Why I turned down every VC check for 12 years to bootstrap to $5M ARR

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Welcome back to issue #26 of the Zero to $10M ARR Newsletter.

Here's what we have on the docket for today:

• Helply's Vitals: The rundown of our make-or-break metrics from Dec 18th - Dec 24th.
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• Weekly Beats: Here we recap Helply's most important "A Ha" moments and "Oh Sh*t" challenges from the last week on Our Journey to $10M ARR.
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• Deep Dive: Today I'm taking an honest look at why I think turning down every VC check for 12 years to bootstrap to $5M ARR was the best move of my career.

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Helply's Vitals

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Every week, I'm laying out the do-or-die numbers for Helply–these are what I consider the make-or-break metrics for a B2B SaaS company.

As we evolve through the stages of a B2B SaaS lifecycle, so will the metrics. These are the numbers I obsess over as we push Helply to the next level.

Where we are:

🎯Development and MVP Stage

Goal: Build and validate the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). For this stage, our goal is to book 100 Helply demos and generate 35 pre-sales of Helply.

Focus: Testing the MVP with early adopters, gathering feedback, and iterating using a sales-led motion via live demos.

Current Stats:

💡Insights:

Want to dive into Helply's entire growth dashboard? You'll see every metric we're tracking as we fight our way through each stage of the B2B SaaS lifecycle. If you want to know what really goes on under the hood of a SaaS startup, this is your all-access pass. Take Me There!

Weekly Beats

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Here's the recap of Helply's most important "A Ha" moments and "Oh Sh*t" challenges from the last week. In the spirit of full transparency, every week we pull back the curtain on everything we do and leave no stone unturned.

👉 Follow along as we grow from $0 to $10M ARR in real-time via our Journey Page.

December 19th, 2024

Journey-Led Content Hits Its Stride

Our LinkedIn strategy is finally catching fire.

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Posts are landing, engagement's climbing, and best of all – we're reaching the right people.

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This isn't your typical "thought leadership" fluff.

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It's raw, real stories from the trenches of building Helply.

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Back at Bantam Live, we struggled to find our voice. At Groove, we got closer.

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But with Helply, we've cracked the code. No growth hacks, no manufactured virality.

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Just authentic founder journey content that speaks directly to our ICP.

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The best part? It's bringing qualified leads to us instead of us chasing them.

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Pure signal, zero noise. This is modern B2B marketing at its best.

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December 23rd, 2024

10K Strong: 10,000 followers on LinkedIn

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SaaS founders and leaders who actually need what we're building.

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This isn't your 2015 Salesforce playbook of pushing product down people's throats.

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Journey-led marketing is pulling our exact target market toward us.

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No cold calls, no spam, no pushy tactics. This is the cornerstone of inbound led outbound fueled by Journey Led Marketing. The most powerful foundation for SaaS growth we have today.

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The old SaaS playbook is dead. Modern B2B buying happens through pull, not push.

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These aren't followers; they're future customers watching us build exactly what they need.

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Signal-based selling at its finest.

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Deep Dive

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The Real Unicorn: Why I Turned Down VC Money for 12 Years

For over a decade, I've been turning down VC checks. Not because I couldn't raise – but because the math never made sense. Today, we're at $10M ARR, and it has proven to be the best bet of my career. Here's why.

The Hidden Math of Bootstrapping vs VC

While VCs are busy pushing founders to dilute down to 5% ownership chasing billion-dollar dreams, bootstrapped founders are quietly building $10M ARR businesses they own 90%+ of. After seeing both sides up close, I want to share the math that nobody talks about.

The Unicorn Path (What VCs Sell)

The traditional VC playbook looks something like this:

• Raise $50M+ across multiple rounds
• Watch your ownership dilute to ~5%
• Scale to 200+ employees rapidly
• Burn millions in cash monthly
• Push for that elusive $1B exit
• Maybe walk away with $50M after 15 years
• If you're lucky (and that's a big if – less than 1% make it)

The Bootstrap Path (What Smart Founders Choose)

Here's what we've done instead:

• Built everything with customer revenue
• Maintained 100% ownership
• Ran lean and mean (5 person team)
• Grew to $5M ARR organically
• Put $1M/year in our pockets
• Created a $30-40M exit opportunity (available anytime)
• Kept complete freedom of choice

Why $10M+ Bootstrapped ARR Beats a Unicorn Exit

The simple math of bootstrapping wins because:

1. It's actually achievable. Thousands of founders have built $10M+ ARR businesses. It's not a lottery ticket – it's a proven path with clear steps and countless examples to learn from.
2. It's consistently profitable We're talking 50%+ EBITDA margins. Not vanity metrics or growth-at-all-costs, but real profit that flows to your bank account every month.
3. You own your decisions no board approval needed. No investor pressure to chase unsustainable growth. Every strategic decision is yours to make.
4. It gives you real options
   • Work as much or as little as you want
   • Sell for $30M or scale to $100M
   • Take home $1M/year or reinvest everything
   • Build for the long term or exit tomorrow

How We're Building Helply

We're applying these principles right now:

Clear Focus

• Target market: PLG SaaS
• Sweet spot: $1M-$30M
• No distractions, no pivot pressure

Real Competitive Moats

• Building genuine founder brand equity
• True AI differentiation (not just buzzwords)
• Strategic pricing that competitors can't match

Actual Freedom

• Every dollar of growth belongs to us
• No quarterly board meetings
• Strategic decisions made for the business, not investors

The Numbers Don't Lie

Let's talk hard truth:

• 99% of VC-backed founders end up with nothing or next to nothing
• Meanwhile, thousands of bootstrapped founders are quietly making $1M+ annually
• The median successful exit for VC-backed companies is far lower than most realize
• Bootstrapped companies can exit at lower valuations and still generate more wealth for founders

The Real Unicorn

Here's what I've learned after 12 years: The real unicorn isn't a billion-dollar exit. It's building complete freedom alongside generational wealth. That's why I believe $5M+ bootstrapped ARR is the new unicorn.

VCs will keep selling their 1% dreams. They have to – it's their business model. But smart founders are increasingly choosing to own 100% of something real instead of 5% of a prayer.

Looking Forward

As we continue scaling Helply, we're more convinced than ever that this path was right. Every month brings:

• More revenue we fully own
• More strategic freedom
• More proof that sustainable growth beats hypergrowth
• More opportunities to build real wealth our way

Let others chase unicorns. We're building something better: a business that creates both wealth and freedom, not just paper valuations and golden handcuffs.

Alright, that does it for issue #26 of the Zero to $10M ARR Newsletter!

I hope you enjoyed today's newsletter.

And don't forget:

1. If you want private VIP access to Helply, reply to this email.
2. If you want to be a part of our Product Hunt launch in January, reply to this email.
3. And if you just want to say hi, reply to this email.

See you next week!

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Alex Turnbull

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