Guy Rubin (Founder & CEO, Ebsta) — Bootstrapping, Exiting, and the Great SaaS Consolidation

In this episode, I sit down with Guy Rubin, Founder & CEO of Ebsta — the global leader in Revenue Intelligence, recently acquired by Fullcast.Guy shares unfiltered insights from a decade of building, scaling, and exiting a SaaS company that transformed how revenue teams operate.We cover:🚀 Raising Venture Capital vs Bootstrapping — the good, the bad, and the ugly💰 Exits — why selling to the highest bidder isn’t always the best outcome📉 GTM SaaS Consolidation — who’s winning, who’s losing, and why🤖 AI in Sales — how top Go-To-Market teams are using AI to pull ahead🎯 Elite AEs — what separates the best from the rest, and why the gap is wideningWhether you’re a founder, sales leader, Account Executive or SaaS operator, this episode is packed with hard-won lessons from someone who’s lived it all — from bootstrapping to acquisition.👇 Timestamps & Resources below 👇00:00 Episode Highlights & Intro00:02 Why "build it and they will come" never works and why founders should focus on solving "11/10 problems" (not 7/10)00:06 Founder Archetypes 00:08 Why Timing Beats Execution: Ebsta's Inception Story00:11 Doing Product Led Growth before Product Led Growth was a thing00:13 Why Guy chose NOT to raise VC and instead bootstrap the business 00:17 Going head to head with companies that have raised BILLIONs00:22 Delivering value to the C-suite: Pictures Work Better Than Words00:25 VC or Bootstrap: What's Right For You00:28 The great SaaS Consolidation: who’s winning, who’s losing, and why00:38 Advice to founders looking to sell their business 00:40 Why US SaaS companies continue to beat European ones00:45 The Rise Of The 10x Sales Professional 00:52 Why the best path to revenue growth is focusing on Existing Business 00:56 Why are we seeing a return to Full-Cycle Sales 01:02 Leveraging AI to Increase Sales Efficiency 01:10 All Eyes On Ideal Customer Persona (ICP)...and Finance01:16 The future of GTM: Will AI Agents Kill CRM 🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe for more unfiltered conversations on technology, business, and defying the status quo.Follow Guy:🔗 LinkedIn:   / rubinguy   🤖💰 Ebsta – Revenue Inteligence: https://www.ebsta.com/📊 2025 GTM Sales Benchmarks – https://benchmarks.ebsta.com/2025-gtm... 🎙 The Heresy Podcast – conversations with builders, thinkers & rebels 🔔 Subscribe: / @heresypodcast 🔗 Follow Dimitar: .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}