Hostfully
company on 2 shows · 24 statements across 3 episodes · said 42 times in 4 episodes since 2022
the Pitch 34 
My First Million 8
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the Pitch 34My First Million 8
2025 34 mentions in 3 episodes 11 per episode
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24 statements about Hostfully, every show
Schmorak: Hostfully raised more venture capital because of its PPP loan
“No, I actually think we raised more money from investors because of it.”
Schmorak: 197 of 200 Airbnb hosts surveyed said they would pay for digital guidebooks
“We went to the Airbnb host conference a few months later to validate this idea, and we built a prototype, and it was an iPhone app, and we said, if you had a guidebook that you could send to your guests, like a digital guidebook like this, like, would you pay …”
Schmorak: Hostfully monthly revenue increased from $11,000 to $25,000 after merger
“So we just did that about three weeks ago. And our revenue went from 11,000 to now 25,000 monthly revenue.”
Schmorak: Original Hostfully Product Has Zero Customer Churn
“Well, on the hostfully side, the churn is zero. The original hostfully, there are two companies, right? On the hostfully side, the churn is zero.”
Schmorak: Acquired Software Orbirental Experiences Roughly 30% Annual Churn
“It's probably 30% right now.”
Schmorak: Vacation rental software represents a $25B global market
“There are about a 100,000 of these companies in the world, and they spend about a quarter of a million dollars every year on software, so it's a twenty-five billion dollar market.”
Nadel: A $10M cap is way too high for $25K monthly revenue
“Based on my experience and all the companies that we look at and invest in, that's not market. That's just not competitive with the deals that we see. A company doing 25,000 a month in revenue, you know, everything else being equal, a ten million cap is just w…”
Nadel: Max valuation cap I would invest in Hostfully is $6M
“I would invest at five or even six, but I don't think I'd go beyond that.”
Schmorak: Hostfully will not accept a valuation cap below $7M
“I don't think I'd take anything less than seven.”
Nadel offers Hostfully $250,000 as final check in $2M round
“So what I would do is I'd invest two 50, As the final two 15 to two million dollar round. So you get the rest done, because I want to make sure you have that runway. If you can get the rest done at seven million cap or price round, then I would do it, but I'll…”
Schmorak: A startup derailing over a two-month leave is probably not a good company
“So if the company is going to derail or the fundraising situations is going to derail because someone takes two months off Because they're having a baby, like, it's probably not a good company.”
Schmorak: Working 80-hour weeks is not required to build a great company
“No, I just don't think it's required. I don't think it's required for people to work 80 hour weeks to build a great company, and.”
Schmorak: Charles Hudson invested $300k in Hostfully above his typical check
“His typical size is two 50 for the first check. I wanted to basically get him to invest something more than two 50, and he said 300,000.”
Schmorak: Founders should treat fundraising as offering opportunity, not feeling indebted
“You really have to believe and put yourself into this mindset that you are giving people the opportunity to ride this wave with you. You're giving people the opportunity to grow their money with you. That's the mentality. So there's no like, oh, oh, we got it.…”
Schmorak: 197 of 200 surveyed Airbnb hosts wanted digital guidebooks
“And we interviewed 200 people, and 197 of them said yes.”
Hostfully revenue grew from $11K to $25K monthly after Orbi Rental merger
“And our revenue went from 11,000 to now 25,000 monthly revenue.”
Schmorak: Hostfully generated 700 leads from a three-week white paper project
“We developed a white paper last year on hospitality and vacation rentals, and we branded it, and my co-founder and I did it in like three weeks, and we've gotten 700 leads out of it”
Schmorak: Original Hostfully platform has zero customer churn
“Well, on the hostfully side, the churn is zero. The original hostfully, there are two companies, right? On the hostfully side, the churn is zero.”
Orbirental sees 30% annual customer churn following its merger with Hostfully
“It's probably 30% right now.”
Schmorak: Hostfully is essentially break-even with $25K monthly revenue and burn
“Our burn is around 25. And our revenue is around 25. So we're basically break-even. We're within a month or two of break-even.”
Nadel: $10M valuation cap is uncompetitive for $25K in monthly revenue
“Based on my experience and all the companies that we look at and invest in, that's not market. That's just not competitive with the deals that we see. A company doing 25,000 a month in revenue, you know, everything else being equal, a ten million cap is just w…”
Schmorak: Hostfully will not accept a valuation cap below $7M
“I don't think I'd take anything less than seven.”
Phil Nadel offers $250K final check if Hostfully accepts $7M valuation cap
“If you can get the rest done at seven million cap or price round, then I would do it, but I'll still be the last check in.”
Schmorak admits to bombing early investor pitch with Comcast Ventures' Daniel Gulati
“So my first meeting was Daniel Galati, super nice guy. I went to meet with him in the Comcast offices. I totally did not do a good job without meeting with him and it's okay. I mean, it was like one of my first meetings and I actually walked out and I said, yo…”