Nomorobo · B2C · robocall blocking app
Raise small amounts on a rolling note only when you need the next step
About $2.25M raised in total; reached profitability and kept a big stake
Workedfinancing
What they did
After launch costs threatened 6 weeks of runway, negotiated with Twilio and opened a friends-and-family convertible note (mother, stepfather, a few founders with exits). Opened the first note for $500K but closed ~$50K, then $250K, extended to about $1M pre-seed, then a ~$1.25M Series A that reached profitability. No milestones attached; money went to telecom and developers, not ads or servers.
What happened
Total of a little over $2.25M raised; reached profitability and the founder kept a large stake for the exit.
- Stage
- early
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · From Idea to 8-Figure Exit in 10 Years Flat — Aaron Foss, Nomorobo“So we basically did it in two tranches, right? So the pre-seed, basically a million, and then a million and a quarter.”
“the first one I opened for a half a million, but I raised I think 50 grand of that.”
“When it got up to the million, that's when we did an A raise, and then that got to profitability.”
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More from this episode
- Nomorobo: Enter a government prize contest with a working prototype, demo video and catchy nameWon and split the $50K prize out of ~800 entries; launched the company
- Nomorobo: Talk to every reporter after a public win and send them to an email waitlist3,000 signups in a few months, 30,000+ emails by launch day
- Nomorobo: Request 5 years of government complaint data to seed your blocklist on day oneMany false positives, but enough to launch and start collecting real data
- Nomorobo: Give landline blocking away free forever to gather data and users for the paid appCost up to $120K a month in phone bills; replaced any ad budget
- Nomorobo: Email your free landline users asking them to try the paid mobile appFounder calls it huge; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Charge $1.99 a month through Apple's in-app subscriptions instead of building billingBecame the business's turning point; Apple's cut was cheaper than self-run billing
- Nomorobo: Give a 2-week free trial so users see it block a robocall firstFounder credits it for the app's success; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Soft launch quietly, fix the bugs, then tell reporters who covered you beforeFounder says the press flywheel kept going; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Publish a page for every robocaller phone number, with the call recording and a block buttonFounder calls it a moat that worked really well; no traffic numbers
- Nomorobo: Pitch local reporters this week's top scams in their city, with call audio2-3 unpaid press mentions a week for 10 years, including NBC Nightly News
- Nomorobo: Let phone carriers turn on your free service in one click from their control panelsAnother huge free channel with no biz dev team; no numbers
- Nomorobo: Build it Apple's privacy-first way, then ask Apple to feature it as App of the DayFeatured by Apple early; founder calls it a competitive advantage
- Nomorobo: Hand off customer support first, using contractors you meet through your networkBuilt the whole team without job posts; the support contractor's brother became product manager
- Nomorobo: Track just one number early on: robocalls blockedFounder recommends it; no measured result
- Nomorobo: Ask your biggest supplier for 90-day payment terms while waiting for Apple payoutsGot down to $944 in the bank but survived without predatory investor terms
- Nomorobo: When one buyer makes an offer, tell every past suitor to get competing bidsHad a choice of buyers; sold for over eight figures (per host)
- Nomorobo: Add a $5 a month premium tier with call screening and a family plan