E12: From Near-Death to $10,000,000 with Stephen Hakami

27/06/2025 46 min Temporada 1 Episodio 12

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Episode Synopsis

In this episode of the SaaS Operators Podcast, we sat down with Stephen Hakami, the founder of Wiza, to talk about his journey bootstrapping Wiza to $10M+ ARR and what happens when you hit an inflection point. Stephen shares why he's now considering raising capital after years of profitable growth, and has shifted from a profit-first mindset to a platform play that focuses on enterprise value. We dig into the tradeoffs between bootstrapping vs. venture scaling, the importance of retention metrics, and why gross logo retention tells a deeper story. Stephen also opens up about a near-death moment for the company when his sole developer passed away suddenly, leaving the entire product in limbo. The episode ends with a broader look at enterprise value, multi-product strategy, and the real meaning of resilience in SaaS.