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Sep 11, 2023 · 20m · top-founders

How this SaaS For Music Venues Survived Covid Then hit $3m ARR

Matt Ford · 12m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m 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 episode of Conversations with Nathan Latka, Prism.fm founder and CEO Matt Ford details how his music venue SaaS platform survived the pandemic shutdown, scaled past $150,000 in monthly revenue, and unlocked new growth via embedded venue-to-artist payments.

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 33.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 3.3 Guest disagreement 1.5 Nathan pushing back 3.2
05100:0010:0020:002:01–4:33 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Surviving COVID and Product Development Strategy Nathan pulls up exact funding history from memory and past interviews ($1M seed, $2.9M extension) and asks how Prism survived COVID. Matt explains their engineering focus and how they maintained customer retention.4:33–7:32 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Funding, Dilution Strategy, and Approaching Profitability Nathan corrects Matt's metric slip when Matt says 'negative net retention' instead of 'negative churn'. Matt outlines his strategy of default profitability and realistic TAM vs SAM sizing.7:32–9:45 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Equity Structure and Prism's Two-Sided Network Effects Nathan investigates equity ownership, co-founder buyouts, and whether the customer base includes artists. Matt explains the two-sided network effect between promoters, venues, and talent agencies.9:45–12:30 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Pricing Evolution, ACV Expansion, and Revenue Targets When Matt declines to reveal exact current revenue due to strategic reasons, Nathan pushes back firmly, reciting historical baseline figures and calculating implied revenue. Nathan also probes if Matt is selling the company or raising secondary.12:30–16:33 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Embedded Finance Opportunity and Venue-to-Band Payments Nathan explores embedded fintech opportunities and suggests high take rates on $800M in GMV. Matt firmly rejects unrealistic take-rate assumptions, educating Nathan on why high percentages fail in large B2B payments competing with flat-fee ACH.16:33–19:40 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Team Composition and Engineering Organization Nathan gathers headcounts and engineering distribution before transitioning to the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions in a friendly, conversational tone.2:01–4:33 · Guest teaching 2/10 Surviving COVID and Product Development Strategy Nathan pulls up exact funding history from memory and past interviews ($1M seed, $2.9M extension) and asks how Prism survived COVID. Matt explains their engineering focus and how they maintained customer retention.4:33–7:32 · Guest teaching 3/10 Funding, Dilution Strategy, and Approaching Profitability Nathan corrects Matt's metric slip when Matt says 'negative net retention' instead of 'negative churn'. Matt outlines his strategy of default profitability and realistic TAM vs SAM sizing.7:32–9:45 · Guest teaching 4/10 Equity Structure and Prism's Two-Sided Network Effects Nathan investigates equity ownership, co-founder buyouts, and whether the customer base includes artists. Matt explains the two-sided network effect between promoters, venues, and talent agencies.9:45–12:30 · Guest teaching 2/10 Pricing Evolution, ACV Expansion, and Revenue Targets When Matt declines to reveal exact current revenue due to strategic reasons, Nathan pushes back firmly, reciting historical baseline figures and calculating implied revenue. Nathan also probes if Matt is selling the company or raising secondary.12:30–16:33 · Guest teaching 7/10 Embedded Finance Opportunity and Venue-to-Band Payments Nathan explores embedded fintech opportunities and suggests high take rates on $800M in GMV. Matt firmly rejects unrealistic take-rate assumptions, educating Nathan on why high percentages fail in large B2B payments competing with flat-fee ACH.16:33–19:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Composition and Engineering Organization Nathan gathers headcounts and engineering distribution before transitioning to the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions in a friendly, conversational tone.2:01–4:33 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Surviving COVID and Product Development Strategy Nathan pulls up exact funding history from memory and past interviews ($1M seed, $2.9M extension) and asks how Prism survived COVID. Matt explains their engineering focus and how they maintained customer retention.4:33–7:32 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Funding, Dilution Strategy, and Approaching Profitability Nathan corrects Matt's metric slip when Matt says 'negative net retention' instead of 'negative churn'. Matt outlines his strategy of default profitability and realistic TAM vs SAM sizing.7:32–9:45 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Equity Structure and Prism's Two-Sided Network Effects Nathan investigates equity ownership, co-founder buyouts, and whether the customer base includes artists. Matt explains the two-sided network effect between promoters, venues, and talent agencies.9:45–12:30 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Pricing Evolution, ACV Expansion, and Revenue Targets When Matt declines to reveal exact current revenue due to strategic reasons, Nathan pushes back firmly, reciting historical baseline figures and calculating implied revenue. Nathan also probes if Matt is selling the company or raising secondary.12:30–16:33 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Embedded Finance Opportunity and Venue-to-Band Payments Nathan explores embedded fintech opportunities and suggests high take rates on $800M in GMV. Matt firmly rejects unrealistic take-rate assumptions, educating Nathan on why high percentages fail in large B2B payments competing with flat-fee ACH.16:33–19:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Team Composition and Engineering Organization Nathan gathers headcounts and engineering distribution before transitioning to the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions in a friendly, conversational tone.2:01–4:33 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Surviving COVID and Product Development Strategy Nathan pulls up exact funding history from memory and past interviews ($1M seed, $2.9M extension) and asks how Prism survived COVID. Matt explains their engineering focus and how they maintained customer retention.4:33–7:32 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Funding, Dilution Strategy, and Approaching Profitability Nathan corrects Matt's metric slip when Matt says 'negative net retention' instead of 'negative churn'. Matt outlines his strategy of default profitability and realistic TAM vs SAM sizing.7:32–9:45 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Equity Structure and Prism's Two-Sided Network Effects Nathan investigates equity ownership, co-founder buyouts, and whether the customer base includes artists. Matt explains the two-sided network effect between promoters, venues, and talent agencies.9:45–12:30 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Pricing Evolution, ACV Expansion, and Revenue Targets When Matt declines to reveal exact current revenue due to strategic reasons, Nathan pushes back firmly, reciting historical baseline figures and calculating implied revenue. Nathan also probes if Matt is selling the company or raising secondary.12:30–16:33 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Embedded Finance Opportunity and Venue-to-Band Payments Nathan explores embedded fintech opportunities and suggests high take rates on $800M in GMV. Matt firmly rejects unrealistic take-rate assumptions, educating Nathan on why high percentages fail in large B2B payments competing with flat-fee ACH.16:33–19:40 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Team Composition and Engineering Organization Nathan gathers headcounts and engineering distribution before transitioning to the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions in a friendly, conversational tone.

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

0:00 · Nathan 74.2% · guest 25.8%0:00 · Nathan 74.2% · guest 25.8%3:00 · Nathan 21.9% · guest 78.1%3:00 · Nathan 21.9% · guest 78.1%6:00 · Nathan 11.2% · guest 88.8%6:00 · Nathan 11.2% · guest 88.8%9:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%9:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%12:00 · Nathan 29.9% · guest 70.1%12:00 · Nathan 29.9% · guest 70.1%15:00 · Nathan 16.3% · guest 83.7%15:00 · Nathan 16.3% · guest 83.7%18:00 · Nathan 58.2% · guest 41.8%18:00 · Nathan 58.2% · guest 41.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:48 Rejecting inflated take-rate assumptions

Matt immediately dismisses Nathan's suggestion of taking a 5% to 20% cut on large venue-to-artist payments, explaining why market realities and bank alternatives make that unviable.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 10:25 Refusing to accept revenue non-disclosure

Nathan challenges Matt's sudden reluctance to disclose revenue, referencing past disclosure habits and calculating the run-rate directly on air.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:34 Educating on B2B payment economics vs POS

Matt explains the mechanics of take rates, contrasting high-percentage micro-transactions at bar POS systems with low-margin, high-value B2B artist payouts.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:25 Reconstructing ARR from historical data

Nathan demonstrates mastery over the guest's financial history by using past COVID-era customer counts and revenue metrics to calculate Prism's current growth trajectory.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Surviving COVID and Product Development Strategy 5212 Nathan pulls up exact funding history from memory and past interviews ($1M seed, $2.9M extension) and asks how Prism survived COVID. Matt explains their engineering focus and how they maintained customer retention.
Funding, Dilution Strategy, and Approaching Profitability 6313 Nathan corrects Matt's metric slip when Matt says 'negative net retention' instead of 'negative churn'. Matt outlines his strategy of default profitability and realistic TAM vs SAM sizing.
Equity Structure and Prism's Two-Sided Network Effects 4412 Nathan investigates equity ownership, co-founder buyouts, and whether the customer base includes artists. Matt explains the two-sided network effect between promoters, venues, and talent agencies.
Pricing Evolution, ACV Expansion, and Revenue Targets 6237 When Matt declines to reveal exact current revenue due to strategic reasons, Nathan pushes back firmly, reciting historical baseline figures and calculating implied revenue. Nathan also probes if Matt is selling the company or raising secondary.
Embedded Finance Opportunity and Venue-to-Band Payments 5724 Nathan explores embedded fintech opportunities and suggests high take rates on $800M in GMV. Matt firmly rejects unrealistic take-rate assumptions, educating Nathan on why high percentages fail in large B2B payments competing with flat-fee ACH.
Team Composition and Engineering Organization 3211 Nathan gathers headcounts and engineering distribution before transitioning to the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions in a friendly, conversational tone.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford: Prism.fm has grown revenue 5x since pandemic trough
“We've, you know, five X our revenue since the bottom of the trough.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 4:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford: Prism.fm kept roughly 100 of 120 venue customers through COVID
“We also didn't turn a lot during the pandemic, which I think was a major testament to the technology. Like we went in with let's call it a 120 customers. And we came out with, of those a 120, we came out with, you know, a solid a hundred of them. Like we didn'…”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 4:16
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford: Prism achieves 110% total net retention and 127% in key segment
“With one of our customer segments, it's segments. It's net retention of 127% and across our whole customer base, it's 110%.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 5:50
Insight
Ford: Multi-Sided Adoption of Prism Eliminates Live Music Data Entry
“If a promoter and a venue is both using Prism, there's a really enhanced kind of efficient show that gets planned. But if, you know, if they're not using Prism, then they have to do an amazing amount of data entry. So we've created this like network effect kin…”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 9:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford: Prism secures new customer ACV above $11,000
“But to date, today we're getting an ACV like above 11,000.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 10:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford: Prism has surpassed 300 customers
“And we're above 300 customers now.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 10:23
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Ford sees clear runway for Prism to reach $15M-$20M ARR
“And you know, there's a clear, like I see a clear runway right now to get the company, you know, it's a 15, twenty million in recurring revenue. And it's just my own kind of calculations and willingness to hold on.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 12:18
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford estimates Prism's full network payment volume at over $800M for 2023
“If we were, if we had the full network utilizing payments, it's over eight hundred million dollars... That's the projection for this 12 months, for twenty-twenty-three.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 13:27
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ford: Prism employs 17 engineers out of 27 full-time staff
“We have, of that 27, I believe 17.”
Matt Ford Sep 11, 2023 ▶ 16:53
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