The team, idea and story behind Fello's growth since its October 2022 launch, from a flat org of experimenters to brand building
Stephen London · Fello
Published September 6, 2024Explore the lesson. Sign in to access the slide download.
Topics covered: My name is Steven London I am the co-founder…; Good idea so stay fluid with the idea we…; Challenge so we gave away the software for free….
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“uh my name is Steven London I am the co-founder of fellow and I am super super excited to share how we went from zero to 10 million in ARR in 18 months we can actually change that title in two weeks to 0 to 15 million in 24 months uh hopefully um so first of all who is fellow we are a marketing engagement platform uh AI powered we're building”
“good idea um so stay fluid with the idea we launched actually not in software we raised a seed round in 2021 off of the I buying concept so it's asset based um and we pivoted because we had the software in October of 22 and it's just taken off ever since then so we raised a $3 million seed round so while the idea isn't important I think the story is everything and I'm going to get more into the personal brand and the how”
“challenge so we gave away the software for free for a year uh to whoever won this 30-day challenge it engaged our entire Community uh text message post people text oh man this software is awesome everywhere um so the social proof of that get on as many many podcasts and webinars as possible it is one of the most uh you know easiest hacks both from it helps you practice telling that story but also it's just free you can repurpose that I think Nathan talked about it talked about it”
“if you do this right how powerful this exercise is last couple things um culture another thing we learned uh from rocket ship standpoint your internal culture reflects your out uh external culture um and it's not uh some words on a slide so we used we had five 10 employees we used to write these exact uh core values down and have people read it every meeting”
“Arranging a Team is One of the Most Important Decisions Know Thyself Know Thy Roles Foxholes & Friends Letting Go of Ego & Trusting And not for the obvious reasons”
“Yet the Story is Everything Brand is more important than ever Personal brand even more so Key Questions to tell a great story: Why are you really doing this? Who is going to be the face? What is the origin story? Who is your hero?”
“Power users all the way down Founder-led sales CPO & CTO obsessed Investors as users Hyper-connected to product and market”
“Whoever runs the most experiments wins Create flat org Empower everyone to build / test Immediately triple down on the wins Stay scrappy. Spending ≠ good marketing.”
“Leverage is only way to hyper-growth Leverage content for marketing Leverage affiliates for sales Leverage shared knowledge for CS Leverage debt for ROI Leverage the world for talent”
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How We Went From $0 to $10m+ ARR in 18 Months...The Playbook! - Slide Deck
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SaaSOpen, September 2024 How We Went From $0 to $10m+ ARR in 18 Months...The Playbook! Stephen London President & Co-Founder, Fello
Who is Fello? Marketing Engagement Platform AI-powered B2B SaaS Started in Real Estate Launched software in Oct 2022
Our Revenue Growth
The Fello Story The hacks that allowed us to scale from $0-10m+ in 18 months Dots: <$0m The Idea The Team The Story Ants: $0-1m Rockets: $1-10m Power Users Flat Org of Experimenters We Live in a Memetic World Dream State Culture Leverage
Know thyself Know thy roles Foxholes Letting go Great ideas sound crazy Don’t worry about sharing The Why Brand is everything Key questions you need to know Connecting the Dots The invisible framework that guides you The Team The Idea The Story
Arranging a Team is One of the Most Important Decisions Know Thyself Know Thy Roles Foxholes & Friends Letting Go of Ego & Trusting And not for the obvious reasons
The Original Idea is Mostly Irrelevant… Great ideas sound crazy Don’t worry about sharing The Why Stay Fluid as long as it is big enough really $3m in equity…
Yet the Story is Everything Brand is more important than ever Personal brand even more so Key Questions to tell a great story: Why are you really doing this? Who is going to be the face? What is the origin story? Who is your hero?
Founder Sales CPO obsessed Investors as users Experiments Empower Stay scrappy We live in a memetic world Social proof is everything Hit ‘em from every angle An Organization of Ants And why it’s so important Power Users Flat Org Memes
Power users all the way down Founder-led sales CPO & CTO obsessed Investors as users Hyper-connected to product and market
Whoever runs the most experiments wins Create flat org Empower everyone to build / test Immediately triple down on the wins Stay scrappy. Spending ≠ good marketing.
Experiments we ran… Things that didn’t work: Free product Free onboarding Hiring people w/o an excercise Ruining domain w/ mass emails Hiring demand gen agency Random things that worked: Free parties 30 Day Challenge Text Message Posts Podcasts / Webinars Building Community
We live in a memetic world “Where did I hear that?” Hit ‘em from every angle “I see you all over the place”
Dream with your heart Dream big How to play the dream game Culture is not core values on a slide Culture is contagious Hyper-growth is impossible w/o leverage Find true leverage points for each dept The hacks for rocket growth The mental and tactical tips that fueled our success Dream State Culture Leverage 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
The 3 rules for dream state Dream with your heart not mind. Dream so big it makes you feel uncomfortable to write it down. Dissociate from reality and play the “How would I?” game
Culture is not core values written on a slide It’s a radiation of who the co-founders really are And it is who you should hire towards: To determine your actual core values: Who hasn’t worked out and why? Who has worked out and why? Virtual is not human
Culture is contagious and truly builds a brand Create “the vibe” for your ICP Overspend on your community Make your users heroes
Leverage is only way to hyper-growth Leverage content for marketing Leverage affiliates for sales Leverage shared knowledge for CS Leverage debt for ROI Leverage the world for talent
The Fello Story The hacks that allowed us to scale from $0-10m+ in 18 months Dots: <$0m The Idea The Team The Story Ants: $0-1m Rockets: $1-10m Power Users Flat Org of Experimenters We Live in a Memetic World Dream State Culture Leverage
SaaSOpen, September 2024 Thank you! [redacted email] Stephen London President & Co-Founder, Fello