How did we go from this…
“How did we go from this…”
Founder resourceUnicorn $50m+
How we bootstrapped to $80m Revenue, 500k Customers
Backblaze's CEO on when to go public, how much it costs, and how to reframe your story rather than rewrite it for investors
Gleb Budman · BackBlaze
Published September 6, 2023About this resource
- Format
- Bootstrapped Stage at SaaStr Annual 2023
- Inside
- 5 key moments
Explore the lesson. Sign in to access the slide download.
What you’ll learn
The founders explain how disciplined go-to-market choices, team building, and financial planning supported a bootstrapped software business. The deck connects testing investments carefully and keeping a clear purpose with durable growth.
Read the source passagesKey moments
Find the ideas you need and go straight to the source.
Why Bootstrap?
“Build a Better GTM”
Build Teams That Work: Finance
“Build Teams That Work: Finance”
Test the Waters Without Drowning
“Test the Waters Without Drowning”
Over the last 20 minutes
“Most Important Step: Finding your “Why””
Preview slides
Open slide preview in Google SlidesResource files
Slide Deck Gleb Budman Saastr
Gleb Budman is one of our co-founders and has served as our Chief Executive Officer since 2007. Mr. Budman has also served as a member of our Board of Directors since 2009 and Chairperson since January 2021. Prior to Backblaze, Mr. Budman served in various senior roles at SonicWall, Inc., MailFrontier, Inc. (acquired by SonicWall, Inc.) and Kendara, Inc. (acquired by Excite@Home, Inc.).
Mr. Budman also previously founded two other startup companies. Mr. Budman earned a M.B.A. and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. We believe that Mr. Budman is qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his extensive experience in leadership roles at various technology companies, and the continuity that he brings to our Board of Directors as our co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
- Company revenue
- $101M
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Slide by slide
Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.
27 passages
Introduction
Slide text
How we bootstrapped to $65m ARR, 500k Customers, and the slide deck we used to IPO in 2021 Gleb Budman CEO and Co-Founder, Backblaze
How did we go from this…
From apartment startup to IPO
The opening question contrasts Backblaze's early apartment setting in 2007 with its later public-company milestone. The pair of photos makes the scale of that journey visible.
Slide text
How did we go from this… 2007 Palo Alto Apartment
The public-market milestone
A Times Square Nasdaq celebration answers the prior slide's question about where the company went. The group photo connects the IPO milestone to the people behind it.
Slide text
…to this? 2021 Times Square
Three stages guide the talk
The talk is organized around deciding, preparing, and executing. Each stage groups practical topics, from finding a reason to go public through building a team and staying focused afterward.
Slide text
Over the next 20 minutes I’m going to show you Deciding Most Important Step: Finding your “Why” “When to Go” might be sooner than you think Who decides, how much it costs, what it’s worth Preparing Reframe your story, don’t rewrite it Build Teams that Work How to Not Give Up (Repeatedly) Executing How To Test the Waters Without Drowning Ringing the Bell the Right Way Sticking with Your “Why”
Revenue growth accelerated
The revenue line rises over time and steepens after 2018, reaching $85,155,000 in 2022. Earlier labels show a gradual climb before the sharper late-stage growth.
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Our Revenue Growth
Two cloud storage offerings
Backblaze presents computer backup for individuals and businesses alongside B2 cloud storage for applications. The paired panels distinguish endpoint backup from cloud storage infrastructure.
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What Do We Do:
Deciding when to go public
This section covers why to go public, how to stay ready, and how to make the call. It frames the decision around purpose, timing, cost, and value.
Slide text
Most Important Step: Finding your “Why” “When to Go” might be sooner than you think Who decides, how much it costs, what it’s worth Section 1: Deciding I’m going to show you Why to Go Stay Ready Make The Call
Storage costs favor the product
For a petabyte, the slide compares $81,000 for raw drives, $117,000 for Backblaze, and $2,806,000 for Amazon S3. It uses the cost gap to support building a more affordable storage product.
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Why Bootstrap? Build a Better Product
Why Bootstrap?
Content supports go-to-market
A display of the Backblaze blog sits beside the claim of 3 Million+ big readers. The slide presents an audience built through content as part of the company's go-to-market approach.
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Why Bootstrap? Build a Better GTM
Signals for going public
The slide pairs scale with growth and retention: about 500,000 paying customers in 175+ countries, over 60% year-over-year B2 revenue growth, and about 130% net revenue retention for B2 cloud storage. It also notes five co-founders, $65M ARR with over 98% recurring revenue, and less than $3 million in outside equity through 2020.
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When Can You Go Out? Could Be Sooner Than You Think
The call has a stated cost
The presentation puts the approximate cost of making the call at $10M. The sparse layout gives that estimate the entire focus.
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$10M Making the Call: What it Cost Approximately
Choose the right moment
Layered customer and revenue materials frame the decision as one of timing. The overlaid financial highlights suggest evaluating operating performance alongside customer scale.
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Making the Call: Picking the Moment
Preparing the company
This section groups preparation into reframing the story, building a team, and developing resilience. It shifts from deciding whether to go public to getting the company ready.
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Reframe your story, don’t rewrite it Build Teams that Work How to Not Give Up (Repeatedly) Section 2: Preparing I’m going to show you Reframe Recruit Resilience
Reframe the company story
A draft document is shown as an example of reshaping the company's narrative without starting over. The slide emphasizes presenting the existing story in a clearer way.
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Reframe Your Story
Build Teams That Work: Finance
Finance roles change over time
A before-and-after organization diagram shows finance work expanding from a few roles into a broader team. The structure illustrates how financial support grows with company needs.
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Build Teams That Work: Finance
Build a supporting syndicate
Logos for investment banks and financial firms illustrate the external syndicate around the offering. The slide emphasizes assembling specialist partners to support the public-market process.
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Build Teams that Work: The Syndicate
A board supports the transition
Profiles of independent board members show the people involved in governance. The slide connects public-company preparation with an experienced board.
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Build Teams that Work: The Board
Use specialist advisors
The logos of accounting and advisory firms represent the professional support around the company. This completes the team-building sequence beyond finance, syndicate, and board roles.
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Build Teams that Work: Rest of the Team
Resilience means handling setbacks
A laptop checklist names setbacks including a syndicate collapse, board departure, competitor launch, SEC staff retirement, and disappearing banks. The examples frame resilience as responding to disruptions during the process.
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Build Resilience Syndicate collapse Board member departure Partner launches competitor SEC staff retires Disappearing banks
Test the Waters Without Drowning
Executing the plan
The final section covers surviving the process, reaching the public-market milestone, and staying focused. Its three themes carry the earlier preparation into execution.
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Test the Waters Without Drowning Ringing the Bell the Right Way Stay on Target Section 3: Execute I’m going to show you Survival Lift Off Focus
Survive the process
An image of a person underwater accompanies the advice to test the waters without drowning. The metaphor frames careful preparation as a way to navigate the demands of going public.
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Survive: Test the Waters Without Drowning
The roadshow is the next step
A collage of presentation materials and a company profile frames the roadshow as the next stage after preparation. The slide invites founders to request the full IPO deck.
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Thrive: The Roadshow Ask Founderpath for the Full IPO Deck
Celebrate the IPO milestone
Confetti and a crowd gathered around the Backblaze Nasdaq sign convey the public listing as a shared company milestone.
Balance growth spending and profitability
The proceeds list directs funding toward platform and product growth, self-service, sales-assisted acquisition, and partnerships. A market chart asks how quickly the company can spend and when it will become profitable, tying investment pace to financial focus.
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Focus: Be Ready to Pivot…
Grow while staying on target
Computer backup revenue rises from $44M in 2021 to $53M ARR in Q4 2022, while B2 cloud storage revenue grows from $23M to $39M ARR. The chart shows the two products expanding at different rates, with year-over-year growth labeled +10% and +44%, respectively.
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…But Stay On Target
Over the last 20 minutes
Recap the three stages
The closing summary revisits deciding, preparing, and executing, with the key actions under each. It returns to finding a reason, building resilience, and staying on target as connected parts of the journey.
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Over the last 20 minutes I showed you Deciding Most Important Step: Finding your “Why” “When to Go” might be sooner than you think Make the Call: Who decides, how much it costs, what it’s worth Preparing Reframe your story, don’t rewrite it Build Teams that Work Resilience: How to Not Give Up (Repeatedly) Executing How To Test the Waters Without Drowning Ringing the Bell the Right Way Stay on Target: Sticking with Your “Why”
Thank you from the speaker
The speaker closes with a thank-you and his role at Backblaze. The contact details invite follow-up without needing to repeat them here.
Slide text
Gleb Budman CEO and Co-Founder, Backblaze