[The Struggle] AgoraPulse: An 18-year, epic struggle to $5m ARR

The guest on the second episode of the Struggle is Emeric
Ernoult, CEO and Co-founder of social media platform AgoraPulse.
On that subset of the show, we aim to tell the part of the
SaaS journey often omitted: the struggle to get traction. A
struggle which sometimes ends in success but other times in
failure.


His story of struggle dates back to July of 2000 when as a
successful business lawyer, Emeric found first hand a fundamental
truth about the human existence - money alone will never make you
happy. Earning close to €17,000 euros a month at the age of 27,
Emeric was already destined for a comfortable and wealthy life.
But his heart said no to that comfortable perspective. Instead,
he wanted to build his own company.


He started a business on the side with a friend of his. The idea
they were working on was a social network, not too different from
Facebook which launched 4 years later. But as it can sometimes be
the case, for one company and idea to lift off, timing is key.
With the dot-com crash about to happen, Emeric and his co-founder
had picked the wrong year to start a web business. What has
followed are 15 years of playing around with different ideas,
going back and forth between his law career and the business,
with the struggle never really subsiding, until AgoraPulse began
to take shape but it would still take a lot of time to make it
work.


At times it felt excruciating and Emeric’s personal life would
take the toll on this. But he couldn't let it go. This is the
story of AgoraPulse: 18 years in the making.


To hear more about the early years of AgoraPulse, listen back to
the episode we recorded with Emeric in 2016. You can also watch
his very candid presentation from SaaStock17.


 


 


 


Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move
their business forward: 


SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book you tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/


SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Join the waitlist: https://saastock-usa.com/


SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS
founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and
helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)


SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world,
bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the
most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)