Who is Pat Walls - Founder of Starter Story

Pat Walls: Entrepreneurial Profile

Background and Education

Pat Walls is an entrepreneur and software engineer based in Tampa, Florida. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting16. Before founding his own company, he worked in various tech roles, including positions at Deloitte, Anaplan, ReferralExchange, and Dia&Co16. Early in his career, Walls also started an iPhone repair business after leaving Apple1.

Founder of Starter Story

Pat Walls is best known as the founder of Starter Story, a media company launched in late 2017 that interviews entrepreneurs about how they started and grew their businesses2567. The platform is designed to demystify entrepreneurship by sharing real-world stories, revenue figures, and actionable insights, especially targeting bootstrapped founders and aspiring business owners56.

Growth and Impact

• Traffic and Revenue: Starter Story has grown to over 1.6 million monthly visitors and surpassed $1 million in annual revenue by 2023, with some reports indicating over $2 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and more than 120,000 newsletter subscribers3467.

• Content and Automation: Walls built Starter Story by focusing on grassroots content creation, leveraging SEO, and automating as many processes as possible to operate with a lean team346. The site features over 2,000 case studies, searchable databases of business ideas, and marketing strategies, with a paid membership model that grants full access to its content24.

• Monetization: Revenue streams include programmatic advertising, affiliate marketing, paid memberships (with a metered paywall), and long-term sponsorships—most notably with Klaviyo, which became an exclusive sponsor early in the company’s history24.

• Team: Starter Story remains a bootstrapped business with a small team (around seven employees as of 2022), relying heavily on automation and outsourcing for scalability4.

Building in Public

Walls is a prominent advocate of the "building in public" philosophy, sharing detailed updates, metrics, and learnings about Starter Story’s growth openly on his blog and social media457. This transparency has fostered a loyal audience, attracted feedback from peers and customers, and helped him network with other digital entrepreneurs like Pieter Levels47. Walls has also developed and sold online courses (e.g., Lean SEO, Lean Email) using this public-building approach, often pre-selling them through Twitter and his blog47.

Entrepreneurial Philosophy and Approach

• Experimentation and Iteration: Walls emphasizes constant experimentation, A/B testing, and iterative improvements, particularly in SEO and content strategies346.

• Lean Automation: He is known for automating repetitive business processes, freeing up time to focus on growth and creative work346.

• Community and Networking: By leveraging platforms like Reddit, Product Hunt, and newsletters, Walls has built a strong community around Starter Story and expanded its reach36.

• Resilience: Walls’ journey includes overcoming personal setbacks and startup failures, which have shaped his disciplined, adaptive approach to entrepreneurship6.

Notable Media and Recognition

• Starter Story and Pat Walls have been featured in various business publications and podcasts, highlighting the company’s rapid growth and unique transparency in sharing business data and founder stories257.

• Walls maintains a personal blog (PatWalls.com) where he documents his entrepreneurial journey, experiments, and life updates47.

Summary Table