The inspiring story of Pierre de Wulf and Kevin Sahin, the co-founders of ScrapingBee, is a tale of persistence and adaptability.

They transformed from a failed B2C startup to a thriving B2B SaaS company by learning from their mistakes and pivoting towards building a product that addressed real customer pain points.

Their journey provides valuable insights that any founder can apply to their own business. In this blog post, we will explore their story and provide a playbook for other founders.

The beginning

The founders started in 2017 with their first product, a B2C browser extension called ShopToList, which monitored price drops on products online. They received their first 1,000 users after submitting their product to fashion/frugal subreddits.

They soon discovered that they needed millions of users to make decent revenue and that they were unable to achieve sustainable growth.

The first pivot

The first pivot came when they identified that some of their users were e-commerce businesses using ShopToList to monitor their competitors' prices. They created a price monitoring tool for e-commerce businesses called PricingBot, which received 60 signups from their landing page.

After launching the MVP on ProductHunt, they witnessed a surge in users. However, when they began charging for the product, few wanted to pay for it.

The second pivot

After taking a break to reflect on their journey, they decided to create a different product, ScrapingBee. They applied the lessons they learned from their previous failures and focused on solving real customer problems, which customers were willing to pay for. They were confident in their ability to deliver a web scraping service, which they had previously paid for in their previous ventures.

Before building the product, they focused on how to distribute and sell it. They utilised their existing blogs and mailing lists to promote ScrapingBee, resulting in 20k monthly visits. They also reduced their costs by finding deals via JoinSecret and sold ShopToList to a competitor via 1k_projects, a micro-business marketplace.

After launching to their mailing list, they secured their first few paying customers and began blogging to generate organic leads via SEO. Their success led them to be accepted into the TinySeed accelerator program in 2020, which they credit as a game-changer in their growth trajectory.

Two years after launch, they reached $500,000 in ARR, and three months later, they surpassed $1,000,000 in ARR. Their incredible journey highlights the power of perseverance, learning from failures, and being willing to pivot.

Key lessons from Pierre and Kevin's story

There are 6 key lessons to take away from the journey of Pierre and Kevin's:

1. Solve a real problem that people are willing to pay for:
   It's essential to validate the problem you're trying to solve by understanding your target audience's needs and pain points. Create a product or service that provides a solution that people are willing to pay for, and ensure that it has a clear value proposition. Don't just create a nice-to-have product that people may not be willing to pay for in the long run.
2. Figure out how you will distribute and sell your product before building it:
   Before you start building your product, think about how you will distribute and sell it. Consider leveraging existing networks, social media channels, blogs, mailing lists, and other channels to promote your product. This will help you build an audience before your product is even launched, making it easier to generate sales and grow your customer base.
3. Persevere through failure and uncertainty:
   Building a successful business is never easy, and you will face many obstacles along the way. It's essential to stay motivated, persevere through failures, and keep trying new things. Don't give up too quickly, and be willing to take risks and learn from your mistakes.
4. Be willing to pivot:
   If something isn't working, be willing to change direction and try something new. Learn from your mistakes and be open to new ideas and opportunities. Pivot your business strategy, product, or marketing approach as needed to ensure you are solving a real problem and meeting customer needs.
5. Focus on sustainable growth:
   Rather than trying to achieve rapid growth at any cost, focus on sustainable growth. Build a product that provides value, and that people are willing to pay for, and that you can scale in a controlled and profitable way. Don't sacrifice long-term sustainability for short-term growth.
6. Reduce your costs:
   Try to reduce your costs by finding deals and credits for services like AWS or Google Cloud. Also, consider selling non-core assets like previous projects or tools that you don't need anymore. This will help you stretch your startup funds further and reduce the pressure to achieve quick success.

The founder journey of Pierre de Wulf and Kevin Sahin is a playbook for other founders to apply to their businesses. By learning from their mistakes, pivoting to solve real problems that customers are willing to pay for, and focusing on sustainable growth, founders can emulate their success.