Josh Allen is founder and CEO of Tratta, software for debt collection agencies and creditor rights law firms that gives consumers self-service payment tools and gives agents modern back-office tools. He started in merchant services, hired contractors to build a payment portal, and found out the hard way that nobody was waiting for it.
That first platform landed five clients in about three years while Josh took on well over a million dollars in personal debt for the business. Tratta grew out of one back-office feature a client loved. Today it has about $5 million ARR, just over 20 employees, and almost 100 clients on pricing tied to approved payments.
Josh repaid every penny of that debt in late 2023 and has never taken outside funding. Revenue and headcount both doubled this past year, and he is now hiring his first VP of customer operations. His advice: keep validating with real clients, be willing to pivot, and let a strong CTO tell you no.
Key Takeaways
- Build Backwards: Start with the critical tools for the critical users; if those teams aren't happy, nothing launches.
- Validate Small: One back-office feature a client loved became the product; the portal everyone doubted came second.
- Say No: A CTO who ignored founder ideas became the biggest unlock; hearing no is Josh's best lesson.
- Client Concentration: Josh's best day was when no client topped 10 percent of revenue, better than hitting $5 million.
- Narrow Market: Josh sizes his ideal market at about 1,600 clients and aims to win a quarter of them.
Quote from Josh Allen, Founder and CEO of Tratta
"In my first startups, we got five clients over three-ish years, and I appreciate every one of them to this day. The software did not scale, there were so many problems with it, and I didn't understand the code well enough to know what they were. I ended up hiring another firm to come look at it, and they took it over and stabilized it.
"The realization came that this was not scalable. I had sunk so much money into it and was on the hook for well over a million dollars personally, which sounds crazy with only five clients, and yes, I did a lot wrong. I was facing software that was not going to work, but it was a good idea.
"I had just had my first daughter and was about to have a second, which is always a great time to do this stuff. I could ride it out, go back to merchant services, cross my fingers, and pay this off over the next ten years of my life. Or I could just start over completely."
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