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Founders Unplugged is a web series capturing long-form conversations with founders, entrepreneurs and investors from all over the world.
How PodPlay Reached $1.5M ARR with No Sales Team w/ Ben Borton - Part Two
Founders Unplugged
48 minutes 11 seconds
5 months ago
How PodPlay Reached $1.5M ARR with No Sales Team w/ Ben Borton - Part Two
Sponsored by FounderCatalyst
Get 5% off their services via this link:
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In Part Two, Greg McCallum sits down again with Ben Borton—Co-Founder of PodPlay—to unpack how a content-first go-to-market strategy helped them grow to $1.5M in ARR without a sales team. Ben shares how PodPlay’s user-initiated video replay feature created viral momentum, the role fun plays in both product design and mission, and why franchising is their next big bet.
🎧 In this conversation:
How replay tech became part of the club culture
Turning short-form video into inbound demand
Why PodPlay chose content over cold calls
Fundraising lessons from Sequoia and beyond
Scaling vertically by solving real estate problems
Balancing customer happiness with ruthless prioritisation
Franchising as a model for community-led growth
Lessons learned from mistakes in locations and roadmap
This is a rare look at what it takes to grow a vertical SaaS platform from scratch, build a movement around joy and autonomy, and rethink how people play.
