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Nov 27, 2015 · 23m · 20vc

20 VC FF 024: Raising $33m in VC Funding with Nikos Moraitakis, Founder & CEO @ Workable

Nikos Moraitakis · 15m spoken Harry Stebbings · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Nikos Moraitakis, co-founder and CEO of Workable, about building and scaling an SMB-focused recruiting platform. Nikos shares practical advice on SaaS growth metrics, fundraising dynamics, product design, and expanding from Greece into the US market.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 28.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 1.2 Guest teaching 4.0 Guest disagreement 3.4 Harry pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:0020:002:02–5:06 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Nikos Moraitakis on His Entrepreneurial Origins and Founding Workable Harry asks standard entrepreneurial origin questions about the aha moment behind Workable. Nikos gently rejects the premise of a grand vision or dramatic problem, explaining they simply wanted to build an SMB software business in Greece.5:06–10:02 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Differentiating Workable from Legacy Recruitment Tools When Harry asks if starting a startup in Greece was tough, Nikos directly refutes the geographic disadvantage premise. Harry pushes back on developer and capital access, but Nikos details why peripheral markets offer hiring advantages over Silicon Valley giants.10:02–13:55 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 US Expansion and Dynamics of the SaaS Market Harry assumes Workable moved to the US to attract VC funding, which Nikos immediately dismisses as false, stating VCs follow good businesses anywhere. Nikos then educates Harry on customer proximity and US sales talent dynamics.13:55–21:00 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Evaluating SaaS Success and Critical Performance Metrics Nikos challenges conventional startup wisdom when Harry congratulates him on fundraising, arguing that funding shouldn't be celebrated like an achievement. He further calls traditional pitch decks bullshit, emphasizing long-term relationship building over formal pitches.21:00–22:16 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Quickfire Round and Long-Term Vision for Workable During the quickfire round, Nikos candidly admits he has no clear roadmap for the next five years. When Harry asks if clear objectives are important for founders, Nikos bluntly answers no.2:02–5:06 · Guest teaching 3/10 Nikos Moraitakis on His Entrepreneurial Origins and Founding Workable Harry asks standard entrepreneurial origin questions about the aha moment behind Workable. Nikos gently rejects the premise of a grand vision or dramatic problem, explaining they simply wanted to build an SMB software business in Greece.5:06–10:02 · Guest teaching 4/10 Differentiating Workable from Legacy Recruitment Tools When Harry asks if starting a startup in Greece was tough, Nikos directly refutes the geographic disadvantage premise. Harry pushes back on developer and capital access, but Nikos details why peripheral markets offer hiring advantages over Silicon Valley giants.10:02–13:55 · Guest teaching 5/10 US Expansion and Dynamics of the SaaS Market Harry assumes Workable moved to the US to attract VC funding, which Nikos immediately dismisses as false, stating VCs follow good businesses anywhere. Nikos then educates Harry on customer proximity and US sales talent dynamics.13:55–21:00 · Guest teaching 5/10 Evaluating SaaS Success and Critical Performance Metrics Nikos challenges conventional startup wisdom when Harry congratulates him on fundraising, arguing that funding shouldn't be celebrated like an achievement. He further calls traditional pitch decks bullshit, emphasizing long-term relationship building over formal pitches.21:00–22:16 · Guest teaching 3/10 Quickfire Round and Long-Term Vision for Workable During the quickfire round, Nikos candidly admits he has no clear roadmap for the next five years. When Harry asks if clear objectives are important for founders, Nikos bluntly answers no.2:02–5:06 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Nikos Moraitakis on His Entrepreneurial Origins and Founding Workable Harry asks standard entrepreneurial origin questions about the aha moment behind Workable. Nikos gently rejects the premise of a grand vision or dramatic problem, explaining they simply wanted to build an SMB software business in Greece.5:06–10:02 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Differentiating Workable from Legacy Recruitment Tools When Harry asks if starting a startup in Greece was tough, Nikos directly refutes the geographic disadvantage premise. Harry pushes back on developer and capital access, but Nikos details why peripheral markets offer hiring advantages over Silicon Valley giants.10:02–13:55 · Guest disagreement 4/10 US Expansion and Dynamics of the SaaS Market Harry assumes Workable moved to the US to attract VC funding, which Nikos immediately dismisses as false, stating VCs follow good businesses anywhere. Nikos then educates Harry on customer proximity and US sales talent dynamics.13:55–21:00 · Guest disagreement 5/10 Evaluating SaaS Success and Critical Performance Metrics Nikos challenges conventional startup wisdom when Harry congratulates him on fundraising, arguing that funding shouldn't be celebrated like an achievement. He further calls traditional pitch decks bullshit, emphasizing long-term relationship building over formal pitches.21:00–22:16 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Quickfire Round and Long-Term Vision for Workable During the quickfire round, Nikos candidly admits he has no clear roadmap for the next five years. When Harry asks if clear objectives are important for founders, Nikos bluntly answers no.2:02–5:06 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Nikos Moraitakis on His Entrepreneurial Origins and Founding Workable Harry asks standard entrepreneurial origin questions about the aha moment behind Workable. Nikos gently rejects the premise of a grand vision or dramatic problem, explaining they simply wanted to build an SMB software business in Greece.5:06–10:02 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Differentiating Workable from Legacy Recruitment Tools When Harry asks if starting a startup in Greece was tough, Nikos directly refutes the geographic disadvantage premise. Harry pushes back on developer and capital access, but Nikos details why peripheral markets offer hiring advantages over Silicon Valley giants.10:02–13:55 · Harry pushing back 3/10 US Expansion and Dynamics of the SaaS Market Harry assumes Workable moved to the US to attract VC funding, which Nikos immediately dismisses as false, stating VCs follow good businesses anywhere. Nikos then educates Harry on customer proximity and US sales talent dynamics.13:55–21:00 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Evaluating SaaS Success and Critical Performance Metrics Nikos challenges conventional startup wisdom when Harry congratulates him on fundraising, arguing that funding shouldn't be celebrated like an achievement. He further calls traditional pitch decks bullshit, emphasizing long-term relationship building over formal pitches.21:00–22:16 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Quickfire Round and Long-Term Vision for Workable During the quickfire round, Nikos candidly admits he has no clear roadmap for the next five years. When Harry asks if clear objectives are important for founders, Nikos bluntly answers no.

speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Harry 80.7% · guest 19.3%0:00 · Harry 80.7% · guest 19.3%3:00 · Harry 3% · guest 97%3:00 · Harry 3% · guest 97%6:00 · Harry 14.9% · guest 85.1%6:00 · Harry 14.9% · guest 85.1%9:00 · Harry 15.9% · guest 84.1%9:00 · Harry 15.9% · guest 84.1%12:00 · Harry 7.5% · guest 92.5%12:00 · Harry 7.5% · guest 92.5%15:00 · Harry 25.4% · guest 74.6%15:00 · Harry 25.4% · guest 74.6%18:00 · Harry 7.1% · guest 92.9%18:00 · Harry 7.1% · guest 92.9%21:00 · Harry 85.5% · guest 14.5%21:00 · Harry 85.5% · guest 14.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 18:17 Dismissing pitch decks as bullshit

Nikos forcefully rejects standard venture capital advice, calling pitches and pitch decks bullshit and reframing fundraising around long-term personal relationships.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 10:02 Probing rationale for US move

Harry explicitly challenges Nikos on whether moving Workable to the US was done specifically to be visible to larger VCs during funding rounds.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:49 Reframing fundraising celebrations

When Harry congratulates him on funding, Nikos schools him by comparing fundraising to standing at the marathon starting line in new shoes rather than winning an achievement.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 8:00 Pressing on Greek ecosystem constraints

Harry hits back against Nikos' optimism about Greece by pressing specifically on the scarcity of capital and talented developers in the region.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Nikos Moraitakis on His Entrepreneurial Origins and Founding Workable 1321 Harry asks standard entrepreneurial origin questions about the aha moment behind Workable. Nikos gently rejects the premise of a grand vision or dramatic problem, explaining they simply wanted to build an SMB software business in Greece.
Differentiating Workable from Legacy Recruitment Tools 1432 When Harry asks if starting a startup in Greece was tough, Nikos directly refutes the geographic disadvantage premise. Harry pushes back on developer and capital access, but Nikos details why peripheral markets offer hiring advantages over Silicon Valley giants.
US Expansion and Dynamics of the SaaS Market 1543 Harry assumes Workable moved to the US to attract VC funding, which Nikos immediately dismisses as false, stating VCs follow good businesses anywhere. Nikos then educates Harry on customer proximity and US sales talent dynamics.
Evaluating SaaS Success and Critical Performance Metrics 2552 Nikos challenges conventional startup wisdom when Harry congratulates him on fundraising, arguing that funding shouldn't be celebrated like an achievement. He further calls traditional pitch decks bullshit, emphasizing long-term relationship building over formal pitches.
Quickfire Round and Long-Term Vision for Workable 1332 During the quickfire round, Nikos candidly admits he has no clear roadmap for the next five years. When Harry asks if clear objectives are important for founders, Nikos bluntly answers no.

Statements from this episode (12)

Opinion
Greece is not the place to build consumer tech hits
“Also we were starting in Greece, so, you know, this is not the place to start the new consumer big hit that is going to become fashionable in San Francisco.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 3:23
Insight
Enterprise software companies selling to Fortune 500 become sales organizations
“We didn't want a company that is going to sell to the fortune 500 companies because these companies tend to be sales organizations in the end.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 3:36
Opinion
Legacy applicant tracking systems are built for HR, not managers
“And the name reveals the mentality. It's business process software to keep track of an arcane process that it's going to be done behind closed doors by the HR department. People don't want to touch this thing.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 5:40
Insight
Peripheral markets give tech founders a massive hiring advantage
“And the huge advantage when you are in a peripheral market like Greece is that if you have a network there and some reputation you probably have a huge advantage in in hiring. You know, hiring engineers in Greece, there's plenty of them. They're really good. T…”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 8:54
What-if
Workable could not have hired its first 20 engineers in SF
“It, it's more the fact that the kind of people that came to join Workable in the beginning, you know, our first 20 engineers, We're the kind of engineers that would probably be working at Facebook or Google if we were in in San Francisco. We wouldn't be able t…”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 9:48
Disclosure
Workable had 50% of its customers in the US before hiring there
“Essentially we had 50% of our customers in the United States, even before we had a single person there.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 10:24
Opinion
The US is unmatched globally for online sales and marketing talent
“When it comes to things like online, online marketing and sales the United States, I think, is no comparison to any other place in the world.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 10:59
Insight
20% MoM growth past $2M ARR signals strong SaaS health
“If you see a business growing at 20% month-on-month beyond beyond, beyond two million annual revenue, Then, you know, something must be going on right in there. There's, it's really difficult to achieve that if other things don't work well.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 14:17
Disclosure
Growth and churn metrics alone justify investing in any legal company
“I think with two metrics, you'd probably invest In a company. In fact, given the right numbers, I invest in anything that isn't illegal and has good numbers on those two.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 14:55
Insight
Pitch decks are bullshit compared to long-term investor relationships
“People talk about pitches and decks, that's bullshit. You know. The whole thing, it's about the relationship. You know, people, nobody's going to write you a twenty million dollar check if they haven't known you for a while, observed the way you execute, seein…”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 18:29
Disclosure
Every Workable investor knew the founders for over a year
“Anyone who has ever invested at WorkUp, we knew us for more than a year, or anyone who has made an offer, who has actually taken seriously.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 19:14
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Moraitakis targets 100,000 US small businesses using Workable within five years
“I'm hoping we get a 100,000 small businesses in the United States use our recruiting software, but I don't know how we're going to get to that.”
Nikos Moraitakis Nov 27, 2015 ▶ 21:45
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