He Turned a Simple PDF Tool Into a $15M/yr Company (with no funding)

How many customers are paying you today?

Right now, we have over 28,000 paying customers. Today, I'm quite proud to say

customers. Today, I'm quite proud to say that probably 2025 will be ending at 15 million.

So, you're at 15 million of revenue today. How many folks are full-time on

today. How many folks are full-time on the team now? I think it's 94.

now? I think it's 94.

How much of the business do you still own?

Right now, 100%.

What's the largest customer pay you per year on a dollar basis?

If I'm not mistaken, right now getting close to 200k.

Someone came to you today and offered you a 10x multiple. So 150 million all cash upfront. Do you take the deal? Hey

cash upfront. Do you take the deal? Hey

folks, my guest today is Gabriel Seordis. He's a serial entrepreneur

Seordis. He's a serial entrepreneur passionate about building companies that aim to innovate the tech industry and make customers lives better by helping them achieve remarkable results. This is

one you guys are going to love because he doesn't do a lot of interviews, but he is a killer. He has built some incredible companies. Gabriel, you ready

incredible companies. Gabriel, you ready to take us to the top?

Yeah, for sure. Thank you for uh for your invite.

All right. Well, I know that we're going to focus obviously today on your company, flipsnack.com, but you are a serial entrepreneur. You're based in

serial entrepreneur. You're based in Romania, I believe, correct?

Yes.

And how long have you been building companies?

1999.

That's wild. Okay. 99. So I was I was 10 years old at that point. All right. Tell

us about Flip Snack first for folks that are not familiar with the product. I'm

going to share my screen here. Why

should customers use you?

So basically, uh, Flip Snack is a, um, a tool that, uh, brings sexiness to your presentation materials. Um by

presentation materials. Um by presentation materials I mean u all the uh all the materials that are product

cataloges um real estate uh brochures, employee benefits, u internal communications, training materials, um uh hotel brochures. So you know all

these things that are communicating with somebody and communicate about your company um flips neck uh allows and helps you to make more interesting and

on top of everything else gives you a lot of metrics about who saw what and when.

Mhm. Which is right here what you're seeing here in addition to password protection things like that. Um, I will say guys, I I uh, one of the big requests I got when we were building Gitlat because we shipped the physical

magazine, but a lot of people weren't home. They were traveling. They didn't

home. They were traveling. They didn't

want me to ship them a physical magazine. So, I said, "Oh, I got to come

magazine. So, I said, "Oh, I got to come with a digital thing, but I didn't want to store PDFs." And it was a pain in the butt. So, I actually use I'm a customer

butt. So, I actually use I'm a customer of Flip Snack, right? We send out now when people email me, I just send them this link. And this is Flip Snack

this link. And this is Flip Snack generated. And you can see it's

generated. And you can see it's beautiful people clicking through. And

what's great about this is they can also search. So if they're curious, hey, am I

search. So if they're curious, hey, am I mentioned in the magazine, you can search and it'll show you every time your company name is searched. So not

only does Flip Snack just take the thing and put it in PDF form and a great interface, it also adds search to it and a bunch of other things. What other

things, Gabriel, do you add to this digital experience that maybe you don't get on other platforms?

Um I I would say metrics is probably the most important thing. Um I mean you know uh we all send out uh we all send out materials but we don't really know

what's happening with them. Not only

that but we don't really know which parts are interesting and which are not.

So I would say the fact that we'll give you all the metrics about uh what your visitors did, how long they spent on certain pages and so forth is probably

one of the most important features I I would like to um uh to mention. Then uh

obviously we have u uh brand control. Uh

this is a problem that uh most of the brands uh have. Um then um obviously we have uh the real time update. So you

know often times we send some materials and we realize that we made a mistake here and there. Um you know with flip snack you can you can fix that uh in in

the in the link. You don't have to send anything else. uh when they click uh the

anything else. uh when they click uh the next time they click on the link, it's uh it's basically the new version up. Uh

it's very easy to share things, to distribute things. Uh we'll issue, you

distribute things. Uh we'll issue, you know, QR codes and they just uh click on it. Um and they go straight to to the

it. Um and they go straight to to the the materials. Um and also, uh probably

the materials. Um and also, uh probably uh security uh security and privacy. uh

if you want to send some materials that you want to make sure that are only seen by the person designed to be uh to see to see them. Um this link will only open

to certain emails. And from the security standpoint, we have been doing uh tremendous efforts to make sure that all your materials and everything that you have there is super secure. Um you know,

we've been on the market since uh uh 2011.

So Gabe, before we go back to your la before we go back to your launch story, just to touch on this. So now that we have a good understanding of the product suite, what's your what's the average customer paying you per month? Is this

sort of a PLG motion? You know, a lot of people paying 10 bucks a month or is it more enterprise? You know, a couple

more enterprise? You know, a couple people paying five grand a month.

So basically we we have both. Um so you know uh we have the selfserve uh where we have several uh pricings adjusted to

a lower level and then obviously we have the enterprise which is custom pricing pricing. It's it's tailor fitted for for

pricing. It's it's tailor fitted for for every need. Uh you know we have a huge

every need. Uh you know we have a huge uh wide range of customers uh from the biggest brands of of uh Fortune 500 to

you know smaller brands but the the needs are quite different. So we try to uh custom fit everything.

Don't name the customer obviously but what's the largest customer pay you per year on a dollar basis? Um if I'm not mistaken right now it's uh getting close to 200k and what do they get for that? Help us

to understand. Is it just like thousands of PDFs? Is it based off number of pages

of PDFs? Is it based off number of pages or what?

So basically the product can be used by um several parts of the business. Um you

know you can have your uh marketing department, your sales department, uh your HR um u warehousing and so forth.

So basically this this customer of ours uses in a very uh wide array of of um uh um uh us uh how do you call it? I'm

sorry. Um use

use cases. Yes. Um so it's high volumes on several uh uh on on several levels on several departments.

And so now take us back to the story. So

you launched the business in 2017. Did

you raise a bunch of capital or were you were you 2011 actually?

Oh 2011. Okay.

2011. Um no we did not uh we did not raise capital back in the days. We

started as uh we started bootstrapped.

Um and we we worked our way up. Um and

lately uh we have been uh we have been uh uh seeking some funding to accelerate our growth. We had a a good vargate

our growth. We had a a good vargate period in the pandemics where you know people were spending a lot more time in in front of the computer. Um but then you know we have a uh we had a slowdown

and meanwhile um we have moved towards the enterprise world which is a very uh I would say complicated and sophisticated world from several

aspects. One of them being the the the

aspects. One of them being the the the time it takes from uh the initial contact to signing a a deal a contract.

Fill in the gap here from 2011 to today.

So what year did you break your first million of revenue? Do you remember? I

don't uh but it's a good question. I I

will definitely look into that. But um

um it wasn't too long ago. Uh we were we were we you know we started off with a small team and then we started add more complexity to the product and it was you

know it was a process that uh an organic growth process. Um and you know we

growth process. Um and you know we learned a lot and we like to believe that everything that we have learned from customer experience and customer

needs we have put in the product. So

today u I'm quite proud to say that um we're very close to meeting most of our customers needs um and we're very close of solving most of our customers

problems. And Gabriel with that customer focus how many customers are paying you today? So

right now we have over 28,000 paying customers. Um we will reintroduce the

customers. Um we will reintroduce the premium version. We took it out at some

premium version. We took it out at some point in time and uh we now realize that we didn't do a very good job on that but we all make mistakes. Um but were were

used by um millions of of people.

Okay. So 28,000 paying you in 2011 2020.

Are you comfortable sharing revenue today in 2025? So probably 2025 will be ending at 15 million.

Okay. And where were you at? Where'd you

finish last year?

Uh probably 12.

Are you happy with that growth rate?

You know entrepreneurs are never happy.

Uh but you know we need to understand that you know markets are shifting. Um

needs are shifting. New players are coming uh uh to the market. Um I think we can do better but you know now that we are we're more focused on on the

enterprise uh and we are now learning how to deal with uh with enterprise c companies I think the the the revenue

for 2026 will look completely different uh in a good way. I think uh I think we will have a impressive growth. Um the

way uh the team is is working together right now and the the focus um I I think will take us uh into probably the best

year of of Flip Snack. So 2026 should be and will be the best year of Flip Snack.

So you're at 15 million of revenue today. How many folks are full-time on

today. How many folks are full-time on the team?

Um right now I think it's 94 uh people.

Um, and you know, I'm very happy and proud to say that these are people I mean, most of them are people that are with the company for 10 years plus.

And are they based in Romania mainly or what's the split?

Yes, most of the most of the people um is in Aradia in in Romania in my hometown. Um and now we are going to as

hometown. Um and now we are going to as part of our uh growth and expansion efforts uh we're going to open some

sales offices. Uh probably Japan, Korea,

sales offices. Uh probably Japan, Korea, uh Portugal and Switzerland. Um

how many folks in the 94 today are sales reps?

Uh approximately six. Um

okay, approximately six people are doing sales. Uh but we need to do a lot better

sales. Uh but we need to do a lot better on on that side. Well, how do you structure because you're in a very tricky spot. 28,000 paying customers at

tricky spot. 28,000 paying customers at 15 million of AAR means the average customer is paying $535 per year, but the variant is huge here. You have some customers paying $16 per month. And you

told us your largest customer is $200,000 per year. You can't put a sales rep on a $100 per month account, but you absolutely need a sales rep on a $200,000 per year account. How are you

solving this? Well, obviously, you know,

solving this? Well, obviously, you know, um none of our sales uh initiatives are um are aimed towards the self-s served people. So, you know, uh self-s serve is

people. So, you know, uh self-s serve is just you come to the site, you like it, you pay your subscription, you use it and and so forth with the obviously with the limitations given by uh by your

subscription. Um all you know, our sales

subscription. Um all you know, our sales efforts um uh are towards uh enterprise companies uh that have special needs. Um

and we will um we will also be able to offer special services for those special needs but um we all know that you know special uh services come with a higher

price tag. Um so our our salespeople's

price tag. Um so our our salespeople's focus is enterprise.

Gabriel looks like one of your biggest growth strategies maybe early on especially uh was SEO. I mean, you are a really, really high domain rating here at 91. That's gen generating almost

at 91. That's gen generating almost 168,000 organic hits to your website per month. I mean, this is really hard to

month. I mean, this is really hard to do. Was this intentional? Was it

do. Was this intentional? Was it

accident? Tell me about your SEO strategy.

So, um, I would say consistency. Uh, you

know, we're again, we're a company that, uh, was established in 2011. Uh, it's

it's been a while. uh we have invested a lot in SEO. Obviously nowadays uh the things are changing with the SEO due to

the um AI um that we have out there but um we are we were constantly growing uh our SEO efforts and we also tried to

make sure that everything that we say is legitimate. So, you know, it's it's a

legitimate. So, you know, it's it's a whole array of efforts that you're doing, but you know, at the end of the day, the fact that that your your uh your consistency is there, your honesty

is there, um you're a legit business, uh that basically um uh that basically helped a lot. It looks like based off my sort of quick forensic analysis on your

SEO background here. The most successful like tactical SEO thing you've done are templates because they're driving 60,000 clicks to your website free per month right now. If somebody else was

right now. If somebody else was competing with you paying five bucks a click, right? That's that's $3 million

click, right? That's that's $3 million extra they're having to spend to get that same traffic. You also have templates driving 15,000 clicks a month.

Uh were both those things intentional?

And what does the management of both those SEO programmatic SEO playbooks look like on a weekly or monthly basis?

So we do have a team that uh is is uh handling um uh our templates because um at the end of the day templates are part

of our solution. Uh you know uh often times um we want to solve problems fast.

Um and um but you know uh we're not creative. creativity does not, you know,

creative. creativity does not, you know, uh is not like a cup of coffee. You just

push a button and then all of a sudden you're creative. Uh so our templates

you're creative. Uh so our templates help a lot and I think that our customers uh are looking uh at at this segment of our business and they uh it

it it's very very useful. Uh and we're how many people on your team are focused on the just the SEO uh playbook today?

Not a lot. I think uh three people right now. um it's it's not that big but

now. um it's it's not that big but they're not doing exclusively SEO but they they have extensive uh knowh how about you know what to do in order to

become SEO friendly I would say interesting yeah so temp this is it I mean this is this is your free traffic generator here this page huh yes yep interesting and are you generating

these using AI or is it a human creating every one of these templates it's humans uh creating it but um so

what we do we we do two things uh with AI um for now um the uh number one is um

accessibility um so if you um if you have if your vision is impaired um our accessibility tool will be able that's

that's powered by AI will be able to help you um uh understand the feel of the content and I think we I think my my colleagues did a great job with the

accessibility tool. Um, it might not

accessibility tool. Um, it might not sound that important, but at the end of the day, uh, I think it's it's our responsibility to make sure that

everybody has access, uh, or everybody is able to to understand the messages that we're we're trying to to send uh, with our materials. So, accessibility is

is one of the things. And now we're getting ready to launch um a tool that will allow you to better find your way

around uh our uh features um with AI. So

basically you'll tell them, okay, I want to do this and then um our AI will take you to the area that you need to to work

with uh to do certain uh things on on on your um uh on your presentations.

Okay. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. So

AI in the app to help people click around faster, get what they need quicker. You grew with the SEO playbook.

quicker. You grew with the SEO playbook.

Any other growth tactics you use to break 15 million of revenue like affiliates or resellers or anything else, paid marketing?

Uh we just started uh affiliates uh and uh also we are now starting um uh with influencers uh obviously in the areas

that um uh are most interesting for us.

uh you know like again uh hotels um real estate uh training materials uh employee benefits. So you know uh we're trying to

benefits. So you know uh we're trying to to find influencers that uh are in that area so that they can tell uh their

audience about about us and how about how fast and how well we solve their problems. And are you spending money on paid advertising per month right now? have

said about how much we do we do spend um I think uh I think we're uh spending around 120 140k a month and and is that on Google or which

platform?

Uh I think there's several platforms but probably the most um uh the most significant one is is Google.

Mhm.

Using an agency for that or it's in house?

No, it's in-house. Uh basically we we do it on our own. We're trying to see if balancing those budgets towards uh influencers might make a difference. Um

but you know, we're eager to see that.

And also um you know, working um uh with with people in in different industries um would probably be able to help our growth.

Interesting. And and just to confirm here too, you mentioned you were bootstrapped at the start. Are you still bootstrapped today? How much of the

bootstrapped today? How much of the business do you still own? Uh right now 100%.

Okay. So this is amazing. Uh it's rare you get someone 100% bootstrap. Now you

have if you're comfortable sharing obviously we've worked together. Are you

comfortable sharing how we work together and what that was like? Maybe how much.

For sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

So what was it like? Why did you come to Founder Path for Capital? Obviously you

want to stay bootstrap but what was the capital need?

So basically exactly the you know the expansions uh the ex the trend that we want to accelerate um uh we want to move

uh a bit faster. uh there's a lot of uh learning that we need to do um and in this world uh to learn costs a lot. So

we wanted to make sure that um you know we uh we are um capital efficient and

also we we have a backup I would say. Um

and then um we have tried and we're trying new things now and once they're confirmed uh we will invest more and

more uh into those uh into those areas.

So uh your funding was um uh very beneficial to us. uh and I'm assuming that by uh the middle of the year uh you

will be able or we will be able to see um the the benefits of uh of of the funds that we we got uh from you and uh

obviously we will uh both take the the the we will be both take the the benefits of uh these fundings.

Gabriel is a tough guy to negotiate with. I will tell you, you know, we've

with. I will tell you, you know, we've deployed almost a quarter billion dollars on 250 million and his CFO is guy named Andre. My lord, beat me up.

But it was a work. So I obviously partner with you and it all started because I love the product. I actually

used the product before I even met you and then you reached out. I said, "Oh, this is a natural fit." Are you comfortable sharing, Gabriel, how much you took?

Um, I don't think it's necessary at this point. Uh but what I um what I would

point. Uh but what I um what I would suggest is uh when we have very clear and uh uh interesting results uh we both

do another episode of this where we deep dive into into everything.

We would love that. Tell me more about what you want to do the business going forward. Obviously you're moving to the

forward. Obviously you're moving to the enterprise. You're a serial entrepreneur

enterprise. You're a serial entrepreneur so you have a lot of things you could spend your time on. You're at 15 million bucks of revenue. If someone came to you today and offered you a a 10x multiple, so 150 million all cash upfront, do you take the deal?

You know, there's a saying, never say never. It's uh it's obviously

never. It's uh it's obviously interesting. Um to be honest, my full

interesting. Um to be honest, my full focus right now is on growing the business because I strongly believe that my colleagues have crafted a fabulous

product. Um and what I want to do now is

product. Um and what I want to do now is to push it. Uh we're lacking awareness.

uh one of this is probably the biggest problems the biggest problem that we face is that we don't have enough awareness. Um now obviously uh at the

awareness. Um now obviously uh at the end of the day we're all working for money. So if somebody would uh would say

money. So if somebody would uh would say okay I'll give you today 10x um I would say perfect uh let's uh talk back uh in

August September um and then uh we'll see what happens. But right now I'm exa my my focus is exclusively onto the growth uh of of the product because again I think it's a fabulous product.

All right. Well, Gabriel, if people want to check it out, test the product, it's very easy to try it. Where can they find more about you online?

Well, um obviously flips.com and um what we could do is uh throw in a discount if they come from here. So uh maybe we'll

come up with a Nathan discount or something. Uh so uh if they will test it

something. Uh so uh if they will test it out and like it uh they will also get a discount due to the fact that they are your uh viewers.

We love that. Let's just come up with a code now. And so since we're recording,

code now. And so since we're recording, can we do Lata podcast? We can put in your system later.

Perfect. Yeah, let's let's do this. What

would be what would be a sweet uh discount? Let's uh figure that out.

discount? Let's uh figure that out.

Well, your pricing Yeah, your pricing starts at 16 a month and goes up to 85 a month. Uh so we'll figure that out

month. Uh so we'll figure that out later. But yeah, guys, check it out.

later. But yeah, guys, check it out.

Again, I love the product. I mean, it's so easy for me to promote stuff that I use, right? So, I I love the product.

use, right? So, I I love the product.

I'm also obviously invested on the debt side, uh, via Andre and Gabe and his team. So, um, check it out.

team. So, um, check it out.

Flipsnack.com. But, uh, in summary again, serial entrepreneur launched Flipnack in 2011. Bootstrap Boke 12 million of revenue in 2024. In 2025, 15

million of revenue, guys, 28,000 paying customers. Uh, 94 folks full-time on the

customers. Uh, 94 folks full-time on the team, only six sales reps. They've

really leveraged incredible SEO over 100,000 clicks per month coming to their template library to get a lot of free users to convert to paid and then they upsell those folks to larger accounts.

So much so that their largest customers paying $200,000 per year. I mean talk about a range $10 a month premium user basically fremium to 200,000 ACV.

Gabriel's got the world in front of him in terms of growth as they pivot more to the enterprise in 2026. Check it out at flipsnack.com. Gabriel, thanks for

flipsnack.com. Gabriel, thanks for taking us to the top. Thank you so much, Nathan.