Most SaaS founders who have successfully sold their companies say they will start another software business, even when they have already had serious monetary success.
They love the difficult puzzle of solving big problems with cool software and people they love working with.
Chris Savage is the co-founder and CEO of Wistia, the popular video marketing platform.
In 2017, after 11 years in business, they got several huge offers to buy the company. So Chris sat down with his co-founder Brendon to discuss it.
They realized they would create another software business in the same market serving the same customers with the same team—only without their current problems.
So they decided not to sell the company.
They bought out their early angel investors, fixed the internal problems, returned to profitability, and kept growing the company with a long-term focus on their customers.
Wistia is a leading video marketing platform for small and mid-sized businesses. They now have 180 employees, tens of thousands of customers, and millions of users.
The company is almost 20 years old now. Both Chris and Brendan are having fun with a great team. They keep retooling the company, its products, and its strategies to serve their happy customers.
As Chris described it on the Practical Founders Podcast this week,
“I’m actually having more fun now than earlier in the business. I can only say that because we have an amazing senior management team. They know how to work together, make decisions, and communicate within their departments. They give me the freedom to do my job, which requires thinking about the future.
“I tell people I live in the future and the ultra-present. What are the implications of the tech that’s coming? What are the big things happening in the market that we need to be thinking about?
“And then there’s exact moment right now. which is talking to existing customers, talking to prospective customers, talking to people who are doing the work in the business and doing that in an organic way. My job is working at two extremes and then bringing that together to make decisions in the business when they come up.”
Wistia is wired for long-term success as a profitable and growing software company, with no intention of selling the company or taking on outside investors.
If creating products, building teams, and changing the world for customers is your thing, why not build your company to keep doing that for a long time?
Listen to the interview with Chris Savage here.
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