How a Hillbilly in Nevada Bootstrapped a $140M ARR Manufacturing Company | Jim Belosic, SendCutSend
How a Hillbilly in Nevada Bootstrapped a $140M ARR Manufacturing Company | Jim Belosic, SendCutSend  
Podcast: The Peel with Turner Novak
Published On: Thu Apr 30 2026
Description: Jim Belosic is the Co-founder and CEO of SendCutSend, a sheet metal manufacturing business he bootstrapped to a $140 million revenue run rate in eight years.We talk building a manufacturing business in the US, creative ways he financed the company early on, using speed and trust to compete with overseas competitors, lessons from restaurants, and why you can’t run a factory from a spreadsheet.Thank you to Numeral, Flex, and Amplitude for supporting this episodeNumeral: The end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance https://www.numeral.comFlex: Sign-up for Flex Elite with code TURNER, get $1,000 https://form.typeform.com/to/Rx9rTjFzAmplitude: AI analytics, all you have to do is ask https://www.amplitude.comTimestamps:(0:16) Automating sheet metal manufacturing(5:59) Zero to $140 million ARR in 8 years(7:58) Acquiring a $750k laser with $0(13:38) Automating factories is like baking cookies(15:17) Being legible to capital(17:31) Unlocking custom, low order manufacturing with software(20:00) Building more factories instead of selling the software(24:50) Run your company like a lemonade stand(28:30) Raising an angel round in 2021 as a safety net(33:21) SendCutSend’s unique bottoms-up GTM(38:24) Fun coupons(40:12) Building a moat with speed and trust45:55) How US factories can beat China(47:40) Gaslight product launches(52:05) Lessons from non-manufacturing businesses(55:19) You can’t run a factory from a spreadsheet(58:10) Using data in manufacturing(59:50) Lessons from Factorio(1:03:17) Unlocking a negative cash conversion cycle(1:06:14) You need to resist automating everything(1:13:51) Surviving COVID with six weeks of cash(1:15:47) Solving the US skilled labor shortage(1:26:17) Teaching kids about manufacturingReferencedSendCutSend: https://sendcutsend.com/Careers at SendCutSend: https://sendcutsend.com/careersSandy Kory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandykoryHorizon VC: https://www.horizon.vc/Concrete Canoe Competitions: https://www.asce.org/communities/student-members/conferences/asce-concrete-canoe-competitionFollow JimTwitter: https://x.com/jimbelosicLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belosicFollow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/