James Brewer hacked his way into the founding team | Ep 69

James Brewer went from being Import Yeti’s 3rd user to its co-founder—and helped scale it to 150K+ paying users and 2M monthly visitors. In this episode of Funds and Founders, he breaks down how import/export data can power sales, how to turn sweat equity into real ownership, and the systems that helped build a multi-million dollar bootstrapped SaaS.

💡 Whether you're in logistics, SaaS, or trying to break into tech—this episode is packed with actionable frameworks on:

- Sales with data

- Startup equity

- Scaling without VC

- Automation stacks that save 10+ hours/week

- And the power of never taking “no” as the final answer

📬 Want to try Import Yeti’s premium tools? Watch the full episode  @FundsAndFounders 

Timestamps:

00:00 – James Brewer on retention and the surprising start of Import Yeti

01:20 – From user #3 to co-founder: the cold email that changed everything

03:10 – The pitch mistake that taught James how to actually sell

05:00 – Using import/export data to close million-dollar clients

07:00 – What makes global logistics shockingly inefficient

09:00 – The sweat equity deal: how James negotiated his way in

11:15 – Building trust without funding: early growth, first users, and retention

13:30 – The automation stack that saves him 10+ hours/week

15:45 – Why James still handles support tickets personally

17:20 – Growth without VC: systems, obsession, and ownership

19:50 – Customer feedback vs. product focus: what they say “no” to

22:00 – How Import Yeti avoids getting outpaced by copycats

23:30 – The three biggest use cases driving 2M monthly visits

26:00 – Sales vs. product: how to balance short-term wins and long-term moat

28:10 – Lessons from scaling a “boring” SaaS in a niche market

30:00 – Founder conflicts, and why their partnership actually works

33:00 – Most SaaS founders get sales wrong — here’s what to fix

35:15 – How to earn founder-level equity even if you weren’t there day one

37:30 – Final advice: Build something useful. Stay in the game. Get obsessed.

39:30 – Where to find James + how to access Import Yeti’s premium features