Title: Building Seamlss: Clayton Wood on Bootstrapping, Product Fit, and Commercial Viability Problems
By Tony Harcourt | The Startup Founders Club
Introduction
If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to build a SaaS company without taking outside money, meet Clayton Wood.
Clayton is the co-founder of Seamlss, a B2B SaaS platform that helps accounting firms streamline onboarding and securely collect client data. He’s also an accountant, a business owner, and a multi-time founder. In our conversation, Clayton shared how Seamlss was born from a very real pain point, what he learned from an earlier startup misfire, and why he’s sticking to the bootstrapped path—for now.
From Refund Express to Seamlss
Seamlss wasn’t Clayton’s first foray into software. Years earlier, he and his co-founder Daniel launched Refund Express, an online tax return platform. It looked good, did its job well, and customers liked it—but it never made money. The backend work was too manual, the margins were tight, and it just didn’t scale.
From that experience, Clayton and Daniel learned what not to build. With Seamlss, they focused on B2B. They picked a narrow but pressing problem: helping accounting firms securely collect client data, especially during onboarding.
Clayton told me the idea emerged when they realised how many firms were still emailing around sensitive information during the early COVID years. The existing tools were insecure, clunky, or just nonexistent. So they built something better, starting with a quick low-code prototype. Once they saw other firms reacting positively to the concept, they committed to building it properly.
The Bootstrapped Path
Like many first-time founders, Clayton assumed the only way to do a startup was to raise money. “I watched all the movies, read all the books,” he said. “It felt like raising was just what everyone did.”
But as he gained more experience, talked to more founders, and learned the mechanics of early-stage finance, his mindset shifted. He started to see bootstrapping not as a fallback, but as a legitimate—and even preferable—strategy.
He credits his team setup for making it work. Daniel is a developer. Sean, their third co-founder, brings operational and project management expertise. And Clayton, with his accounting background and sales instinct, covers customer and market.
That balance of skills meant they could build and ship without needing a seed round. It also let them grow at their own pace, stay cash-positive, and keep ownership.
“Now that I understand what it would’ve meant to give up control, I’m really glad we didn’t raise,” he said.
Early Market Fit
Finding the first users was harder than expected. Despite being well-connected in the accounting industry, Clayton found that even friends who expressed interest didn’t follow through. “I’d call them, they’d say it sounded great—but no one started a trial,” he recalled.
Instead, their first traction came from posting in a Facebook group for accountants. That cold but targeted outreach surfaced a few early users, five of whom joined as beta testers. Four are still active customers today.
Clayton stressed how helpful it was to be solving a problem he personally understood. Being an accountant himself gave him credibility in conversations and helped validate the product quickly.
Commercial Viability Matters
One of the biggest lessons Clayton took from Refund Express was the importance of building a commercial product—not just a functional one.
Refund Express worked well but involved a lot of manual work. Without integrations into other software or the ability to automate back-end tasks, it became too costly to operate. Seamlss was a direct response to that. It focused on automation and integration from the start, especially with Xero Practice Manager.
“Everything we’ve done with Seamlss has been about staying efficient,” Clayton said. “We didn’t want to build something that costs us more to run than we could charge.”
On Product Validation
We talked about the difference between MVPs and proof of concept. Clayton is a big believer in starting small—often with tools that aren’t meant to last—just to see if a customer actually wants what you’re building.
Their first Seamlss prototype was built in DNN, a quick and dirty system Daniel used to validate the idea. “Once we saw it working, we threw it out and built it properly,” Clayton said. It wasn’t scalable, but it helped confirm demand.
If He Had Raised
I asked Clayton what he would do if someone handed him a million dollars today. His answer: sales.
They already had marketing that worked—emails, webinars, content—but the follow-up time just wasn’t there. “I don’t have the time to pick up the phone and do demos,” he admitted. “I’m running an accounting firm and a SaaS company at the same time.”
He believes adding a dedicated salesperson would directly drive growth. But for now, that capital just isn’t in the bank.
Still, he’s open to one type of raise: Australia’s Early Stage Innovation Company (ESIC) scheme. It allows friends and family to invest and receive tax benefits. Clayton likes the idea of “giving them a win” if Seamlss has a big outcome someday.
The Hardest Part of Bootstrapping
Clayton says the hardest part of bootstrapping isn’t the money—it’s the isolation. Being based in Albury, he’s not surrounded by other SaaS founders. Most of the learning has come from podcasts, books, and trial and error.
“It’s lonely. You don’t know what you don’t know,” he said. “That’s why I think communities like Startup Founders Club are so important.”
He’s also been looking for a mentor—someone who can help him see around corners—but hasn’t found the right one yet.
Final Reflections
When I asked him about the biggest misconception new founders have, Clayton didn’t hesitate: overnight success. “Hell no. It took forever,” he said. “People think they’re going to get paid from day one. You’re probably grinding for five to ten years before that happens.”
His biggest mistake? Pricing. Like many of us, he undercharged early on. Once they raised prices and found the right value metric, things started to click.
And his top advice for other founders?
“Don’t wait for it to be perfect,” he said. “Just push your ugly baby out there. Learn as you go.”
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