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Mar 25, 2026 · 15m · top-founders

How TitanX Hit $9.7M ARR After Buying IP for $200K

Joey Gilkey · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this interview, Nathan Latka speaks with TitanX founder Joey Gilkey about transforming a $200,000 cash IP acquisition into a $9.7 million ARR sales intelligence software platform. Joey breaks down his $27 million growth equity raise, the $13 million acquisition of Frontspin, and the consumption-based expansion strategies driving TitanX toward $18.7 million ARR.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 38% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.6 Guest teaching 3.6 Guest disagreement 2.0 Nathan pushing back 3.6
05100:0010:000:59–3:23 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Acquiring Proprietary IP and Pivoting to SaaS Nathan presses on the legitimacy of Joey's IP, challenging whether it was truly proprietary data or merely a standard ETL process on third-party vendor feeds. Joey clarifies how he leveraged unique telco data, fraud detection, and human-in-the-loop tech to build a defensible product.3:23–6:57 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Reaching $9.7M ARR and Acquiring Frontspin Nathan demonstrates high financial acumen by breaking down the multiple arbitrage between Joey's $27M round valuation and the Frontspin acquisition cost. The conversation remains highly collaborative as both discuss secondary liquidity and capital structure.6:58–9:25 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Building the Phone Intent Layer and Regulatory Moat Joey outlines TitanX's position as an intelligence layer between data aggregators and dialers, explaining how FCC TCPA regulations create a technical and legal moat. Nathan validates the explanation, agreeing that foundation models cannot easily replicate regulated outbound telecommunications data.9:25–12:27 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 FounderPath Investment Announcement and Capital Call to Action Nathan challenges Joey's claim of 45% inbound traffic by citing zero visible web traffic on Ahrefs, prompting Joey to bluntly dismiss third-party SEO tooling. Joey then explains their enterprise consumption tiers and account expansion model.12:28–14:42 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Historical Revenue Scaling, NRR, and SaaS Metrics Nathan digs into Joey's SaaS metrics including 136% NRR, 92% GRR, and his $200M buyout rejection terms. A brief playful pushback occurs when Nathan clarifies he knows the definition of NRR and specifically wants Joey's percentage figure.0:59–3:23 · Guest teaching 4/10 Acquiring Proprietary IP and Pivoting to SaaS Nathan presses on the legitimacy of Joey's IP, challenging whether it was truly proprietary data or merely a standard ETL process on third-party vendor feeds. Joey clarifies how he leveraged unique telco data, fraud detection, and human-in-the-loop tech to build a defensible product.3:23–6:57 · Guest teaching 2/10 Reaching $9.7M ARR and Acquiring Frontspin Nathan demonstrates high financial acumen by breaking down the multiple arbitrage between Joey's $27M round valuation and the Frontspin acquisition cost. The conversation remains highly collaborative as both discuss secondary liquidity and capital structure.6:58–9:25 · Guest teaching 5/10 Building the Phone Intent Layer and Regulatory Moat Joey outlines TitanX's position as an intelligence layer between data aggregators and dialers, explaining how FCC TCPA regulations create a technical and legal moat. Nathan validates the explanation, agreeing that foundation models cannot easily replicate regulated outbound telecommunications data.9:25–12:27 · Guest teaching 4/10 FounderPath Investment Announcement and Capital Call to Action Nathan challenges Joey's claim of 45% inbound traffic by citing zero visible web traffic on Ahrefs, prompting Joey to bluntly dismiss third-party SEO tooling. Joey then explains their enterprise consumption tiers and account expansion model.12:28–14:42 · Guest teaching 3/10 Historical Revenue Scaling, NRR, and SaaS Metrics Nathan digs into Joey's SaaS metrics including 136% NRR, 92% GRR, and his $200M buyout rejection terms. A brief playful pushback occurs when Nathan clarifies he knows the definition of NRR and specifically wants Joey's percentage figure.0:59–3:23 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Acquiring Proprietary IP and Pivoting to SaaS Nathan presses on the legitimacy of Joey's IP, challenging whether it was truly proprietary data or merely a standard ETL process on third-party vendor feeds. Joey clarifies how he leveraged unique telco data, fraud detection, and human-in-the-loop tech to build a defensible product.3:23–6:57 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Reaching $9.7M ARR and Acquiring Frontspin Nathan demonstrates high financial acumen by breaking down the multiple arbitrage between Joey's $27M round valuation and the Frontspin acquisition cost. The conversation remains highly collaborative as both discuss secondary liquidity and capital structure.6:58–9:25 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Building the Phone Intent Layer and Regulatory Moat Joey outlines TitanX's position as an intelligence layer between data aggregators and dialers, explaining how FCC TCPA regulations create a technical and legal moat. Nathan validates the explanation, agreeing that foundation models cannot easily replicate regulated outbound telecommunications data.9:25–12:27 · Guest disagreement 4/10 FounderPath Investment Announcement and Capital Call to Action Nathan challenges Joey's claim of 45% inbound traffic by citing zero visible web traffic on Ahrefs, prompting Joey to bluntly dismiss third-party SEO tooling. Joey then explains their enterprise consumption tiers and account expansion model.12:28–14:42 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Historical Revenue Scaling, NRR, and SaaS Metrics Nathan digs into Joey's SaaS metrics including 136% NRR, 92% GRR, and his $200M buyout rejection terms. A brief playful pushback occurs when Nathan clarifies he knows the definition of NRR and specifically wants Joey's percentage figure.0:59–3:23 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Acquiring Proprietary IP and Pivoting to SaaS Nathan presses on the legitimacy of Joey's IP, challenging whether it was truly proprietary data or merely a standard ETL process on third-party vendor feeds. Joey clarifies how he leveraged unique telco data, fraud detection, and human-in-the-loop tech to build a defensible product.3:23–6:57 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Reaching $9.7M ARR and Acquiring Frontspin Nathan demonstrates high financial acumen by breaking down the multiple arbitrage between Joey's $27M round valuation and the Frontspin acquisition cost. The conversation remains highly collaborative as both discuss secondary liquidity and capital structure.6:58–9:25 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Building the Phone Intent Layer and Regulatory Moat Joey outlines TitanX's position as an intelligence layer between data aggregators and dialers, explaining how FCC TCPA regulations create a technical and legal moat. Nathan validates the explanation, agreeing that foundation models cannot easily replicate regulated outbound telecommunications data.9:25–12:27 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 FounderPath Investment Announcement and Capital Call to Action Nathan challenges Joey's claim of 45% inbound traffic by citing zero visible web traffic on Ahrefs, prompting Joey to bluntly dismiss third-party SEO tooling. Joey then explains their enterprise consumption tiers and account expansion model.12:28–14:42 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Historical Revenue Scaling, NRR, and SaaS Metrics Nathan digs into Joey's SaaS metrics including 136% NRR, 92% GRR, and his $200M buyout rejection terms. A brief playful pushback occurs when Nathan clarifies he knows the definition of NRR and specifically wants Joey's percentage figure.

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

0:00 · Nathan 40.7% · guest 59.3%0:00 · Nathan 40.7% · guest 59.3%3:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%3:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%6:00 · Nathan 22.1% · guest 77.9%6:00 · Nathan 22.1% · guest 77.9%9:00 · Nathan 44.1% · guest 55.9%9:00 · Nathan 44.1% · guest 55.9%12:00 · Nathan 36.4% · guest 63.6%12:00 · Nathan 36.4% · guest 63.6%15:00 · Nathan 99.2% · guest 0.8%15:00 · Nathan 99.2% · guest 0.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:10 Joey dismisses Nathan's Ahrefs traffic pushback

When Nathan claims Ahrefs shows zero traffic for TitanX, Joey flatly rejects the third-party tool's data, calling it full of it and asserting real monthly traffic numbers.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:45 Nathan questions proprietary data claims

Nathan directly challenges Joey on whether his acquisition was genuinely proprietary IP or just an ETL wrapper over commoditized data.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:36 Joey details the telco data and TCPA regulatory moat

Joey educates Nathan on why outbound dialing regulations and multi-source telco verification prevent standard AI foundation models from duplicating TitanX's dataset.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 5:41 Nathan calculates multiple arbitrage in real time

Nathan showcases deep SaaS finance domain expertise by breaking down how Joey raised at a 14.3x ARR multiple and acquired Frontspin at a much lower multiple to capture immediate equity value.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Acquiring Proprietary IP and Pivoting to SaaS 5425 Nathan presses on the legitimacy of Joey's IP, challenging whether it was truly proprietary data or merely a standard ETL process on third-party vendor feeds. Joey clarifies how he leveraged unique telco data, fraud detection, and human-in-the-loop tech to build a defensible product.
Reaching $9.7M ARR and Acquiring Frontspin 7213 Nathan demonstrates high financial acumen by breaking down the multiple arbitrage between Joey's $27M round valuation and the Frontspin acquisition cost. The conversation remains highly collaborative as both discuss secondary liquidity and capital structure.
Building the Phone Intent Layer and Regulatory Moat 5511 Joey outlines TitanX's position as an intelligence layer between data aggregators and dialers, explaining how FCC TCPA regulations create a technical and legal moat. Nathan validates the explanation, agreeing that foundation models cannot easily replicate regulated outbound telecommunications data.
FounderPath Investment Announcement and Capital Call to Action 6446 Nathan challenges Joey's claim of 45% inbound traffic by citing zero visible web traffic on Ahrefs, prompting Joey to bluntly dismiss third-party SEO tooling. Joey then explains their enterprise consumption tiers and account expansion model.
Historical Revenue Scaling, NRR, and SaaS Metrics 5323 Nathan digs into Joey's SaaS metrics including 136% NRR, 92% GRR, and his $200M buyout rejection terms. A brief playful pushback occurs when Nathan clarifies he knows the definition of NRR and specifically wants Joey's percentage figure.

Statements from this episode (16)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilkey: TitanX IP cost $200K upfront and is now valued at $100M
“200 grand up front, 800 grand seller note. So I turned 200,000 dollars into what is currently valued at a hundred million, you know.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 1:57
Disclosure
Gilkey: TitanX hits $9.7M ARR, including $2.1M from Frontspin
“Today we're sitting at the time of recording this. We're in early 26. We're at 9.7 million error. Post acquisition, they're contributing about two million. So formerly, or excuse me, wow, old school. Titan X is sitting at about seven point 7.4, and front spins…”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 3:59
Disclosure
Gilkey: TitanX raised $27M, bought Frontspin for $13M, took $10M secondary
“It was a thirteen million dollar acquisition. We put seven million up front. We went growth equity. So we raised twenty seven million 10 of which is primary. So that's for growth. A little bit more than 10. Seven million went towards the acquiring Frontspin. S…”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 4:26
Insight
Latka: Founders ceding control in funding rounds should take cash liquidity
“What I actually am saying is, if you're going to go give up control, get, take, Cash as well. Don't give up control and cash.”
Nathan Latka Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 4:58
Disclosure
Gilkey: TitanX secondary sale replenished capital after betting full net worth
“I mean, I've done well in my career, but it, I did bet my net worth on this I'm basically just replenishing a lot of capital at this point, but yeah, it helped.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 5:16
Assertion Open · timeframe Mar 2029
Gilkey: TitanX raised $27M at a $90M to $92M valuation
“Just under a 190 something, 92.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 5:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilkey: TitanX added $1.2M in monthly ARR post-acquisition
“But since then we've grown, we've added about a 1,000,002 in the past month since the acquisition finished. So we're well over a hundred.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 5:33
Opinion
Gilkey: Raw B2B Contact Data Is a Commodity
“I don't want to be a data provider in the sense of I'm not trying to compete with ZoomInfo and those guys. I think data is a commodity.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 7:56
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Latka: FounderPath deployed $250M across 550 software companies
“I'm investing in my third fund. We've deployed two hundred and fifty million dollars into 550 software companies so far.”
Nathan Latka Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 9:28
Disclosure
Gilkey: TitanX Gets 45% Inbound and 38% Phone Outbound Acquisition
“45% is coming through inbound organic. That's about a 140 meetings a month just from the website with the high ACV. Outbound's our bread and butter. Clearly, we use our own product, and so about 38% comes through outbound sourcing. Phone only.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 10:31
Disclosure
Gilkey: TitanX largest customer expanded to $406K ARR
“We're sitting at well, one just expanded to four Oh six.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 11:05
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gilkey: Publicly traded TitanX customer expanding from $250K to $1.5M ARR
“Yeah, we have one right now that's they're a publicly traded company. They're currently at a quarter million, but they're about to expand like 1.5 AR in a three year.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 11:23
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilkey: TitanX scaled from $0 to $9.7M ARR in under two years
“And so we ended up going zero to 1.4 million at the end of 24. And then 1.4 to 24 Whatever, six-ish, six-something end of 25, and then now we're, with the combined acquisition and the growth of 26 so far, about 9.7.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 12:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gilkey: TitanX reports 92% gross retention and a 4.1 Q4 magic number
“Yeah, gross dollar retention is a little low. It's like 92. We're fixing that, and then our magic number was 4.1 Q four versus.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 13:43
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gilkey: TitanX will reach $18.7M ARR by end of 2026
“2026, 18.7.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 14:03
Disclosure
Gilkey: Would reject a $200M all-cash buyout offer for TitanX
“Absolutely not.”
Joey Gilkey Mar 25, 2026 ▶ 14:10
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