Suggestions
Matthew Arbesfeld
Co-founder at LogRocket and Thiel Fellow
Matthew Arbesfeld is the CEO and Co-Founder of LogRocket, a company that specializes in frontend monitoring and product analytics tools designed to enhance user experience for software teams. He has held this position since May 2016, leading the company from its inception in Boston, Massachusetts. Under his leadership, LogRocket has developed a platform that combines session replay, error tracking, and product analytics to help teams identify and resolve user experience issues effectively.16
Background and Education
Matthew Arbesfeld graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was recognized for his academic excellence. His early career included internships at notable tech companies such as Google, where he worked on the Chrome team, and Meteor Development Group, where he contributed to adding native mobile support for Meteor apps. Additionally, he interned at Clara Labs, focusing on growth strategies.136
Other Roles
In addition to his role at LogRocket, Arbesfeld is a Thiel Fellow, a program that supports young entrepreneurs by providing funding and mentorship. This fellowship has allowed him to further develop his entrepreneurial skills while working on innovative projects within the tech industry.14
Achievements
LogRocket has experienced significant growth under Arbesfeld's leadership, raising over $25 million in funding and positioning itself as a key player in the software development industry. The company's revenue is estimated to be between $100 million and $1 billion, showcasing its impact and reach within the market.257
Matthew Arbesfeld's journey reflects a strong commitment to enhancing software development processes through innovative technologies, making him a prominent figure in the tech landscape.
Highlights
I talk to a lot of folks who would like to found their own company over the next 5-10 years, and I’ve seen a few patterns for what has led to the most success when it comes to raising $ from VC.
Obviously, repeat entrepreneurs and bootstrapped founders who already have revenue growth is the easiest path to raise $.
But if you’re looking to raise capital without already having a lot of traction, this is the plan I’d recommend:
- Join a scaling company at Series A/B/C round that you believe in
- Stay for 4+ years and help the company grow towards IPO
- While at the company, build relationships with your coworkers. If you’re technical, get to know the business folks (and vice-versa)
- When you’re ready, form a team of 2-4 with your coworkers, ensuring you have at least one technical leader and one business leader
- Start a company in an adjacent space as the current company or solve a pain point that you have experienced there day to day
- Raise ~3-4M with a slide deck and customer pain anecdotes
Raising $ is not the right move for every business, but if you’re excited about building a company that takes a bit more upfront capital, this playbook is the best way I’ve seen to garner investor interest.
(And, if you want to join one of the aforementioned companies, we’re hiring at LogRocket!)
Sometimes your best choice is to give up.
Before Ben Edelstein and I started LogRocket, we were working on a product called AppHub to help React Native developers.
We launched in 2015 and got to almost $5K MRR in a few months and we raised over $500K.
But the more we talked about the future, the more we saw it was going to be impossible to build a sustainable business.
There was just not enough differentiation or value we could add over time.
So one day, we decided to “give up” and pivoted to working on LogRocket.
And now we have over 100K users and growing; and there’s no end in sight to all the products and value we can build.
