Rebecca Shostak, Chief Brand Officer and founder of Flodesk, shares the remarkable journey of how Flodesk transitioned from selling MailChimp templates to becoming a powerhouse in email marketing, achieving a revenue run rate of $27 million by 2024. From its inception Flodesk faced challenges and saw opportunities that propelled its evolution, including the pivotal decision not to pursue external funding and maintain full control.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction to Rebecca Shostak's background
2:15 - Origin story of Flodesk and transition from selling MailChimp templates
5:00 - Challenges in the template market and the strategic pivot
8:10 - Formation of the founding team and their roles
12:00 - Initial funding strategy and launching Flodesk’s first plan
15:30 - Early growth phase and the impact of affiliate marketing
19:00 - Achieving a $27 million revenue run rate with significant customer growth
22:30 - Operating without external funding and maintaining a lean team
26:00 - Overview of customer acquisition strategies and key growth channels
30:00 - Product development focus and importance of community feedback
34:00 - Handling competition and differentiating in the market
38:00 - Insights into funding philosophy and challenges of bootstrapping
42:00 - Operational challenges and strategies for scaling up
45:00 - Future goals for Flodesk and closing remarks on company vision
49:00 - Final thoughts and the importance of customer-centric development
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By the numbers.
See charts and graphs here: https://getlatka.com/companies/flodesk

Founded in 2019.
Bootstrapped.
$27M in revenue in 2024.
$1M in revenue in 2020.
50 employees.
20 engineers.
80,000 customers.
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