Founder Interview Video
How Cleeng Turned Down a €14M Acquisition Offer and Reached Breakeven by September 2020 (SaaS Open 2023 Talk by CEO and Founder Gilles Domartini)
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction and Talk Overview
- 0:56Company History and Early Years
- 1:262018 Pivot to Subscriber Management
- 1:54EUR 5M Fundraise
- 2:26Investor Pressure to Spend and Grow
- 4:38Burning 200K per Month and Running Out of Cash
- 6:05Near-Bankruptcy and the EUR 14M Acquisition Offer
- 7:43COVID Slows the Exit Process
- 8:44Optimizing OpEx: Going Fully Remote
- 12:27Biweekly Town Halls and Team Cohesion
- 16:12Voluntary Salary Reductions and Survival Mindset
- 17:38Simplifying to One Big Deal per Year
- 18:10Back to Bootstrapping: Lessons Learned for Founders
- 19:10Closing Summary: Never Underestimate Your Power as a Founder
- 20:23Q&A: Moving Up-Market and Larger Deals