How I Built A $4B Startup Called WebflowㅣWebflow, Vlad Magdalin

Meet Vlad Magdalin, the innovative co-founder and CEO of Webflow, who has navigated the company to remarkable heights with a valuation of $4 billion and revenues hitting $100 million. Starting from the humble beginnings of a failed startup, Vlad's relentless pursuit of his vision transformed Webflow into a leading visual web development platform, democratizing the creation of websites and applications for designers worldwide. His journey underscores the essence of resilience and the impact of visionary leadership in the tech industry.
00:01 Intro
01:01 The Idea That Sparked a $4 Billion Valuation
05:02 10 Years, 3 Failures, 4 Challenges
09:19 How I Found PMF After 4 Attempts
17:02 One Single Idea until $4B Startup
20:15 Credits
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Subtitles for this video were created using [XL8.ai](xl8.ai/) machine translation.

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[@mattempyre]

It was the humorous tutorials that initially got me hooked.

[@vicsystems]

same here

[@bakeraus]

they are brilliant

[@TazzySA]

I'm appalled at some of these comments. This channel is a gem, hearing stories from founders was not a thing 10 years ago. Thank you EO for your impeccable work. :)

[@victorwarner319]

the comments are horrendous lol video is great though

[@Superior-Life]

My first million and indie hackers been doing this via podcasts

[@kevnev342]

if haters paying attention ,your doing something right. I welcome all the haters

[@crakerjack3]

As a struggling business owner with 3 kids under 3 the ending really has me motivated. It’s never going to get easier so just go for it and do what you can with your passion.

[@ricksonpimentel6880]

God will bless you brother with open doors. Seek him!!!!

[@derokkidev]

Vlad is a fantastic person. He's helped so many in our community become successful entrepreneurs through Webflow. One of the few people who changed my life with lasting impact. Always happy to see him get wider recognition :)

[@IntelsCreed]

How is he talking so precisely and clearly and at such a speed. Amazing

[@jhossepmartinez1771]

you can see they actually make cuts

[@makting009]

I am watching at 2x

[@icslush]

He has told this story 1000 times lmao

[@MikeLocke]

Such a great real story and real humble insights. So valuable.

[@PerfectionInDetail]

Hi EO, I notice that you cut a lot of the conversation to speed up the talking. But it takes this natural flow. Perhaps introduce an uncut version? “EO uncut” so if it’s 1hr let it be? Like that we watch with every minute the founder is talking/expressing without the constant edit on conversation. Just providing feedback ☺️

[@mirjalol49]

But that's awesome way. Just get the meaning that is all instead of 1 h

[@ciril2643]

@@mirjalol49how do you know? It’s cut

[@lewicas]

@@ciril2643you can hear the audio skip, plus you can see the video change shot every time it occurs

[@ciril2643]

@@lewicas what I meant with my reply to mirjalo is - how does he know we get the meaning when it’s cut. There could be some info cut out that gives more context.

[@rembautimes8808]

Great story and respect the founder for sticking through. Can understand how much of a blow it must felt when Webflow was almost out of cash and their rivals got $20M. But here they are and hopefully they’ll contribute positively to society. Hopefully.

[@melissamendez7056]

One of the most inspiring and kind founders out there!

[@setoelkahfi]

I used Webflow in around 2015-2016. It's a great tool!

[@bekchik]

Followed Vlad and Webflow for a very long time. Glad he found success

[@nikmagdalin]

That's my uncle!

[@matten_zero]

I also moved to Sacramento to save money for my startup. This is inspiring 💪

[@Apenschi]

Thanks a lot for your comment about parents as founders! I was a solo founder myself while having two little boys. I was working 8 hours in my day job and after that 8 hours for my own app. And still I hope to have been a good father at that time, too. BUT I only slept 4 hours a day for a long period of time!

[@pulyani]

I always think about sleeping while working,no compromise on sleeping,you were not sleepy after 4 hours sleeping? Anyway I am not successful 😢

[@Apenschi]

@@pulyani No, wasn't sleepy at all! I guess I was full of Adrenalin. But I doubt, that I was as productive as before. And it wasn't healthy, though!

[@Emma4dfuture]

Please, begin to factor in sleep in your "Success Equation". I know that seasons come where one has to work extra to bring a project up to speed. But remember that if the body packs up, the project stands a heavy chance of flaming out.

[@Apenschi]

@@Emma4dfuture I didn't claim that it was healthy and I definitely wouldn't recommend this! But sometimes it is like this for some time.

[@SGDCTVDUBAI]

Loved it, my favourite startup story after Shopify guy!

[@HasanulChowdhuryRafi-jj3de]

This is the most beautiful story i've ever heard

[@mantality312]

Love hearing these stories. Great motivation

[@nareshmeetei]

I love all your videos and appreciate the incredible content you're putting out. I have a small suggestion, though. The edits seem a bit too quick, which affects the emotional depth of these inspiring stories. Could you please slow down the pacing a bit? Allowing for moments to breathe will enable the emotions to add magic to the narrative.

[@habert7669]

nice y

[@Prograffable]

Great founder, story and product.

[@jin4368]

This story is so relatable, finally

[@lutjenlee]

need more of this

[@neugey]

This guys encourages me. I felt his story of hitting the hard financial times and not letting it get him off track. The Bret Victor speech was also a great resource.

[@ac12484]

Amazing interview, thank you!!!

[@farouqstray1411]

Very Inspiring, Actually I'm going to use Webflow from now on, because this inspiring story

[@user-ik1bb1tr7v]

Amazing and inspiring story.

[@JullianLue]

This guy gives "DOWN TO EARTH" 😊😊😊

[@brimendis]

Wow, what a wonderful video with valuable advice

[@arex20]

Great guy. Very inspirational. And a great product as well.

[@TalesOfTrillions]

Webflow's success proves that sometimes the best innovations come from challenging the status quo.

[@soikatmaji4685]

Crystal Clear Vision

[@benvsantos]

i am using webflow🎉 yes as you said you have bridged the gap between designers and developers , huge success !

[@zaudiko]

Informative, thanks

[@davidfitcher2953]

One of the greatest ideas👍

[@Dezenaamisnietbeschikbaar]

Very interesting to hear Vlad's background! Note for the editing, it's okay if someone says 'uhm' a couple times. The audio is cut up so much that it feels weird and unnatural.

[@mateusbraga1960]

Nice story, impressive

[@sachinRao15]

webflow changed my life fo sho :)

[@JT-mr3db]

I had to use Webflow to manage a landing page and while it can be a PITA, it works for sure and is very convenient.

[@NewPantalassa]

His Journey is Literally Steve Jobs Quote : “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

[@isurus2478]

Love to hear how he was influenced by 3D software. Webflow is a great platform and I love the continuous updates.

[@xiongbenjamin]

Your video is inspiring

[@Coz131]

I am familiar with webflow they are in a crowded space and their niche is tight. Valuations are just that.

[@me.account9690]

But framer came in place. Even better. When i using webflow im so pisss and keep questioning “why couldnt it be like this?” But when framer”-“ nothing to blame

[@carloslfu]

Valuations are just 100 million in revenue.

[@Tahirkhandeveloper]

Consistency at last win

[@khoile4477]

Love Webflow

[@stephenpearce3880]

A great story and I'm just looking at the possiblity of using Webflow, whihc is how I found this.

[@alejandromedina1019]

4b, they have a tv show about webflow but they took 10 years in giviving us a "custom html" element

[@cryMoreLoL]

😂

[@peterwolftips]

I never though I'd say this one time, but the editing is a bit "too tight" on this video for my taste. That's okay if we want to save time for people watching an already 20min video, but when you are cutting down the end of the sentences that makes me wonder if I have some sort of codec or playback issue... No offence, because I still think that this is a great content and video to watch, but it's a bit frustrating to be fair.

[@krithik8385]

no that's what you should do if you drop out of art school

[@alejandromedina1019]

webflow was a good product until 2021, something happened there. They hit a bottleneck in design is my guess. It actually pushed me to learn how to code

[@gregglegend]

I had the same experience. Loved WF, was a huge evangelist for it. Then they completely changed their pricing, and their plans became incredibly convoluted. Felt like cash grab. I learned Python and Django, and haven't looked back.

[@roshanxyz4321]

Play at 0.75x for better grasp

[@maxshishkn]

what, i was watching it on 1.5x 🥲

[@NanheeByrnesPhD]

what is the idea that led to the billions of valuation? I am unable to identify it from the presentation. I am unclear who are the ideal customers for this company given that there are so many competitors. Will it be swallowed by the Square space just as happened with Bloggers?

[@kjellruben]

The idea is that you can visually create beautiful custom code. It's like photoshop for designers and developers. Weblow strands out from the crowd because of the ability to design 99% as you like. Not like Squarespace and most of the other tools. There are some other tools like Framer working on the same, but they are not using CSS Classes. And as far as I know, Webflow is the only one. That makes the learning curve steeper, but a million time more powerful. And the moment you understand it, its freedom you don't find anywhere else. They did have a lack of focus for years where they instead of focusing on the core product started working on e-com and user management, but luckily they are now more focused on making a marketing website product that is more capable. Will they get bought up, who knows. They say they don't have any interest in that, but that is anyones guess. For transparency, I'm a Webflow expert using Webflow since 2015.

[@hellopleychess3190]

Valued too low. Way too low.

[@SomeComedies]

Bro the video is great but the audio is really f@$& please fix that!

[@Hm444LZ]

Man, Vlad is great, but telling us that making revenues for the company is their 3rd most important goal? cmon man we all know it's not true, how else would you explain 30-40% jump in price for almost the same product? Webflow does listen to their users and prioritize them? Are we sure on that? Cmon man again, some features were asked requested for 4 years now lol. Let's take a look at the users --> it took almost what 3 years until it finally got introduced? Vlad is top mind in the world, but some of his words are just sweet talks rather than true.

[@cryMoreLoL]

Yeah, when he said that I knew that was 100% 🧢

[@teodor6835]

Vladdy Balady

[@PicyPoe]

whats wrong with the sound

[@m.vadivel3881]

Put more unique content about Start up

[@marketdilemma]

Unique content = artificial content,

[@yohannesJas]

god this is so great content, but wat the hell is with the cuts, no breathing room, I felt like someone was standing on my neck, If the content wasn't actually useful, i would have clicked off, pls guys slow is okay, your content is good , you don't need the fast cuts its like watching a great movie with all the silence in between dialogues cut

[@monkpad]

Looks like a young Matt Damon

[@StompinJago]

Within 1 minute of watching: 4 billion valuation company derived from 100 million revenue out of 200 thousand customers. So each customer paying $500. Is that a recurring revenue? Am I going to pay $500 monthly for a webflow?

[@ArvindUpadhyaybusinesscoach]

Read my book make a Startup.

[@wick9462]

Lucks involved here

[@nuthinking39]

Luck is always involved. You need to create opportunities for luck to happen though.

[@Dev_UI]

1:46 hardcore

[@levandreyev834]

Listen i am all for nice startupy stories and respect the dude for what he has done, just dont us the bullshit of it can not be done and that even the big boys could not do it!!!! there were tooooooon of tools that did the exact thing, you just commercialised it better, you were at the right time with the right product/ tech, so just say things as they are and stop selling dreams, half of it is pure luck

[@ivospironello6451]

But they failed 4 times before success !!

[@Wubwub772]

Wheres the bs? Didn't catch it

[@japhethachimba174]

Lol you never listened to what he said. They all tried and assumed it cannot be created, the guy really pushed and did

[@user-dw5qw3hy1o]

Did you even take your time to watch the video? He mentioned that it was luck and a fluke, he even added timing

[@adityagupta7288]

the difference between us is that you might have maxed out your credit card on food or purchasing something for your family but we maxed them out to give out salaries. And then all you could say is WE GOT LUCKY

[@denisblack9897]

A lot of jelly mofos in the comments, wtf)

[@Astral100]

What's with the horrible editing? There are abrupt cuts everywhere. Let him speak naturally

[@holetarget4925]

webflow will fail with ai revolution

[@aakashmk]

Never

[@bakai.ibraimov]

Great startup among Y Comb! I have been using this SaaS for last 2 years, genuinly satisfied.

[@beashutiwari]

Thanks for taking such amazing interviews 🫡