Lessons In Growing Revenue From Twitter’s Latest Acquisition, TellApart 

Editor’s Note: Josh McFarland is the co-founder and chief executive officer of TellApart

On the heels of its acquisition by Twitter, TellApart chief executive Josh McFarland tells Greylock Partners how he grew the company from $7M to $100M in revenue.

McFarland returns to the time early in the company’s history when he had dinner with his friend and TellApart investor, Evernote CEO Phil Libin. TellApart had closed the fiscal year at $7M in revenue — a big number for a young startup. At a pivotal moment for McFarland, Libin said, “That’s great you got to $7M. But what’s your plan to get to $100M?” Leaving dinner, McFarland understood he needed to shift his thinking from seeing himself as a founder to thinking like a CEO.

To get on the path to $100M the company shifted its sales strategy to focus on larger accounts and globally recognized brands. McFarland hired key executives that embodied “equal parts manager, executive, thoughtful leader, and doer.” And after hitting profitability early, TellApart also explored acquiring other teams and companies to accelerate their growth.

TellApart was founded in 2009 by Josh MacFarland and garnered a customer roster with top brands including Neiman Marcus, Sur La Table, Warby Parker and Brookstone. The company raised $13M in Series B from Greylock, Bain Capital and Harrison Metal.