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Nov 12, 2024 · 21m · top-founders

33 Year Old Quickly Closes 100 Customers For His Construction SaaS, Gets $10m+ Valuation

Eric Helzer · 13m spoken Nathan Latka · 4m 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 with Nathan Latka, Subbase founder Eric Helzer discusses transitioning from commercial construction to building a vertical procurement SaaS platform, detailing his pricing evolution, team scaling, and raising a $4 million seed round.

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 25.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 4.3
05100:0010:0020:000:38–5:23 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Eric Helzer and the Origins of Subbase Latka questions Helzer on the founding mechanics and why he gave up equity early instead of pre-selling software to avoid dilution. Helzer explains his non-technical background required bringing in technical development resources immediately.5:25–9:41 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Contract Pricing Evolution and Initial Customer Onboarding Latka probes the company's ACV and presses Helzer on why he gave the product away for free to his first customer, asking if it was due to a lack of confidence. Helzer details the strategy of reducing friction to secure committed design partners.9:42–12:59 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Current Customer Milestones, ARR Target, and Team Structure Latka quickly performs unit math on 100 customers multiplied by a 20k to 30k ACV to imply a 2M to 3M ARR run rate. When Helzer clarifies their target is 1M ARR, Latka calls out that the stated ACV is not the blended average across all customer tiers.13:01–16:11 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Raising a $4M Seed Round for Market Expansion Latka contextualizes the difficult macro fundraising environment and accurately benchmarks market-rate dilution for seed rounds at 15 to 20 percent. Helzer affirms the benchmark and explains the capital deployment into go-to-market.0:38–5:23 · Guest teaching 3/10 Introducing Eric Helzer and the Origins of Subbase Latka questions Helzer on the founding mechanics and why he gave up equity early instead of pre-selling software to avoid dilution. Helzer explains his non-technical background required bringing in technical development resources immediately.5:25–9:41 · Guest teaching 3/10 Contract Pricing Evolution and Initial Customer Onboarding Latka probes the company's ACV and presses Helzer on why he gave the product away for free to his first customer, asking if it was due to a lack of confidence. Helzer details the strategy of reducing friction to secure committed design partners.9:42–12:59 · Guest teaching 2/10 Current Customer Milestones, ARR Target, and Team Structure Latka quickly performs unit math on 100 customers multiplied by a 20k to 30k ACV to imply a 2M to 3M ARR run rate. When Helzer clarifies their target is 1M ARR, Latka calls out that the stated ACV is not the blended average across all customer tiers.13:01–16:11 · Guest teaching 2/10 Raising a $4M Seed Round for Market Expansion Latka contextualizes the difficult macro fundraising environment and accurately benchmarks market-rate dilution for seed rounds at 15 to 20 percent. Helzer affirms the benchmark and explains the capital deployment into go-to-market.0:38–5:23 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Eric Helzer and the Origins of Subbase Latka questions Helzer on the founding mechanics and why he gave up equity early instead of pre-selling software to avoid dilution. Helzer explains his non-technical background required bringing in technical development resources immediately.5:25–9:41 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Contract Pricing Evolution and Initial Customer Onboarding Latka probes the company's ACV and presses Helzer on why he gave the product away for free to his first customer, asking if it was due to a lack of confidence. Helzer details the strategy of reducing friction to secure committed design partners.9:42–12:59 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Current Customer Milestones, ARR Target, and Team Structure Latka quickly performs unit math on 100 customers multiplied by a 20k to 30k ACV to imply a 2M to 3M ARR run rate. When Helzer clarifies their target is 1M ARR, Latka calls out that the stated ACV is not the blended average across all customer tiers.13:01–16:11 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Raising a $4M Seed Round for Market Expansion Latka contextualizes the difficult macro fundraising environment and accurately benchmarks market-rate dilution for seed rounds at 15 to 20 percent. Helzer affirms the benchmark and explains the capital deployment into go-to-market.0:38–5:23 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Introducing Eric Helzer and the Origins of Subbase Latka questions Helzer on the founding mechanics and why he gave up equity early instead of pre-selling software to avoid dilution. Helzer explains his non-technical background required bringing in technical development resources immediately.5:25–9:41 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Contract Pricing Evolution and Initial Customer Onboarding Latka probes the company's ACV and presses Helzer on why he gave the product away for free to his first customer, asking if it was due to a lack of confidence. Helzer details the strategy of reducing friction to secure committed design partners.9:42–12:59 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Current Customer Milestones, ARR Target, and Team Structure Latka quickly performs unit math on 100 customers multiplied by a 20k to 30k ACV to imply a 2M to 3M ARR run rate. When Helzer clarifies their target is 1M ARR, Latka calls out that the stated ACV is not the blended average across all customer tiers.13:01–16:11 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Raising a $4M Seed Round for Market Expansion Latka contextualizes the difficult macro fundraising environment and accurately benchmarks market-rate dilution for seed rounds at 15 to 20 percent. Helzer affirms the benchmark and explains the capital deployment into go-to-market.

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

0:00 · Nathan 40.8% · guest 59.2%0:00 · Nathan 40.8% · guest 59.2%3:00 · Nathan 24.6% · guest 75.4%3:00 · Nathan 24.6% · guest 75.4%6:00 · Nathan 10% · guest 90%6:00 · Nathan 10% · guest 90%9:00 · Nathan 25% · guest 75%9:00 · Nathan 25% · guest 75%12:00 · Nathan 22% · guest 78%12:00 · Nathan 22% · guest 78%15:00 · Nathan 19.9% · guest 80.1%15:00 · Nathan 19.9% · guest 80.1%18:00 · Nathan 35.7% · guest 64.3%18:00 · Nathan 35.7% · guest 64.3%21:00 · Nathan 59.2% · guest 40.8%21:00 · Nathan 59.2% · guest 40.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:52 Helzer pushes back on revenue estimate and keeps ARR confidential

Helzer resists Latka's calculation that Subbase is at a 2M to 3M run rate, holding a boundary on confidential financial metrics while explaining early adopter discount structures.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 11:25 Latka challenges Helzer's reported ACV against his actual ARR targets

Latka refuses to let the stated 20k to 30k ACV stand as representative when Helzer acknowledges aiming for only a 1M ARR target across 100 accounts.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:35 Helzer educates Latka on construction tech sales friction and design partners

Helzer counters Latka's suggestion of lack of confidence by explaining that eliminating pricing friction is critical when introducing tech to non-software buyers.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:41 Latka uses SaaS math to test customer metric consistency

Latka instantly multiplies Helzer's customer count by his stated ACV to check the real top-line run rate, leading directly to the clarification of their true revenue tier.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Eric Helzer and the Origins of Subbase 5314 Latka questions Helzer on the founding mechanics and why he gave up equity early instead of pre-selling software to avoid dilution. Helzer explains his non-technical background required bringing in technical development resources immediately.
Contract Pricing Evolution and Initial Customer Onboarding 5314 Latka probes the company's ACV and presses Helzer on why he gave the product away for free to his first customer, asking if it was due to a lack of confidence. Helzer details the strategy of reducing friction to secure committed design partners.
Current Customer Milestones, ARR Target, and Team Structure 7226 Latka quickly performs unit math on 100 customers multiplied by a 20k to 30k ACV to imply a 2M to 3M ARR run rate. When Helzer clarifies their target is 1M ARR, Latka calls out that the stated ACV is not the blended average across all customer tiers.
Raising a $4M Seed Round for Market Expansion 6213 Latka contextualizes the difficult macro fundraising environment and accurately benchmarks market-rate dilution for seed rounds at 15 to 20 percent. Helzer affirms the benchmark and explains the capital deployment into go-to-market.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Helzer says Subbase raised under $1M in its initial pre-seed round.
“That was under a million. and that was a, I would call it a pre pre seed. Yes.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 4:47
Disclosure
Helzer says Subbase's ideal construction customers pay $20,000 to $30,000 annually.
“I would say the average customer size that we do very well with is paying anywhere between 20 and 30,000 a year. That's where we see the most benefit, and that's where the big pain points of the material procurement process are actually taking place at that si…”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 6:12
Disclosure
Helzer says Subbase charged its first paying customer a few hundred monthly.
“On, on day one, we charged about a couple hundred dollars a month and it was a monthly contract.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 9:12
Disclosure
Helzer admits Subbase gave its software away for a year before monetizing.
“We did not charge early enough. It spent, we spent a year giving the software away for free. Testing and really iterating until we started actually charge.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 9:25
Disclosure
Helzer says Subbase has reached nearly 100 paying customers on its platform.
“We have over almost a hundred companies that are on the platform and paying in some way as far as monetization.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 9:47
Disclosure
Helzer states Subbase is targeting a $1 million revenue run rate.
“Right now, one million is the target.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 11:32
Insight
Helzer notes construction software requires extensive implementation and customer success resources.
“Implementing new software into construction is not an easy thing to do, so we have a heavy focus on implementation and customer success because that is really a true pain point for people. Even if the software is easy to use, you still touch a lot of different…”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 12:42
Disclosure
Helzer says Subbase raised $4 million across its seed and converted SAFEs.
“Between the seed and the safe converted we've raised a total. This is now outside before the pre, before the pre-pre-seed of four million.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 13:13
Disclosure
Helzer confirms Subbase sold 15 to 20 percent equity in seed round.
“So I would say that the equity percentage that you mentioned is, is, is accurate.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 15:24
Disclosure
Helzer plans to add embedded lending to Subbase after optimizing workflows.
“So currently it is on our roadmap and it's something that we're very much looking into as far as how to wedge that into what we've already built. But our focus right now is workflow optimization and then getting into the financial piece.”
Eric Helzer Nov 12, 2024 ▶ 17:53
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