Why Startups Shouldn’t Raise Funds Just Because They Can

<p>Fundraising has become a rite of passage for any startup that claims to be ambitious. It is perceived to be a must by many founders, especially those who are building SaaS products that need to grow fast and want to acquire a large market share. </p><br><p>However, fundraising is not always the only way for such a company to succeed.</p><br><p>In this episode, we catch up with Guillaume Moubeche, co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.lemlist.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lemlist</a>, who bootstrapped his company with $1000 to reach $5M ARR in less than 3 years. Guillaume recently turned down a $30 million offer from a private equity that included a $15 million cash-out for the three co-founders of Lemlist. That meant saying "no" to receiving $5 million straight into each of their bank accounts. What was the thinking behind this decision? Listen now to learn more.</p><br><p>Lemlist is STATION F alum, part of Zendesk program alum and our list of Future40 companies in 2019.</p><br><p>Topics: </p><p><strong>00:22</strong> — Introduction with Roxanne Varza </p><p><strong>01:13</strong> — Guillaume on why he publicly turned down €30 million </p><p><strong>02:22</strong> — Investment offers that Lemlist received from VC and PE funds </p><p><strong>03:34</strong> — The background and growth story of Lemlist </p><p><strong>04:15</strong> — Guillaume’s approach to company building: focusing on customers rather than fundraising </p><p><strong>05:40</strong> — Why he recently went after fundraising </p><p><strong>09:18</strong> — When fundraising is relevant for a company </p><p><strong>10:26</strong> — The advantage of having constraints on building product </p><p><strong>11:31</strong> — The number of offers that Lemlist got </p><p><strong>12:23</strong> — Growth strategies: how Lemlist turned $1000 into $5M ARR in three years </p><p><strong>15:27</strong> — Things that went wrong and learnings </p><p><strong>18:47</strong> — On selling vs. not selling </p><p><strong>23:05</strong> — What&nbsp;can