Episode description

On this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Vishal Sunak, Co-Founder and CEO at LinkSquares.

LinkSquares has grown 1,000% in two years, with 400+ brands including Fitbit and Twilio as customers. The company was recently placed No. 253 on the annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Fresh off their $100M Series C funding at an $800M valuation, Vishal joins us to share the founders’ perspective of scaling a company to $10M ARR in 2 years and dives into all the challenges, lessons, triumphs, and failures that come along with the journey.

Session highlights include:

1:54 - Coming up with the idea

9:00 - How LinkSquares acquired their first customers

16:17 - Raising the first external capital and signals of product market fit

25:07 - Key framework to scale from $1 million to $10 million ARR

29:24 - Navigating through the hiring and recruiting process in 2022

35:30 - Tips to evangelize people to join your company

46:44 - Handling missing functionality in the early days

51:38 - How founders should think about when to add a second product

58:16 - Key metrics that founders should watch like a hawk

1:05:30 - How to drive FOMO when fundraising

1:13:38 - Navigating the toughest points in the startup journey

1:20:05 - Unconventional advice founders ignore, but shouldn't

Learn more at https://tractionconf.io

Connect with Vishal Sunak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishalsunak/

Learn more about LinkSquares at https://linksquares.com/

This episode is brought to you by:

Each year the U.S. and Canadian governments provide more than $20 billion in R&D tax credits and innovation incentives to fund businesses. But the application process is cumbersome, prone to costly audits, and receiving the money can take as long as 16 months. Boast automates this process, enabling companies to get more money faster without the paperwork and audit risk. We don’t get paid until you do! Find out if you qualify today at https://Boast.AI.

Launch Academy is one of the top global tech hubs for international entrepreneurs and a designated organization for Canada's Startup Visa. Since 2012, Launch has worked with more than 6,000 entrepreneurs from over 100 countries, of which 300 have grown their startups to seed and Series A stage and raised over $2 billion in funding. To learn more about Launch's programs or the Canadian Startup Visa, visit https://LaunchAcademy.ca 

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