The SaaS Podcast – Episode 459: Everflow: From Selling Just Screenshots to $30M ARR SaaS

Guest: Sam Darawish, Co-founder & CEO of Everflow
Host: Omer Khan
Date: October 30, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the journey of Sam Darawish and his co-founders, who bootstrapped not just one, but two high-growth companies: Moolah Media (acquired for $50M) and Everflow, which now stands at nearly $30M in ARR without any outside funding. Sam shares candid lessons on building SaaS products customers actually want, narrowing focus to reach early traction, the pain and payoff of staying lean, and the challenges of expanding into a bigger market that didn’t behave as expected.

Listeners will discover the gritty, unglamorous path from selling screenshots at conferences to running a global SaaS business, and why growing profitably – not always hyperfast – can be a lasting advantage.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. From Moolah Media to Everflow: Serial Bootstrapping

[06:27]

• Sam’s first venture, Moolah Media, was among the first mobile affiliate networks, bootstrapped out of knowledge of desktop advertising trends shifting to mobile.
• Developed internal tracking tech due to lack of suitable third-party options.
• Moolah Media was acquired in 2013 by Opera for $50M.
• Three-year earnout at Opera shaped attitudes toward profitability and efficiency.

“Opera was also a public company... big focus on profitability. So it kind of carried over.” – Sam Darawish [13:03]

2. Spotting a Market Gap and Early Validation

[09:48]

• Sam constantly heard marketers complain about existing affiliate marketing software during the earnout, which sparked the Everflow idea.
• The co-founders invested “a few hundred thousand” of their own money, did not pay themselves for the first few years, and spent 6-7 months on discovery and validation before building the product.

“Scarcity of capital and resources forces you early on to really focus on what matters.” – Sam Darawish [13:03]

3. The Power (and Risk) of Selling Before Building

[17:29]

• Instead of waiting for v1, Sam and team attended Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas with just screenshots of their SaaS.
• While most people walked away, two prospects signed up and became Everflow’s first customers.

“Many founders would never do that... but I think you want to get feedback as quickly as possible. Nothing better than going to a conference with hundreds of people in the space...” – Sam Darawish [20:59]

• Some skeptical prospects who walked away ended up converting years later.

4. Narrowing the ICP to Accelerate Early Traction

[15:48]

• Everflow targeted mobile affiliate networks first – a very narrow slice of a not-huge market, but a group they deeply understood.
• Focused on the reporting and fraud/fraud-prevention gaps that legacy competitors weren’t addressing.
• This approach yielded the first million in ARR within about a year from just ~20–30 customers.

“Very targeted approach rather than a very broad approach... trying to solve for that initial set of people.” – Sam Darawish [17:04]

5. Product & Market Expansion: New Challenges

[27:54]

• Having saturated a niche ($70M TAM), they pivoted to pursue brands (a $700M–$1B TAM) and influencer-centric marketing.
• The move brought new requirements: direct brands have fewer resources per user, demand more automation, and want built-in payments for mass payouts (not handled in the original product).
• Churn increased in the new segment, and product-market fit was not as seamless as expected.

“On the brand side, they wanted all of our product to just take care of the payments... If you have a thousand influencers, you don’t want to cut a check for each.” – Sam Darawish [31:10]

6. Staying Lean, Profitable, and “Unglamorous”

[34:47]

• No PR, no founder-led “brand,” minimal outward marketing for years. Everflow grew almost exclusively via efficient execution, solving real problems, and partner marketing.
• Culture of capital efficiency led to high revenue-per-employee ($250k at current scale).

“Having a capital efficient foundation... is kind of the strength of that company... your job as CEO is to protect the company and make sure it has the capital to survive.” – Sam Darawish [34:47]

• Growth is 25–30% YoY—healthy, but not hypergrowth, by design.

“Sometimes a healthy kind of moderate growth is better than a very aggressive kind of fast growth… you’re getting kind of spread a little thin.” – Sam Darawish [36:19]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “History, it doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes. It gives you perspective. Take it easy and don't freak out.” – Sam Darawish on lessons from history [04:04]

• “If we put in 4 million instead of 400 thousand, I don't think that necessarily helps… scarcity forces you to really focus.” – [13:03]

• “We didn't really... Nobody really gives you negative feedback. I think some people recognize like, this is early on.” – Sam on showing just screenshots at launch [22:04]

• “You want that immediate feedback... could be building down some weird rabbit hole otherwise.” – [20:15]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------| | 03:56 | Introducing Sam Darawish | | 05:07 | What is Everflow? | | 06:27 | Bootstrapping and scale of Everflow | | 07:14 | Origin & exit of Moolah Media | | 09:48 | Birth of Everflow – idea validation | | 11:06 | 6-7 months of R&D and customer discovery | | 13:03 | Bootstrapped mindset, capital scarcity logic | | 15:48 | Narrowly-defined ICP: mobile affiliate networks | | 17:29 | Selling at Affiliate Summit with screenshots | | 20:15 | Mindset around showing "unfinished" work | | 22:52 | Getting the first 10+ customers | | 25:29 | Differentiation in a crowded/fragmented market | | 27:22 | Hitting first $1M ARR with few big customers | | 28:35 | Expanding from niche to brand market | | 31:10 | Unexpected product gaps in bigger segments | | 33:11 | Churn and product-fit in expansion | | 34:47 | “Unglamorous” business building philosophy | | 36:19 | Capital efficiency vs. growth | | 38:00 | Persistence: best business advice | | 39:46 | Living with uncertainty: key founder skill | | 40:29 | Personal productivity habit | | 41:22 | Fun/creative “AI DJ” business idea | | 42:04 | Black belt in taekwondo | | 42:25 | Weightlifting as meditation |

Lightning Round Highlights

Best business advice?

• Stay persistent. “A lot of very smart founders, I think, give up too early. One of the biggest attributes of a good entrepreneur is just persistence.” [38:00]

Recommended book?

• "Know What Matters" by Ron Shaich (founder of Panera): “The fundamentals are the same, whether it’s a restaurant or SaaS.” [38:49]

Founder trait (besides persistence)?

• “You have to be willing to live with the unknown. How you deal with uncertainty is probably the biggest reason for your success.” [39:46]

Personal productivity habit?

• Weekly review: Write down 3–4 core goals every Sunday night and focus only on those for the week. [40:29]

Fun fact:

• Black belt in taekwondo at age 15; “it’s been downhill since then!” [42:04]

Passion outside work:

• Weightlifting for flow and meditation; has three kids, including twins. [42:25]

Final Takeaways

• Depth over breadth: Early, narrow focus sped Everflow’s way to product-market fit and first $1M ARR.
• Efficient, not flashy: Bootstrapping forced Everflow to solve real problems efficiently, which built a robust and defensible business.
• Scaling brings new surprises: Moving into bigger markets can surface new problems and higher churn if the product-fit isn’t as strong.
• Culture matters: Persistent, scrappy, steady progress—more than luck or brilliance—pays off over the long haul.

“I think sometimes a healthy, moderate growth is better than very aggressive, fast growth…” – Sam Darawish [36:19]

Learn more about Everflow: everflow.io
Contact Sam: sam@everflow.io