Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2026-08-05
Why He Crowdfunded Millions Instead of Raising VC — Jelte Liebrand, Savvy Navvy
Jelte Liebrand, ex-Google founder of Savvy Navvy (marine navigation app, 'Google Maps for boats'), explains why he walked away from VC and raised repeatedly via equity crowdfunding on Seedrs (2,500 investors, first round 3x oversubscribed in six days, last round at a $15M valuation), how a partnership with Arc Boats kicked off a B2B flywheel with boat manufacturers and CarPlay pontoon boats, a no-kickback boating instructor program, a two-year web subscription ($183 vs $129/yr) that improved CAC payback, and a failed 'anonymous accounts' experiment that removed signup.
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Numbers mentioned
| Subject | Metric | Value | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Savvy Navvy | users Users on the app when a friend suggested crowdfunding (about a year after walking away from VC) | 10K users approximate | “because at that time, we had 10,000 people on the platform using the app, et cetera.” |
| Savvy Navvy | count Crowdfunding investors across all rounds, mostly boaters | 2,500 investors approximate | “We have two and a half thousand investors like this by now.” |
| Savvy Navvy | funding raised Target for the first crowdfunding round (2019); currency not stated | 125K/one-time goal | “Yeah, so the first round, our target was 125,000, and I think we stopped at 370 or something like that.” |
| Savvy Navvy | funding raised Actually raised in the first crowdfunding round before closing it (~3x target); currency not stated | 370K/one-time approximate | “Yeah, so the first round, our target was 125,000, and I think we stopped at 370 or something like that.” |
| Savvy Navvy | time to milestone First round passed its target within 24 hours and was shut down after six days at triple the target | 6 days | “And so, within six days, we shut it down because it was triple of what we needed” |
| Savvy Navvy | funding raised Typical size of later crowdfunding rounds | 1Mper round /one-time approximate | “most of our rounds will have been around the million mark” |
| Savvy Navvy | count Angels putting in six figures each per round; the rest is a long tail of small investors | 2–3 angel investorsper round approximate | “And in most rounds, there would have been two or three angel investors that come in at six digits each, and then the rest is then the long tail of other investors.” |
| Savvy Navvy | valuation Valuation of the latest crowdfunding round (host says dollars) | USD 15M approximate | “our last one, for example, were 15 mil as valuation” |
| Savvy Navvy | funding raised Latest crowdfunding round, from public Seedrs disclosures | GBP 700K/one-time approximate | “You did almost 700,000 pounds at that 15-million dollar valuation” |
| Savvy Navvy | arr B2C business ARR per the 2025 Seedrs disclosures; currency not stated | 3.5M/year approximate | “you shared that you were doing three and a half million in ARR from the B2C business” |
| Savvy Navvy | revenue B2B revenue per the 2025 Seedrs disclosures, 'two, two plus million dollars a year' | USD 2M/year approximate | “the B2B was doing somewhere in that two, two plus million dollars a year range” |
| benchmarkEquity given up per funding round (crowdfunding or VC) | ownership Typical dilution per round; giving up 40% in one round is a red flag | 10%per round approximate | “Fundamentally, you're saying, "My business is worth this, and I need this much cash," and yes, that's usually about 10%.” |
| benchmarkEquity given up in one round that signals a problem | ownership Red-flag threshold: too much for the current valuation | 40%per round approximate | “If you're trying to raise something that is going to give up 40% of your business, that's red flags all over.” |
| benchmarkValuation of acquired apps (host's view of the acquisition market) | valuation Typical app acquisition price is ~4x trailing profit (not revenue), unless strategic | 4 x approximate | “Unless it's a super strategic acquisition, an app is typically valued only at 4X trailing profit, not even revenue.” |
| Savvy Navvy | price Standard annual plan | USD 129/year | “so our normal price is 129 bucks a year. The two-year plan is 183” |
| Savvy Navvy | price Two-year plan, sold via US web checkout; $75 off two annual renewals, which the founder calls ~30% off | USD 183/one-time | “so our normal price is 129 bucks a year. The two-year plan is 183, so we're giving $75 off effectively.” |