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Hull

by Roman DardurLaunched 2016via The SaaS Podcast
SaaSword-of-mouthsubscriptionexisting-tool-frustration

Hull is a customer data platform founded by Roman Dardur that unifies fragmented customer data from multiple sources and synchronizes it across business tools in real-time. After 4 years of struggling to find product-market fit with an overly complex initial vision, Roman pivoted in late 2016 based on lunch conversation feedback, built a prototype in 5 days, and landed Mention as their first customer. Today with ~100 customers paying at least $1,000/month and $5M in funding, Hull has achieved strong PMF through word-of-mouth growth and a sophisticated IP-to-company targeting system for outreach.

Key Takeaways

  • Used word of mouth as primary growth channel
  • Reached product-market fit in 4 years until pivot, then ~1 year after pivot to finding strong PMF
  • Got first customer via Direct outreach to Mention after building a prototype and getting referral from Guillaume Caban (who moved to Segment)
  • Most effective channel: word-of-mouth
  • Monetizes with subscription pricing
  • Currently earning $100k/mo
  • Built initial product in 5 days for prototype (leveraging 3 years of existing engine); 4 years for initial product before pivot in 2016

Revenue

Current MRR$100k
Current ARR$1.2M
Pricing Modelsubscription

Traction

First Customer ChannelDirect outreach to Mention after building a prototype and getting referral from Guillaume Caban (who moved to Segment)
Most Effective Channelword-of-mouth
Outreach MethodIP-to-company resolution using Clearbit API combined with cold email via Outreach or SalesLoft, targeting marketing ops/sales ops personas at companies that visited their website
Time to PMF4 years until pivot, then ~1 year after pivot to finding strong PMF
Traction Patternword-of-mouth

Tech

Dev Duration5 days for prototype (leveraging 3 years of existing engine); 4 years for initial product before pivot in 2016
Tools Used
SalesforceCustomer IOSlackSegmentDriftMentionOutreachSalesLoftClearbitDeadeye (acquired by Zoom Info)FacebookLinkedInMailchimpTechstarsNotion

Why They Built It

Roman realized that sales, marketing, and customer success teams work in data silos, making it hard to align and communicate efficiently with customers. He built Hull to collect, enrich, and synchronize customer data across all business tools in real-time.

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