DoubleGDP was founded in 2019 by Sid Sijbrandij (founder of GitLab, a YC-backed company) with the vision to spur the growth of “new cities” (aka startup cities or Charter Cities) worldwide by providing an all-in-one operating system / CRM platform for them. I joined as its co-founder and CEO and led it for 4 years. We achieved a customer base of 5 cities, and had 25 employees from 8 different countries.
We also were quite unusual as far as startups go. We were entirely funded by one investor / owner with a hired CEO. We were mission-driven for the big outcome with no exploration of exits or acquisitions. We worked primarily in emerging markets in Africa and Latin America because those were the places with biggest need for cities. We existed almost entirely along with the pandemic. We were a startup company building for a startup market, which ultimately did not materialize.
Though the market for new cities did not grow as hoped, much of what we accomplished drives great lessons for others. Most importantly, sell to an existing problem in an existing market, (though do take advantage of platform shifts that can potentially change those markets!) Other highlights: publish sprints to YouTube, build handbook-first, communicate clearly and succinctly, build trust, hire great people.
Some other interesting factors to explore in future posts: narrow vs. broad, open source or open core, single vs. multiple investors, working in Africa and Latin America, new cities and the potential to double the world’s GDP.
