In episode 669, Rob Walling chats with Rick Hymanson, founder of detamoov and previously Shugo. They discuss Rick’s exit from Shugo in 2018 in what Rob calls “ten years to overnight success”. Rick recounts an early pivot for the company in finding product market fit, building the business with a day job, the logistics of the exit, and why he’s excited to join TinySeed with detamoov.

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Topics we cover:

1:59 – How Rick felt after exiting Shugo
5:10 – Deciding to start detamoov after the exit
7:09 – Creating a Shugo MVP and pivoting
11:15 – Building a SaaS product while working a day job
15:34 – Transitioning to full time and growing Shugo ARR
20:28 – Expanding the product feature set
22:11 – When did you know you had product-market fit?
23:28 – Finding an acquirer and navigating the process
27:38 – Starting and growing datamoov
31:12 – The value of relationship building
34:43 – IP ownership agreements

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Episode 669 | 10 Years to Overnight Success: Bootstrapping to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit

Startups For the Rest of Us