Founder of Appraisd (HR SaaS), bootstrapped to successful 7-figure exit
I'm here to provide support and guidance to owners or founders who are interested in taking their company to exit. Having been through the process, I feel I have a lot of insight and many scars that could be valuable to someone who is in the position I was in a couple of years ago. As a solo founder, I know I could have done with an impartial and, crucially, experienced mentor to keep me sane throughout the process. And now having been through it, I feel I can more clearly see the pros and cons of exit. Even if you are not looking to exit or it is a long way off, I would be delighted to help any founders look for ways to clarify their strategy and scale. I've been involved in HR software as a service for over 20 years and have successfully sold my software at scale to SMEs as well as £100k per annum enterprise deals. Along the way, I've made a lot of useful friendships and contacts that may be useful to others too.
I have many stories, positive and negative, about building a team of people. In a bootstrapped small organisation, this is utterly critical to success. I'd be very happy to explore with you the issues you're facing, and hopefully my experience can be of assistance as the founder of a performance management software application. I can also tell you about methods to understand your team and what worked and didn't for us.
I can talk about how we supported 220 clients of all sizes with 3 customer success managers, maintaining the human touch throughout. I can talk about the types of personalities suited to the role and why upsells can be harder than you think. I can talk about the software we use to support us and where it fell short.
I have battled with Imposter Syndrome, and with hindsight, I can see how this has been unwarranted and led to mistakes. On the other hand, it's led me to find expertise when I need it and improved my judgement. As a solo founder, I know it can be lonely. I can help you use the signals that are available to ensure you are steering the right course and I can help you bounce ideas around safely.
If you are somewhat of an introvert or feel you have impostor syndrome, talk to me about leadership. There are many ways to be a leader, and sometimes the tech world seems to have tunnel vision on what it takes.
Most of us are looking for annual recurring revenue. Typically, this is because you get a higher multiple on the valuation of your organisation, and in theory, make money while you sleep... I'd love to talk to you about your ideas and help you bring them to reality. I can also tell you how embarrassing it is to have a laptop open on a beach while you watch your revenue start to tick up. Actually, the laptop was handy because I had to fix a bug shortly afterwards!
Venting frustration is an important process for founders, and I would be delighted to hear what is driving you mad. Usually, it's your team or co-founders! I'd be very happy to listen and help you reflect, to give you clarity that could lead to a critical decision or perhaps an acknowledgement that you can't do anything about it for now.
Appraisd is an online employee performance management system that aims to help managers and employees get the best from each other. I was the solo founder of the organisation and grew it to successful acquisition in 2025 with no external investment.