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How we pivoted to a $90m+ Exit

Following the cash on a first pivot, picking who to imitate and the market research behind Limelight Health's exit

Jason Andrew · Fineos

Published September 1, 2022
About this resource

Jason T. Andrew led Limelight Health through an acquisition by FINEOS. He shares the key lessons learned:

- First pivot; follow the cash

- Knowing who you want to imitate gives you a path

- Market research (competition)

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What you’ll learn

Jason Andrew reflects on scaling Fineos through relationships, remote-team leadership, external advice, product focus, and market research. He describes the decisions that supported a larger financing round and the path toward an exit.

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Key moments

Find the ideas you need and go straight to the source.

Build relationships early

“um so just trying to figure that out okay so um so today I'm going to talk about how we pivoted multiple times to about a 93 million dollar exit um I'm really enjoying the bootstrap mindset here so full disclosure we raised about 44 million dollars over four rounds of funding so all the pitfalls and challenges that have been discussed all day around taking Venture we went through a lot of those but it wasn't a meaningful exit for our Founders and employees and investors and so we're really thankful for that as well um”
Watch at 00:57

Lead a remote team

“the in the world and they said yeah we'd love your your product which was really a prototype at the time we want to work with you and so we had a huge decision to make after a year of selling to Insurance Brokers having about 20 clients on the insurance brokered side of now going Enterprise and we had 13 people in the company at the time and we really decided if we do this we're gonna have to take our baby which we just built put it out on the doorstep in the rain ignore it and go all in on this insurance carrier which is going to pay”
Watch at 03:53

Use experienced advisors

“we ended up doing concerts when covet hit and we invited customers we invited Partners we invited family we started to talk about mental health you know and so you say we probably spent as much time thinking about culture and doing quirky stuff like that as we did building the company and it may have been in some folks Minds a complete waste of time but it was authentic and it was real and to this day the acquiring company adopted that they've done eight concerts globally and we ended up becoming the the music sponsor for the largest and sure Tech”
Watch at 06:48

Focus the product portfolio

“to an executive at Ernst young who was instrumental in US raising a future round as well as being able to build out the model we shifted to and so again it was really some of these relationships that gave the Insight in terms of making these huge shifts every time that I felt like I didn't know where to go what we were doing in terms of building the company um Pete then made an introduction to a third person who was uh probably the fifth employee at guidewire she ended up”
Watch at 09:43

Assess market risk

“we had a data business so we cut off three or four of those and focused exclusively on just the carrier Market um and it was a really really scary time so um over last minutes uh 20 minutes talked about making bets and pivoting early on just following uh where the market is leading we didn't know at the time what our product Market fit was and we had to shift that several times to me kind of culture and authenticity is super important and so whatever that is”
Watch at 12:36

Keep making bets and saying yes

“Keep making bets and saying yes”
Read slide 2

Co-Founder, Garrett Viggers; Music Was Always Part

“Co-Founder, Garrett Viggers; Music Was Always Part of Culture and Later Became a Differentiator”
Read slide 6

Limelight Health Revenue Growth

“Limelight Health Revenue Growth”
Read slide 8

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Resource files

  • Video

    Watch video

  • How to build a Series C Fundraising Deck

  • How we pivoted to a $90m+ Exit - Slide Deck

About the speaker
Jason Andrew

Jason Andrew

Advisor · Fineos

LinkedIn

Jason Andrew is a startup advisor, entrepreneur, and advocate for health insurance innovation. Jason has over 25 years of executive leadership and is known for his bridge-building skills and commitment to values-driven cultures. He has founded four companies, earning accolades such as Entrepreneur of the Year and INC 500 recognition. Named among the top 50 global online influencers in Insurtech, Jason's passion lies in solving significant industry challenges while fostering collaboration and authenticity in the workplace.

Company revenue
$19M
Team size
1000

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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.

11 passages

The exit story

  1. Slide 1Open deck
    Slide text

    Jason T. Andrew CEO Limelight Health acq. FINEOS How we pivoted to a $90m+ Exit … specific tactics we used to get there Founder500, Sept 2022

The operating lessons

  1. Slide 2Open deck

    Three themes structure the growth story

    The talk moves from reaching the first $1M to product positioning and why an exit made sense. Its lessons include following cash, building relationships, studying the market, and hiring people with relevant experience.

    Slide text

    Over the next 20 minutes Keep making bets and saying yes I’m going to show you THE FIRST $1M PRODUCT POSITIONING/CC WHY AN EXIT MADE SENSE First pivot; follow the cash Culture & authenticity can help in ways you may not see How important relationships are Knowing who you want to imitate gives you a path Hire people much smarter than you Market research (competition) Market risk Product maturity

  2. Slide 3Open deck

    Revenue grew before the acquisition

    Limelight Health’s revenue rises each year, from $80k in 2014 to $19m in 2021. The chart marks the acquisition in August 2020, between the $11.9m 2020 bar and the $19m 2021 bar.

    Slide text

    Limelight Health Revenue Growth Acquired August 2020 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2020

  3. Slide 4Open deck

    Section one focuses on the first million

    This section covers the early growth phase, including making bets, following the cash, and using culture and authenticity. It sets up the first $1M portion of the talk.

    Slide text

    Let’s Start with Section 1 I’m going to show you Keep making bets and saying yes First pivot; follow the cash Culture & authenticity can help in ways you may not see THE FIRST $1M PRODUCT POSITIONING/CC WHY AN EXIT MADE SENSE

First pivot and early growth

  1. Slide 5Open deck

    Following cash shaped the first pivot

    Limelight Health’s early milestones track a move from launch toward a product and customer base that grew revenue from zero in 2014 to $1.9M in 2016. The timeline includes a $3M Series A, a desktop product release, and an early carrier client.

    Slide text

    First Pivot… Follow the cash 0 in 2014 to 1.9M in 2016 2014 Feb 2015 Mar 2016 Jul 2015 Award Winning Q4 2015 Founded in February Mobile Application Launched Raised Series A: $3M AXA Strategic Ventures Mass Mutual Ventures Launchpad Digital Health Push to Release V2 - QuotePad 2.0 Desktop Version Acquired AXA first carrier client Insurance Disrupted 2015 Health Tech Capital 2015

  2. Slide 6Open deck

    Music became part of company culture

    A co-founder playing guitar in the office illustrates how music was part of Limelight’s early culture and later became a differentiator. The slide ties that cultural thread to the company’s early days.

    Slide text

    Co-Founder, Garrett Viggers; Music Was Always Part of Culture and Later Became a Differentiator Early days at Limelight…

Relationships and the second pivot

  1. Slide 7Open deck

    Relationships and experience guide section two

    The next section centers on relationships and choosing people who have already reached the destination the company wants to reach. It highlights learning from role models and hiring experienced executives.

    Slide text

    Let’s Jump in to Section 2 I’m going to show you How important relationships are Second pivot: Knowing who you want to imitate gives you a path Hire executives who have been where you want to go THE FIRST $1M PRODUCT POSITIONING/CC WHY AN EXIT MADE SENSE

  2. Slide 8Open deck

    Revenue chart adds hiring milestones

    The revenue curve continues from $80k in 2014 to $19m in 2021, with two annotations marking when senior people were brought on. The bars show continued growth after those points, without assigning the increase to any single hire.

    Slide text

    Limelight Health Revenue Growth Brought on Peter 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2020 Brought on Pete

Market maturity and constraints

  1. Slide 9Open deck

    Growth slowed as early demand saturated

    The slide links a reversed, stair-step revenue trend to a lack of new customers and a saturated early-adopter market. It also highlights implementation catch-up and customization demands as pressures on product development, alongside a technology-adoption curve.

    Slide text

    Limelight Health Revenue Growth Lack of new customers Opportunities from the early market of visionaries become increasingly saturated Revenue trend is now reversed… stairs, not hockey sticks A year of work just to catch up to the promises made to secure the deal in the first place Unique demands from customization, which will overtax an already burdened product development group

  2. Slide 10Open deck

    The recap returns to three themes

    The closing recap revisits the first $1M, product positioning, and exit rationale. It groups the lessons around following cash, company culture, relationships, experienced hires, and market research.

    Slide text

    Over the last 20 minutes Keep making bets and saying yes I showed you THE FIRST $1M PRODUCT POSITIONING/CC WHY AN EXIT MADE SENSE First pivot; follow the cash Culture & authenticity can help in ways you may not see How important relationships are Knowing who you want to imitate gives you a path Hire executives who have been where you want to go Market research (competition) Market risk Product maturity

  3. Slide 11Open deck

    Jason Andrew closes with thanks

    The final slide thanks the audience and identifies Jason T. Andrew with Limelight Health and FINEOS. It leaves the talk on a brief closing note.

    Slide text

    September 2022 Jason T. Andrew CEO Limelight Health acq. FINEOS