How a Theatre Teacher and an Entrepreneur Built Ludus: The Software Powering Performing Arts with Zachary Collins

In this episode, Gavin Savage sits down with Zachary Collins, CEO & Co-Founder of Ludus, one of the most quietly impressive vertical SaaS companies in the US.Ludus didn’t start as a startup; it started as a favor. A college student building a small tool to help his former theatre teacher sell tickets for a school play.That “side project” would evolve into the operating system for performing-arts organizations, serving thousands of theatre programs, community venues, and arts groups across the US.Zach shares the full journey:How a quirky, hyper-specific workflow in performing arts became a massive SaaS opportunityThe moment he realized Ludus wasn’t a side project anymoreWhy vertical SaaS is in its “Netflix moment” - and how Ludus rode that waveHow the company went from bootstrapped, profitable - $1M+ revenue without outside capitalWhat really happened inside Ludus when COVID hit and ticket sales went to zeroThe bets they made under pressure - virtual shows, streaming, distancing tools — that kept the business aliveHow competitors folded while Ludus accelerated into 2021 and beyondThe distribution engines that took them to thousands of organizations and millions of seats filledHow Zach thinks about workflow depth, moats, and deciding which adjacent products to buildWhat finally pushed him to raise their first institutional round after a decade of bootstrappingHow he’s preserving Ludus’ culture, discipline, and customer-obsession while scaling the teamAnd the lessons he wants every vertical SaaS founder to hear - especially those in their own “COVID moment”This is a story about grit, timing, deep workflow empathy, and vertical SaaS. If you care about vertical software, real product-market fit, or building beloved tools in unsexy industries, this one's a must listen! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.