Quick life update - I’m moving on from my startup Elephas
Its been an incredible journey working on an amazing product for the last 3.5+ years very proud of the business we've built - bootstrapping a profitable micro saas.. building a lean, effective team.. small but mighty..
Next week, Ill share what I’m working on next!
(Spoiler - its AI and its exciting 🤩)
Now on to today’s topic - TeamSupport
This is about TeamSupport.
TeamSupport is a B2B customer support platform that turns tickets into revenue signals.
There are 40+ ticketing tools on the market. Zendesk and Freshdesk outspend everyone on ads. TeamSupport doesn't try to compete on budget — they compete on community.
$10-25M ARR. 1,000+ customers. And the largest account pays seven figures a year.
Quick word from Viktor, before we dive deep -
One brand built 30+ landing pages through Viktor without a single developer.
Each page mapped to a specific ad group. All deployed within hours. Viktor wrote the code and shipped every one from a Slack message.
That same team has Viktor monitoring ad accounts across the portfolio and posting performance briefs before the day starts. One colleague. Always on. Across every account.
5,700+ teams. 3,000+ integrations.
The Backstory - TeamSupport
Robert Johnson ran an enterprise software company. He needed a support tool built for B2B — not B2C interactions dressed up with an enterprise label.
He couldn't find one.
So he built TeamSupport in 2008. Three co-founders, Dallas, Texas.
For ten years, they grew organically. A modest $1.25M seed in 2014 was their only outside capital.
Then in 2018: Level Equity — a $940M private investment firm — bought a majority stake.
The founder moved to the board. A new CEO came in.
New CEO
Then in June 2024, Grant Stanis took over as CEO. His background: ten years of M&A at PwC, followed by operator roles at companies backed by Accel and KKR.
His first move — launching AI Assist alongside his appointment. Not priced by session or volume. Flat $99 per user per month.
The logic: a growing SaaS company with 10 support reps doesn't want to cut headcount. They want those 10 reps to do the work of 11.
The expansion numbers tell the real story.
Customers start at $10K ACV. Within two to three years, they're at $20-30K.
Top accounts? Several hundred thousand. The biggest: low seven figures.
Asked if he'd recommend a $175M all-cash offer to the board — an 8.75x multiple — the CEO said yes without hesitation.
From a bootstrapped Dallas startup to a PE-backed contender worth nine figures. In the most crowded category in SaaS.
The Community-Over-Budget Playbook:
When you can't outspend incumbents on ads, build a cult following through referrals and webinars instead
Price AI per user, not per session — it makes adoption predictable for SMBs
Turn support data into account health scores (their Customer Distress Index is the moat)
Focus on expansion revenue — growing existing customers 2-3x beats chasing new logos
Self-fund growth through customers, not capital raises
Bring in a professional CEO with M&A chops when exit timing matters
Read the full TeamSupport case study →
How the Customer Distress Index turns reactive tickets into proactive retention
Why cross-promo webinars outperform paid ads (400 registered, 300 attended)
The per-user AI pricing strategy that makes Zendesk's model look expensive
How customers grow from $10K to seven figures in ACV
And more...
That’s it for today
See you soon
Cheers
Ayush 🙏
PS: Claude code competitor research hack