#204: He Sold a Majority, Gave Up Control, and Became Indispensable - Matthew Bullis · Practical Founders Podcast summary

Key takeaways

Solve any problem — A bootstrapper's real value is surviving anything and solving what breaks.
Stay flexible — Don’t rely solely on past accomplishments; your current value is in your ability to create solutions.
Sit with customers — Deep engagement reveals hidden problems and opportunities for innovation.
Hire your boss — Bringing in experienced leadership, like a seasoned CEO, de-risks scaling and growth.
Keep perspective — Nothing is as bad or as good as it feels in the moment; maintain emotional balance.
Be adaptable — Evolving roles and contributions can make a founder indispensable, especially in scaling companies.
Leverage AI strategically — Focus on both applying AI effectively and integrating it into products for competitive advantage.

Summary

Founder's Journey and Background

Matthew Bullis's story begins with an extraordinary early life on a small, undeveloped island off South Korea, where he grew up in primitive conditions. After losing his father young and being adopted into the US at age 11, he faced the challenge of adapting to a new country with no English skills. His early success as a tech entrepreneur included starting a dot-com shopping cart software company in college, which nearly sold for billions during the dot-com bubble. Despite setbacks, including a failed exit and initial struggles, Matthew eventually took over his brother's struggling concrete-pumping software business, which was earning only about $20,000 annually. He taught himself to code and rebuilt the platform from scratch, focusing on solving real problems faced by subcontractors in the construction industry.

Building RapidWorks: Customer-Centric Development and Industry Focus

Matthew's approach to product development was heavily centered on close customer engagement. He spent weeks in the offices of subcontractors to observe their workflows, pain points, and operational chaos firsthand. This deep customer intimacy enabled him to build software that directly addressed these pain points, significantly increasing dispatching productivity and operational efficiency. Starting with a simple, affordable pricing model, he expanded his initial niche—concrete pumping—to include other sectors like cranes, hydrovacs, and site services. Transitional efforts included integrating multiple verticals into a unified platform through acquisitions, which remain a work in progress.

Growth, Funding, and Leadership Transition

By 2016, RapidWorks had grown to nearly $20 million in revenue with thousands of customers and millions of jobs processed annually. Recognizing the need for scale, Matthew raised growth equity from WaveCrest Growth Partners, which brought in an experienced CEO, Tim Curren, and a new leadership team. Instead of stepping away completely, Matthew chose to stay flexible and in a strategic role, eventually becoming Chief Strategy Officer. His adaptability and willingness to contribute across functions made him an indispensable asset. The transition allowed him to support the company's scaling efforts and to de-risk the business with professional leadership.

Founder Mindset: Resilience, Flexibility, and Value Creation

Matthew emphasizes the importance of staying adaptable as a founder. He advises that overemphasizing past successes can hinder progress; instead, continuous problem-solving and creating value in the moment matter most. His mindset involves being flexible, solving problems regardless of roles, and earning credibility through tangible contributions. His stories highlight that genuine value comes from surviving adversity and addressing real needs, rather than relying solely on reputation or past achievements. Maintaining this outlook helped him navigate leadership changes and the evolving company landscape.

Impact of AI and Future Strategies for RapidWorks

Matthew discusses the strategic importance of AI for RapidWorks, focusing on both utilization and productization. The goal is to incorporate AI to improve efficiency, create better workflows, and develop AI-powered features that benefit blue-collar customers directly. He notes that AI-driven product development is critical to maintaining a competitive moat as the landscape shifts toward integrated, holistic platforms rather than disconnected point solutions. RapidWorks is actively exploring how to embed AI in their processes and products to bring real-world value, preparing for an arms race in innovation and platform dominance.

Show notes

Matthew Bullis grew up in a mud-brick hut with no running water on a small island off South Korea, was adopted to the US at 11 speaking no English. After a dot-com near-miss, he took over his brother's struggling concrete-pumping software — down to about $20,000 a year — for 90% of the company. He taught himself to code and rebuilt it from scratch.

From 2016, Bullis built RapidWorks into the operational system of record for heavy-equipment subcontractors: concrete pumping, cranes, hydrovac, and other site services. RapidWorks helps contractors book jobs, dispatch crews, manage the field, and get paid faster with accuracy and speed, taking dispatchers' productivity from 20 jobs to 60+. Today the company is near $20 million in ARR, serving more than 80% of the concrete-pumping market.

In 2023, approaching $5 million in revenue, Bullis sold a majority to Wavecrest Growth Partners and brought in a new CEO Tim Curran with a new executive team. Matthew expected to be phased out within a year. Instead, by staying flexible and solving whatever broke, he became indispensable as chief strategy officer, taking on important strategic execution roles across the company where he was needed.

Key Takeaways

Solve any problem — A bootstrapper's real value is surviving anything and solving whatever breaks.
Stay flexible — Don't trade on past wins; credibility comes from the value you create now.
Sit with customers — Weeks in their offices surfaced problems they never thought to ask for.
Hire your boss — A ready-made CEO and team de-risk the scale a founder can't reach alone.
Keep perspective — Nothing is as good or as bad as it feels in the moment.

Quote from Matthew Bullis, Co-Founder and CSO of RapidWorks

"To stay useful and relevant when you're not the CEO any more, you have to be flexible. People overemphasize the value of what they've done in the past: look at all the great things I did. But that's like living in your high school glory days. It doesn't merit much, and you can't expect people to give you credibility just for what you built.

"Your real value is surviving anything and solving any problems. Take that to heart — I can survive anything, I can solve any problem, I can create value for myself and the people around me. Under any difficult situation, people are drawn to people of value.

"So I stopped staying quiet. When I saw things weren't done right, I spoke up, and the seasoned leadership saw my opinions had value. When people see value in you, and you really help, they want you on their team — that's how I won the other executives over."

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#204: He Sold a Majority, Gave Up Control, and Became Indispensable - Matthew Bullis