Father and son team John and Tyler Richards — veteran entrepreneurs, venture investors, mentors, and educators — discuss all things entrepreneurship and venture capital.
All content for Startup Ignition Podcast is the property of John & Tyler Richards and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Father and son team John and Tyler Richards — veteran entrepreneurs, venture investors, mentors, and educators — discuss all things entrepreneurship and venture capital.
Adam Edmunds: $4B Entrata CEO on Podium's Growth, Allegiance Sale to MaritzCX, SaaS & GTM Metrics
Startup Ignition Podcast
1 hour 9 minutes
4 months ago
Adam Edmunds: $4B Entrata CEO on Podium's Growth, Allegiance Sale to MaritzCX, SaaS & GTM Metrics
In this episode of the Startup Ignition Podcast, we're joined by Adam Edmunds, the CEO of the $4B real estate tech powerhouse, Entrata. Adam shares his incredible journey from a student entrepreneur who didn't know what a cap table was to a seasoned operator leading multi-billion dollar companies. He dives deep into the "secret sauce" behind Podium's explosive growth from $1M to $100M ARR in just four years, the critical importance of being "maniacally obsessed" with go-to-market metrics, and the differences between founder-led and operator-led success. Adam also opens up about the personal toll of hyper-growth, his burnout and departure from Podium, and the crucial lessons he learned about identity, relationships, and finding fulfillment in the journey, not just the outcome.
(00:00:00) The Secret Sauce of Podium's Hyper-Growth (00:02:37) Introducing Adam Edmunds, CEO of Entrata (00:04:52) Startup Hot Takes: Is AI Coming for 50% of Jobs? (00:07:54) Hot Take: Do Serious Founders Need to Sacrifice Work-Life Balance? (00:10:04) Hot Take: Should Founders Stay in the Weeds to Succeed? (00:15:45) How John Met a Young Adam at BYU (00:19:47) Faking it 'Til You Make It to Land Your First Customers (00:24:48) The Story of Silent Whistle and Allegiance (00:29:29) Cracking the Code on Enterprise vs. SMB Sales (00:31:29) Why Did Podium's Go-to-Market Just Work? (00:36:55) Why Every Founder Must Be a Go-to-Market Metric Assassin (00:40:00) The Founder/Operator Dynamic Between Adam and Eric Farr (00:41:53) "I'm Gonna Be Rich and Dead": Burnout and Leaving Podium (00:45:17) The Journey to Becoming CEO of Entrata (00:49:14) Your Net Worth is Not Your Self-Worth (00:51:13) Why the Journey is Better Than the Achievement (00:56:06) Taking Over a 2,500-Person Bootstrap Business (00:58:29) Raising $500M+ for a "Stealth" Unicorn (01:02:11) Building a Generational Business at Entrata (01:04:21) Adam's Advice to His 23-Year-Old Self (01:07:53) Why Your Employees Don't Have to Care as Much as You Do
Learn more about us: https://startupignition.com/links
Apply to be a guest on the pod: https://startup-ignition-podcast.paperform.co/
Follow John & Tyler: https://x.com/trich_ https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrichards/
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StartupIgnition
Follow on X: https://x.com/startupignition
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupignition/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@startupignition
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/6458758/admin/dashboard/
Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startupignition/
Father and son team John and Tyler Richards — veteran entrepreneurs, venture investors, mentors, and educators — discuss all things entrepreneurship and venture capital.
