How TeamSupport Reached $10M–$25M ARR With 1,000 Customers | Grant Stanis

How do you grow a customer support SaaS to over 1,000 customers and $10M–$25M in ARR in one of the most crowded software categories, without trying to outspend the giants on marketing? In this episode, Nathan sits down with Grant Stanis, CEO of TeamSupport. The company provides B2B customer support software used by more than 1,000 companies and generates between $10M and $25M in annual recurring revenue. Most customers start around $10,000 per year, but the best accounts expand significantly over time, including enterprise customers paying more than $1M annually. Customer support software is a brutally competitive market with players like Zendesk and Freshdesk dominating search and advertising. Instead of fighting that battle, TeamSupport focused on referrals, community, and expansion revenue. The core idea is simple: turn support conversations into signals that drive retention, product feedback, and upsells. You'll learn: How TeamSupport grew to $10M–$25M ARR with over 1,000 customers. Why most customers start around $10K ACV and expand to $20K–$30K later. How one enterprise account grew into a $1M+ annual contract. Why they price the product per seat at $79–$99 per user. How expansion revenue became a core growth driver. Why the company relies heavily on referrals instead of SEO. How partnerships and webinars generate qualified pipeline. What it's like to lose a top 10 customer and report it to the board. How private equity ownership changes the way CEOs run SaaS companies. What kind of acquisition offer would realistically trigger a sale. Grant joined TeamSupport as CEO in 2024 after leading growth at several private equity-backed software companies. The business was founded in 2008 and later acquired by Level Equity in 2018. Today the focus is simple: grow profitably, expand existing customers, and build a durable SaaS business without relying on massive marketing budgets. If you run a SaaS company selling to support teams, customer success leaders, or mid-market software companies, this episode offers a practical look at how to grow in a crowded category. Connect with Grant: https://www.teamsupport.com/ Connect with Nathan: https://founderpath.com/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  If somebody in this customer support space came to you and offered 175 million bucks all cash, would you take that to your board and level and recommend that you do the deal?

• 0:08Speaker 01

  Yes, we would. Absolutely.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  What's the largest customer paying you per year today?

• 0:11Speaker 01

  It is a seven-figure, low seven-figure deal is what they're paying us.

• 0:15Speaker 00

  How many customers are you serving today?

• 0:17Speaker 01

  We've got over a thousand today.

• 0:18Speaker 00

  If I take your thousand customers, times that $10,000 ACV, that puts you about 10 million bucks of revenue. You're saying you're north of that today?

• 0:24Speaker 01

  We are north of that. Yeah. Let's say that we're, we're less than 25, way more than 10. How about that?

• 0:28Speaker 00

  So how many folks registered and how many showed up?

• 0:30Speaker 01

  I want to say that we had about 400 registered and about 300 showed up.

• 0:34Speaker 00

  Hey folks, my guest today is Grant Stanis. He is the CEO of Team Support, which helps you turn conversations into revenue, specifically support tickets. Grant, you ready to take us to the top?

• 0:43Speaker 01

  Let's go, buddy.

• 0:44Speaker 00

  Okay, interesting. So we'll want to obviously get the full story, but let's not, we want to make sure we get the audience into the product before we dive too deep on the story. What is Team Support selling today? What's the product?

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, so we provide to you sort of a B to, a B to B ticketing solution as it relates specifically to your support conversations. And so think about it as you have an interaction, you record that, the ticket happens. It might be, how do I do something in a software? It could be a bug. But our big thing is that ticketing is a commodity and there you can go and find 40 different solutions of everything that's out there in ticketing. What we do differently is we want to take your support conversations and drive that into better retention and upsell opportunities for you. And so what we do is we take that first-party data of your support and we turn it into actionable items for you to improve upon in your business.

• 1:32Speaker 00

  So who are you mainly selling this to since you help drive revenue, but it's a support function? Are you selling to the CRO or the head of customer support or both?

• 1:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, so it's usually the head of customer support. Most often it is when somebody wants to really create a good linkage between support and product is where we find ourselves to be really great. If you think about CS and small and medium-sized software businesses, the key aspect of that, right, is to retain and to grow your customers. And so a lot of CS folks are doing the upsells and it's where this really comes in handy from that perspective.

• 1:59Speaker 00

  How many customers are you serving today?

• 2:01Speaker 01

  We've got over a thousand today.

• 2:02Speaker 00

  So don't obviously name them, but when you look at your fastest growing customers, how are they incentivizing CS teams? In other words, are they taking a million dollar? Book of Business in 2025 and giving it to one CS rep and saying, turn this into 1.2 million for 120% net dollar attention. And if you do that, you'll get a 5% commission on the extra expansion for the CS rep. Or how are they actually structuring it?

• 2:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's great. It's a good question. So are the way that are like, and I'll tell you how like we do it. Cause this is exactly how we recommend to our, you know, our clients to do it is you're going to use the signals that customers are doing. Nobody wants those anymore. Right?

• 2:34Speaker 00

  Interesting. Okay. And I want to get some of the backstory here in terms of, right? Will you join 2024 then for today and talk about AI into the future? Before we do that though, get my audience in the right realm in terms of what you're charging customers on average per month.

• 2:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. So we on average, I think per user today, it's a little bit less than, I think it's like $79. If you want our top end package, give or take. And what that comes with, actually I take that back, it's 99 with AI. But the aspect is, and that's per user, right? So we do, we're doing AI differently than some of our competitors. So we're not trying to do it on a session base. We're not trying to do it on a volume base. What we're trying to say to you is like, hey, get your users to be better and more efficient and really drive what you're doing. Go deeper within the organization and spread that AI across the board. And part of that aspect is that we sell to a lot of small and medium sized businesses. And so as a result of that, they're not trying like the enterprise customers to say, hey, I got 3,000 support reps. I want to take this down to 2,500 next year. Right?

• 3:30Speaker 01

  If you're a growing SaaS organization, what you're saying is I got 10 support reps and I don't want to add an 11th next year. What I will add is more experience and more costs. I've got five CS reps. CS is like our number two users in our platform. Right? Like, how do you drive those from a different perspective? And so that's what we're trying to do with our, our price volume. And so on average, we're picking up the, the support, the CS as well as probably some of the product folks. In some cases, the finance team as well as in our organizations.

• 3:56Speaker 00

  So just to make sure I understand, the average customer today is paying you a hundred bucks a month?

• 4:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, the average customer is paying us well over $10,000.

• 4:04Speaker 00

  Per year?

• 4:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 4:06Speaker 00

  Okay. So what's that average team size typically? People are signing in for like, what 10 seats, 50, 100 seat.

• 4:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, give or take. Yeah.

• 4:12Speaker 00

  Interesting. Okay. I mean, can I take a thousand paying customers times that $10,000 ACV to kind of back into your revenue?

• 4:18Speaker 01

  You would sure change us. But it is a way, you know, we have, that is kind of our new logo. One of the things, and again, this goes to the value of our software is we're really great at bringing customers in. And say, for example, bringing them in at a $10,000. And then two, three years from now, them being sort of $20,000, $30,000 from their perspectives. And so our top, like if you go look at our top customers, one of the big things that we've done is we've taken them from the 10, $15,000 customers to several hundred thousand dollars across the board from their perspectives.

• 4:50Speaker 00

  So what's the, don't name the customer logo, Ali, but what's the largest customer paying you per year today?

• 4:54Speaker 01

  It is a seven-figure, low seven-figure deal is what they're paying us. Yeah.

• 4:58Speaker 00

  Wow. Wow. Okay. That's a big team. Okay. So just to be clear, you said I'd quote shortchange you. If I take your thousand customers, times that $10,000 EDA puts you at about 10 million bucks of revenue. You're saying you're north of that today.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  We are north of that. Yeah. We don't really, you know, being a private equity backed company, we don't really disclose all of our metrics. But what I can tell you is that, that is, let's say that we're, we're less than 25, but way more than 10. How about that?

• 5:21Speaker 00

  Okay. I love that. Thanks for being as transparent as you could there. Let's talk more about that. That's a new element to the story of private equity. So the company got going in 2008, you joined in 2024. Did the private equity firm make you like basically place you into the company?

• 5:33Speaker 01

  They did not. I came in, so in 2019, so the, the private equity firm actually bought this business in 2018. And then the founder kind of transitioned to the board role in 20, I want to say it was around 2020. And we had another CEO who was in the role before me between 2020 and 2024 when I came on.

• 5:53Speaker 00

  Okay. Okay. Interesting. And so that, that deal in 2018 by private, which private equity firm was that?

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Level Equity.

• 6:00Speaker 00

  Okay. Okay. Great. Okay. Interesting. So got it. So that deal happened in, in 2018. And just to be, so sorry, just to be clear, they bought a majority stake?

• 6:08Speaker 01

  They did. Yes. They're, they're the vast majority owner. Yeah, exactly.

• 6:12Speaker 00

  Okay. And give me more about your background before you joined this business in 2024. What were you doing?

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I started ironically, I always tell people, I started my first career in politics before I got some good advice from one of the comptrollers here in the state of Texas. That if I wanted to make money and not go to jail, that I needed to get the hell out of politics. So good. Business, great companies that we just need to come in and took it kind of from, you know, 3% to 30% growth in a very short period of time. And then, you know, here at Team Support, right? Again, like, we're going through this really crazy AI transition, transaction world, right, in support. And it's been a really fun journey to go through with what we've been working on. And so that's been a really fun lead. One of the things you'll hear about my story, and I'm very different than sort of some founders, is I'm a firm believer in profitable growth.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  And so we don't take on, you know, debt or capital to go raise, to go drive, you know, incremental growth in the business. What we do is we source funded ourselves through our customers of growing them time and time again, from that perspective.

• 7:13Speaker 00

  Guys, remember, I am not just a YouTuber. I'm investing in my third fund. We've deployed $250 million into 550 software companies so far. Again, at FounderPath.com, if you're interested in capital, I would love to cut you a check because I know you're investing in your education. You watch my show. So sign up at FounderPath.com. And when you get the onboarding email, I reply and I see all those. Just reply and say, Nathan, I found you through YouTube, and I'll make sure to prioritize you. I would love to cut you a check. Check out FounderPath.com. Really interesting. What?

• 7:43Speaker 01

  You're gonna have them based, you're gonna have your bonus, but that equity slug is really based upon the value that you create. Now, some folks will structure it too, and differently, which is, I don't want to give you transactions, so I'm gonna give you a transaction bonus. The problem with transaction bonuses, you don't get the really great tax activities associated with, you know, like a profits interest or, you know, sort of the options of different pieces. And I really want to run a business. I don't want to just take you through a moment in time, if that makes sense.

• 8:07Speaker 00

  It does. Take me back to your last board meeting. What was the most uncomfortable thing you had to disclose to Level Equity at that board meeting?

• 8:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, we lost probably what would have been one of our, you know, it was a top 10 customer of ours, right? And it's one in which you sit there and you think about just crazy. And you're like, how do I frame this? Like, I've got to take ownership as the CEO. I've got to, like, show them that there's positivity in the business, and that this is a one-off. And you know what Level said to me that was really great was, this happens to every great CEO. For telling me, we know that this was a hard message. Now, what are you gonna do to go recover that revenue? Right? Now, I've been through this once or twice before, so I knew that that like that I had that answer ready of like, hey, here's how we're gonna go get that revenue. But that is something where people like really struggle with the P E's.

• 8:57Speaker 01

  They're gonna like bury the news in the headline or they're not gonna take accountability. They're gonna blame somebody else and the box starts with you, right? Like, but it's it at the end of the day, like I wasn't the person, I wasn't the CSM on that account. I'm not our chief revenue officer, but I am the CEO of this business. And we lost a customer and I had to go have that conversation with the board, right?

• 9:17Speaker 00

  Interesting. Take us inside that same board meeting. You know, that was the probably the Q4 2025 meeting. We're doing this interview in January of 2026. You know, you're obviously now working for Level Equity. What is the objective they are trying to hit? You know, what is the hold time they have for this? Is it a part of a fund that's maturing in three years? So they want you to exit it by 2028. And if so, like what kinds of leading indicators are they looking for for you over the next 12 to 24 months? In terms of rule of 40, what percent is profit versus growth, things like that?

• 9:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, so every company, and this is what's great about investors. If they're a larger fund, they're probably gonna be looking at like two tuts, right? Depending upon how big the deal is.

• 9:53Speaker 00

  And so Level would be happy with a two time outcome here.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  I mean, Level, I don't think Level would be happy with a two time outcome at all, right? You know, Level's notorious. And if you listen to Ben and Sarah talk about it, there is a very consistent number that they try to achieve, right? I know what numbers are going to fly and what numbers are not going to fly with them because we had that level setting. And it's not always, don't get me wrong, there is a negotiation that happens between you and your board, right? Cause there's an equation, there's everything else that happens. But like, if you have that alignment, your board meetings are way better. If that makes sense.

• 10:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, you're coming in, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong here. You're coming in though, to a high pressure situation. Level bought the company in 2018. You said it yourself, they're in the moving business of the storage business. This company's been in quote, storage six years when you joined and now sort of seven, eight years now today. You know, you gotta get into the moving business here at some point. I mean, if I'm reading my T cards correctly, you really came in as the CEO to go sell this company in the next 12 to 24 months.

• 10:50Speaker 01

  I've had several successful exits in my career at different stages, right? What I will say is, you know, we will, at some point in time, there will be a transaction. And yes, most of the situations I walk into are extraordinarily high pressured because of one situation or another. Right? And that's, that's my MO as, as a CEO and what I've built my career upon. Did M and A for 10 years. If you want high pressure, go, go, go do that for a long time. Right? But you're absolutely right. There will be an event and it will be coming up. The one thing I will say about Level is that they are so notoriously awesome about, they take a very different approach than some private equities that I've worked with. Some of them, to your exact point, will be at a certain date and time, we will sell because that's what this fund requires us to do.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  Level is very creative because they do what's best for their investors and the company and the customers and the employees. And I couldn't speak more highly of them because exactly that perspective that they've got. So yes, the pressure is on me to perform. The date is to be determined, if you will.

• 11:51Speaker 00

  You're between 10 and 25 million of ARR today. If somebody in this customer support space came to you and offered 175 million bucks all cash, right, to you via email, would you take that to your board and Level and recommend that you do the deal?

• 12:04Speaker 01

  Yes, we would. Absolutely. Right? I mean, that's a great return. It's, it's a great return for anybody. I mean, even, even like, think of it like you said, 175 divided by 20, right? That's 8.75 X multiple. That is a great return for a private equity to get 875, like, take it in a heartbeat.

• 12:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, interesting. And so there's no, so the counter to this is it'd be very stupid not to ask me, have me ask you questions about how you grow these companies. We've talked a lot about sort of intricacies of private equity and why you joined as a professional CEO. But how, how are you adding customers this month in January of, of 2026? I tried to find a digital footprint. You have some SEO traffic here, but not a ton, like striving most of the growth.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  We go ask our customers. We, our customers are a cult following. One of the things that like we found, especially in these big spaces like this and crowded spaces is like, I could go spend a ton of money on SEO, but Zen and Fresh are going to spend 100 times more than I could even possibly spend. So what we do is we do an old school philosophy of we mapped out our customers. We know who their friends with and what they go do. And we go and we say to them, hey, can you make an introduction for me? And by the way, we'll give you, you know, like a discount on your renewal as a result of that. We don't, and again, like this is us being thrifty. We go, we'll send one or two folks. I spoke at the last support driven. We'll probably send a speaker at a later date, but we go and we talk and we create communities. They've got a Slack community where people ask questions. How do I do the following?

• 13:29Speaker 01

  And we go and we chase those. And it's not necessarily about trying to, that's how we build brand awareness rather than advertising. We spend it by creating communities. The other thing that we'll do is we'll do, you know, our webinars aren't about, hey, how can you really understand team support? Right? It's really about how can you be a better customer support professional? And how can you drive more from it? Get yourself a seat at the table and that's what we do.

• 13:54Speaker 00

  So what do you consider a winning webinar? I'm trying to find a recording, one of your webinars on your site. But what do you consider a webinar that works really well for you?

• 14:00Speaker 01

  So we had one, like from a, from a go to market perspective, we had one recently. We eliminated Donna Weber. Donna Weber is an onboarding specialist and she's got a cult following of people. And so it was kind of a cross promotional deal. She got to come on and talk about her capabilities in front of an audience that could potentially buy from her. She brought her audience to team support event that could potentially buy, that we could potentially buy from them. And so for both of us, we invested some time in basically cross advertising. And it's a really cheap way in a very crowded space to let people know who you are.

• 14:31Speaker 00

  So how many folks registered and how many showed up?

• 14:33Speaker 01

  I want to say that we had about 400 registered and about 300 showed up, give or take.

• 14:37Speaker 00

  Okay. Well, that feels pretty good. Did you try and close people live on that call or what's the outcome? How do you know if it was good?

• 14:42Speaker 01

  We will follow up with them. And so we got a few leads from our perspective. Obviously, you know, Donna's probably going to do her own from her own perspective. But you know, from ours, we actually got a decent amount that would probably be about a month or two of bookings if they convert.

• 14:56Speaker 00

  Very cool. All right. I just realized we're three minutes over. I want to be respectful of your time, so let's wrap up here. Grant, if people want to learn more about you, where can they find you online?

• 15:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. Go check us out at teamsupport.com. Check me out on LinkedIn, Grant Stanis. We'd love to hear more about you. Come talk to us. We don't have to say. Anything. We just want to evangelize about how to be a great support person.

• 15:12Speaker 00

  Has a great story today. Launched in 2008 with three co-founders. Ultimately, in 2018, Level Equity came in. Great firm. Combination of equity plus debt. Bought the business. In 2020, the founders moved to the board. And in 2024, Grant came in as a CEO. He's worked at companies backed by Excel KKR, other massive private equity firms. You know, these kinds of professional CEOs like Grant are looking for 2 to 6% sort of equity slugs, base plus bonus. And ultimately, he's coming in going, how do we grow this thing? Some combination of rule of 40. Well, today in 2026, Team Support is supporting over 1,000 customers. Users are paying 900 bucks a month, but customers are paying, call it $10,000 ACV. So call between 10 and 25 million bucks of AR with the largest customers paying upwards of seven figures to use the tool. He'll continue to

• 15:55Speaker 00

  scale. We'll see what happens next. Check him out at teamsupport.com. Grant, thanks for taking us to this app.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  Thanks Ian.

• 16:01Speaker 00

  You won't believe this CEO's revenue. Click here to watch the next episode right now.