(July 2021) Ben Chestnut: From Side Business to $12 Billion – The Accidental Triumph of Mailchimp

Yeah. Hey everyone, it's Guy here. So today we're bringing you an episode from our archives. It's my interview with Ben Chestnut, the co-founder of MailChimp. Now, a few months after we ran this episode in 2021, MailChimp announced some pretty big news. Ben and his co founder sold the company to Intuit In a deal worth twelve billion dollars. Of course, none of this was public when I first sat down with Ben, so we didn't talk about the deal, but as you'll hear, the story of how MailChimp got to that exit with no outside investment. is pretty incredible.

I hope you enjoy it. People were raising their hands saying so so what's the strategy? You know, and my answer, you know, as a startup founder is we don't need no stinkin' strategy. We've got this, you know? And half the audience would s would cheer and say, Yeah, we don't need no strategy and the other half would say, Yeah we do.

And I remember thinking, oh my God. There actually is no strategy. And so the whole meeting just completely flopped. And I remember going back to my office just sitting there alone. Thinking about it.

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