The SaaS Podcast

Bob Moore, Crossbeam

Sold the Same Company Twice Then Built a Partner Empire

Bob Moore is the co-founder and CEO of Crossbeam, a SaaS platform that helps companies find overlapping opportunities with their partners to drive revenue. In 2008, Bob and his co-founder Jake started RJ Metrics, a pioneering cloud analytics platform, which they bootstrapped for the first three years. Those early years were grueling as the founders struggled with finding product-market fit, acquiring customers, and generating enough revenue to stay afloat. Despite being early to the market, by 2012 they found traction, grew the business, and raised over $20 million in venture capital. However, in 2015, their business model was disrupted and the company stopped growing. Eventually, they sold the company in a deal Bob described as "good but not great". In 2016, Bob and Jake spun out a piece of RJ Metrics' technology used for helping companies move data between systems into a new company called Stitch. In a lightning-fast 18 months, thanks to a stroke of good fortune and timing, they sold Stitch for $60 million, a much more successful exit than their previous venture. But Bob wasn't done yet. In 2018, he co-founded Crossbeam, a partner ecosystem platform to help companies build more valuable relationships with their partners. But to make it work, both parties had to sign up simultaneously, which created a complex "landing two jumbo jets at once" scenario, as Bob described it. Initially, this made it extremely challenging to grow the business, forcing the founders to come up with more creative solutions to onboard companies. Adding fuel to the fire, GDPR compliance became a priority just as they launched, creating even more complexity. Despite the hurdles, Bob and his team persevered. Leveraging their network, they onboarded early adopters, and after two years of hard work, the network effect kicked in, helping to fuel growth. Today, Crossbeam generates eight-figures in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and serves nearly 20,000 companies. Their team has grown to over 100 people, and they've raised just over $116 million in venture capital to date.