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Founders & Friends
Founders & Friends is where interior designers and creative entrepreneurs come for real conversations about building a business—and a life—that feels good.
Hosted by a designer-turned-founder, each episode dives into honest, behind-the-scenes stories from industry leaders, creative thinkers, and bold business owners who are shaping the design world on their own terms. We talk about the big wins, the hard lessons, the financial truths, and the messy middle of entrepreneurship.
Whether you're just starting out or scaling something big, this podcast is your reminder that you're not doing it alone—and that success can look a lot of different ways.
Come for the insights, stay for the community. This is Founders & Friends—where business gets personal, and conversations get real.
Founders & Friends
07. Building Sidemark: What It Takes to Launch a Platform with 4 Co-Founders
In this episode, I sit down with Ben Rutledge, co-founder of Sidemark, a marketing and lead-generation platform created specifically for interior designers. Alongside co-founders Michelle Lynn, Nicole Ogden, and his brother, Ben shares how Sidemark evolved from a simple marketing tool into a full-service growth engine for creative entrepreneurs.
We unpack Sidemark’s journey from MVP to a hybrid SaaS and agency model, explore how they address user overwhelm, and dive into the real reasons why many designers struggle to grow beyond referrals.
👉 You’ll learn:
- The power and challenges of building with four co-founders
- Why marketing overwhelm is the real churn factor for designers
- How Sidemark pivoted from “all-in-one software” to “done-for-you leads”
- What designers get wrong about paid ads (and how to fix it)
- Why aesthetics, onboarding, and support matter as much as features
Plus, we talk about the importance of narrowing your focus, hiring out what doesn’t light you up, and what it really takes to scale a niche platform in a space with little competition.
If you're a design entrepreneur looking to grow smarter—not just bigger—this episode is a must-listen.
This Episode was brought to you by Vetted by Design
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