Bootstrapping OpenVC, reaching profitability in 2 years, becoming product of the month on Product Hunt, closing Petri and saying no to $800k from investors - Stephane Nasser (OpenVC) - S2 Ep5

Welcome to this new episode of Explore! 😎

For those of you that have been here since the beginning, 1000 thanks, and welcome to the newcomers who have joined us in recent weeks. I receive a lot of encouragement on LinkedIn, the best way to send me some love is to follow this podcast and give it 5 stars. It will allow others to discover it. 🙏

In this episode I sat down with Stephane Nasser, the founder and CEO of OpenVC, a platform that helps founders find investors. We discussed his journey from Microsoft to founding Petri and refusing a $800k check before closing the company. We talked about bootstrapping OpenVC as a weekend project before becoming product of the month on Product Hunt. We went through some of the key metrics, how both founders managed to go full time and how he sees the platform in the next 5-years.🚀

Have a great episode!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Shoutout

02:06 Stephane's Early Life and Career Journey

04:39 Stephane's Experience at Microsoft and Faber Novel

07:52 The Birth and End of Petri

17:18 Transition to Consulting and the Genesis of OpenVC

23:40 The Challenges and Successes of Bootstrapping OpenVC

25:51 OpenVC deep dive

48:11 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climateventuresvco2.substack.com