Marie Martens - The story of how two founders bootstrapped a $1M+ ARR startup!

👉🏼 About the Guest:

Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, the simplest way to create forms. With a background in marketing, she co-founded a travel marketplace, Hotspot, and pivoted to Tally during the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, Tally's lean team has bootstrapped Tally to a $1M in ARR!

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is building a SaaS product called GuestLab, and runs another podcast series called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this one.

👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:

Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/

👉🏼 Description:

Listen in as Sharath and Marie discuss juggling parenthood and startup life, hockey stick growth, and more!

👉🏼 Timestamps:

• 00:00: Episode Highlight
• 1:10: Shoutout to Acquire.com
• 03:34: Introduction to Marie Martens - the co-founder of Tally.so!
• 05:50: How does being a mom keep Marie motivated?
• 09:22: Why Tally refuses to hire or raise funds
• 20:35: Tally's original mission in 2020
• 24:03: Secrets of hockey stick growth
• 30:32: Ways to get over burnout
• 38:04: Why Marie founded Tally in an over-crowded market
• 44:10: How Notion influenced Tally
• 47:30: How no-code tools and AI could have changed Tally's growth
• 52:24: Marie's Plan B in case Tally didn't work out
• 55:10: How building Tally differs from Marie's previous startup
• 56:36: Tally's tactics that led to hockey stick growth
• 59:08: What's next for Tally?
• 1:03:25: Outro and closing thoughts

👉🏼 Resources:

• Link to Acquire.com: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/

👉🏼 Where to find Marie:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarieMartens
• Linkedin: https://be.linkedin.com/in/mariemartens
• Tally: https://blog.tally.so/author/marie/

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
• Website: https://5harath.com/
• Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/