463: Escaping the "Consulting Trap": How to Pivot to $1M ARR - with Ibby Syed

Ibby Syed spent 18 months building a customer analytics product that hit $150K ARR—only to realize he'd accidentally built a consulting business, not a software company. Then his co-founder wrote 100 lines of code using the OpenAI API, and everything changed. In this episode, Ibby shares how he and his co-founder pivoted from a struggling analytics tool to building Kotera, an AI agent platform that crossed 7-figures in ARR. He explains why most vertical AI startups will grow fast and die, and how teaching customers to build their own agents created a more scalable business. You'll learn: How to use LinkedIn outbound with an 8-10% response rate to book 25+ customer interviews per week Why early revenue can trap you in a "local maxima" and make pivoting harder How 100 lines of API code outperformed a bloated data science solution and triggered a pivot Why sending prospects actual value (like leads) beats generic pitches in today's saturated market Why building horizontal tools may be more defensible than vertical AI solutions Full show notes → saasclub.io/463 This episode is brought to you by: 💖 ⁠Gearheart⁠ → Book a call + get the first 20 hours of development free 🚨 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠NordStellar⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book a demo and get 20% off with code blackfriday20 📡 ⁠⁠⁠Signal House⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Learn more and get a demo Get weekly SaaS lessons and new founder stories → saasclub.io/email