Case Study #5: From Spreadsheets to AI: How mrgn's Mission to Empower Small Businesses Led to 15x Growth in Closed Beta

‍Key Highlights:

Founded to solve the founder's personal struggles as an experienced operator.
Prioritized simplicity by packaging advanced AI in an accessible way.
Embraced community input and feedback to guide product roadmap.
Survived startup challenges through smart capital management.
Achieved rapid growth by addressing the real needs of their core audience.
The major customer wins and funding set the stage for future scale.

Hello! Tell us who you are and what’s your backstory.

15-year COO veteran. My past ventures include a $250M raise, one IPO, and one up-list. I'm also a committed mentor, LP, and angel investor. I grew up between Israel and Miami, served in the military, played semi-pro football and I still ride motorcycles. 😁

‍Can you give us your 1-3 sentence elevator pitch?

Powered by AI, mrgn automates decision-making for the everyday business owner by evaluating the market factors that influence their P&L and giving them access to the information they need to run their business with confidence and clarity.

mrgn eases the entrepreneurial journey by helping businesses stay on top of market trends and manage their day-to-day operations at the same time.

What was the moment or situation that sparked the idea for your business?

When my CEO asked me to model a 15% reduction in burn rate overnight using just my spreadsheet-based financial model. Womp womp.

How did you test and refine your initial product idea, and were there any significant pivots or changes in direction based on initial feedback or market response?

We started as a budget management tool, but when we realized the value that AI could bring by providing actionable business insights to all of our users, we never looked back. One closed beta, one open beta, and zero pivots in four years. The positive response to a tool that levels the business playing field has been overwhelming.

What specific strategies or decisions significantly contributed to the growth and scaling of your business?

Our connections with local governments and large franchise businesses, like 7-Eleven.

Can you share some major challenges and how you tackled them?

My background in public markets did not serve me well when I initially began raising capital for an early-stage startup.

My experience managing strong relationships with offshore augmentation engineering teams led me to believe that using them for an MVP would work smoothly. It did not. I was the guy who expected an offshore team to understand my back-of-the-napkin sketch. I had a severe under-appreciation for product management.

What's been your approach to product development?

Initially, we suffered at the hands of an offshore team that didn’t get much done, and all without a product management strategy or team. That has all been rectified now. We have formal internal engineering and product teams that work together seamlessly with the help of some basic processes and great people.

How have you navigated the financial aspects of your business?

Budgeting is a core tenet of our platform so that one was easy. Fundraising, on the other hand, not so much. The pre-seed stage disappeared for the most part over the last few years and is now coming back to life. I can go on about this topic for days.

What future do you envision for your company?

We intend on having mrgn replace traditional BI tools that are common today, like PowerBI and Tableau, to the point where every business owner in the world, big or small, makes decisions solely on the basis of insights surfaced by mrgn. We are targeting a >$1B acquisition within five years.

Is your team growing? Tell us about the roles you’re looking to fill.

We’re currently looking for a CPO, as well as a Sr. Staff Fullstack Engineer.

Where can curious minds find more information about your business?

Do you have any reflections or insights you’d like to share with our community?

I’ve learned three earth-shattering lessons that I can expand on over a call:

We are long past the days of an MVP being enough to raise capital

Avoid shiny, sparkly deals from offshore engineering firms

Product management is a must from day 1