Feb 15, 2024 · 21m · top-founders
This CEO Does $20m/year Selling Software to Chiropractic Offices
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of Conversations with Nathan Latka, Review Wave founder and CEO Matt Prados shares how his bootstrapped healthcare vertical SaaS scaled past $20 million ARR across 6,000 clinic locations through high-velocity outbound sales, disciplined unit economics, and targeted M&A.
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 38.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 3.7 Guest disagreement 1.7 Nathan pushing back 2.3
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:44 Guarding lead generation secret sauce
Matt politely but firmly refuses Nathan's repeated prompt to reveal his specific data scraping and lead generation methods.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:01 Pushing for specific growth tacticsNathan redirects Matt after a high-level response, explicitly pressing for granular tactical details on enterprise client acquisition.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:04 Explaining startup founder valuation delusionsMatt breaks down the psychology of founder expectations in all-stock M&A deals and why projected growth rarely aligns with reality.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 7:00 Rapid calculation of SaaS payback metricsNathan instantly synthesizes Matt's ARPU, CAC, and NRR data into a structured unit economics calculation showing a 3-4 month payback.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical SaaS Specialization in Healthcare and Optometry | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Nathan gently probes Matt on his vertical focus and verifies historical customer counts and revenue numbers. Matt clarifies that they have been heavily focused on chiropractic and optometry rather than a recent sudden pivot. | |
| Building and Scaling an In-House Outbound Call Center | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | Nathan presses Matt for specific operational tactics and lead acquisition methods for his 30-person call center. Matt provides operational details on dialer volume and call rep progression while playfully guarding his proprietary lead sourcing secrets. | |
| Unit Economics, Payback Periods, and Target Addressable Market | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | Nathan calculates CAC payback periods and TAM based on Matt's metrics and clarifies tactical approaches to enterprise sales versus events. Matt explains the dynamics of enterprise vs SMB in optometry versus chiropractic. | |
| Bootstrapping Discipline and 2024 Revenue Milestones | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Nathan digs into EBITDA margins, growth targets, and valuation mechanics of Matt's all-stock acquisition. Matt explains founder psychology regarding startup valuations and his strategic rationale for acquiring Practice Pal. | |
| Founder Net Worth Diversification and Personal Growth | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Nathan asks an introspective question about how bootstrapped founders balance reinvestment with personal liquidity. Matt openly shares how taking dividends funded his lifestyle and emphasizes long-term personal development over short-term money. | |
| Physical Fitness as a Catalyst for Business Performance | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Matt discusses how extreme physical fitness transformation fueled business performance, and Nathan transitions into the standard rapid-fire Famous Five wrap-up. |
Statements from this episode (19)
Prados: Review Wave focuses heavily on chiropractic and optometry
“So we, we've been very heavily chiropractic for the last six, seven years. And we have some dentists, but more recently we've gotten heavy into optometry.”
Expanding into multiple verticals is where many SaaS companies fail
“The harder part is actually getting additional verticals, and I think everybody who nails one thinks they can do many, but that's where a lot of companies go to die.”
Prados: Review Wave is approaching 6,000 locations across US and Canada
“Were approaching the 6000 mark for locations across the U S and Canada.”
Review Wave will likely break a $20M run rate in February 2024
“And we'll probably break the twenty million run rate this month.”
Prados: Review Wave has about 30 SDRs in McKinney, Texas
“And now we're headquartered in North Dallas in McKinney, Texas. And so we've got about 30 on our SDR team out there today.”
Prados: Review Wave SDRs make 100 to 200 calls daily to hit OTE
“Early on, you know, it was like, you got to do a hundred, a 150 calls a day. Now we have technology and auto dialer stuff, so our new guys, you know, up to 200 calls you know, early on, but, you know, once they get good, it can come down to, you know, a hundre…”
Prados: Review Wave averages $383 in new MRR per customer
“Average new MRR right now is floating right around the three 83 three bucks a month.”
Prados: Review Wave expects 150% to 160% NRR by year-end
“We've got a number of strategies where, you know, the net revenue retention you know, we're going to go for is going to be, you know, by the end of the year, we expect to be about a 150, 160% net revenue retention with some additional products and things that …”
Prados: Review Wave's US target customer list is nearly 100,000 accounts
“It's close, close to a 100,000 US.”
Stage speaking significantly outperforms event booths in B2B sales
“Most of the time booths are tough you know, unless they have a reason to come to the booth, they don't typically come to the booth. So speaking is, is the best way to go.”
Review Wave remains fully bootstrapped while entertaining potential investment firms
“Still, still bootstrapped you know, always being approached currently entertaining a couple of firms, you know, they're always, you're always trying to, you know, date somebody and create relationships.”
Review Wave dropped from 20% EBITDA to zero margin to reinvest fully
“We went from, you know, running like 20% EBITDA margins in 20, 20, 23, made the conscious decision to reinvest everything. So we went through a zero EBITDA model, built a lot of headcount, a lot of building.”
Prados: Review Wave finished 2023 at $18M ARR and $16.5M revenue
“So yeah, we finished right around eighteen million ARR. We did about 16 and a half actual revenue.”
Prados bought a $3M beach house and G-Wagon with business profits
“So, so we took profits for, you know, a number of years and it was good money. I mean, you know, I bought the, you know, the, you know, three million plus, you know, beach house that I've always wanted, you know, got the G wagon, you know, every, everybody's, …”
Having $250K versus $2.5M liquid doesn't change your life much
“If you have 250,000 dollars liquid in the bank or you have, you know, 2.5 million dollars liquid in the bank, your life really doesn't change too much unless you're just crazy and you want to spend it.”
Prados: Poor physical fitness hard-caps mental potential and success
“Everybody's got a different potential, but your physical fitness will limit your potential of your mind. Right. So, so it doesn't matter how many books you read, how much personal development that you chase. If your body's a disaster, if you're overweight, if …”
Prados hates tools like Salesforce and Monday, relying mostly on Google Calendar
“We have so many tools that we use and pay for from Salesforce to Monday to this, that, Zoom. Honestly, I hate them all. Like, what do I use most? I use G Suite. That's the tool that I use the most. My calendar is the number one tool that I use.”