth, they used debt to scale spend from thousands to $12.5M, amplifying their viral reach exponentially. David teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.
40. ProductLed – Defining a Niche: Founder Wes Bush, who has generated over $1B in self-serve revenue for clients, states that true virality starts with being the “obvious choice” for a specific market. By narrowing your focus, you increase the density of your target audience, making word-of-mouth and network effects spread much faster. Wes teaches this strategy in the slide deck and video recording here.

The 7-Step Playbook for Engineering Product Virality

After analyzing how these top founders built viral loops into their products and go-to-market strategies, we’ve distilled their tactics into a 7-step playbook you can run with your team.

1. Identify Your Viral Loop: Map the complete user journey from first touch to referral. How does one user bring in the next? Is it embedded in the product (e.g., sharing a document on PandaDoc), incentivized (e.g., Surfer SEO’s affiliate program), or through natural word-of-mouth (e.g., a strong founder brand on LinkedIn)? Clearly define this loop before you try to optimize it.
2. Instrument and Measure Your K-Factor: Your viral coefficient (K) is the average number of new users each existing user generates. The formula is simple: K = (number of invitations sent per user) * (conversion rate of invitations). You must track every step of this funnel religiously. Aim for a K-factor greater than 1 for exponential growth, but even a K of 0.5 can dramatically reduce your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
3. Optimize the Viral “Payload”: The viral message or product interaction that a non-user experiences must be compelling and provide instant value. For embedded virality, like Boomerang’s meeting scheduler or Chili Piper’s instant booking, ensure the non-user experience is seamless, fast, and clearly demonstrates why they need this tool for themselves.
4. Reduce Sharing Friction to Zero: Make it incredibly easy for users to invite others or share content. Pre-populate invitation messages, build in one-click sharing to social platforms, and create shareable assets. As Henrique Cruz from Rows showed, creating a loginless, interactive product can triple conversion to sign-up by removing the biggest point of friction.
5. Build a Community Flywheel: As demonstrated by Funnelytics and Stack Overflow, an engaged community is a powerful viral engine. Foster a space where users connect, help each other, and become passionate advocates. This community will not only provide social proof but will organically spread the word, creating a self-reinforcing growth loop.
6. Leverage People-Led Virality: Don’t underestimate the power of a human connection. Founders like Adam Robinson and Jared Kleinert have shown how building a massive social following can create a constant stream of inbound leads through shares and engagement. Similarly, using influencer and affiliate marketing, as shown by Expandi and Creator Match, allows you to tap into the trust and reach of established voices in your niche.
7. Iterate with Small, Fast Experiments: Don’t spend six months building a complex referral system. As Security Scorecard’s CEO advises, use a “5 people, 5 days, $5,000” framework to test viral hypotheses. Launch a simple free widget, test a new sharing button, or A/B test your invite copy. Measure the impact on your K-factor and double down on what works.

Conclusion

You just learned how to add millions of revenue using Virality from over 25 top SaaS founders. They’ve shown that virality isn’t magic; it’s a science that can be engineered directly into your product and go-to-market motion. By building systems that empower your users to become your marketers, you create a sustainable, capital-efficient growth engine that builds momentum over time. Whether it’s an embedded product loop, a thriving community, or a powerful founder brand, the key is to deliver so much value that your users can’t help but share it.

Ready to fund your next growth experiment without giving up equity? See how much non-dilutive capital you can access instantly at Founderpath.com.

Founderpath invests in ambitious founders looking to grow fast. Click here to submit a capital request