Pat Kinsel went from years of painful struggle at Notarize to building Proof, a SaaS platform approaching $100M ARR with 230 employees and $260M raised. In this episode, Pat explains how a notary error during his first startup exit sparked the idea, why he validated demand with a simple landing page before building, how he endured years of slow traction and false signals, and what changed when he expanded beyond notarization to transaction security. 🔑 Key Lessons 💡 Validation Strategy: How Pat validated demand with a simple landing page and Google ads before writing code. 💰 Surviving Negative Margins: Why losing money on every transaction nearly killed the company and how they fixed unit economics. 📈 The COVID Spike: What really happened when demand spiked 100x overnight and why many of those customers churned later. 🏛️ Regulatory Moat: How he spent years lobbying to change state laws, turning red tape into a massive competitive advantage. 🔄 The Pivot: Why he rebranded from "Notarize" to "Proof" to expand TAM beyond just digital notary services. 📖 Chapters Introduction & About Pat Kinsel Validating Demand: Landing Page & Google Ads Losing Money, Struggling for Profitability Lobbying to Change Notary Laws Origin Story: Where the Idea Came From Early Investment Experience & Industry Connections Initial Research & Testing (Unbounce Landing Page) Building the MVP: Mobile App for Online Notary Early B2C Go-to-Market Strategy Recruiting the First Notaries Educating and Acquiring Consumers Marketing Tactics: Google Ads, SEO, Channel Partners Long, Slow Early Growth and Doubts Breaking Even & Gross Margin Challenges Lobbying Strategy & Industry Support COVID-19 Impact: Exploding Demand Shift to Enterprise Customers During COVID Post-COVID Reality Check & Refocusing Expanding Beyond Notarization: The Proof Platform Enterprise Transaction Security & Deepfakes Technical/Engineering Moat & Compliance Lightning Round This episode is brought to you by: 💖 Gearheart → Book a free strategy session + get 20% off select services 📫 Mailtrap → Get 20% off with code THESAASPODCAST Resources: 🎧 Full Show Notes: saasclub.io/452 🎤 Subscribe to the Podcast: saasclub.io/subscribe 💌 Get weekly 5-minute SaaS insights: saasclub.io/email 💡 Join the SaaS Club founder community: saasclub.co/plus
