The founder of Folderly.com, Vladislav Podolyako, recently discussed the growth of his startup, which is helping companies solve email deliverability problems.
- Founded in 2019, the company has already registered $130,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and $1,560,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
- Folderly.com is currently attracting an average of 30 customers monthly.
- The SaaS firm boasts hundreds of customers and organizes up to 300 meetings, half of which come from outbound marketing activities.
According to Podolyako, the idea of forming an email deliverability platform stemmed from the need to maintain high open rates. He discovered that there is a lot of technical aspects involved in successful email marketing. However, many marketers lack the technical know-how to resolve these issues and bolster email deliverability.
Podolyako found out that key aspects, such as DNS settings and quality content, play a major role in determining the success of email marketing campaigns. It is also vital that marketers avoid using any spam words and links that trigger automatic filters of most email clients.
This backstory, which unfolded at a sales agency known as Belkins, gave birth to the Folderly platform. At the time, Podolyako and his partner Michael Maximoff managed more than 1,000 mailboxes on behalf of their clients at Belkins.
Although they initially enjoyed a high open rate of up to 70 percent and a replay rate of approximately 25 percent, they later noticed a sharp decline in these impressive figures over time. This change in fortune compelled the duo to examine the source of the decline. As a result, it became clear that many marketers or salespeople struggle with the same issues, and no one provides viable answers to spam challenges.
Folderly Helps Clients Achieve 99 Percent Email Deliverability
High email deliverability underpins Folderly’s impressive growth in new customer acquisition and profitability. Businesses’ embarking on email marketing campaigns take advantage of the platform’s zero spam guarantee to maximize email deliverability.
This capability is useful to businesses of varying sizes battling challenges associated with spam filtering issues. It is no surprise that Folderly has attracted over 100 customers since its formation.
The platform helps companies save a considerable amount of money in email marketing campaigns. In turn, businesses can reduce the cost per lead. With Folderly, companies can optimize email messages and DNS settings to prevent unwanted spam filtering. A highly revolutionary algorithm optimizes the messages to guarantee delivery, boosting open rates and the overall effectiveness of email marketing campaigns.
CEO Vladislav Podolyako believes that the increased competition in email marketing creates the need for companies to improve email deliverability. For this reason, marketers need to perform a spam filtering test.
How Folderly Achieved a Conversion Rate of Between 10 and 25 Percent
Folderly’s 20 employees, including a customer success team, have helped boost the platform’s revenue. According to Podolyako, the platform charges a minimum of $200 a month in subscriptions. As such, clients pay more or less, depending on their requirements. Many businesses scale their activities on the platform after seeing positive results.
The subscription model has contributed to significant growth in the annual recurring revenue to $1,560,000 within nine months. Podolyako and his team work tirelessly to sign up customers throughout outbound marketing. The company sets up approximately 300 meetings monthly with prospects generated through outbound marketing.
Several members of the team are responsible for appointment setting and handling the calls with prospects. Folderly also engages in significant content marketing activities to boost its client acquisition capabilities.
This approach has allowed the team to convert between 100 and 150 leads per month. Vladislav Podolyako noted that his team achieved a conversion rate ranging between 10 and 25 percent from the sales meetings.
How Bootstrapped Folderly Achieved $1,300 in Annual Revenue Per User (ARPU)
Partners Michael Maximoff and Vladislav Podolyako built the platform using personal savings. The bootstrapping approach undoubtedly paid off as the startup managed to achieve impressive monthly and annual recurring revenue.
Maximoff and Podolyako used the funds to hire a development team and cover other startup costs. The development team played an integral role in generating ideas needed to push the project forward. As they worked on the project, Podolyako and his partner decided to sell the service to customers even before they had a minimum viable product (MVP).
In doing so, the partners generated much-needed income to support the project. They handled clients’ email deliverability projects manually during this period while the development team continued its work. As they handled the projects manually, they took note of customers’ feedback to improve the final product.
Overall, the partners spent approximately $10,000 developing the email deliverability software that has generated a substantial return on investment (ROI). Podolyako stated that the platform would stay bootstrapped until they decide to raise capital externally. He also noted that the business registered at 20 percent profit, translating to roughly $30,000.
This money contributes to the business’s growth as the partners reinvest it to ensure sustained growth in revenue and profits. A significant portion of the amount helps partners hire more people and run advertising campaigns.
Folderly Achieves a Monthly Churn Rate of Between 10 and 15 Percent
On average, Folderly’s churn rate hovers between 10 and 15 percent per month. Its annual gross churn rate is 95 percent. Podolyako attributes this high churn rate to his company’s pricing model. Clients pay a significant amount of money to access email deliverability tools, allowing them to conduct tests. They pay $200 per mailbox.
Unlike other email tools available on the market, Folderly enables companies to solve specific problems without splitting their budgets between tools. The best part is that Folderly provides a surefire way to prevent emails from ending up in the spam folders. Thus, boosting overall sales results for small, midsize, and large companies.
The higher churn rate coupled with an impressive growth rate indicates the viability of the project. Monthly revenue of $130,000 is no mean feat for the email deliverability platform. Podolyako expects the business to continue growing as they increase operating capital and the staff complement.
Many satisfied clients view Folderly as the best email spam and deliverability solution provider. In turn, this positive feedback helps bolster the platform’s new client acquisition efforts. Folderly undoubtedly acts as an all-in-one solution for email deliverability.
Companies using Folderly to improve email deliverability make it easier to double revenue from email leads. On the other hand, they can drastically reduce lead generation expenses.
