Flodesk CEO and co-founder Martha Bitar and CBO and co-founder Rebecca Shostak
Recognizing that small businesses were plagued by difficult-to-use email marketing tools, Martha Bitar (CEO & Co-Founder) and Rebecca Shostak (Chief Brand Officer & Co-Founder) launched Flodesk in 2019 to address creators' frustrations. The company's user-friendly platform empowers small businesses to create beautiful, effective email campaigns, leading to rapid growth, reaching nearly $27 million in annual revenue in just five years.
Flodesk frustration: How two friends built an email empire
Bitar worked in business development at HoneyBook, a client flow management platform for freelancers and small businesses, and Shostak ran a design company providing brochures, websites, and email marketing templates to small businesses. The two were introduced through a mutual friend due to their shared passion for design and entrepreneurial spirit. This introduction sparked a friendship that eventually led to a business partnership.
Driven by a shared frustration with difficult-to-use and complicated email marketing platforms, the two embarked on a journey to change the way small businesses connect with their audiences through email. Before Flodesk, email marketing tools for small businesses were not user-friendly. Inflexible design options, technical barriers, and unintuitive interfaces made creating beautiful, effective email campaigns a daunting task. The small businesses Bitar and Shostak spoke with were desperate for a user-friendly solution that would help them more easily manage their email marketing efforts.
To the annoyance of small businesses, many email marketing platforms increase their prices as their list grows. “We chose a flat-rate model so creators can focus on growing their list, not worry about increasing fees,” Bitar said.
Realizing an opportunity, Bitar and Shostak teamed up with Trong Dong (CTO and co-founder) to launch Flodesk in 2019. Development began in March, and the platform went live in August. They saw impressive initial traction, gaining 500 paid subscribers within days. By December, that number had skyrocketed tenfold to 5,000, generating $1 million in recurring revenue.
The Flodesk team at their annual retreat in Lisbon.
Today, the company has 80,000 subscribers and approximately $27 million in annual revenue. The company fosters a remote-first work environment with a team of 49 full-time employees spread across the globe. Remarkably, Flodesk achieved profitability almost immediately.
The power of permission: Why email trumps social media
While social media can increase brand awareness, email performs much better. “Every small business owner needs an email list. In 2024, you can't afford to build your business in rented space,” says Molly Balint. IG Strategist and Founder of SOFT Business Movement. “Social media alone will not help you achieve your revenue goals.”
While the average email open rate is around 21%, the average engagement rate on social media ranges from 0.05% on Twitter to 2.65% on TikTok. This is reflected in real-world results, with email marketing generating an average return on investment of $36 for every dollar spent. “Build your email list, grow it using social media, nurture relationships with your subscribers, and watch it transform your business,” says Balint.
Unlike social media, where the whims of algorithms and a politically uncertain future can dramatically affect your reach, your email list is an owned asset: you have direct control over your communications and ensure your messages land in your target audience’s inboxes.
Email marketing allows for richer content and personalization. You can create compelling messages incorporating text, images, and video, and customize them for specific audience segments. “Our clients were already telling us how much they loved our emails and how great they looked, so when Flodesk Checkout became available, it was a no-brainer,” says equestrian coach Jessie Hillegas. After launching several courses over the course of a few months, we're now generating up to $80,000 in sales per week because the sales channel was so easy and functional for our users.”
Detailed analysis of open, click-through and conversion rates allows small businesses to measure campaign performance and refine their strategies for even greater impact. Social media analytics exist, but they often lack the level of detail needed to translate engagement into actionable insights.
The social media landscape is undergoing dramatic change. Users are increasingly frustrated by the dominance of algorithms that prioritize paid content and engagement over organic reach. Content creators are seeing their reach plummet, and small businesses are struggling to connect with their audiences on these platforms.
“People are realizing that their audience on social media doesn't actually belong to them,” Bitar said. “The platforms control the algorithms, which can change at whim, and companies are having to scramble to adapt.”
Progress, not perfection: Overcoming internal communication challenges
Flodesk team members surfing together.
Flodesk's biggest challenges came from its internal dynamics: the three co-founders were all very independent and ambitious, and struggled to work together effectively. Bitar comments that the trio prioritized the appearance of perfection over open communication, which led to problems being overlooked and a major systems crash on Black Friday in the first year.
Understanding the seriousness of the platform outage, Flodesk's co-founders learned to prioritize honest communication. They shed the burden of needing to appear perfect in order to embrace vulnerability. With the help of a business coach, they acknowledged their limitations and feelings, creating a safe space to foster trust and better understanding. This shift from a “hold it all together” culture to open communication allowed them to work together as a team and build Flodesk in their own unique way.
In the early days of Flodesk, Shostak's biggest obstacle was transitioning from a solo creative role to leading a design team in a fast-paced startup environment. With no corporate experience, the challenge of navigating people dynamics while steering along timelines dictated by the needs of the company was daunting.
Overcoming this obstacle was a confluence of factors: she gained leadership skills through coaching and online courses; but Rebecca points to a key personal hurdle: the need to manage her own reactions. In the fast-paced world of creative work, learning how to separate initial emotional reactions from thoughtful action was crucial.
Creating space between these moments enabled her to calmly address the situation, understand other people's perspectives, act as a mentor and guide for her team, and foster a new type of creative leadership. This highlights the challenge of leading in an ever-evolving work environment, where there isn't always a clear roadmap but rather new approaches must be pioneered.
How did you overcome communication issues within your company?
