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Jan 26, 2023 · 15m · top-founders

Her Devs work out of Bomb Shelters in Ukraine, $150k in Revenue for Employee Care SaaS

Svetlana Malinova · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Ukrainian entrepreneur Svetlana Malinova details how Raccoon.care pivoted from clinical physical rehabilitation into a B2B corporate employee wellness SaaS platform targeting $1 million in revenue. She also highlights how she keeps her 12-person Ukrainian engineering team employed and building software from bomb shelters during wartime.

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 44.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 1.3 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 4.5
05100:0010:002:15–5:36 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Founder Safety and Remote Operations During Wartime Latka drills into the difference between theoretical pricing tier assumptions and actual collected revenue, repeatedly asking for real customer numbers until Malinova clarifies the business is currently pre-revenue on the new model.5:36–9:49 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Historical Revenue Milestones and 2023 Growth Targets Latka guides the timeline breakdown from grants to equity fundraising, calculating implied valuations and probing co-founder equity splits while Malinova explains her financing history.9:49–13:15 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Retention, Payroll Management, and War Disruptions Latka refuses an evasive answer about VC contracts to press on how 12 full-time salaries are funded under low SaaS revenue, learning Malinova subsidizes payroll via her legal business before offering pilot structuring advice.13:15–15:18 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Insights A standard, friendly Famous Five section where Malinova shares personal routines and business tools before Latka delivers the outro summary.2:15–5:36 · Guest teaching 1/10 Founder Safety and Remote Operations During Wartime Latka drills into the difference between theoretical pricing tier assumptions and actual collected revenue, repeatedly asking for real customer numbers until Malinova clarifies the business is currently pre-revenue on the new model.5:36–9:49 · Guest teaching 2/10 Historical Revenue Milestones and 2023 Growth Targets Latka guides the timeline breakdown from grants to equity fundraising, calculating implied valuations and probing co-founder equity splits while Malinova explains her financing history.9:49–13:15 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Retention, Payroll Management, and War Disruptions Latka refuses an evasive answer about VC contracts to press on how 12 full-time salaries are funded under low SaaS revenue, learning Malinova subsidizes payroll via her legal business before offering pilot structuring advice.13:15–15:18 · Guest teaching 0/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Insights A standard, friendly Famous Five section where Malinova shares personal routines and business tools before Latka delivers the outro summary.2:15–5:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founder Safety and Remote Operations During Wartime Latka drills into the difference between theoretical pricing tier assumptions and actual collected revenue, repeatedly asking for real customer numbers until Malinova clarifies the business is currently pre-revenue on the new model.5:36–9:49 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Historical Revenue Milestones and 2023 Growth Targets Latka guides the timeline breakdown from grants to equity fundraising, calculating implied valuations and probing co-founder equity splits while Malinova explains her financing history.9:49–13:15 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Team Retention, Payroll Management, and War Disruptions Latka refuses an evasive answer about VC contracts to press on how 12 full-time salaries are funded under low SaaS revenue, learning Malinova subsidizes payroll via her legal business before offering pilot structuring advice.13:15–15:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Insights A standard, friendly Famous Five section where Malinova shares personal routines and business tools before Latka delivers the outro summary.2:15–5:36 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Founder Safety and Remote Operations During Wartime Latka drills into the difference between theoretical pricing tier assumptions and actual collected revenue, repeatedly asking for real customer numbers until Malinova clarifies the business is currently pre-revenue on the new model.5:36–9:49 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Historical Revenue Milestones and 2023 Growth Targets Latka guides the timeline breakdown from grants to equity fundraising, calculating implied valuations and probing co-founder equity splits while Malinova explains her financing history.9:49–13:15 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Team Retention, Payroll Management, and War Disruptions Latka refuses an evasive answer about VC contracts to press on how 12 full-time salaries are funded under low SaaS revenue, learning Malinova subsidizes payroll via her legal business before offering pilot structuring advice.13:15–15:18 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Insights A standard, friendly Famous Five section where Malinova shares personal routines and business tools before Latka delivers the outro summary.

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

0:00 · Nathan 84.9% · guest 15.1%0:00 · Nathan 84.9% · guest 15.1%3:00 · Nathan 17.9% · guest 82.1%3:00 · Nathan 17.9% · guest 82.1%6:00 · Nathan 38.7% · guest 61.3%6:00 · Nathan 38.7% · guest 61.3%9:00 · Nathan 37% · guest 63%9:00 · Nathan 37% · guest 63%12:00 · Nathan 36.1% · guest 63.9%12:00 · Nathan 36.1% · guest 63.9%15:00 · Nathan 95.9% · guest 4.1%15:00 · Nathan 95.9% · guest 4.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:05 Defending full-time headcount during wartime

Malinova rejects conventional layoff logic, emphasizing her commitment not to fire Ukrainian staff despite canceled VC contracts and revenue constraints.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 10:48 Host halts pivot narrative to demand payroll breakdown

Latka interrupts Malinova's macro explanation of the war to insist on a direct mathematical explanation for how 12 salaries are paid on minimal revenue.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:32 Guest details European grant and certification runway

Malinova educates Latka on navigating European medical certification and leveraging Horizon 2020 non-dilutive grants alongside legal business profits.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:33 Host outlines optimal enterprise pilot contract terms

Latka demonstrates SaaS domain expertise by outlining how enterprise pilots should legally bind performance benchmarks to automatic paid annual conversion.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Founder Safety and Remote Operations During Wartime 5116 Latka drills into the difference between theoretical pricing tier assumptions and actual collected revenue, repeatedly asking for real customer numbers until Malinova clarifies the business is currently pre-revenue on the new model.
Historical Revenue Milestones and 2023 Growth Targets 6214 Latka guides the timeline breakdown from grants to equity fundraising, calculating implied valuations and probing co-founder equity splits while Malinova explains her financing history.
Team Retention, Payroll Management, and War Disruptions 6217 Latka refuses an evasive answer about VC contracts to press on how 12 full-time salaries are funded under low SaaS revenue, learning Malinova subsidizes payroll via her legal business before offering pilot structuring advice.
Famous Five Rapid-Fire Insights 3001 A standard, friendly Famous Five section where Malinova shares personal routines and business tools before Latka delivers the outro summary.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Malinova: Raccoon.care's Ukrainian back office sometimes works from bomb shelters
“I'm in New York, and our back office is in Ukraine, but they are working, sometimes out of bomb shelters, but they are safe, I hope.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 2:24
Disclosure
Malinova: Raccoon.care targets corporate clients with 100 to 500 office workers
“And at the moment we are selling to corporates with the office workers. So like from 100 to 500 office workers, like as employees as a fitness as wellness benefit.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 2:59
Disclosure
Raccoon.care charges $120 per employee annually for its wellness software
“Well, actually like annual subscription is 120 dollars per employee. It's like basic fee, and the rest depends on what kind of reports companies want to get.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 3:51
Disclosure
Raccoon.care pivoted from physical rehabilitation to corporate wellness
“We just pivoted from physical rehabilitation field when we sell to rehabilitation centers to corporate wellness. So we just did this, like, transformation this autumn, and before that, we, starting from 2018, we were selling to rehabilitation centers”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 4:30
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Raccoon.care generated $150,000 in revenue in 2022
“150 K.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 6:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Raccoon.care served 20 rehab centers and over 1,000 patients in 2022
“We had 20 rehabilitation centers who actually used the product and it we calculated, like, per number, so in total we helped to rehabilitate more than 1000 people.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 6:55
Disclosure
Raccoon.care spent 60% of its $1.5M funding on medical certifications
“We, like, in total we raised 1.5 million dollars, where, like, around 60% we spent on medical certification, evidence, we also had, like, devices, so also on manufacturing those devices, and if we are talking about how we get those money, it was our own money,…”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 7:32
Disclosure
Raccoon.care's co-founders retain 75% equity ownership
“Right now, 75% of the company belong to co-founders, me and my co-founder.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 8:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Two VCs canceled Raccoon.care investment contracts in February 2022 due to war
“To get like some extra medical certification, but to like VCs, they just like consult our contracts in February because the war starts.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 10:30
Disclosure
Malinova funds Raccoon.care's payroll using revenue from her other business
“We still like have some like revenues for out of my other business. So yeah, we pay them actually salary.”
Svetlana Malinova Jan 26, 2023 ▶ 11:26
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