Guy Raz’s How I Built This has been a must-listen business podcast series since it first launched in 2016, giving listeners insight how the most iconic brands and businesses got off the ground. Those who attended last week’s Built In The Burbs series in Woodstock, Georgia were treated to a How I Built This-style conversation with Brendan Sweeney, one of the most successful SaaS founders to come out of the Metro Atlanta area over the last several years.
Sweeney is the co-founder and CEO of Popmenu, an Atlanta-based company that turns a restaurant’s menu into a customer conversion engine. Popmenu’s technology is inside many favorite restaurants across the country, but has kept its strong roots in Atlanta. Popmenu’s story will be familiar to Hypepotamus readers. In 2021 the Restaurant Tech company raised a $65 million Series C from Tiger Global Management and other VC firms. The team has gone on to acquire New York-based Ordereze and Atlanta-based OrderNerd.
During the conversation, Sweeney talked about what it took to grow Popmenu, dished out some poignant advice for founders, and insights into what it means to move from being a founder into a full-blown CEO. Throughout the conversations, these insights caught our attention:
* “It’s Not Easier Now”
Today, Popmenu’s success would be enviable to any software startup. The platform now hosts over 11,000 restaurants, has raised almost $90 million in capital, employs around 250 people, and is set to hit that often elusive milestone — profitability — shortly.
While the original idea for the startup dates back to 2014, it really started to gain significant traction in 2020. COVID showed that restaurants needed digital solutions to connect with takeout diners and save their business. To help their restaurant customers maintain their business during lockdowns, Popmenu got to work building out its online ordering system. It was able to deliver the new product in two weeks.
But during the fireside chat, Sweeney said bringing in customers and capital does not make the business journey any easier. His advice to founders: Get comfortable with the idea that a bit of success doesn’t magically make the business journey easier.
“You’re figuring out the formula every single day,” he added.
* Know How To Talk To Your Customers
Popmenu was intentionally designed as a first-party tool, meaning customers make the decisions around how they want to organize and utilize the SaaS platform. But selling a SaaS product isn’t a uniform experience. While some companies can rely on video demos and sales-focused websites, Sweeney realized early on that wouldn’t cut it in the hospitality industry. Restaurant owners want face-to-face interactions during the sales process, so the team focuses on getting in front of customers as much as possible. And that can be an important reminder for early-stage founders who are trying to build out their best sales strategies moving forward.
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Featured photo from HatchBridge
