The FastBridge Fast Growth Story: From Startup to $10M
Leadership
Hitting on all cylinders requires focus and intention. Terri Soutor, CEO of FastBridge, recognized that early on and chose dedicated partners who had a great idea and, through amazing service, could deliver high value to their target clients. This approach scaled their SaaS-based business 10x over four years, without having to raise outside capital, before ultimately selling to the perfect strategic buyer. Terri shares the strategies behind their exponential growth and what they did to maintain their mission, vision, and values along the entrepreneurial journey.
Highlights
- How the University of Minnesota’s Venture Center helped fund and launch Terri’s EdTech startup, FastBridge.
- The differences between academics and business, why it’s hard to commercialize ideas and research, and how FastBridge solved this problem.
- What FastBridge did to market and monetize their research.
- Strategies to increase up-front payments from clients to fund company growth.
- What FastBridge did to bootstrap their growth from 0 to 10 million dollars within 4 years.
- How FastBridge maintained 70-80% margins without sacrificing their high-quality service.
- Why knowing your ‘magic number’ way before an exit is crucial.
- How to stay true to the original vision of your business while getting ready to exit.
- Terri’s definition of managed growth and how it applies to any industry.
- What Terri and her partners did to correct dissonance when things became less ‘fun’ and different priorities started competing for resources.
