May 28, 2024 · 23m · top-founders
Coro Announces $100m Live on the Show, Their Partnership Playbook
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
At SaaSOpen, Coro co-founder Dror Liwer announces the company's $100 million Series D funding and reveals the channel-first playbook that scaled Coro to 300 percent annual growth across the mid-market cybersecurity landscape.
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 2.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 0.0 Guest teaching 0.0 Guest disagreement 0.3 Nathan pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 21:55 Calling out Microsoft's partner renewal cuts
Dror criticizes Microsoft for dropping partner commissions from 30 percent to 5 percent upon renewal, arguing it perverse incentives partners to churn customers.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 0:04 Nathan Latka intro frameworkNathan establishes the podcast premise and directs listeners to his quantitative SaaS database tool.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:05 The three pillars of a successful channel partnershipDror educates the audience on the non-negotiable Venn diagram of audience, incentive, and reason required to avoid useless paper partnerships.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 0:04 Nathan introduces SaaS metrics benchmarkingNathan showcases his database platform for filtering thousands of SaaS interviews by metrics such as CAC, churn, and valuation.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coro's $100M Series D Announcement and Market Vision | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Solo keynote presentation by Dror Liwer announcing Coro's $100M Series D round and outlining the cybersecurity market gap in the mid-market. The host does not participate in this segment. | |
| Shifting from Direct Cold Calling to Channel Distribution | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dror details Coro's transition from an outbound cold-calling direct model to an aggressive channel program and modularizing their product architecture. The host is not active. | |
| The Necessity of Direct Sales and Three Partner Archetypes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dror explains why direct sales remains essential to validate new modules before pushing them to channel partners and outlines three partner categories. The host does not participate. | |
| Channel Economics and the Core Criteria for Partnership Success | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Dror presents the financial dynamics of onboarding channel partners, explaining the initial cash flow dip and the essential criteria of audience, incentive, and reason. The host is not present. | |
| ComplyAuto Case Study: Scaling via Regulatory Compliance Mandates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dror shares the ComplyAuto case study where FTC Safeguard Rule mandates enabled rapid distribution across 4,500 car dealerships. Monologue presentation without host involvement. | |
| Partner Metrics, Commission Architecture, and Audience Q&A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Dror answers audience questions regarding relinquishing control, channel analytics resources, and criticizes Microsoft's partner renewal commission cuts. The host is not active. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Coro announces $100M Series D led by One Peak
“This morning at six a.m. We announced a one hundred million dollar D round led by One Peak out of London.”
Coro grew revenue 300% YoY for three consecutive years
“We've been growing 300% year over year for the last three years straight.”
Coro expects to reach $100M ARR by the end of 2024
“So we expect to end this year at around a hundred million, and we're building a billion dollar ARR company in the cybersecurity space.”
Enterprise cybersecurity deal sizes typically range from $700K to $1.5M
“So a cybersecurity company normally sells a deal size of anywhere between 700 to 1.5 million dollars.”
Coro ended 2023 with 70% of sales from channel partners
“Right now, we are at about 70% channel. Twenty-twenty-three, we ended at 70%.”
Coro expects channel sales mix to reach 85% in 2024
“And in twenty-twenty-four, we expect it to be 85%.”
Channel partners won't test unproven products; direct sales required
“Direct is our way of testing the market with new products, new concepts. Our channel partners don't have an appetite for testing or adventures or new stuff.”
Even channel-dominant companies like Cisco keep direct sales to prove traction
“You can't go all channel immediately. All the companies that sell predominantly through channel have a direct arm as well. Even Cisco, which I think is about 90% channel, has a direct team, and that's because you need to prove to the channel that this stuff wo…”
Coro targets nearly 1,000 channel partners by year-end 2024
“We plan to be close to a thousand channel partners by the end of this year.”
Founders only have three jobs: selling, corp dev, and fundraising
“I believe that founders have three jobs. Sell, corporate development, fundraising. That's what you need to do in life, right?”
Channel partners take two months to generate revenue, five to profit
“An average channel partner will start generating revenue about two months in and become profitable for you only five months in.”
Channel partners not selling to your ICP have zero chance of success
“Audience means that they must be selling, your channel partner or potential partner must be selling to your ICP. If they're not selling to your ICP, the likelihood that they're going to be successful is zero, not two percent.”
Virtually all 4,500 ComplyAuto dealerships use Coro's platform
“Went to market and virtually all of their 4500 car dealerships are on our platform today.”