From 0 to $14M ARR - The Decisions That Actually Mattered with Claudia Stankler

Why It Matters

Claudia’s playbook translates early-stage lessons into operational priorities founders can adopt to reduce risk and accelerate SaaS scale-up. Practical takeaways on hiring, metrics, and partnerships have direct implications for fundraising, retention, and sustainable revenue growth.

Summary

Claudia Stankler, COO of Connected, recounted her unconventional path from a psychology placement to leading operations at a tech company that scaled to $14M ARR, highlighting the pivotal decisions that drove growth. She emphasized lessons learned through trial and error—prioritizing product-market fit, disciplined hiring, operational processes, and strategic partnerships—while sharing concrete mistakes to avoid. The conversation framed scaling as an iterative process of measurement, team-building, and refocusing resources on what demonstrably moves revenue. The session was hosted by Startup Grind London with support from legal and startup partners that help founders navigate growth.

Original Description

Join us for a fireside chat with Claudia Stankler, COO at Connectd, who helped scale the company from zero to $14M ARR.

Claudia will share the critical decisions behind building a high-performance operations function, from timing that first ops hire to managing distributed teams and maintaining culture through hypergrowth.

Whether you’re a founder navigating your first scale-up or an operator looking to level up, you’ll leave with actionable frameworks and hard-won lessons from someone who’s been in the trenches.