They Got Acquired - 1K users/week = $12M ARR

December 3, 2024
​Read on web​

Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan wanted to build a new kind of freelance marketplace.

But like many non-technical founders, they didn’t have the technical expertise to bring their vision to life. And without funding, they couldn’t pay a developer big bucks to build the platform.

So they invited a software developer to become a minority partner, and he built out their site, Freeup.

“We worked with him before for years [on other projects] before offering him the partnership,” Hirsch said.

The developer owned about 15% of the company. That turned lucrative when the business sold six years later.

During those six years, the team built Freeup to $12 million in ARR. They did without employees, relying on about 30 overseas contractors.

Here’s how they built and sold the business:

​Tired of traditional job boards, these founders took a different approach and grew to $12M ARR​

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Move fast and break things?

Lots of founders dream of 200% year-over-year growth.

For Renzo Saravia and Javier Fernandez-Concha, founders of Peru-based software development and near-shore technology staffing firm Whiz, that kind of success caught them by surprise.

They originally planned to build an app to help travelers find parties, bars and dance clubs in various cities around the world. Building websites and software for clients was supposed to be a side project to fund that app.

They couldn’t have predicted the kind of success this side project would bring when, three years after founding, they broke into the U.S. market.

“It was not like: This is our vision,” Saravia said. “It was just more like a lucky mistake.”

The company grew from 30 employees at the beginning of 2020 to 120 employees by 2022, and revenues soared to more than $5 million, with more than 25% EBITDA.

Whiz rode that success all the way to an acquisition in November 2022 to technology services and staffing company 10Pearls. The firm has made more than a dozen other acquisitions, including social media marketing agency Likeable.

Here’s our story:

​A “lucky break” set this tech staffing company on the path to $5 million in revenue​

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​