Why Jack Ellis acquired Fathom Analytics from his co-founder

Why Jack Ellis acquired Fathom Analytics from his co-founder

Author: James McKinven April 16, 2025 Duration: 14:10

Jack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, a simple, privacy focused analytics tool launched in 2019. I last spoke to Jack on the podcast in 2021, where he talked about the inception and growth of Fathom, taking on a massive incumbent and why Jack loves working with a co-founder. In December 2024, Jack acquired his co-founder’s share in the business, making him the sole owner (i think). Today, we’re going to talk about why he made this unique move and what’s next for Fathom.

Timestamps

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 01:20 Jack finds out about EmailOctopus
  • 02:34 Why Jack acquired Fathom
  • 05:03 How can Jack afford this?
  • 05:28 Why did they not get an external buyer?
  • 07:17 Back to being a solo founder
  • 08:19 Innovating the the crowded analytics space
  • 11:09 Fathom's marketing and growth in 2025
  • 12:34 How is Jack having fun?
  • 13:14 Recommendations

Recommendations

My links

Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙

EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.



Every Tuesday, James McKinven sits down for a short chat with someone who’s quietly building a business on their own terms. Indie Bites focuses on the real, often messy, beginnings of profitable, bootstrapped ventures. Instead of abstract theory, you’ll hear founders explain the exact moment an idea clicked, the scrappy ways they tested it without spending a fortune, and how they landed those crucial first few customers. The conversations are deliberately kept concise, getting straight to the practical insights that make a difference when you’re starting with limited time and resources. This podcast digs into the specifics of creating a sustainable income independently, covering the intersection of entrepreneurship, marketing, and hands-on business tactics. It’s for anyone who prefers learning from direct experience rather than corporate playbooks, offering a regular dose of motivation and actionable advice from people who are actually doing the work.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Indie Bites
Podcast Episodes
Making $12k p/m with Wordpress plugins - Patrick Posner [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:39
Patrick Posner is the creator of a portfolio of Wordpress plugins which have been downloaded almost a million times collectively making him $12k p/m. Patrick went full time indie in 2020 and since then has both grown qui…
Stair stepping to millions in SaaS revenue - Craig Hewitt, Castos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:37
Craig Hewitt is the Founder and CEO of Castos, a bootstrapped podcast hosting and analytics platform with a services arm for podcast production. He’s been in podcasting almost a decade, having started his own show, Rogue…
Daniel Fayle: from commercial banker to making millions in software [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:05
Today I’m joined by Dan Fayle, who is the co-founder of Chekkit, a company that’s he bootstrapped to almost $2.5m ARR and 20 employees. There’s a few interesting things about Dan’s story I know you’re going to like. This…
How Ahrefs Built A Best-In-Class SEO Strategy - Tim Soulo, Ahrefs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:54
Tim Soulo is the CMO at Ahrefs, one of the biggest and best SEO tools on the internet. Ahrefs are one of the clear success stories as a bootstrapped company, growing to be a an 8 figure brand over the past decade. Things…
How to build a newsletter business - Louis Nicholls, SparkLoop [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:32
Louis Nicholls has dived deep into the world of newsletter referral programs, and he's learnt a thing or too along the way. This chat is packed with advice about speaking to your customers, avoiding shiny object syndrome…