Mar 3, 2025 · 23m · the-pitch
#73 Enough Sales Calls Already!
Andrew Hoagland · 6m spoken Josh Muccio · 5m spoken Michael Hyatt · 2m spoken Charles Hudson · 1m spoken Phil Nadel · 1m spoken Sarah Downey · 51s spoken Jillian Manus · 21s spoken
0:00 / 0:00
▶ Watch on YouTube →
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Founder Andrew Hoagland pitches Vetted—a curated platform designed to streamline enterprise software procurement and eliminate opaque pricing—to a panel of venture capitalists on The Pitch.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Josh holds 33.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Josh as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 2.7 Josh pushing back 4.5
speaking balance: gold is Josh, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:40 Pushing back on product release estimates
Andrew initially evades providing timeline estimates, leading Michael to demand direct answers instead of sales rhetoric.
Hardest push from Josh ▶ 6:44 Michael calls out sales talkMichael Hyatt directly interrupts Andrew to instruct him to drop the sales persona and give factual data on rollout timelines.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:28 Charles breaks down vendor pricing competitionCharles Hudson educates the room on modern SaaS vendor dynamics, explaining why vendor surplus makes platform-driven discounting inevitable.
Josh holds their own ▶ 7:42 Michael cites Commerce One precedentMichael Hyatt draws on his 1990s enterprise software background to challenge the sustainability of reverse-bidding marketplaces.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Josh as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Josh pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Hoagland Pitches Vetted's Core Solution | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Andrew Hoagland outlines the SaaS procurement problem and introduces Vetted. The investors ask standard exploratory questions about how buyers interact with vendors and whether direct conversation can truly be avoided. | |
| Monetization Strategy, Community Growth, and Backlog Challenges | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | Investors probe Andrew's pricing neutrality and monetization model. Michael Hyatt bluntly calls out Andrew's evasiveness, demanding concrete numbers and less sales talk regarding onboarding timelines. | |
| Marketplace Dynamics, Vendor Pricing, and Portfolio Overlaps | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | Michael raises historical marketplace failures like Commerce One where vendor bidding caused vendor revolts. Charles Hudson jumps in with deep industry knowledge, demonstrating why commoditized SaaS categories force vendor participation. | |
| Critique of Incumbent Review Sites and Charles Hudson's Decision | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | The panel critiques unethical review platforms like G2 Crowd before pivoting to deal mechanics. Andrew declines to name a hard valuation figure without a lead investor, leading Michael Hyatt to offer a syndicate check and investor introductions. | |
| Post-Pitch Investor Debrief and Performance Review | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | The investors debrief Andrew's pitch after he leaves. Michael Hyatt praises Andrew's innate sales drive while Phil Nadel acts as devil's advocate regarding the lack of actual revenue. | |
| Founder Follow-Up: Mentorship and Fundraising Developments | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Josh Muccio conducts an amicable follow-up interview with Andrew discussing Michael Hyatt's hands-on mentorship, startup studio trade-offs, and delayed round closing. |
Statements from this episode (12)
Hoagland: Vetted is seeking to raise $2M to meet buyer backlog
“We've got a really big backlog of buyers trying to get on our platform, and we're looking to raise two million dollars to scale and meet those demands.”
Hoagland: Vetted charges vendors $12k to $25k annually based on size
“So our subscription model would be anywhere from 12 to 25,000 annually, just based on size of company right now.”
Hoagland: Vetted onboarded eight VCs with 900+ portfolio companies in 3 weeks
“Over the last three weeks, we have eight VCs on board. Representing over 900 portfolio companies.”
Hudson: Precursor is exploring using Vetted for portfolio procurement
“We've been talking to them about using Vetted for our platform because I'd say a third of our Slack channel messages are We're looking at lever or greenhouse. What should we use? What did you pay? How did you get a discount?”
Charles Hudson wants to back companies that take down G2 Crowd
“I'm basically interested in taking down G two crowd.”
Andrew Hoagland says G2 Crowd pays for software reviews weekly
“Every week I get an email from G two crowd paying me to write reviews.”
Charles Hudson passes on Vetd due to potential portfolio conflicts
“We're in team pay and stack share, but I think what you're doing is different. And so I'll just cut to the chase. Like I'm going to be out for right now, but we're going to roll this out. And I'm gonna learn a lot, and I'm gonna talk to Jonas and Andrew at Sta…”
Hoagland: Vetted has raised $400,000 from angels and Village Global
“Yeah, so to date we've raised about 400,000 dollars via a friends and family slash angel, and then we got some pre-seed money from a firm called Village Global out in San Francisco.”
Hoagland: Vetted generates under $10,000 in annual revenue
“Right now we've made low revenue in the less than 10,000 annually, but the beauty of it is now that we have these communities on board, now we have the leverage.”
Charles Hudson says buyers want transparent procurement despite vendor resistance
“Because I think none of the vendors, I think most businesses like this, the vendors don't want to, the vendors don't want to sell this way, but the buyer totally wants to buy this way.”