Stop Fighting Alone: The Secret to Startup Survival

In this episode of the iGaming Leader Podcast, Leo Judkins sits down with Ebbe Groes, the co-founder and CEO of EveryMatrix. From a garage in 2008 to building the world’s largest casino aggregation platform, Ebbe has navigated the brutal realities of scaling a B2B giant without the "fuel" of massive venture capital.

Ebbe shares the high-stakes decisions of EveryMatrix’s "survival" era between 2015 and 2017, where the company nearly ran out of cash and the team took massive salary cuts to keep the dream alive.

He pulls back the curtain on why he ringing a literal bell in meetings to keep efficiency high, the "law of large numbers" that makes VCs dangerous for founders, and why his recent decision to bring his brother in as co-CEO is about building a multigenerational legacy.

GUEST BIO

Co-founder & CEO, EveryMatrix

Ebbe Groes is a seasoned technology entrepreneur with a PhD in Economics and a proven track record of scaling software startups. Since co-founding EveryMatrix in 2008, he has transformed a bootstrapped venture into a leading global B2B iGaming provider that remains debt-free and founder-controlled. With nearly two decades of experience in the sector, Ebbe is known for his sharp commercial focus on tier-one clients and his commitment to maintaining product agility through modular, independent business units.

Key Topics Discussed

00:00 – The VC calculation: Why investors push 60% of companies "down the drain"
02:00 – From garage to global giant: The EveryMatrix origin story
04:00 – Founder-led advantages: Fast decision-making vs. board bureaucracy
06:30 – Identifying bottlenecks: your Outlook calendar is your best leadership gauge
09:00 – The 2015–2017 crisis and nearly running out of cash
4:30 – Swapping salaries for equity during the lean years
20:00 – Why EveryMatrix only raised $4.3M in 18 years
25:00 – Watching your business dreams get taken by VCs
28:00 – The luxury of "No": Segmenting clients into Gold, Silver, and Bronze
32:30 – Co-CEO Strategy: Bringing in family to build a 100-year business
37:00 – "Chop, Chop": Removing people who aren't in the fight with you

Memorable Quotes

• "The key thing to understand about VCs is that they do their calculations on large numbers... they're going to push and accelerate to see if you belong to the 60% that go down the drain."
• "Suddenly the founders... their dreams are shut to pieces and they own 10% of the company. There's nothing fun about it. You feel then cheated from your own dreams."
• "It's important that you surround yourself with also people that think like you and you don't feel, 'oh, I'm alone in fighting this battle.'"
• "If there's some founder in a similar situation... and he feels that some people are not with him... then, you know, here's your chance to get rid of them... So chop, chop."

Key Takeaways

• The "Fuel" Trap: Venture capital often accelerates a company toward a "hit or fail" binary outcome. Founders who take too many rounds often end up as "passengers" in a company they no longer own or recognise.
• Modular Agility: Splitting a large organisation into independent business units with their own P&Ls prevents management bottlenecks and allows each product to compete as a specialist in the market.
• Transparency in Crisis: During the 2015 cash crunch, EveryMatrix survived by being radical about cost-cutting and transparent with staff, eventually converting reduced salaries into high-value equity.
• The Power of "No": Taking the wrong clients creates "opportunity cost" and disrupts your roadmap. Segmenting clients and being willing to cut off distracting revenue streams is essential for long-term scalability.
• Succession as Legacy: Bringing in a Co-CEO isn't just about bandwidth; it's about shifting from a "trade sale" mindset to a multi-generational, family-owned philosophy that preserves the company’s DNA.

Follow Ebbe Groes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebbe-groes/

Follow Leo Judkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-judkins/
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This episode is sponsored by Sumsub, the leading identity verification provider for iGaming operators. Learn more at https://sumsub.link/8gu