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Dec 27, 2022 · 20m · top-founders

He got 17 customers to pay $80k/yr up from $40k/yr 1 year ago for Employee Onboarding SaaS

Kieran Menon · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 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

Nathan Latka interviews Tidy co-founder and CEO Kieran Menon on scaling an enterprise employee onboarding platform from early paid pilots to $1.5 million in ARR. The discussion highlights Tidy's hybrid enterprise pricing, capital-efficient fundraising under $1 million, and distributed team structure across the U.S. and India.

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 40.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.5 Guest teaching 3.2 Guest disagreement 1.5 Nathan pushing back 3.2
05100:0010:0020:001:27–5:06 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Origins of Tidy and Co-Founder Equity Split Nathan digs into Tidy's founding and unpacks their hybrid enterprise pricing model. Kieran explains how base platform tiers and monthly onboard fees scale together for large employers.5:07–8:37 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Early Paid Proof of Concepts and Transition to SaaS Nathan pushes on whether early POCs generated pure SaaS revenue or were essentially unpaid pilots. Kieran clarifies that early clients paid per-user fees, which they later restructured into annual platform fees.8:38–10:47 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Revenue Acceleration, Customer Acquisition, and ACV Expansion Nathan quickly runs the math on Kieran's 17 enterprise accounts and 1.5 million dollar ARR run rate. Kieran details how doubling ACV from 40k to 80k drove substantial year-over-year revenue expansion.10:47–13:43 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Fundraising History and Enterprise Working Capital Dynamics Nathan calculates the exact post-money valuation of 3.24 million dollars and challenges Kieran on why he accepted a relatively low 5x revenue multiple. Kieran educates him on enterprise deployment delays creating working capital cash flow troughs.13:43–17:23 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Distributed Team Structure, Engineering Economics, and Sales Comp Nathan breaks down the economics of Bangalore engineering talent versus US sales compensation models. He quickly validates Kieran's 700k quota and 140k on-target earnings structure as industry standard.17:26–19:54 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Competitive Differentiation and The Famous Five Nathan suggests payroll providers like Remote and Deel as competitors, but Kieran distinguishes Tidy as an internal workflow orchestration layer rather than an Employer of Record. The segment concludes smoothly with the rapid-fire Famous Five.1:27–5:06 · Guest teaching 3/10 Origins of Tidy and Co-Founder Equity Split Nathan digs into Tidy's founding and unpacks their hybrid enterprise pricing model. Kieran explains how base platform tiers and monthly onboard fees scale together for large employers.5:07–8:37 · Guest teaching 3/10 Early Paid Proof of Concepts and Transition to SaaS Nathan pushes on whether early POCs generated pure SaaS revenue or were essentially unpaid pilots. Kieran clarifies that early clients paid per-user fees, which they later restructured into annual platform fees.8:38–10:47 · Guest teaching 2/10 Revenue Acceleration, Customer Acquisition, and ACV Expansion Nathan quickly runs the math on Kieran's 17 enterprise accounts and 1.5 million dollar ARR run rate. Kieran details how doubling ACV from 40k to 80k drove substantial year-over-year revenue expansion.10:47–13:43 · Guest teaching 5/10 Fundraising History and Enterprise Working Capital Dynamics Nathan calculates the exact post-money valuation of 3.24 million dollars and challenges Kieran on why he accepted a relatively low 5x revenue multiple. Kieran educates him on enterprise deployment delays creating working capital cash flow troughs.13:43–17:23 · Guest teaching 2/10 Distributed Team Structure, Engineering Economics, and Sales Comp Nathan breaks down the economics of Bangalore engineering talent versus US sales compensation models. He quickly validates Kieran's 700k quota and 140k on-target earnings structure as industry standard.17:26–19:54 · Guest teaching 4/10 Competitive Differentiation and The Famous Five Nathan suggests payroll providers like Remote and Deel as competitors, but Kieran distinguishes Tidy as an internal workflow orchestration layer rather than an Employer of Record. The segment concludes smoothly with the rapid-fire Famous Five.1:27–5:06 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Origins of Tidy and Co-Founder Equity Split Nathan digs into Tidy's founding and unpacks their hybrid enterprise pricing model. Kieran explains how base platform tiers and monthly onboard fees scale together for large employers.5:07–8:37 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Early Paid Proof of Concepts and Transition to SaaS Nathan pushes on whether early POCs generated pure SaaS revenue or were essentially unpaid pilots. Kieran clarifies that early clients paid per-user fees, which they later restructured into annual platform fees.8:38–10:47 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Revenue Acceleration, Customer Acquisition, and ACV Expansion Nathan quickly runs the math on Kieran's 17 enterprise accounts and 1.5 million dollar ARR run rate. Kieran details how doubling ACV from 40k to 80k drove substantial year-over-year revenue expansion.10:47–13:43 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Fundraising History and Enterprise Working Capital Dynamics Nathan calculates the exact post-money valuation of 3.24 million dollars and challenges Kieran on why he accepted a relatively low 5x revenue multiple. Kieran educates him on enterprise deployment delays creating working capital cash flow troughs.13:43–17:23 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Distributed Team Structure, Engineering Economics, and Sales Comp Nathan breaks down the economics of Bangalore engineering talent versus US sales compensation models. He quickly validates Kieran's 700k quota and 140k on-target earnings structure as industry standard.17:26–19:54 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Competitive Differentiation and The Famous Five Nathan suggests payroll providers like Remote and Deel as competitors, but Kieran distinguishes Tidy as an internal workflow orchestration layer rather than an Employer of Record. The segment concludes smoothly with the rapid-fire Famous Five.1:27–5:06 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Origins of Tidy and Co-Founder Equity Split Nathan digs into Tidy's founding and unpacks their hybrid enterprise pricing model. Kieran explains how base platform tiers and monthly onboard fees scale together for large employers.5:07–8:37 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Early Paid Proof of Concepts and Transition to SaaS Nathan pushes on whether early POCs generated pure SaaS revenue or were essentially unpaid pilots. Kieran clarifies that early clients paid per-user fees, which they later restructured into annual platform fees.8:38–10:47 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Revenue Acceleration, Customer Acquisition, and ACV Expansion Nathan quickly runs the math on Kieran's 17 enterprise accounts and 1.5 million dollar ARR run rate. Kieran details how doubling ACV from 40k to 80k drove substantial year-over-year revenue expansion.10:47–13:43 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Fundraising History and Enterprise Working Capital Dynamics Nathan calculates the exact post-money valuation of 3.24 million dollars and challenges Kieran on why he accepted a relatively low 5x revenue multiple. Kieran educates him on enterprise deployment delays creating working capital cash flow troughs.13:43–17:23 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Distributed Team Structure, Engineering Economics, and Sales Comp Nathan breaks down the economics of Bangalore engineering talent versus US sales compensation models. He quickly validates Kieran's 700k quota and 140k on-target earnings structure as industry standard.17:26–19:54 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Competitive Differentiation and The Famous Five Nathan suggests payroll providers like Remote and Deel as competitors, but Kieran distinguishes Tidy as an internal workflow orchestration layer rather than an Employer of Record. The segment concludes smoothly with the rapid-fire Famous Five.

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

0:00 · Nathan 61.3% · guest 38.7%0:00 · Nathan 61.3% · guest 38.7%3:00 · Nathan 32.4% · guest 67.6%3:00 · Nathan 32.4% · guest 67.6%6:00 · Nathan 40.3% · guest 59.7%6:00 · Nathan 40.3% · guest 59.7%9:00 · Nathan 46.7% · guest 53.3%9:00 · Nathan 46.7% · guest 53.3%12:00 · Nathan 30.5% · guest 69.5%12:00 · Nathan 30.5% · guest 69.5%15:00 · Nathan 32.6% · guest 67.4%15:00 · Nathan 32.6% · guest 67.4%18:00 · Nathan 41.8% · guest 58.2%18:00 · Nathan 41.8% · guest 58.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:12 Kieran rejects the zero-revenue premise

Kieran immediately corrects Nathan's repeated assertion that Tidy had zero SaaS revenue during their initial POC development phase.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 12:44 Nathan challenges low valuation multiple

Nathan refuses to accept the valuation without pushback, challenging why Kieran sold 18.5 percent of the company at only a 5x multiple on 600k ARR.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:10 Kieran explains enterprise deployment working capital

Kieran explains the working capital mechanics of enterprise contracts, illustrating why a cash bridge is needed when payment is tied to a 3-4 month deployment.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:44 Nathan does instant cap table and multiple math

Nathan instantly computes the implied 3.24 million dollar post-money valuation from a 600k raise at 18.5 percent and highlights the dilution tradeoff.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Origins of Tidy and Co-Founder Equity Split 5312 Nathan digs into Tidy's founding and unpacks their hybrid enterprise pricing model. Kieran explains how base platform tiers and monthly onboard fees scale together for large employers.
Early Paid Proof of Concepts and Transition to SaaS 5324 Nathan pushes on whether early POCs generated pure SaaS revenue or were essentially unpaid pilots. Kieran clarifies that early clients paid per-user fees, which they later restructured into annual platform fees.
Revenue Acceleration, Customer Acquisition, and ACV Expansion 6212 Nathan quickly runs the math on Kieran's 17 enterprise accounts and 1.5 million dollar ARR run rate. Kieran details how doubling ACV from 40k to 80k drove substantial year-over-year revenue expansion.
Fundraising History and Enterprise Working Capital Dynamics 7526 Nathan calculates the exact post-money valuation of 3.24 million dollars and challenges Kieran on why he accepted a relatively low 5x revenue multiple. Kieran educates him on enterprise deployment delays creating working capital cash flow troughs.
Distributed Team Structure, Engineering Economics, and Sales Comp 6212 Nathan breaks down the economics of Bangalore engineering talent versus US sales compensation models. He quickly validates Kieran's 700k quota and 140k on-target earnings structure as industry standard.
Competitive Differentiation and The Famous Five 4423 Nathan suggests payroll providers like Remote and Deel as competitors, but Kieran distinguishes Tidy as an internal workflow orchestration layer rather than an Employer of Record. The segment concludes smoothly with the rapid-fire Famous Five.

Statements from this episode (13)

Assertion Supported
Tidy Counts Genpact, Unilever, and AB InBev as Enterprise Clients
“And what we fundamentally do is we work with a company like Genpac or Unilever or AB InBev.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 2:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tidy Built Early Product With Unilever and Fidelity Proof-of-Concepts
“For the first two or three years, we were kind of building the product with a couple of POC customers like Unilever and Fidelity Investments.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 5:59
Disclosure
Tidy Refused to Offer Free Enterprise Proof-of-Concepts
“We kind of made one thing very clear is that we'll kind of co-design the solution, but we're not doing it for free. So if we want to do a POC, it's still going to be a paid for POC.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 6:58
Insight
Tidy Abandoned $5 Per-User Pricing to Stabilize Its Cash Flow
“We basically started by just charging a per user fee, which was five dollars per user, and there was no platform subscription, none of that. Hindsight, that was a terrible move because you know, the revenue was fluctuating all over the place, and we couldn't k…”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 7:16
Disclosure
Tidy Reached $1.5M ARR With Only 17 Enterprise Customers
“We have 17 enterprise customers across 25 countries, and we're doing about a million and a half billion ARR.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 8:49
Disclosure
Tidy Doubled Its Average Contract Value to $80K in 12 Months
“My ACB was probably closer to about 40,000 dollars. And so what I was able to do in the last 12 months was actually Double my ATP and be more confident of the fact that I can actually charge more and still have companies coming in and buying tidy.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 10:16
Disclosure
Tidy Has Raised Approximately $1M in Total Funding to Date
“We've raised about a million dollars still now, and that's about it.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 10:50
Disclosure
Tidy Sold 17.5% Equity in Its 2017 Angel Round
“We, 17 and a half.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 11:23
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tidy Employs 27 People With Its Entire Engineering Team in India
“So, so we actually have about 27 people. The advantage for us is you know, we're U.S. Headquartered most of our customers are U.S. But our entire engineering and delivery team is based out of India.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 13:49
Disclosure
Tidy Sets Enterprise Sales Representative Quotas at $700K ARR
“It is it's actually 700 K.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 16:23
Disclosure
Tidy Pays Sales Representatives a 10% Commission on Closed Revenue
“Commission is actually 10% of whatever he brings in.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 16:37
Opinion
Tidy Cites Internal Corporate IT Teams as Its Primary Competition
“Yeah, so, so I would say the biggest competitor for us is the internal teams today. you know, because what we're doing is we're integrating these 15, 16 different systems that exist within the organization. So, you know, you're working with ServiceNow, with A…”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 17:57
Opinion
Tidy Positions Itself as the Enterprise Counterpart to Rippling
“So if I were to say, you know, who are the closest kind of not competitors, but the company that closes, it's probably Rippling, but Rippling does it more from an SMB perspective, and we're doing it more from an enterprise perspective.”
Kieran Menon Dec 27, 2022 ▶ 18:24
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