Patrick Butler on BizDefender, SMB Fraud & Venture Studios

Summary

Patrick Butler discusses founding BizDefender to fight rising SMB fraud, what he learned scaling Talent Inc—including acquisitions and smart use of debt—and why the venture‑studio model speeds execution. He also shares an unusual detour: helping build a professional American football team in Paris, and how sports lessons map to startup culture and leadership.

• SMB fraud is growing fast; tools must be simple, affordable and outcome‑driven.
• Debt and other non‑dilutive instruments can responsibly accelerate growth when paired with cash‑flow discipline.
• Acquisitions work best when they extend core capability or distribution and integrate quickly.
• Venture studios compress zero‑to‑one by supplying repeatable playbooks, talent and early customers.
• International expansion benefits from localized partnerships and operational rigor.
• Lessons from building a pro sports team—culture, recruiting, and clarity—transfer directly to startups.

Transcript

Introduction

Jason Kirby: Hey everyone, welcome back to Fundraising Demystified. Today we have a very special guest. I'm excited to have Patrick Butler, co-founder and CEO of BizDefender. Welcome to the show, Patrick.

Patrick Butler: Thanks for having me, Jason. I'm really excited.

Talent Inc: The Early Playbook

Venture Studio: Interplay

Jason Kirby: Yeah, you've got a really fun background. Not only do you have a career as a founder and operator, but you also helped build a professional American football program in Paris, which we're definitely going to get into. So before we dive into everything, I think it'd be great just to set the stage. Tell the audience a little bit about your first venture, Talent Inc, and what you built there—and then we'll get into the story of how you ended up raising money in a unique way there.

Founder Advice & Closing

Patrick Butler: Sure. Talent Inc was actually not my first. I failed many times in the early days and learned a lot. By the time we started Talent Inc, I was coming out of a couple of startups that didn't go so well for me, but I learned a ton. I had just built a Shazam for TV and I had also worked with a lot of companies, helping them with growth and performance marketing. When I found my co-founder, I now had a lot of data points on what makes a good co-founder.

Patrick Butler: We had the same energy and complementary skillsets. He was deeply technical and I was more on the growth and go-to-market side. We were solving a very real pain for candidates and job seekers, especially worldwide. We saw very quickly that there was an opportunity to build a global business by acquiring assets and launching them in new markets, particularly in the U.S., and figuring out how to build revenue in unique ways. And so I said, yeah, let's do it. We thought then—and I still think now—that the career space is really serving companies and recruiters.

Patrick Butler: There isn't a meaningful way for a job seeker to take out their wallet and advance their career. In fact, in most business models in the career space, the job seeker is the product—and they don't really want to pay for it. We decided to build a product to do that. And so we started with the resume, which is a very unsexy product that I can't think of a single person that truly loves to write, but everyone needs one. We started that about 12–15 years ago, and it was wildly successful.

Debt & M&A Strategy

Patrick Butler: The initial idea was, I can't sell you the value prop of a resume until I show you what a better version looks like. So we built a flow where you could upload your resume for free and we’d rewrite it and show you the difference, then charge for the full service. When we started, I personally coded the prototype in a couple of weeks and we launched it against some pretty established players. That experience told me this was a job I really wanted to work on for a long period of time.

Patrick Butler: The Swedish company was very progressive and open to creative financing. We were able to take a controlling stake in the business with a combination of equity and debt even though we were two people in a garage. Immediately we were able to make some acquisitions of service businesses that we could plug into our funnel. The bank lent against the assets to back this. So we ran for two or three years in that capacity. And as we grew, we spun out additional brands and expanded globally.

Jason Kirby: That's incredible—taking control with leverage and then rolling in acquisitions. How did you manage integration and keep quality high at the same time?

Patrick Butler: Integration was everything. We prioritized shared tooling, a single playbook for onboarding, and clear operational metrics. That made it easier to bring in new teams and keep customer experience consistent. Along the way we did roughly eight acquisitions in the time I was there.

Paris American Football

Jason Kirby: Switching gears—how did Interplay and the venture studio model come into the picture?

Patrick Butler: After exiting, I worked with Interplay and saw firsthand how a venture studio can compress the time to validate ideas. You get a bench of expert operators, a shared growth stack and early customer access. It’s not for everyone, but if you fit the model, it's very powerful for zero‑to‑one.

Jason Kirby: Quick detour—the Paris football story. How did that happen?

Patrick Butler: Friends from the international sports world called about launching a professional American football program in France. It sounded ridiculous at first, but the opportunity to shape culture and operations from scratch was compelling. Building that team taught me a ton about recruiting, standards, and communication that I brought back to startups.

BizDefender & SMB Fraud

Jason Kirby: Okay—let’s get into BizDefender. What problem are you solving for SMBs?

Patrick Butler: We are the first and only mass‑market anti‑fraud product aimed at small businesses. SMB fraud is rampant and growing, mostly born out of the adversarial dynamics of online commerce. We make enterprise‑grade defenses usable by owners who don’t have a risk team.

Jason Kirby: What does onboarding look like and how fast can you show ROI?

Patrick Butler: Minutes, not weeks. We plug into payment and e‑commerce systems, flag risky patterns, and guide owners through prevention and dispute workflows. The goal is to reduce loss and reclaim time immediately.

Founder Advice & Closing

Jason Kirby: Any closing advice for founders?

Patrick Butler: Surround yourself with people who raise your standards, measure cash with discipline, and don’t be afraid to use debt as a tool—responsibly. And remember that culture compounds—whether in startups or on the field.

Jason Kirby: Amazing. Patrick, thank you so much for joining. It’s been an absolute pleasure. And we look forward to getting this out.

Patrick Butler: Thanks so much. Big fan of your product and your podcast and appreciate the time.

Jason Kirby: That's my pleasure. Thank you.

Patrick Butler: Thanks.