Timestamps:

7:21 - The right time for scaling up

26:36 - Why hire in Belgrade

32:02 - Scaling while bootstrapped

42:42 - Growth engines

53:15 - Growing towards an exit

About Dennis Just and Mathis Büchi:

Dennis Just is the current CEO at Smallpdf, a company offering a suite of clever document management tools for everyone. He holds a BSc in Economics and Engineering from Technische Universität Berlin and previously founded companies like Numbrs and Knip.

Mathis Büchi is co-founder and chairman at Smallpdf and Taxfix, a digital tax accountant. He studied International Business and Global Management at the University of Hong Kong and previously founded Encounter Korea, a company organizing tours to North Korea.

Dennis and Mathis recommend that you only scale once the following conditions are met:

• You’ve achieved product-market fit, meaning you found a problem that’s big enough and that you solve well enough for people to have recognized the value in your solution.
• There’s room to scale: either the market for the problem you’re solving is big enough or you’re able to solve different problems closely connected to the original one.
• You have either the money or the profitability to scale.
• You’ve hired the right people to scale.

Do you always need to raise funds in order to scale up? Not always, no, but if you’re solving a problem that is too big or too complicated to make money from right away, then you need to raise funds. Or if, for instance, you need to beat your competition in a winner-takes-all market by outspending everyone, then you need to raise funds.

Memorable Quotes:

"Even if a problem seems boring, like PDFs or taxes, it’s still engaging to solve it, and you still get to help a lot of people’s lives." (Mathis)

"You need to define your entrepreneurial identity: why are you doing what you’re doing? What’s your goal?" (Dennis)

If you would like to listen to our previous conversations with Dennis Just, check out episodes 85 and 87. For Mathis Büchi, listen to episode 208.

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