EPISODE · May 13, 2024 · 41 MIN
COVID nearly bankrupted him. Then with AI he grew from $0 to $25M ARR in 4 years. | Andrew Lockhead, Founder of Stay22
from A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders · host Mistral.vc
His travel startup crashed 90% overnight. Here’s how he used AI to grow past $2M/year—to $2M a month:For a while, Andrew was crushing it. Accelerator -> $750K pre-seed -> $2M ARR -> $2.5M seed round. Then COVID hit. He was selling to events like CES, SXSW, etc. Revenue dropped from $160K/month to under $10K... overnight. Investors from his seed round refuse to wire funds. After nearly going bankrupt, he finds a way to pivot. A year later, his business takes off.2020 - $02021 - $1M2022 - $5M2023 - $15MNow - $24M.Why you should listen:- Andrew shares a technique to land early customers. He offered to PAY his customers to use the product. - Learn how to deal with massive swings in revenue and unpredicted events. Early-stage founders are always one deal, one employee, one fundraise away from success... or failure.- Learn why you "can never celebrate until the money is in the bank"Timestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:16) The Start of Stay22(00:07:15) The Seed Round(00:11:53) Pivoting the go to Market(00:19:38) Investors Pulling out Due to Covid(00:26:56) Finding the Opportunity in the Pandemic(00:31:31) Tapping into the Blogger Market(00:37:31) Growing Back from Zero(00:38:49) Finding True Product Market Fit(00:39:35) One Piece of AdviceSend me a message to let me know what you think!
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His travel startup crashed 90% overnight. Here’s how he used AI to grow past $2M/year—to $2M a month: For a while, Andrew was crushing it. Accelerator -> $750K pre-seed -> $2M ARR -> $2.5M seed round. Then COVID hit. He was selling to events like CES, SXSW, etc. Revenue dropped from $160K/month to under $10K... overnight. Investors from his seed round refuse to wire funds. After nearly going bankrupt, he finds a way to pivot. A year later, his business takes off...
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COVID nearly bankrupted him. Then with AI he grew from $0 to $25M ARR in 4 years. | Andrew Lockhead, Founder of Stay22
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