This podcast interview focuses on the entrepreneurial journey to build a global SaaS company with 25 million users without venture funding. My guest is Aytekin Tank, Founder and CEO of Jotform.

Aytekin founded Jotform in 2006, creating a pioneering WYSIWYG online form builder that has grown to serve over 25 million users worldwide today. 

What's remarkable is that he bootstrapped the company from the ground up. This allowed Jotform to remain 100% independent and define its own rules and company culture as it grew.

Under his leadership, Jotform has experienced impressive international growth, with offices in seven different cities around the world. Their growth and style were recognized as Jotform was named one of the "Best Privately-Owned Companies in America" by Entrepreneur Magazine.

Aytekin is not just a successful entrepreneur but also an automation enthusiast. He recently published a book titled "Automate Your Busywork. His book shares his insights on the automation philosophy he applied to grow Jotform.

This inspired me, so I invited Aytekin to my podcast. We explore his biggest lessons learned from bootstrapping a form-building tool to leading a global company with 25 million users. He elaborates on his approach around continuous innovation and maintaining momentum (rather than worrying about competitors) and shares his insights on prioritizing product development and growth. Last but not least, he talks about how he recently gave new meaning to his 'Founder’ role and why every SaaS entrepreneur should do that.

Here's one of his quotes

Being a founder is not just about leading a team, coaching a team, managing a team. But it's also about improving myself, growing myself. Because being a founder is about growth. It's about growth mindset. It's about growing yourself with the company. It's about growing your company. And it requires some dedication to do that - growing knowledge and learning.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. How he's working with customers to ensure JotForm's success


2. His first principles for managing growth and avoiding getting bogged down in busy work.


3. How he's organized his development teams and their rituals to ensure momentum on the one hand and optimal alignment on the other hand.


4. How he approached competition from Google Forms to come out stronger themselves. 

For more information about the guest from this week:

• Aytekin Tank


• Website: Jotform
  

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