👋 Hi, I'm Luke...
I'm a Vertical Software Founder, Operator, & Investor.
This is where I share all of my learnings.
Hope you enjoy...
Thanks for stopping by...
My name is Luke Sophinos and I was the Founder & CEO of CourseKey, one of the largest vertical software business for Trade Schools in the U.S. We are an operating system for the space that 300+ enterprises, like Paul Mitchell, Lincoln Tech (NASDAQ: LINC), and Legacy Education (NASDAQ: LGCY) use to run their business. We built one of the market leaders (achieving roughly ~20% on a logo basis) before selling to Providence Strategic Growth (PSG) in 2024.
Today, I serve as an Operating Partner at Atomic (a ~$1B AUM fund) -- the pioneer of the venture studio model and creator of Hims & Hers (NASDAQ: HIMS) as well as OpenStore, among many others. I focus on founding, operating, and investing in Vertical SaaS, Venture Buyouts, and Vertical AI.
I'm an early-stage investor in 15+ vertical SaaS companies including Joy (vSaaS for weddings), Supermove (vSaaS for moving companies), Gemist (vSaaS for jewelry stores) and Betr (Sports betting), to name a few.
I'm also an aging Thiel Fellow, class of 2016 :-).
But enough of the credibility stuff.
I’ve seen a lot on this journey. I’ve had <1 week of cash. I’ve done big layoffs, I’ve made multiple phone calls to make payroll, I’ve walked into meetings where the outcome was life or death. Quite frankly, I’ve made every mistake in the book over the last decade.
However, through the help of so many others, we've persevered to build something special.
Based on these battle scars, I’ve packaged all of my learnings for you into three areas:
- Linear Newsletter → A 100% free weekly newsletter that includes one vertical SaaS business breakdown & case study, one operating lesson / how-to, and one vSaaS deep dive, typically a thesis or playbook.
- Vertical SaaS Bible → A paid content hub that includes 1K+ industries to go after, ~50 vertical SaaS business case studies, ~50 operating playbooks, industry rankings, and more.
- AI Research App → I created an AI app that helps founders, investors, and acquirers find the right industry/vertical to go after -- whether their looking at company creation, investment, or acquisition. The App is trained on ~10 years of my content.
- Sophinos Ventures → Early stage angel investing via syndication with a network of great founders, operators, and investors.
It is my hope that these resources will help one of you build, operate, or invest in the next great Vertical Software company.
Thanks for checking it out. I hope you enjoy it.
With gratitude,
Luke Sophinos
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