From $0 to $38.5M Without VC Money

Hey there,

👋 Welcome to our first deep dive into the $100M Business Strategy Series. Today we're unpacking SimpliSafe, a company that bootstrapped their way to $38.5M before venture capital came knocking.

The home security market in 2006 was stuck in the stone age: expensive installations, clunky hardware, and contracts that felt like mortgage agreements. Enter Chad and Eleanor Laurans, a couple who turned their apartment break-in story into a billion-dollar business by breaking every "rule" in the security industry playbook.

👊 Story: $100M Company Breaking the Status Quo

While ADT was busy selling $2,000 systems with 3-year contracts, SimpliSafe took a radically different approach. They bet that people would trust a DIY security system if it was thoughtfully designed and actually worked. Crazy, right?

Their growth trajectory changed the industry playbook: Starting from Chad and Eleanor's Harvard Business School apartment in 2006, they bootstrapped their way to $38.5 million in revenue before taking their first major investment - securing $57M from Sequoia Capital in 2014. The validation kept coming: by 2018, they were valued at over $1B when Hellman & Friedman acquired a majority stake.

But here's what's fascinating: they didn't just build a product – they rebuilt the entire customer experience. No salespeople. No installers. No contracts. Just a system that anyone could set up in 30 minutes, backed by professional monitoring that didn't require a firstborn child as collateral. This approach has now protected over 4 million American homes, showing that sometimes breaking industry rules is exactly what customers want.

🤫 Framework: The Secret Sauce

Their growth playbook was refreshingly simple:

1. Build an incredible product people actually want

2. Price it so customers can actually afford it

3. Sell directly to consumers

4. Reinvest profits into growth

5. Double down on what works

🚀 The Next Big Trend

Here's what I'd build today: "SimpliSafe for Small Business"

The market is screaming for a solution that bridges the gap between Ring cameras and enterprise security systems. Think: multi-location monitoring, employee access management, and inventory protection – all without the enterprise price tag or complexity.

Small businesses spent $15B on security last year, yet most still rely on consumer grade cameras, often offline when it matters most which leads to crossing fingers and hoping for the best. With advancements in voice tech, a $150 camera with built-in voice capture can be a total game changer. That’s the gap and your opportunity.

Next week, we'll break down another company that broke all the rules and won. Until then, keep building differently.

With love,
Yoela

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