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Apr 7, 2023 · 19m · top-founders

Rippling of Brazil Solides Hit $35m ARR up from $15m ARR and Raised $100m at a $800m Valuation

Alessandro Garcia · 9m 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, Solides founder and CEO Alessandro Garcia reveals how his Brazilian HR tech platform scaled to over $31 million in ARR and an $800 million valuation through capital efficiency, disciplined go-to-market segmentation, and strategic acquisitions.

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 40.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 7.0 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 3.6
05100:0010:000:37–3:00 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Solides Company Performance Overview and Key Metrics Latka immediately establishes the business model parameters, verifying the SaaS pricing structure and calculating the average customer size (2M employees across 20k customers = 100 per client). Garcia answers cooperatively.3:01–6:17 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Venture Capital Milestones Latka does live venture math, deducing the post-money valuation ($800M) from the $100M raise and dilution percentage, and walking through earlier bootstrap and Series A rounds.6:17–10:11 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Value Proposition, Product Segmentation, and Pricing Metrics Latka attempts to calculate ARR based on an $8k ACV figure, but Garcia educates him on their bifurcated customer base resulting from the Tangerino acquisition. Latka pushes to get the blended ARPU ($130/mo) and verifies the $2.6M MRR calculation.10:12–12:45 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Customer Acquisition Strategy and Managing Valuation Multiples Latka challenges Garcia on managing underwater stock options given the peak 51x valuation multiple. Garcia brushes off the concern, arguing their 100% year-over-year growth negates valuation contraction issues.12:45–17:31 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 IPO Roadmap, 2023 Projections, and Team Structure Latka actively helps Garcia reconcile churn metrics, translating monthly churn (1.9%) into annualized gross churn (24%) and calculating implied expansion (30%) to reach 105% net revenue retention.0:37–3:00 · Guest teaching 1/10 Solides Company Performance Overview and Key Metrics Latka immediately establishes the business model parameters, verifying the SaaS pricing structure and calculating the average customer size (2M employees across 20k customers = 100 per client). Garcia answers cooperatively.3:01–6:17 · Guest teaching 0/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Venture Capital Milestones Latka does live venture math, deducing the post-money valuation ($800M) from the $100M raise and dilution percentage, and walking through earlier bootstrap and Series A rounds.6:17–10:11 · Guest teaching 6/10 Value Proposition, Product Segmentation, and Pricing Metrics Latka attempts to calculate ARR based on an $8k ACV figure, but Garcia educates him on their bifurcated customer base resulting from the Tangerino acquisition. Latka pushes to get the blended ARPU ($130/mo) and verifies the $2.6M MRR calculation.10:12–12:45 · Guest teaching 2/10 Customer Acquisition Strategy and Managing Valuation Multiples Latka challenges Garcia on managing underwater stock options given the peak 51x valuation multiple. Garcia brushes off the concern, arguing their 100% year-over-year growth negates valuation contraction issues.12:45–17:31 · Guest teaching 3/10 IPO Roadmap, 2023 Projections, and Team Structure Latka actively helps Garcia reconcile churn metrics, translating monthly churn (1.9%) into annualized gross churn (24%) and calculating implied expansion (30%) to reach 105% net revenue retention.0:37–3:00 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Solides Company Performance Overview and Key Metrics Latka immediately establishes the business model parameters, verifying the SaaS pricing structure and calculating the average customer size (2M employees across 20k customers = 100 per client). Garcia answers cooperatively.3:01–6:17 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Venture Capital Milestones Latka does live venture math, deducing the post-money valuation ($800M) from the $100M raise and dilution percentage, and walking through earlier bootstrap and Series A rounds.6:17–10:11 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Value Proposition, Product Segmentation, and Pricing Metrics Latka attempts to calculate ARR based on an $8k ACV figure, but Garcia educates him on their bifurcated customer base resulting from the Tangerino acquisition. Latka pushes to get the blended ARPU ($130/mo) and verifies the $2.6M MRR calculation.10:12–12:45 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Customer Acquisition Strategy and Managing Valuation Multiples Latka challenges Garcia on managing underwater stock options given the peak 51x valuation multiple. Garcia brushes off the concern, arguing their 100% year-over-year growth negates valuation contraction issues.12:45–17:31 · Guest disagreement 1/10 IPO Roadmap, 2023 Projections, and Team Structure Latka actively helps Garcia reconcile churn metrics, translating monthly churn (1.9%) into annualized gross churn (24%) and calculating implied expansion (30%) to reach 105% net revenue retention.0:37–3:00 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Solides Company Performance Overview and Key Metrics Latka immediately establishes the business model parameters, verifying the SaaS pricing structure and calculating the average customer size (2M employees across 20k customers = 100 per client). Garcia answers cooperatively.3:01–6:17 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Venture Capital Milestones Latka does live venture math, deducing the post-money valuation ($800M) from the $100M raise and dilution percentage, and walking through earlier bootstrap and Series A rounds.6:17–10:11 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Value Proposition, Product Segmentation, and Pricing Metrics Latka attempts to calculate ARR based on an $8k ACV figure, but Garcia educates him on their bifurcated customer base resulting from the Tangerino acquisition. Latka pushes to get the blended ARPU ($130/mo) and verifies the $2.6M MRR calculation.10:12–12:45 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Customer Acquisition Strategy and Managing Valuation Multiples Latka challenges Garcia on managing underwater stock options given the peak 51x valuation multiple. Garcia brushes off the concern, arguing their 100% year-over-year growth negates valuation contraction issues.12:45–17:31 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 IPO Roadmap, 2023 Projections, and Team Structure Latka actively helps Garcia reconcile churn metrics, translating monthly churn (1.9%) into annualized gross churn (24%) and calculating implied expansion (30%) to reach 105% net revenue retention.

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

0:00 · Nathan 73.7% · guest 26.3%0:00 · Nathan 73.7% · guest 26.3%3:00 · Nathan 32.4% · guest 67.6%3:00 · Nathan 32.4% · guest 67.6%6:00 · Nathan 21.8% · guest 78.2%6:00 · Nathan 21.8% · guest 78.2%9:00 · Nathan 38% · guest 62%9:00 · Nathan 38% · guest 62%12:00 · Nathan 36.5% · guest 63.5%12:00 · Nathan 36.5% · guest 63.5%15:00 · Nathan 30.7% · guest 69.3%15:00 · Nathan 30.7% · guest 69.3%18:00 · Nathan 59% · guest 41%18:00 · Nathan 59% · guest 41%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:25 Dismissing valuation multiple downside

Garcia rejects Latka's premise that employees might be demoralized by underwater stock options from a 51x multiple round, insisting high revenue growth solved the issue.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:30 Pressing for blended ARPU clarity

Latka pushes Garcia past segmented pricing nuance to pin down the exact blended monthly revenue and ARPU across all 20,000 customers.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:57 Explaining dual product lines and acquisition impact

Garcia corrects Latka's direct extrapolation of $8k ACV across all 20k accounts by revealing 10k accounts are lower-tier punch-clock users from their Tangerino acquisition.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 16:06 Live SaaS retention and churn conversion

Latka catches that Garcia's churn quote is monthly rather than annual, instantly converting 1.9% monthly gross churn into 24% annual churn and deducing 30% expansion for 105% NRR.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Solides Company Performance Overview and Key Metrics 6101 Latka immediately establishes the business model parameters, verifying the SaaS pricing structure and calculating the average customer size (2M employees across 20k customers = 100 per client). Garcia answers cooperatively.
Bootstrapping Journey and Venture Capital Milestones 7012 Latka does live venture math, deducing the post-money valuation ($800M) from the $100M raise and dilution percentage, and walking through earlier bootstrap and Series A rounds.
Value Proposition, Product Segmentation, and Pricing Metrics 7626 Latka attempts to calculate ARR based on an $8k ACV figure, but Garcia educates him on their bifurcated customer base resulting from the Tangerino acquisition. Latka pushes to get the blended ARPU ($130/mo) and verifies the $2.6M MRR calculation.
Customer Acquisition Strategy and Managing Valuation Multiples 7235 Latka challenges Garcia on managing underwater stock options given the peak 51x valuation multiple. Garcia brushes off the concern, arguing their 100% year-over-year growth negates valuation contraction issues.
IPO Roadmap, 2023 Projections, and Team Structure 8314 Latka actively helps Garcia reconcile churn metrics, translating monthly churn (1.9%) into annualized gross churn (24%) and calculating implied expansion (30%) to reach 105% net revenue retention.

Statements from this episode (13)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garcia: Solides has almost 20,000 paying business subscribers
“We have almost 20,000 companies as subscribers”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 1:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Solides' platform manages nearly 2 million employees across its customer base
“Close to two millions.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 2:48
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Solides tripled twice and doubled twice following its 2015 SaaS relaunch
“In 2000 15 and we triple, triple, double, double, and almost double in the 50 year.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 3:39
Assertion Supported
Solides raised a $100M Series B funding round
“Yes, from a wall of people, a hundred million dollars.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 4:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garcia: Solides was valued at around $15M in 2019 Series A
“Maybe fifteen million million dollars. I think that was something like that.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 5:58
Opinion
Garcia: Solides is the only SMB HR software player in Brazil
“Today we don't have other players providing HR software for small video companies in Brazil. In the US you have a Bumble HR and other players, but here we are playing this game alone.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 6:55
Disclosure
Solides acquired Tangerino, adding nearly 10,000 scheduling customers
“We have a group of close to 10,000 customers using the scheduling point. It was from a company that we acquired, Last year called Tangerino. They deal with scattering time and punch clock, electronic punch clock.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 7:58
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Solides reports a blended ARPU of $130 per month
“It was our ARPU is a hundred and 130 dollars a month.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 9:44
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garcia: Solides grew revenue 100% year-over-year to $2.6M per month
“A half than that. We grew a hundred percent last year.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 10:21
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garcia: Solides avoids underwater stock option issues due to revenue growth
“Today we not have this problem, even with the, this lower of the multiples in, in valuations because we grew a lot since from them. So we don't have to deal with this problem. We have a lot of problems, but not this.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 12:26
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Garcia: Solides is targeting an IPO in roughly three years
“Maybe in three years, we are trying to build a solid business to offer this in the public market.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 12:49
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Garcia: Solides expects to double revenue to $60M ARR in 2023
“Our expectation is to double again.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 13:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Garcia: Solides averages 1.9% gross churn per month company-wide
“No, no, sorry 1.9 per month.”
Alessandro Garcia Apr 7, 2023 ▶ 16:11
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