From Developer to 2-Time Successful AI Entrepreneur with Exits: Behamics CEO Valon Xhafa (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: How long did you work in Europe and when did you start coming into the US market?

Valon Xhafa: I worked in Europe for two years and then we started to gain a lot of traction. We suddenly found out that we were getting traction from US.

Sramana Mitra: How were you finding customers?

Valon Xhafa: Through our landing page or direct outreach. We have a unique approach right now that we don’t provide coupons or send emails. Because of that, brands find us interesting. We outperform coupons every time. The price is a really important factor for the customer. If you tell the customer that they have a discount and you have a non-monetary nudge that’s more effective, that’s mindblowing. We still even get feedback that this is too good to be true.

Sramana Mitra: I actually worked in fashion. Returns are a huge problem. Anything that directly addresses returns is huge. What about financing? Was there more financing?

Valon Xhafa: The reason why I moved to the States was the next round. We were planning to raise the next round. We wanted to build relationships with investors, so when we raise the next round, then we have potential US investors.

Sramana Mitra: You haven’t raised money yet?

Valon Xhafa: No, just the pre-seed.

Sramana Mitra: How much was that?

Valon Xhafa: Mid-six figures.

Sramana Mitra: But you have already crossed $5 million in revenue.

Valon Xhafa: Exactly.

Sramana Mitra: That’s fantastic. With six figures pre-seed and $5 million in revenue, you’re going to have a blast raising Series A.

Valon Xhafa: We’re in contact with a lot of investors right now. We have some other milestones that we want to reach with just bootstrapping before we go and raise the next round.

Sramana Mitra: Since you have experienced bootstrapping to exit, this is an option you may want to consider. You can get incredible multiples now.

Valon Xhafa: I got an acquisition offer from a unicorn here in New York. I approached them for partnership. They liked the product and the approach. I felt that it was too early. We have a very interesting positioning in the market now. All these big guys are focused on the checkout experience. They are few companies in the pre-checkout experience. The pre-checkout needs advanced complex tech. That’s a hard problem.

Sramana Mitra: If I were you, I would build it to whatever milestone and then sell it for cash to a unicorn. The unicorns are going to give you a lot more valuation. From here to an IPO exit, you’re going to raise a lot of money. The bar is going to get higher and higher.

There are unicorns like Bolt. Bolt is acquiring a lot of companies and doing enormous fundraising. Their own metrics are not quite there. If they can find an asset that can scale very well, they will pay very well. I think, financially, this is a very attractive situation.

Valon Xhafa: Right. One month later, I got another acquisition offer from another unicorn.

Sramana Mitra: Selling to a unicorn for cash is a perfect bootstrapping exit situation for you. I wish you all the best. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 5 in the series : From Developer to 2-Time Successful AI Entrepreneur with Exits: Behamics CEO Valon Xhafa
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