From Pivot to $10M Raise: Building Fondo with David Phillips

 

What does it really take to build a venture-backed startup from the ground up?

Join us for a candid conversation with David Phillips, YC alum and CEO of Fondo, as he shares his founder journey — from an early pivot out of BloomJoy to launching Fondo and scaling it to thousands of customers and a recent $10M raise.

We’ll dive into how David navigated product pivots, founder-led sales, early hiring, and the mental game of building in the early stages — lessons that resonate with any founder scaling their first venture.

 

About the Speaker:

David Phillips is a the founder and CEO of Fondo (YC W18), the #1 accounting platform for YC startups. After previously bootstrapping Hackbright Academy to an $18M acquisition, David founded Fondo to automate bookkeeping, tax, and R&D credits for startups. Under his leadership, Fondo has scaled to over 1,000 customers and $10M in ARR, helping founders save over $100M in taxes and thousands of hours on back-office work. David is also an angel investor in 100+ startups including Rippling, Flexport, and Liquid Death.

 

Complimentary Ticket:

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About Founders Network:

Founded in 2011, Founders Network offers lifelong peer mentorship to over 600 tech startup founders globally. Our platform, programs and high-touch service facilitate authentic experience sharing, warm introductions and long-term professional relationships. Additional benefits include over $500k in startup discounts and promotion to 2,000 newsletter readers. Members are located in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto, London and other tech hubs. Each month our Membership Committee admits a new cohort of full-time tech founders who are nominated by an existing member. Learn more about us here

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