Joe Lemay: How We Went From -$400k To A $50 Million Exit Selling Reusable Notebooks

The Dealroom with Shamus Madan

In 2016, Joe Lemay's balance sheet for Rocketbook was -$400k, and no VC would touch him. Bootstrapping was his only option. After four years of sweat and tears, he and his co-founder, Jake, built the company to a +$50M exit. This is the story of Rocketbook.

Connect with Joe Lemay here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lemayjoe/

Follow the host: https://twitter.com/shamusmadan

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(0:00) Introduction: Joe Lemay's journey and the conception of Rockabook (4:24) Importance of Crowdfunding and the development of Rocket Book (9:01) Joe's experience at the launch festival and meeting Jason Calacanis (15:51) Innovative marketing strategies and launching a new product: The Rocket Book Core (20:33) Overcoming technical and financial struggles in product development (29:56) Advice to a younger self and strategies to grow sales and revenue (36:54) Decision and process of selling the company to BIC (45:45) The strategic importance of Rocketbook to BIC and building champions within the acquiring company (49:37) Lessons learned from the acquisition and the best piece of advice Joe Lemay has received (51:53) Wrapping up the interview with Joe Lemay