Startup Stack is a software and services discount marketplace catered to startup founders. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Startup Stack co-founder and CEO Jonathan Engle to learn more.
Jonathan Engle’s Background
Engle specializes in go-to-market strategy and execution, operations, and systems-based problem-solving. His previous experience includes running a banking services partner abroad, consulting on business systems at Wayland Partners, and supporting the launch of a new impact investment fund at University Impact. Jonathan is a happy new dad (daughter) and proudly serves in the Utah Army National Guard. Engle’s hobbies include Capoeira (Brazilian martial art), cooking, Ultimate Frisbee, language learning, and meditation. And Engle said:
“The Startup Stack was co-founded by three B2B SaaS professionals, all with experience at early-stage hyper-growth startups. Jeff Erickson spent over four years at Carta building their business development and partner program. Izabella Bray was most recently at Dialpad for four years, where she spearheaded marketing campaigns and built their startup program from scratch.”
“I have done things like GTM efforts for a seed stage fintech startup, launching a new social impact investment fund, and running an international business abroad. Besides my entrepreneurial activities, I serve in the Army National Guard, where I get to use my language skills and serve my community. Our combined experience has allowed us to hone in on building something that is truly valuable for founders and helps to increase their likelihood of success.”
Formation Of Startup Stack
How did the idea for Startup Stack come together? Engle shared:
“Quarantine was a tough time to grow for a lot of businesses. In March 2020, Jeff and I got a group of individuals together who love startups and have valuable services to provide. We were already making many mutual introductions and put together a regular networking call to discuss how we could support the community,” Engle reflected. “That grew into a website and a burgeoning platform of free startup resources. Izabella was in that initial group, and her enthusiasm and willingness to work on our idea made her a great third co-founder.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Startup Stack so far? Engle reflected:
“When we started in 2020, we didn’t know the long-term of what this would turn into. I joined the Army and left on an almost two-year training cycle. After basic training, I continued with Jeff and Izabella by building our systems and processes to help scale. When I returned to Utah and ended my full-time training period, I got to speak at an event of Jeff’s that had well over 100 entrepreneurs and investors. He gave me the mic to pitch the Startup Stack. I felt this weird mix of social awkwardness (business circles feel very different from an Army training environment) and overwhelming excitement. So many of them already knew who we were and had benefited from what we’ve built. It felt good to see the sacrifices come together, and that inspired me to want to make this all it could be.”
Challenges Faced
What are some challenges Engle faced in building the company, and has the current macroeconomic climate affected the company? Engle acknowledged:
“Because we are early-stage founders working on a product that caters to early-stage founders, most of our challenges are the same as our end user. This is good because we benefit from the very product we’re building. But we also share challenges like iterating on product-market fit, stretching our money as far as possible, building scalable systems, anticipating future product needs, etc. We plan on sharing more of our journey in real-time with our startup community, especially since we leverage many of the products in our discount marketplace as solutions.”
“We also have a unique business model. We’re committed to supporting startups. How we make money needs to reflect that. So we refuse to charge startup founders. It would be ironic since we work to help them save money and reduce the cost of building a great toolset. That also comes with the challenge of how to monetize in a way that is scalable and empowers us to build the most value for founders. This all ties into our main user being different from our customers. It’s not uncommon, but it does come with its own challenges.”
Core Products
What are Startup Stack’s core products and features? Engle explained:
“We are a software and services discount marketplace catered to startup founders. We collect and curate the biggest discounts on best-in-class business solutions. We make these discounts available for free for founders to browse and claim on our site. Startups can filter and sort discounts by keyword, discount value, and product category. We try to make it as easy to use as possible. We also offer VCs, accelerators, incubators, and other partners that work with startups our white label platform. This allows them to manage their perks program in one place and offer their founders our entire marketplace. It’s taken us years to build relationships with 100+ vendors who make their discounts available through us. Partners see the value in that.”
Evolution Of Startup Stack’s Technology
How has Startup Stack’s technology evolved since launching? Engle noted:
“We launched our first website on Wix. It was easy to set up, but its features were very limited. Our focus was simply on curating as many great discounts as we could. Last year we transitioned to Webflow, a website redesign, and a relaunch of our brand with a new logo, look, and feel. That’s when we also launched our white-label offering.”
“Our own stack of software and services that we use has grown as well. It’s rewarding to see how low we can keep our overhead costs as we use the Startup Stack to create the Startup Stack. Each time we use new software or work with a new service provider, we think 1-2 years ahead. It’s a function of our budget and our requirements, so we get really creative on how we build our systems to scale without blowing up our costs.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Startup Stack’s most significant milestones? Engle cited:
“Reaching $1 million in discounts across 100+ vendors has been a big milestone. It’s a symbolic achievement to be able to save startups so much money. It positions us as one of the largest startup-focused discount marketplaces in the world,” Engle cited. “Signing some of our largest customers like Studio X has also been big for us.”
Customer Success Stories
Engle told me they serve three key personas: founders, vendors, and partners. After asking about customer success stories, Engle replied:
“While we love hearing things from vendors like ‘you’ve already sent me over 50 referrals!’ or from partners like ‘making these discounts available to my startups has completely changed the way we do business,’ at the end of the day we are most driven by the founder stories themselves. One that comes to mind is Nenaji Agbolabori, founder and CEO of GOBLAQ. His product connects Black entrepreneurs with mentors and advisors to help them grow their businesses. As Nenaji puts it, he’s got so much on his plate, and the Startup Stack makes it easier for him to browse and select the right tools to use to grow his own business. This is why we built the Startup Stack and continue to grow it.”
“Even though I spend most of my time speaking with vendors and partners, it’s the founder conversations that are the most fun. In one conversation, I can always identify something a founder’s about to work on and recommend a deal we have for them. I was on a call with a growing tech startup’s CEO, who mentioned needing to hire internationally. I immediately introduced her to a deal worth $20k in savings for her business. I think it’s worth buying me lunch when I can save founders that much through the wealth of relationships we’ve built.”
Funding/Revenue
The company is currently bootstrapped. Engle revealed:
“My co-founders and I put in our own money early on to get started and to complete the branding and website redesign. Our current business model wouldn’t support a traditional VC model, but with the right kind of investor who is open to diverse exit strategies, it could speed up our growth. Rather than search for investors, we are focused on building our product and funding from revenue. For the last year or so, we’ve been monetizing through marketing collaborations and white label agreements with partners.”
“From the beginning, we focused on getting the absolute best discounts for founders. We still do. Now that our audience size has grown considerably, we’re able to get some revenue share or affiliate agreements with vendors. However, we don’t accept these agreements at the cost of passing on savings to founders. We find there’s a threshold where a vendor is offering the highest discount they’re comfortable with, and sometimes there’s still room on their end to thank us for introducing their companies to startups.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Startup Stack from its competition? Engle affirmed:
“Our approach to curating discounts and reaching founders is what differentiates us. While there are a couple of other startup perk networks out there, we created the Startup Stack because we didn’t feel there was one making enough of the right perks and discounts available directly to founders for free. Too many focus on intermediaries or charge to participate. We’re the lowest friction solution available, which allows us to grow a large audience that vendors and partners appreciate.”
“There are many excellent organizations out there who work with our target audience of startup founders but don’t have the budget to white label from us. We’ve been proud to sponsor mission-driven partners such as She Raises Capital, Ángeles Network, Crowdsolve, Seedspot, various small VC funds, and others. We support each other in our missions of supporting early-stage founders however we can. We always have options to make something work so that as many founders as possible get the help they need.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Startup Stack’s future company goals? Engle concluded:
“There’s still plenty of room to add more great vendors to our platform so that a startup founder truly can find everything they need with us. Additionally, there are lots of other ways we can support founders that we hope to add, such as building a greater sense of community in the startup ecosystem,” Engle concluded. “I’d say something about democratizing startup support or something, but that sounds nebulous and ambiguous. We really want to lower any barriers to success that aren’t necessary. Getting deals on essential business services is one of many ways we hope to further that goal.”
