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Mar 17, 2023 · 16m · top-founders

From 1 man design team to $400k/year consulting for Accel

Mihai Tomlin · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m 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 interview, Nathan Latka speaks with New Genre co-founder Mihai Tomlin about scaling a London design studio from $200 freelance projects to over $400,000 in revenue working with Accel Europe, while simultaneously developing his SaaS startup Attach.app.

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 39.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 2.8 Guest teaching 1.4 Guest disagreement 0.4 Nathan pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:000:00–3:47 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 FounderPath Valuation Tool Advertisement Latka opens with an ad read and background biography before asking Tomlin how he balances agency work with his software product in an agreeable exchange.3:47–7:18 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Evolution from Solo Freelancer to Specialized Agency Latka drills into Tomlin's pricing tiers and contract sizes, performing mental math to estimate their first-year agency revenue.7:18–10:21 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Agency Staffing Philosophy and Headcount Management Latka assumes moving into a London design studio is an expensive lease, but Tomlin explains how they secured a heavily subsidized rate below £2,000 per month.10:21–13:11 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Venture Client Engagements and Consulting for Accel Europe Latka refuses vague descriptions of consulting work for Accel Europe, pulling up their live website and FinTech summit graphics during the call to verify scope.13:12–16:05 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Developing Attach.app to Transform Client Proposals Latka challenges the market need for Attach.app by comparing it to DocSend, leading Tomlin to explain the gap in interactive agency portfolio proposals.0:00–3:47 · Guest teaching 0/10 FounderPath Valuation Tool Advertisement Latka opens with an ad read and background biography before asking Tomlin how he balances agency work with his software product in an agreeable exchange.3:47–7:18 · Guest teaching 1/10 Evolution from Solo Freelancer to Specialized Agency Latka drills into Tomlin's pricing tiers and contract sizes, performing mental math to estimate their first-year agency revenue.7:18–10:21 · Guest teaching 2/10 Agency Staffing Philosophy and Headcount Management Latka assumes moving into a London design studio is an expensive lease, but Tomlin explains how they secured a heavily subsidized rate below £2,000 per month.10:21–13:11 · Guest teaching 2/10 Venture Client Engagements and Consulting for Accel Europe Latka refuses vague descriptions of consulting work for Accel Europe, pulling up their live website and FinTech summit graphics during the call to verify scope.13:12–16:05 · Guest teaching 2/10 Developing Attach.app to Transform Client Proposals Latka challenges the market need for Attach.app by comparing it to DocSend, leading Tomlin to explain the gap in interactive agency portfolio proposals.0:00–3:47 · Guest disagreement 0/10 FounderPath Valuation Tool Advertisement Latka opens with an ad read and background biography before asking Tomlin how he balances agency work with his software product in an agreeable exchange.3:47–7:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Evolution from Solo Freelancer to Specialized Agency Latka drills into Tomlin's pricing tiers and contract sizes, performing mental math to estimate their first-year agency revenue.7:18–10:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Agency Staffing Philosophy and Headcount Management Latka assumes moving into a London design studio is an expensive lease, but Tomlin explains how they secured a heavily subsidized rate below £2,000 per month.10:21–13:11 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Venture Client Engagements and Consulting for Accel Europe Latka refuses vague descriptions of consulting work for Accel Europe, pulling up their live website and FinTech summit graphics during the call to verify scope.13:12–16:05 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Developing Attach.app to Transform Client Proposals Latka challenges the market need for Attach.app by comparing it to DocSend, leading Tomlin to explain the gap in interactive agency portfolio proposals.0:00–3:47 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 FounderPath Valuation Tool Advertisement Latka opens with an ad read and background biography before asking Tomlin how he balances agency work with his software product in an agreeable exchange.3:47–7:18 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Evolution from Solo Freelancer to Specialized Agency Latka drills into Tomlin's pricing tiers and contract sizes, performing mental math to estimate their first-year agency revenue.7:18–10:21 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Agency Staffing Philosophy and Headcount Management Latka assumes moving into a London design studio is an expensive lease, but Tomlin explains how they secured a heavily subsidized rate below £2,000 per month.10:21–13:11 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Venture Client Engagements and Consulting for Accel Europe Latka refuses vague descriptions of consulting work for Accel Europe, pulling up their live website and FinTech summit graphics during the call to verify scope.13:12–16:05 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Developing Attach.app to Transform Client Proposals Latka challenges the market need for Attach.app by comparing it to DocSend, leading Tomlin to explain the gap in interactive agency portfolio proposals.

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

0:00 · Nathan 86.4% · guest 13.6%0:00 · Nathan 86.4% · guest 13.6%3:00 · Nathan 19.9% · guest 80.1%3:00 · Nathan 19.9% · guest 80.1%6:00 · Nathan 22.9% · guest 77.1%6:00 · Nathan 22.9% · guest 77.1%9:00 · Nathan 21.8% · guest 78.2%9:00 · Nathan 21.8% · guest 78.2%12:00 · Nathan 29.3% · guest 70.7%12:00 · Nathan 29.3% · guest 70.7%15:00 · Nathan 61.3% · guest 38.7%15:00 · Nathan 61.3% · guest 38.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:09 Defending proposal app differentiation

Tomlin counters Latka's skepticism about existing solutions like DocSend by detailing unmet agency workflow needs.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 14:03 Challenging value proposition against DocSend

Latka directly interrupts to challenge the uniqueness of Attach.app, pressing on what it offers that existing tools like DocSend do not.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:16 Subverting assumptions on London studio lease costs

When Latka assumes acquiring a new London studio space represents a massive expense, Tomlin corrects him with the favorable sub-market rent they negotiated.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:10 Live auditing Accel Europe design collateral

Latka refuses to take general claims at face value, navigating live to Accel Europe's assets to identify the specific infographics and assets Tomlin's team built.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
FounderPath Valuation Tool Advertisement 1000 Latka opens with an ad read and background biography before asking Tomlin how he balances agency work with his software product in an agreeable exchange.
Evolution from Solo Freelancer to Specialized Agency 3101 Latka drills into Tomlin's pricing tiers and contract sizes, performing mental math to estimate their first-year agency revenue.
Agency Staffing Philosophy and Headcount Management 3212 Latka assumes moving into a London design studio is an expensive lease, but Tomlin explains how they secured a heavily subsidized rate below £2,000 per month.
Venture Client Engagements and Consulting for Accel Europe 4203 Latka refuses vague descriptions of consulting work for Accel Europe, pulling up their live website and FinTech summit graphics during the call to verify scope.
Developing Attach.app to Transform Client Proposals 3214 Latka challenges the market need for Attach.app by comparing it to DocSend, leading Tomlin to explain the gap in interactive agency portfolio proposals.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre operates with a core four-person full-time team
“So our team is four. So it's myself, my co-founder Jack, and then we have two full-time folks plus a team of freelancers.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 4:27
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre paid approximately 10 freelancers last year
“I would say around 10.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 4:44
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre charges $10K minimum, averaging $30K to $50K per project
“So our minimum engagement fee is 10 K. So we don't touch projects less than 10 K. But on average, a project is around 30 to 50 K.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 5:58
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre completed 44 projects in its first year
“In our first year, we actually did 44 projects.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 6:50
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre hit $400K to $500K in first-year revenue
“Approximately. Yeah.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 7:17
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre trials hires as freelancers before full-time offers
“First we hire people as freelancers. We get a taste of how they work, what they do. Both of our employees are longtime friends of ours that we worked in the past. You know, for a number of years. So the risk is also lower.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 7:32
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre hires after two consecutive months of weekend work
“I think when we have two, two consecutive Really busy months when we have to work weekends and time is, you know, time is not there. Then we know that it's time to hire more folks.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 8:15
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre pays under £2,000 monthly for London studio
“And we have a 50 square meter studio. I'm not sure what's that in feet, maybe 500. We pay less than 2000 pounds per month.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 9:38
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tomlin: New Genre generates around $80,000 annually from Accel Europe
“So annually we would do around ATK.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 11:11
Disclosure
Tomlin: New Genre operates as Accel Europe's dedicated design team
“No for Excel, we are Excel Europe's design team. We work on a number of projects from conferences events, and then a lot of their thought leadership and content building assets.”
Mihai Tomlin Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 11:27
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