Nicolas Bustamante on startup growth
From Doctrine's story from Seed to Series A 👣 Nicolas Bustamante, CEO · · Startupfood
“We were three co‑founders and one employee and zero customers — you have to find a way to go roughly from zero to 1 million in annual recurring revenue in 11 months, so when you have zero customers and you have to find 50 customers in eight months it's a huge challenge.”
On , Nicolas Bustamante, Cofounder at Doctrine, spoke about startup growth during Doctrine's story from Seed to Series A 👣 Nicolas Bustamante, CEO on Startupfood.
About Nicolas Bustamante
Nicolas Bustamante, cofounder and CEO of Doctrine, discussed the company's journey from seed to Series A funding in a 2019 talk. He described Doctrine as a legal research and analytics platform that uses artificial intelligence to provide legal professionals with data to support their clients and decision-making. Bustamante stated that the company was founded in June 2016 with two cofounders and raised €2 million in seed funding in September 2016 from investors including Awesome Ventures and Khema Ventures. He noted that the company grew from zero customers to 850 customers in 11 months and raised €10 million in a Series A round in June 2018. Bustamante emphasized the challenges of the seed-to-Series A transition, citing a 75% mortality rate among seed-funded enterprise software companies. He attributed Doctrine's success to rapid iteration, listening to customers, and prioritizing investment in engineering talent over early marketing. He also advised against building products for free users, stating that startups should focus on paying customers who see value in the product. Bustamante reported that 10% of judges in France use Doctrine.