Bootstrapping Webflow to $10M ARR, and scaling to a $4B Valuation with Vlad Magdalin (Co-founder & CEO)
Show notes
Vlad Magdalin is the Co-founder and CEO of Webflow, software that empowers designers to build websites without code. Vlad started the company with his co-founders Sergie Magdalin and Bryant Chou in 2013, and has since raised roughly $335 million supported by investors like Accel, Khosla Ventures, YCombinator, Capital G, and Eric Bahn. — — — — Brought to you by Mercury, the bank built for startups. Join more than 100,000 startups and venture capital firms on Mercury, the powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank.Sign-up now: https://bit.ly/46ImCuD Disclaimer: Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC. — — — — Topics discussed include: • The history of web browsers, websites, and web design • Why websites are the ultimate economic enablers • How Webflow empowers anyone to design websites without code • Why website design is a gateway into programming • How the movement to CSS and web standards in the 2000’s and 2010’s created the opportunity for Webflow to build a product around responsive design • Moving to the US with his parents and five siblings as refugees from the USSR at nine years old • How losing half of their luggage and immigration documents in the move enabled his dad to buy the family’s first computer • The first website Vlad ever designed for a Brad Pitt movie • How his experience dropping out of a computer science degree to work in 3D animation at Pixar, then going back to school gave him the idea for Webflow • Failing to build Webflow three times between 2005 and 2008 • Why the spouses and partners of founders are the unsung heroes of startups • The moment he immediately quit his job and attempted Webflow for the fourth time • Burning three months of runway on a Kickstarter that never went live • Liquidating his retirement account, paying rent with credit cards, and selling and leasing back the family car’s to keep the business running • Vlad’s exuberant optimism that kept him going for 10 years • Failing to get into YC, and the crazy story behind getting accepted the second time • The trajectory-altering customer and fundraising advice they got from Paul Graham • The “Investing on Principle” contract they signed with Accel who led Webflow’s Series A • Why Vlad thinks every startup founder should operate with the assumption they’ll never be able to raise money again Referenced: • Inventing on Principle (Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII • Inventing on Principle (Transcript): https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/inventing-on-principle-by-bret-victor • The Infinite Game: https://simonsinek.com/books/the-infinite-game/ Where to find Vlad: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/callmevlad • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladmagdalin Where to find Turner: • Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it • Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io Want to sponsor the show? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform
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