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How CV Partner Grew 47% to $5.5M ARR After Ten Years Bootstrapped

Erling Linde explains how his resume and case-study software for professional service firms reached $5.5M ARR and why he raised a $3M seed round.

Erling Linde · CV Partner

Published September 3, 2024
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What you’ll learn

Erling Linde, founder and CEO of CV Partner, explains how his resume and case-study software for professional service firms grew from a bootstrapped start in 2012 to about $5.5M in ARR, up 47% year over year. He covers pricing across midsize and enterprise customers, his word-of-mouth growth, and why he took a $3M seed round after ten years of bootstrapping to expand into North America.

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Key moments

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Two Pricing Segments

“So we are kind of targeting two segments now. So we go we go for midsize, which should be, like, 15 to 50 k USD ARR”
Watch at 04:13

Validating Before Building

“I called everyone I knew in the consultancy business, and they all said they had the same problem. And then I asked them, like, if I solve it, will we pay for it? And all of them said yes, but then I started building.”
Watch at 05:03

115% Net Revenue Retention

“Our NRR was, like, a 115% last year, but we are... We're definitely chasing new logos and and and going through a geographic expansion at the moment.”
Watch at 07:26

Growth From Job Changers

“typically people that have used us in other companies and have changed jobs, and they come to us.”
Watch at 08:49

Why Raise After Bootstrapping

“I guess we were coming at the point where that equity could speed up the growth of the company a lot faster than we could have done by continuing bootstrapping.”
Watch at 14:18

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About the speaker

Erling Linde

Founder & CEO · CV Partner

Company revenue
$5.5M

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