It’s Never a Straight Line: Why the Path to an Exit Often Starts with a Stop - Neri Bluman of XFunnel (acq by HubSpot)
From the high-pressure grind of logistics to a strategic exit in AI: Neri Bluman joins Alex to discuss his journey from Avo to XFunnel. They dive into the "generalist" superpower, the vital importance of taking a career break, and how Neri and his co-founder Beeri built a lean, profitable engine that was acquired by HubSpot in under a year—all without sacrificing their sanity.
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What does it take to build a company that big tech giants want to buy? Sometimes, it starts with doing absolutely nothing.
In this episode of Very True by Verismo, Alex sits down with Neri Bluman, co-founder of XFunnel (a Verissimo Ventures portfolio company), which was recently acquired by HubSpot.
Neri’s journey is a masterclass in resilience and self-awareness. He takes us from his early days as a lawyer-turned-operator to the hyper-growth rollercoaster of Avo, a logistics startup that scaled to 1,000 employees before facing the harsh reality of the market. After Avo, Neri did the unthinkable for a founder: he took a full year off to reset his nervous system.
We discuss how that break paved the way for XFunnel—a company built with a completely different DNA. Neri shares the specific playbook he and his co-founder Beeri used: prioritizing profitability over massive headcount, having the "money conversation" early, and targeting enterprise giants like Wix and HubSpot not just as customers, but as design partners.
In this episode, we cover:
- The Generalist Superpower: Why being "good at everything but master of nothing" is a massive asset in the age of AI.
- The Avo Story: The thrill of Y Combinator, the stress of logistics, and the hard lessons learned from a down-market cycle.
- The Founder’s Break: Why Neri moved to Portugal, slept for months, and why you can’t "consult" your way to mental health.
- The Co-Founder "Prenup": The crucial conversations Neri and Beeri had about lifestyle, financial goals, and ego before writing a single line of code.
- Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): How XFunnel identified that the internet was moving from "blue links" to "direct answers" and built the tool to serve that shift.
- The HubSpot Acquisition: How selling to enterprise customers early led to strategic partnerships and, ultimately, an exit.
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