From B2B SaaS to Fashion Tech: The Serial Founder Who Exited 33 X & Is Doing It All Again | Vic Peppiatt
Female Founders Rise ShowShow Notes
She raised just under £4 million, built a B2B SaaS company powering brands like eBay, Facebook, Netflix and Sephora, and exited in 2022 - delivering a 33X return for her earliest investors. In this episode, Emmie and Mae sit down with serial founder Vic to unpack the exit playbook most founders never see. From building Phrasee (language models before ChatGPT existed) to hitting the £7M+ ARR sweet spot that makes a SaaS business sellable, this is a masterclass in building with the exit in mind. Then Vic flips the script and shares what she's building next: Hey Savi, a B2C fashion tech startup that just partnered with PayPal to launch the UK's first agentic commerce platform. She opens up about the candid conversation she had with her husband — "I can make us rich, you look after the kids" — and why she's betting on consumer tech after a decade in B2B SaaS.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: → How Vic turned a £4M raise into a 33X exit → Why she built Phrasee to sell from day one — and what that actually means → The $10M ARR sweet spot that makes a B2B SaaS business sellable → What angel investors really look for (from someone who's been on both sides) → Why Vic is pivoting from B2B SaaS to B2C fashion tech with Hey Savi → Inside the PayPal partnership: the UK's first agentic commerce platform → The "I can make us rich" conversation: navigating partnership and parenting as a founder → The moment the exit process nearly broke her — and what kept her going
KEY MOMENTS: → 00:00 - The hat trick: made, raised, and exited for a million → 01:29 - 33X returns: one angel turned £12,500 into £900,000 tax-free → 02:16 - Building to exit vs waiting to be approached → 03:49 - Angel investing: what Vic looks for now → [+] - Hey Savi: Vic's B2C pivot and the PayPal partnership → 15:53 - "I can make us rich — you look after the kids" → 19:05 - Best investment: believing she could do it → 19:40 - The exit process nearly broke her → 20:08 - Eat that frog: her one piece of advice for every woman founder
RESOURCES & MENTIONS:
→ SEIS tax relief scheme → Vic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriapeppiatt/ → Hey Savi x PayPal — UK's first agentic commerce platform: https://heysavi.com/ → Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/
ABOUT THE SHOW: Honest talk from female founders who've made a million, raised a million, or exited for a million. Hosted by Emmie Faust and Mae Yip. New episodes every week.
CONNECT WITH US: → Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/ → Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust → Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238 → Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/ → Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show
More from Female Founders Rise Show
What do women who made a million, raised a million, and exited for millions actually do differently?
How do you build a family-run business that stays profitable, grows in a sustainable way, and genuinely cares about people?
Why do most B2C brands fail and what does it actually take to build one to a £40M exit? In this conversation, hosts Emmie and Mae sit down with exit founder and angel investor Joanna Jensen to break down how a kids skincare brand for eczema (Childs Farm) went from kitchen-table idea to a £40M acquisition. We cover product sampling over paid ads, knowing your customer to lower acquisition costs, packaging as 'packvertising', and the biggest mistakes B2C founders make around growth pace and patience. We also go inside the exit itself - investor relations, corporate governance, cap table red flags, and what angel investors wish founders knew before raising. If you are building a B2C business and thinking about a future startup exit strategy , this is your playbook for building to sell without burning out.
Mia Drennan got passed over for promotion, quit, then needed 400 meetings to land deal one. Ten years later she bootstrapped to profit, then scaled 10X in 3 years to a £1billion valuation. In this honest conversation we dig into bootstrapping vs private equity, the equity trap for women founders, referral-led growth, and building a team that shares in the win. Real tactics for funding, scaling, and confidence.
What if your personal brand & posts brought in clients instead of just likes? This is the playbook behind a £3M bootstrapped business founded by Amelia Sordell.