loader from loading.io

Bootstrapped to $82M: How Callum Mckeefery Built Reviews.io from His Kitchen Table

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Release Date: 11/26/2025

From $450K to $9M ARR in 5 Years: Club Caddie’s Vertical SaaS Playbook show art From $450K to $9M ARR in 5 Years: Club Caddie’s Vertical SaaS Playbook

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Golf course SaaS founder Jason Pearsall shares how Club Caddie scaled from $450K to $9M ARR in 5 years, sold to Constellation Software (CSI), and keeps growing with 600+ golf courses paying ~$15K ACV. If you’re building vertical B2B SaaS, this is a masterclass in niche focus, capital efficiency, and smart deal-making. Jason breaks down why he built an end-to-end ERP for golf courses, how he used data-driven outbound, review sites, SEO and “answer engine optimization” (AEO) to win market share, and what really happened during his CSI acquisition and long-term earnout. We cover pricing,...

info_outline Bootstrapped to $82M: How Callum Mckeefery Built Reviews.io from His Kitchen Table show art Bootstrapped to $82M: How Callum Mckeefery Built Reviews.io from His Kitchen Table

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Callum Mckeefery built Reviews.io from scratch with his wife—no funding, no equity dilution, and no fluff. In this episode, he shares how they scaled to $12M ARR, outpaced VC-backed competitors, and exited for $82M in an all-cash deal. He breaks down the exact viral loop that created SEO-fueled growth, how they hit $240K revenue per employee, and why he chose not to give employees equity—but still made many millionaires. Callum also opens up about the emotional driver behind the exit: his son’s rare genetic condition, and the cutting-edge research he’s now funding. Finally, Callum...

info_outline He Used AI to Generate $6m Revenue at Dreamstories by Selling Childrens Books show art He Used AI to Generate $6m Revenue at Dreamstories by Selling Childrens Books

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

How do you scale a consumer AI company to 100,000+ paying customers… without raising VC and while staying profitable? Ricardo, founder of DreamStories.ai, joins Nathan to break down how he built an AI-powered personalized children’s book studio that’s already done $3M+ in lifetime sales, with average order value around $60 — and why most people misunderstand how to scale paid acquisition for an AI startup. You’ll learn: — How he used Facebook ads to profitably acquire 100,000+ customers — Why his CAC target equals his AOV (and why that works) — The onboarding funnel that...

info_outline Lemlist Revenue Hits $40M: CEO Charles Breaks Down $25M Claap Acquisition Deal show art Lemlist Revenue Hits $40M: CEO Charles Breaks Down $25M Claap Acquisition Deal

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Lemlist revenue has passed $40M revenue with strong profit margins as CEO Charles Tenot breaks down their $25M Claap acquisition and Lemlist’s path to $100M revenue by 2028. He explains how Claap reached $2M ARR with a 7-person team and why Lemlist used a mix of cash, vendor loans, and convertible bonds to structure the deal.  

info_outline Woah! Unicorn Founder Quits Unicorn During $213M Raise, Launches Something Bigger show art Woah! Unicorn Founder Quits Unicorn During $213M Raise, Launches Something Bigger

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Ry Walker, serial entrepreneur and founder of Tembo.io, walked away from his first company, Astronomer.io (yes the Coldplay one) during their $213 million Series C in 2022. The company was doing tens of millions in revenue. Now, he's building Tembo.io, an AI developer teammate that's already processing 1,000+ merged pull requests for 200 organizations just 2 months after pivoting. He previously co-founded Astronomer in 2015, which has raised $380-390 million total and is now estimated at $80-100 million ARR, but took a rare secondary exit in 2022 to return to his true passion: early-stage...

info_outline He Makes $20m/Yr Selling Digital Robots to Companies show art He Makes $20m/Yr Selling Digital Robots to Companies

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Bassem Handy, CEO of Briq.com, survived the VC apocalypse by firing 215 humans and replacing them with robots, growing from burning $1M/month to hitting $25M ARR with just 135 employees. After raising $50M including a peak-bubble Tiger Global round, he took a flat $150M valuation in 2024 and used his own robot technology to automate 80% of his sales team, achieving the lowest customer acquisition costs in company history. In this episode, he reveals exactly how he got 600 companies to pay him $2,000-$5,000/month for robots that process 2.6 million automation minutes monthly, and his plan to...

info_outline How This 25 Year Old College Kid Built a $500K/Month App Empire show art How This 25 Year Old College Kid Built a $500K/Month App Empire

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Sid Bendre and his co-founders at Oleve built a $6 million ARR mobile app empire with just 6 people, generating $500,000 monthly revenue and 10-30% profit margins from their education apps Quizzard and Unstuck. Their first TikTok video exploded to 2.3 million views overnight, converting to 10,000 users instantly, and they've since scaled to 4 million total downloads by running 6-7 A/B tests simultaneously and building AI agents that automatically find app store arbitrage opportunities. In this episode, Sid reveals their exact "milk the alpha" playbook for building million-dollar apps in any...

info_outline My Agent Army Brings Me $500,000 Per Month (Exploding SaaS) show art My Agent Army Brings Me $500,000 Per Month (Exploding SaaS)

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Romain Torres bootstrapped ARCads.ai from zero to $6 million ARR in just 16 months with only 5 employees, achieving an extraordinary $1.2 million in revenue per employee while staying completely profitable. He launched in January 2024, hit $5,000 MRR in his first week, crossed $1 million ARR by June 2024, and recently added $1 million in new ARR in a single month between April and May 2025. His secret weapon is an arsenal of over 100 AI agents built in Gumloop that automate everything from competitor research to content creation, allowing his tiny team to serve 4,000+ customers and compete...

info_outline AI Tool Hits $3.2m Revenue in 18 Months Using 7 Growth Tactics (Copy!) show art AI Tool Hits $3.2m Revenue in 18 Months Using 7 Growth Tactics (Copy!)

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Ricardo Ghekiere bootstrapped BetterPic.io from $3,000 to $270,000 monthly revenue in just 12 months, building a $3.2M revenue AI headshot empire with 13 people and zero churn using a one-time purchase model. His affiliate program converts at 12% (versus the industry standard of 0.5-1%) with just 7 top performers driving $77,000 monthly revenue, while generating $230,000 revenue per employee. In this episode, Ricardo screen-shares his actual affiliate dashboard and revenue metrics, revealing his 7-channel growth system that compounds SEO, affiliates, and free tools to capture 500 daily leads...

info_outline Mobile App King: 2 Lines of Code Make Him $3.6 Million Per Year show art Mobile App King: 2 Lines of Code Make Him $3.6 Million Per Year

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Jake Mor is the founder of Superwall (superwall.com), a mobile app paywall platform that generates $3.6 million ARR with just 12 employees by powering over 100 million paywall views monthly for 3,000 customers. His company processes $25-50 million in customer revenue each month and has built over 4,000 custom paywalls while facilitating 4-5 million new user conversions monthly across their customer base. Jake reveals his exact hybrid PLG-to-enterprise strategy that starts customers at $200-300 monthly on self-serve plans then graduates them to $1,000-1,500 negotiated enterprise deals, plus his...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Callum Mckeefery built Reviews.io from scratch with his wife—no funding, no equity dilution, and no fluff. In this episode, he shares how they scaled to $12M ARR, outpaced VC-backed competitors, and exited for $82M in an all-cash deal.

He breaks down the exact viral loop that created SEO-fueled growth, how they hit $240K revenue per employee, and why he chose not to give employees equity—but still made many millionaires. Callum also opens up about the emotional driver behind the exit: his son’s rare genetic condition, and the cutting-edge research he’s now funding.

Finally, Callum talks about his new SaaS startup, Partner.io, where he’s rebuilding from zero with the same gritty playbook.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How to engineer viral loops in B2B SaaS

  • Why small ACV doesn’t mean slow growth

  • How to win against VC-backed competition without fundraising

  • The emotional side of selling a company

  • Tactical breakdown: SEO, paid ads, and partnerships as growth levers

  • Post-exit reflections and the pitfalls of private equity buyers

  • What he’s building next at Partner.io

 

Perfect for: SaaS founders, B2B operators, bootstrappers, PE firms, and investors looking for real, gritty founder stories with no BS.