Successful software entrepreneurs are just abnormal people who do abnormal things.
That’s not better or worse than anyone else. We just do things that “normal” people don’t do.
That’s usually where the opportunity is. If everyone is doing it or thinking that way already, we’re late.
All these things are abnormal in the world of “startup success,” but they are relatively common with practical SaaS founders:
- Focusing on one vertical market and working on the same customer problem for 10 or 20 years
- Growing a profitable software company
- Creating a new market that didn’t exist before
- Not raising any outside funding at all
- Selling a majority of the company but staying actively involved as a senior executive working for a new CEO
Dave Savage did all of those abnormal things.
Dave was the longtime CEO of Mortgage Coach. He told his fascinating story this week on the Practical Founders Podcast.
After 20 years of building a successful and profitable company, David and his cofounder sold the majority of Mortgage Coach in 2021 to private equity investors for an “abnormal” amount of money.
Like any successful practical founder, Dave seems pretty normal on the outside. But he thinks very differently and does things normal people don’t do, again and again.
He knew he was different at an early age in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD and had difficulty spelling and reading, but he was great at math and communicating.
Dave found that using computers could help him overcome his challenges and create big advantages. He used computers in sales in the early ‘90s when that was an abnormal thing to do.
Then Dave created Mortgage Coach in 1997 to help other successful mortgage loan officers drastically improve their referrals and revenues. He worked on it at night after his day job.
- Dave and his partner grew Mortgage Coach after the Great Financial Crisis created the “mortgage meltdown.”
- They rebuilt their software for the modern web and for all the new mobile devices.
- And they started selling to big lending companies, not just individual loan officers.
In the end, over 2 million prospective homeowners have received a Total Cost of Ownership financial analysis of their loan options from a Mortgage Coach user.
It’s an amazing practical founder success story that fits Dave Savage. He did it his way.
Entrepreneurs aren’t crazy. We’re just not normal.
Listen to the in-depth interview with Dave Savage on the Practical Founders Podcast.
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