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Aaron Bailey
Co-Founder/CEO @ Builtfirst
Aaron Bailey is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader currently serving as the GTM (Go-to-Market) leader at AppDirect following the acquisition of Builtfirst, a company he co-founded and led as CEO.12
Bailey co-founded Builtfirst in October 2020, developing it into a leading no-code partner marketplace platform that enables companies to create and manage their own B2B marketplaces.34 Under his leadership, Builtfirst gained significant traction, serving various user types including buyers, sellers, and partners, and attracting notable clients such as Endeavor, StartOut, and Operators Guild.3
In May 2024, AppDirect acquired Builtfirst, recognizing the potential for synergy between the two companies' marketplace solutions.25 Following the acquisition, Bailey joined AppDirect to continue driving innovation in the B2B commerce space.7
Prior to founding Builtfirst, Bailey held positions including:
- Manager of Innovation & Partnerships at 500 Startups (April 2019 - October 2020)
- Advisor and investor for various startups (2017 - Present)7
Bailey's professional experience and the success of Builtfirst have positioned him as a notable figure in the B2B marketplace and commerce platform industry. His LinkedIn username is aaroncbailey91, where he maintains a professional presence and shares insights about his work in the tech industry.67
Highlights
Gametime!
Hit me up if you're going to AppDirect's Thrive!
Builtfirst has been acquired by AppDirect!
Today is one of the biggest and most exciting days of my career.
When Michael Julve and I started Builtfirst we had no idea what we were in for and now 3.5 years later:
-$3.75m raised from 26 amazing investors -$100m+ saved on platform -100k users globally -Thousands of sellers listing on hundreds of Builtfirst marketplaces -Customers like HubSpot, Novo, and Remote + hundreds more -Acquired by AppDirect, the leading subscription commerce platform globally
To answer some of your questions:
-Yes the entire team came over -Yes the team is growing -Yes the brand and app are staying separate -Yes we’re integrating the AppDirect catalog and commerce into Builtfirst
For those asking, “Now you can relax, what are you going to do next?”
No relaxing…only accelerating.
I want to thank our 26 investors, I won’t name all of them here but especially Kellan Carter and the FUSE team, Liz (Cain) Christo and the Stage 2 Capital team, and Eddie Thai and the 500 Global. Shoutout especially to our first check from Mike Head. You all believed in us so early on and it made a huge difference.
And special thanks to the founder buddies who spent hundreds of hours walking, talking, and venting with me over the last 4 years, Brendan Short, Topher Haddad, Sterling Montes, and Chris Brantley.
Also thanks to Nicolas Desmarais and Andy Ellerhorst for having us aboard!
Thanks especially to the Builtfirst team Michael Julve, Tom A., Dalton Haberman, Knia Robinson-Taylor, Nicolás Ferrari, Anderson Sánchez, Hebron Afia, Matias Gonzalez Olivera, Jailen García, and Valeska Villasana.
And to my wife Katie Jane Bailey words cannot express the the debt of gratitude I owe to you.
There will be much more writing from me on everything from the acquisition process to big platform releases to the master plan for global domination soon.
In the meantime, Mike and I wrote a blog linked in the comments!
