The Undefeated Underdogs
The Undefeated Underdogs
Sharath Kuruganty
Marie Martens - The story of how two founders bootstrapped a $1M+ ARR startup!
1 hour 4 minutes Posted Apr 26, 2024 at 6:26 pm.
: Episode Highlight1:10: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:34: Introduction to Marie Martens the co-founder of Tally.so!05:50: How does being a mom keep Marie motivated?09:22: Why Tally refuses to hire or raise funds20:35: Tally's original mission in 202024:03: Secrets of hockey stick growth30:32: Ways to get over burnout38:04: Why Marie founded Tally in an over-crowded market44:10: How Notion influenced Tally47:30: How no-code tools and AI could have changed Tally's growth52:24: Marie's Plan B in case Tally didn't work out55:10: How building Tally differs from Marie's previous startup56:36: Tally's tactics that led to hockey stick growth59:08: What's next for Tally?1:03:25: Outro and closing thoughts๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Resources:Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Where to find Marie:Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarieMartensLinkedin: https://be.linkedin.com/in/mariemartensTally: https://blog.tally.so/author/marie/๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Where to find Sharath:Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/
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๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ About the Guest:Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, the simplest way to create forms. With a background in marketing, she co-founded a travel marketplace, Hotspot, and pivoted to Tally during the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, Tally's lean team has bootstrapped Tally to a $1M in ARR!๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Sponsor Corner:Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! Theyโ€™re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Description:Listen in as Sharath and Marie discuss juggling parenthood and startup life, hockey stick growth, and more!ย ๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Timestamps:00:00: Episode Highlight1:10: Shoutout to Acquire.com03:34: Introduction to Marie Martens - the co-founder of Tally.so!05:50: How does being a mom keep Marie motivated?09:22: Why Tally refuses to hire or raise funds20:35: Tally's original mission in 202024:03: Secrets of hockey stick growth30:32: Ways to get over burnout38:04: Why Marie founded Tally in an over-crowded market44:10: How Notion influenced Tally47:30: How no-code tools and AI could have changed Tally's growth52:24: Marie's Plan B in case Tally didn't work out55:10: How building Tally differs from Marie's previous startup56:36: Tally's tactics that led to hockey stick growth59:08: What's next for Tally?1:03:25: Outro and closing thoughts๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Resources:Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Where to find Marie:Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarieMartensLinkedin: https://be.linkedin.com/in/mariemartensTally: https://blog.tally.so/author/marie/๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿผ Where to find Sharath:Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/