Baton

The Challenge

Phil Kirkeiner was working as a financial analyst at a Utah pest control company when he noticed a glaring gap in the industry: there was no quality system for companies to pass referrals to each other. When a pest control company couldn't serve a customer (wrong geography, wrong service type), that lead just died. Phil saw a massive opportunity — but needed to validate whether the industry would actually adopt a referral platform.

The Bootcamp Experience

Phil attended the Startup Ignition Bootcamp (Provo 8 Cohort) to validate his idea before quitting his day job. Through the lean validation process, he confirmed there was a real, painful problem and a viable market willing to pay for a solution.

He founded Baton Leads in late 2019 to connect home services companies and help them pass customers to each other rather than letting leads go to waste.

Phil valued the bootcamp so much that he attended a second time once he had more traction — using the framework to pressure-test his growth strategy and refine his business model at a different stage.

The Results

Baton raised a $1M seed round led by Startup Ignition Ventures (John Richards, Tyler Richards). The company has since scaled from $150K to $7M in revenue, building a lean and efficient team of 90+ offshore professionals.

What started as a referral network for pest control has expanded across the entire home services industry — connecting companies in HVAC, roofing, plumbing, and beyond.

"You will not regret the enormously SMALL investment in this course that will literally save you thousands of hours and millions of dollars."

Key Takeaways

• Validate before you leap. Phil used the bootcamp to confirm market demand before leaving his finance career — reducing his risk dramatically.
• The framework scales with you. Phil attended bootcamp twice — once at founding, once with traction — and got value at both stages.
• Capital efficiency through lean operations. A 90+ person offshore team enabled Baton to scale revenue 47x without burning through venture capital.