Running Your Own Race: Tom Lavery on going from bootstrapped to venture-backed

What does it take to build a category-defining SaaS company when your biggest competitors have raised 40x more funding than you?In this episode, Tom Lavery, Founder & CEO of Jiminny, joins us to share how he bootstrapped for years before raising, why staying in control beats chasing hype, and how to layer AI into GTM without over-engineering your stack.Expect pragmatic tactics for capital-efficient growth, candid lessons from fundraising in a downturn, and a no-BS view on what’s truly changed in sales. Episode Chapters:03:34 - Jiminny’s origin story 05:53 - Competing in a category with 40x more capital  09:21 - How to pick your investors & navigating the SaaS recession 17:20 - What’s changed in sales 21:18 - Successfully implementing AI 31:18 - The European ecosystem 33:18 - Slowing down and getting hiring right Enjoyed today's episode of Making The Grade? If you took something valuable from the episode, we'd love for you to... ✔️ Leave us a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. ✔️ Share your ideas or guest suggestions with us at [email protected]✔️ Stay in the loop with the latest from Making The Grade and ScaleWise by following us on LinkedIn or YouTube. See you again next week!