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Jan 4, 2024 · 16m · top-founders

How To Make $30,000 Instantly off a Viral Linkedin Post

Renat Zubairov · 9m 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

Nathan Latka interviews serial SaaS founder Renat Zubarov on bootstrapping RevOS.ai to $30,000 ARR by combining high-touch consulting, HubSpot-native health scoring, and a viral LinkedIn template that generated over 1,000 qualified inbound leads.

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 30.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.3 Guest teaching 3.3 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.3
05100:0010:000:39–3:23 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Episode Preview: Renat Zubarov and RevOS.ai Nathan probes details of Renat's prior exit from Elastic.io, referencing reported acquisition terms and revenue estimates. Renat corrects Nathan on equity retention and clarifies that revenue was smaller than Nathan's five-to-six-million-dollar estimate.3:23–5:34 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Founding RevOS.ai and Achieving Early ARR Nathan drills down on early revenue figures for RevOS.ai, immediately calculating contract values once Renat clarifies that thirty thousand dollars represents ARR rather than MRR across six customers.5:34–8:08 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Using Consulting Services to Validate Software Features Nathan inquires how the company generated two hundred thousand dollars this year, prompting Renat to detail their strategy of validating software features through paid consulting services.8:08–10:11 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Generating Over 1,000 Leads with a Viral Health Scoring Template Renat explains how an open customer health score spreadsheet generated over a thousand inbound leads. Nathan verifies the asset live on the company's website.10:11–12:18 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Growth Strategies: SEO, Free Tier, and Moving Away from Udemy Renat details the limitations of using Udemy for lead generation, noting platform restrictions that prevent accessing buyer contact details alongside European tax friction.12:18–14:24 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 HubSpot Integration vs. Standalone Customer Success CRMs Renat provides an architectural breakdown of why standalone customer success CRMs create data silos and argues for building directly on top of HubSpot's unified revenue stack.14:24–15:58 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Bootstrapping RevOS.ai and the Famous Five Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite books, role models, and founding advice in a friendly concluding exchange.0:39–3:23 · Guest teaching 4/10 Episode Preview: Renat Zubarov and RevOS.ai Nathan probes details of Renat's prior exit from Elastic.io, referencing reported acquisition terms and revenue estimates. Renat corrects Nathan on equity retention and clarifies that revenue was smaller than Nathan's five-to-six-million-dollar estimate.3:23–5:34 · Guest teaching 4/10 Founding RevOS.ai and Achieving Early ARR Nathan drills down on early revenue figures for RevOS.ai, immediately calculating contract values once Renat clarifies that thirty thousand dollars represents ARR rather than MRR across six customers.5:34–8:08 · Guest teaching 2/10 Using Consulting Services to Validate Software Features Nathan inquires how the company generated two hundred thousand dollars this year, prompting Renat to detail their strategy of validating software features through paid consulting services.8:08–10:11 · Guest teaching 3/10 Generating Over 1,000 Leads with a Viral Health Scoring Template Renat explains how an open customer health score spreadsheet generated over a thousand inbound leads. Nathan verifies the asset live on the company's website.10:11–12:18 · Guest teaching 4/10 Growth Strategies: SEO, Free Tier, and Moving Away from Udemy Renat details the limitations of using Udemy for lead generation, noting platform restrictions that prevent accessing buyer contact details alongside European tax friction.12:18–14:24 · Guest teaching 5/10 HubSpot Integration vs. Standalone Customer Success CRMs Renat provides an architectural breakdown of why standalone customer success CRMs create data silos and argues for building directly on top of HubSpot's unified revenue stack.14:24–15:58 · Guest teaching 1/10 Bootstrapping RevOS.ai and the Famous Five Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite books, role models, and founding advice in a friendly concluding exchange.0:39–3:23 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Episode Preview: Renat Zubarov and RevOS.ai Nathan probes details of Renat's prior exit from Elastic.io, referencing reported acquisition terms and revenue estimates. Renat corrects Nathan on equity retention and clarifies that revenue was smaller than Nathan's five-to-six-million-dollar estimate.3:23–5:34 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founding RevOS.ai and Achieving Early ARR Nathan drills down on early revenue figures for RevOS.ai, immediately calculating contract values once Renat clarifies that thirty thousand dollars represents ARR rather than MRR across six customers.5:34–8:08 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Using Consulting Services to Validate Software Features Nathan inquires how the company generated two hundred thousand dollars this year, prompting Renat to detail their strategy of validating software features through paid consulting services.8:08–10:11 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Generating Over 1,000 Leads with a Viral Health Scoring Template Renat explains how an open customer health score spreadsheet generated over a thousand inbound leads. Nathan verifies the asset live on the company's website.10:11–12:18 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Growth Strategies: SEO, Free Tier, and Moving Away from Udemy Renat details the limitations of using Udemy for lead generation, noting platform restrictions that prevent accessing buyer contact details alongside European tax friction.12:18–14:24 · Guest disagreement 2/10 HubSpot Integration vs. Standalone Customer Success CRMs Renat provides an architectural breakdown of why standalone customer success CRMs create data silos and argues for building directly on top of HubSpot's unified revenue stack.14:24–15:58 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Bootstrapping RevOS.ai and the Famous Five Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite books, role models, and founding advice in a friendly concluding exchange.0:39–3:23 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Episode Preview: Renat Zubarov and RevOS.ai Nathan probes details of Renat's prior exit from Elastic.io, referencing reported acquisition terms and revenue estimates. Renat corrects Nathan on equity retention and clarifies that revenue was smaller than Nathan's five-to-six-million-dollar estimate.3:23–5:34 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Founding RevOS.ai and Achieving Early ARR Nathan drills down on early revenue figures for RevOS.ai, immediately calculating contract values once Renat clarifies that thirty thousand dollars represents ARR rather than MRR across six customers.5:34–8:08 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Using Consulting Services to Validate Software Features Nathan inquires how the company generated two hundred thousand dollars this year, prompting Renat to detail their strategy of validating software features through paid consulting services.8:08–10:11 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Generating Over 1,000 Leads with a Viral Health Scoring Template Renat explains how an open customer health score spreadsheet generated over a thousand inbound leads. Nathan verifies the asset live on the company's website.10:11–12:18 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Growth Strategies: SEO, Free Tier, and Moving Away from Udemy Renat details the limitations of using Udemy for lead generation, noting platform restrictions that prevent accessing buyer contact details alongside European tax friction.12:18–14:24 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 HubSpot Integration vs. Standalone Customer Success CRMs Renat provides an architectural breakdown of why standalone customer success CRMs create data silos and argues for building directly on top of HubSpot's unified revenue stack.14:24–15:58 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Bootstrapping RevOS.ai and the Famous Five Questions Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite books, role models, and founding advice in a friendly concluding exchange.

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

0:00 · Nathan 62.1% · guest 37.9%0:00 · Nathan 62.1% · guest 37.9%3:00 · Nathan 30.1% · guest 69.9%3:00 · Nathan 30.1% · guest 69.9%6:00 · Nathan 21.2% · guest 78.8%6:00 · Nathan 21.2% · guest 78.8%9:00 · Nathan 21.1% · guest 78.9%9:00 · Nathan 21.1% · guest 78.9%12:00 · Nathan 12.6% · guest 87.4%12:00 · Nathan 12.6% · guest 87.4%15:00 · Nathan 45.9% · guest 54.1%15:00 · Nathan 45.9% · guest 54.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 3:03 Renat refutes Elastic.io revenue figure

Renat explicitly pushes back on Nathan's stated revenue estimate of five to six million dollars, correcting him that the actual number was smaller.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:00 Nathan presses on ARR versus MRR definition

Nathan refuses to let ambiguous revenue numbers pass, forcing an immediate distinction between monthly recurring revenue and annual run-rate.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:59 Renat explains Udemy platform constraints

Renat educates Nathan on the platform reality that course instructors cannot legally harvest or contact customer leads from Udemy purchases.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 5:10 Nathan deduces unit economics live

Nathan instantly catches the revenue discrepancy and computes the average monthly contract value across the customer base in real time.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Episode Preview: Renat Zubarov and RevOS.ai 5424 Nathan probes details of Renat's prior exit from Elastic.io, referencing reported acquisition terms and revenue estimates. Renat corrects Nathan on equity retention and clarifies that revenue was smaller than Nathan's five-to-six-million-dollar estimate.
Founding RevOS.ai and Achieving Early ARR 5413 Nathan drills down on early revenue figures for RevOS.ai, immediately calculating contract values once Renat clarifies that thirty thousand dollars represents ARR rather than MRR across six customers.
Using Consulting Services to Validate Software Features 5202 Nathan inquires how the company generated two hundred thousand dollars this year, prompting Renat to detail their strategy of validating software features through paid consulting services.
Generating Over 1,000 Leads with a Viral Health Scoring Template 4312 Renat explains how an open customer health score spreadsheet generated over a thousand inbound leads. Nathan verifies the asset live on the company's website.
Growth Strategies: SEO, Free Tier, and Moving Away from Udemy 4412 Renat details the limitations of using Udemy for lead generation, noting platform restrictions that prevent accessing buyer contact details alongside European tax friction.
HubSpot Integration vs. Standalone Customer Success CRMs 4522 Renat provides an architectural breakdown of why standalone customer success CRMs create data silos and argues for building directly on top of HubSpot's unified revenue stack.
Bootstrapping RevOS.ai and the Famous Five Questions 3101 Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite books, role models, and founding advice in a friendly concluding exchange.

Statements from this episode (11)

Disclosure
Zubarov: Elastic.io founders retained zero equity after the acquisition
“No, no. We were completely out. Me and my co-founder, Igor, we were completely out.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 2:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zubarov: RevOS.ai generated €200,000 in 2023 with six paying customers
“Right now we have I think total around about six paying customers. We did this year on about 200,000 euro.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 4:38
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zubarov: RevOS.ai has reached approximately €30,000 in annual recurring revenue
“I think we are currently ARR on about 30 K. So out of 200 K we did this year, 30 K is, is the current.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 4:51
Insight
Zubarov: Use consulting to find paid problems before building software
“I think this is also a very good path, because first of all, we learn real problems, you know, where people pay real money, and then we replace our services with software as we build software along the way.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 6:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zubarov: RevOS's customer health scoring template surpassed 1,000 downloads
“Oh, I don't, actually, I don't have an exact number, but there's definitely above 1000.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 9:49
Disclosure
Zubarov: RevOS earned thousands pre-selling a Udemy course for leads
“We actually did like a interesting pre-sell to that. I think we earned maybe some few thousand dollars of revenue with pre-sell this course.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 11:17
Assertion Supported
Zubarov: Udemy legally prohibits course creators from directly marketing to students
“We are not actually legally allowed to approach these people who are buying, of course, and legally in Udemy.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 12:02
Insight
Zubarov: SaaS customer health scores are biased and rely on gut feeling
“The problem with Hellscore is like, it's very much biased, right? In the sense that when you build it, you just build it on top of your gut feeling and very few people can definitely validate it and you need some data science expertise to validate it.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 13:23
Opinion
Zubarov: Customer success platform Totango is an old, clunky system
“Tatango is rather old system. You know, it's a bit clunky. You know, it's developed like Melbourne 10 years ago.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 13:44
Insight
Zubarov: Standalone customer success platforms are merging into unified RevOps
“What we see is there's definitely a merge between this customer success management system as a separate system, like a separate silo and the revenue stack in general. So we see many companies, once they advance in the development, they establish a revenue func…”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 14:01
Disclosure
Zubarov: RevOS.ai is completely bootstrapped and self-funded
“We're completely bootstrapped. Actually, it's all funded by my own money.”
Renat Zubairov Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 14:30
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