He Built a $50M Startup That Replaces Stripe (With $0 Funding)

Vova Feldman built Freemius from scratch into a profitable, bootstrapped payments platform processing tens of millions in GMV annually with just 20 people, helping over 2,000 software products handle subscriptions, payments, and tax automation.

He grew their YouTube channel from 5,000 to 100,000 subscribers in just 30 days using a strategic paid promotion approach, spending as little as $300-500 per video to drive massive growth and getting 200 webinar signups at roughly $1.50 per registration.

In this episode, Vova reveals how he evolved Freemius's pricing from a 30% revenue share down to a competitive 4.7% base rate, his exact YouTube paid promotion strategy that makes every video perform 10x better for just $50, and why he initially wasted time fundraising before deciding to bootstrap and focus purely on building the product.
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Apply for funding from my $150m SaaS fund:
https://founderpath.com/

Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3AA9buFn8oxJf8WSDOUks5?si=61d5913030b244a9&nd=1&dlsi=24c670bfefdc43bb

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saas-interviews-with-ceos-startups-founders/id1023761733

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Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction & Growth Results
0:31 - Who is Vova Feldman?
1:19 - From CTO to CEO
1:51 - The Big Exit
2:08 - Discovering the Pain Point
2:51 - Launching Freemius
3:22 - First Year Struggles
4:36 - Why Raise Capital After a Successful Exit?
5:05 - The Bootstrap Decision
5:55 - Pricing Evolution: From 30% to 4.7%
6:08 - The Original Pricing Mistake
7:06 - How the Pricing Strategy Changed Everything
10:17 - GMV & Revenue Deep Dive
11:29 - The Expansion Beyond WordPress
12:03 - Content Marketing Strategy
13:11 - Profitable & Bootstrapped
13:40 - Team Size & Hiring A-Players
14:47 - YouTube Strategy
17:44 - The YouTube Growth Experiment
18:39 - From 5K to 100K Subscribers in 30 Days
19:57 - YouTube Ads ROI
20:38 - Strategic Video Selection for Growth
21:31 - The Value of Promoting Every Video
22:35 - Subscriber Growth Chart Analysis
23:13 - Podcast Challenges & Distribution Strategy
23:54 - Where to Find Vova
24:17 - Final Thoughts & Takeaways

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