Episode Details

George Richardson went from professional race car driver to vertical SaaS founder - and says building AeroCloud has been far harder than risking his life on the track. After two years building an airline app with zero traction, he pivoted to cloud-based airport management software.

In this episode, George reveals how AeroCloud built a vertical SaaS business targeting niche SaaS opportunities in airport management. You will learn how his first enterprise SaaS customer came from a conference bar at 4pm on the last day after every cold email failed, why vertical SaaS wins when incumbents are stuck on-prem, and how lumpy deals nearly bankrupted the company before their second raise.

AeroCloud serves 60 airports, employs 60 people across the US and UK, and has raised nearly $18M in venture capital.

🔑 Key Lessons

• 🎯 Vertical SaaS wins when incumbents are stuck on-prem: AeroCloud replaced legacy airport software that was version-released and painful to integrate, proving cloud-native niche SaaS can unseat entrenched competitors.
• 📉 Two years of zero traction is a signal to pivot: George and Ian spent two years on an airline app before pivoting to vertical SaaS for airports, leveraging existing domain expertise.
• 🤝 Conference floor-walking beats cold email for enterprise SaaS: AeroCloud emailed every attendee and got zero responses. Three days of persistence landed their first customer at the bar on the last day.
• 💰 Lumpy enterprise deals require conservative runway planning: AeroCloud nearly ran out of cash when vertical SaaS deals with seven-month sales cycles slipped their timelines.
• 🚀 Pick investors for a 10-year horizon: George underpriced his seed round but attracted Playfair Capital, who followed on in every round and led the second raise during a cash crunch.

Chapters

• Introduction
• George's favorite quote and career as a race car driver
• How George became a professional driver at 16
• The origin story of AeroCloud
• Two years building a failed airline app
• How George learned sales with zero experience
• Landing the first 200K ARR without funding
• Why George trusted his first customer Parker
• Raising a seed round from Playfair Capital
• Nearly running out of runway before the second raise
• The "what keeps you up at night" sales framework
• Why being a SaaS founder is harder than race car driving
• Lightning round

Resources

• Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/383
• Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email