#260: Chris Hulls, Co-Founder and CEO of Life360, the World’s Leading Family Safety Service, on Building a Company That's Raised $200M+ and is Publicly Listed on the Australia Stock Exchange

Jan 8, 2021

Chris Hulls is the Co-Founder and CEO of Life360, the world's leading platform for keeping loved ones connected and protected outside the home. Founded in 2008, Life360's mobile app now provides millions of families in over 140 countries with services such as private location sharing, location history, drive details, crash detection, roadside assistance and help alerts through our free and paid membership subscription. Life360 has raised +$200M in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, DCM, Fontinalis Partners, BMW iVentures, Allstate, Bullpen Capital, Founders Fund (FF Angel), Launch Capital, Kapor Capital, and 500 startups. They are currently publicly listed as 360 on the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX).

Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Highest Honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously an angel investor in or an advisor to a number of technology companies including Tile, Credible, Ring, Automatic, Honk, and Zendrive. He is also an Air Force veteran and served in Afghanistan.

About Our Partner

This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies.

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They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs.

Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company.

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Some of the Topics Covered by Chris Hulls in this Episode

• What Life360 is and the big vision for the company
• How the idea for Life360 was born and how Chris developed it and pivoted early
• Chris' lifetime journey in entrepreneurship
• Early customer acquisition for Life360
• The challenges of being the first ever location sharing app
• How they leveraged a big news story into a growth hack that kickstarted the app's success
• How Chris and his co-founder navigated the early lack of traction
• The importance of customer retention
• From borrowing money from family members to raising a Series A
• How Chris has approached building and managing the Life360 team
• How Chris approaches hard conversations and having to let go employees
• Adapting the business model to create revenue
• Chris' professional growth and his experience with YPO and an executive coach
• The decision to go public in Australia and how Chris has leveraged the secondary market
• What fuels Chris and how he navigates the challenge of work-life balance

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