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Oct 4, 2022 · 19m · top-founders

How Biami Used OpenSource As Top of Funnel to Break $1.2m ARR

Marcin Kurdelowicz · 10m 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 interview with Nathan Latka, Biami.io founder and CEO Marcin Kurdelowicz reveals how his bootstrapped enterprise process automation platform scaled past $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue ($1.2M ARR). Kurdelowicz breaks down his pricing optimization, capital-efficient distributed team structure, and long-term vision to reach an $80 million enterprise valuation.

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 36.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.5 Guest teaching 1.5 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 3.8
05100:0010:000:45–3:26 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Marcin Kurdelowicz and Biami.io Nathan interrupts Marcin's vague marketing jargon about 10x performance to firmly reframe the software using familiar SaaS comps like Zapier and MuleSoft. He also probes whether Biami charges for onboarding and setup.3:26–6:45 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Open Source Strategy and Top-of-Funnel Downloads Nathan pushes back against confusing explanations regarding the $900 DIY plan versus the $2,400 managed tier, relentlessly drilling Marcin until he narrows customer count down to between 50 and 100.6:45–9:46 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Company Origins Nathan calculates past MRR on the fly based on Marcin's 200% year-over-year growth claim and inquires about equity division among the founding team.9:49–12:35 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Sponsor Break: FounderPath Valuation Tool Following the Founderpath sponsor ad, Nathan investigates Marcin's informal equity agreements and presses on net margin percentages, which Marcin admits to not tracking strictly month-to-month.12:36–16:38 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Remote Team Structure and Headcount Distribution Nathan challenges Marcin's steep valuation targets of $50M-$80M on around $1M ARR, confronting him on whether he would realistically turn down a $10M all-cash acquisition offer today.16:39–18:39 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan navigates through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with no friction or resistance from the guest.0:45–3:26 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Marcin Kurdelowicz and Biami.io Nathan interrupts Marcin's vague marketing jargon about 10x performance to firmly reframe the software using familiar SaaS comps like Zapier and MuleSoft. He also probes whether Biami charges for onboarding and setup.3:26–6:45 · Guest teaching 2/10 Open Source Strategy and Top-of-Funnel Downloads Nathan pushes back against confusing explanations regarding the $900 DIY plan versus the $2,400 managed tier, relentlessly drilling Marcin until he narrows customer count down to between 50 and 100.6:45–9:46 · Guest teaching 1/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Company Origins Nathan calculates past MRR on the fly based on Marcin's 200% year-over-year growth claim and inquires about equity division among the founding team.9:49–12:35 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Break: FounderPath Valuation Tool Following the Founderpath sponsor ad, Nathan investigates Marcin's informal equity agreements and presses on net margin percentages, which Marcin admits to not tracking strictly month-to-month.12:36–16:38 · Guest teaching 2/10 Remote Team Structure and Headcount Distribution Nathan challenges Marcin's steep valuation targets of $50M-$80M on around $1M ARR, confronting him on whether he would realistically turn down a $10M all-cash acquisition offer today.16:39–18:39 · Guest teaching 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan navigates through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with no friction or resistance from the guest.0:45–3:26 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Marcin Kurdelowicz and Biami.io Nathan interrupts Marcin's vague marketing jargon about 10x performance to firmly reframe the software using familiar SaaS comps like Zapier and MuleSoft. He also probes whether Biami charges for onboarding and setup.3:26–6:45 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Open Source Strategy and Top-of-Funnel Downloads Nathan pushes back against confusing explanations regarding the $900 DIY plan versus the $2,400 managed tier, relentlessly drilling Marcin until he narrows customer count down to between 50 and 100.6:45–9:46 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Company Origins Nathan calculates past MRR on the fly based on Marcin's 200% year-over-year growth claim and inquires about equity division among the founding team.9:49–12:35 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Break: FounderPath Valuation Tool Following the Founderpath sponsor ad, Nathan investigates Marcin's informal equity agreements and presses on net margin percentages, which Marcin admits to not tracking strictly month-to-month.12:36–16:38 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Remote Team Structure and Headcount Distribution Nathan challenges Marcin's steep valuation targets of $50M-$80M on around $1M ARR, confronting him on whether he would realistically turn down a $10M all-cash acquisition offer today.16:39–18:39 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan navigates through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with no friction or resistance from the guest.0:45–3:26 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Introducing Marcin Kurdelowicz and Biami.io Nathan interrupts Marcin's vague marketing jargon about 10x performance to firmly reframe the software using familiar SaaS comps like Zapier and MuleSoft. He also probes whether Biami charges for onboarding and setup.3:26–6:45 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Open Source Strategy and Top-of-Funnel Downloads Nathan pushes back against confusing explanations regarding the $900 DIY plan versus the $2,400 managed tier, relentlessly drilling Marcin until he narrows customer count down to between 50 and 100.6:45–9:46 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Bootstrapping Journey and Company Origins Nathan calculates past MRR on the fly based on Marcin's 200% year-over-year growth claim and inquires about equity division among the founding team.9:49–12:35 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Sponsor Break: FounderPath Valuation Tool Following the Founderpath sponsor ad, Nathan investigates Marcin's informal equity agreements and presses on net margin percentages, which Marcin admits to not tracking strictly month-to-month.12:36–16:38 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Remote Team Structure and Headcount Distribution Nathan challenges Marcin's steep valuation targets of $50M-$80M on around $1M ARR, confronting him on whether he would realistically turn down a $10M all-cash acquisition offer today.16:39–18:39 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan navigates through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with no friction or resistance from the guest.

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

0:00 · Nathan 62.7% · guest 37.3%0:00 · Nathan 62.7% · guest 37.3%3:00 · Nathan 25% · guest 75%3:00 · Nathan 25% · guest 75%6:00 · Nathan 31% · guest 69%6:00 · Nathan 31% · guest 69%9:00 · Nathan 51.1% · guest 48.9%9:00 · Nathan 51.1% · guest 48.9%12:00 · Nathan 16.5% · guest 83.5%12:00 · Nathan 16.5% · guest 83.5%15:00 · Nathan 31.4% · guest 68.6%15:00 · Nathan 31.4% · guest 68.6%18:00 · Nathan 47% · guest 53%18:00 · Nathan 47% · guest 53%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 15:44 Firm Refusal of Hypothetical $10M Buyout

Marcin immediately interrupts Nathan's suggestion that he would take a $10M cash buyout, insisting that they would say no due to their enterprise vision.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:13 Demanding Clarity on $900 vs $2,400 Tiers

Nathan halts Marcin's ambiguous pricing explanation to explicitly point out the confusion and force a concrete customer breakdown.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 2:47 Clarifying Absence of Setup Fees and Delivery Scope

Marcin corrects Nathan's assumption that Biami charges setup fees or delivers implementation, explaining their focus on architecture workshops and partner handoffs.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 2:09 Cutting Through 10x Pitch to Position Product as Enterprise Zapier

Nathan cuts off Marcin's vague 10x marketing claims to sharply contextualize the product within the enterprise automation landscape alongside Zapier and MuleSoft.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Marcin Kurdelowicz and Biami.io 6214 Nathan interrupts Marcin's vague marketing jargon about 10x performance to firmly reframe the software using familiar SaaS comps like Zapier and MuleSoft. He also probes whether Biami charges for onboarding and setup.
Open Source Strategy and Top-of-Funnel Downloads 5226 Nathan pushes back against confusing explanations regarding the $900 DIY plan versus the $2,400 managed tier, relentlessly drilling Marcin until he narrows customer count down to between 50 and 100.
Bootstrapping Journey and Company Origins 5113 Nathan calculates past MRR on the fly based on Marcin's 200% year-over-year growth claim and inquires about equity division among the founding team.
Sponsor Break: FounderPath Valuation Tool 4113 Following the Founderpath sponsor ad, Nathan investigates Marcin's informal equity agreements and presses on net margin percentages, which Marcin admits to not tracking strictly month-to-month.
Remote Team Structure and Headcount Distribution 6236 Nathan challenges Marcin's steep valuation targets of $50M-$80M on around $1M ARR, confronting him on whether he would realistically turn down a $10M all-cash acquisition offer today.
Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 1101 Nathan navigates through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions with no friction or resistance from the guest.

Statements from this episode (12)

Opinion
Latka: Zapier is a basic 'kitty toy' for workflow automation
“Zapier is like, you know, the kitty toy that anybody can use, but people want a lot of custom stuff built on top of it.”
Nathan Latka Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 2:34
Disclosure
Kurdelowicz: Biami receives around a dozen open-source downloads per week
“No, yeah, it's around a dozen a week.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 4:08
Disclosure
Kurdelowicz: Biami has fewer than 10 customers on DIY tier
“There's like three, less than 10.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 5:49
Disclosure
Kurdelowicz: Biami surpassed 50 enterprise customers on its $2,400 plan
“It is. It is. We passed 50 years.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 6:33
Disclosure
Kurdelowicz: Biami is currently bootstrapped without outside capital
“At the moment, we are bootstrapped, yes.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 6:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kurdelowicz: Biami has over 200% year-over-year revenue growth
“We definitely have like more, more than 200 year on year growth.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 8:23
Disclosure
Kurdelowicz: Biami raised entry deal pricing from $1,800 to $2,400
“Like I told you, like we were, we're focusing now on like selling at least 2400. Okay. Like last last year, it was like, we had the, like 1800, you know, was the lowest we were selling.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 9:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kurdelowicz: Biami operates profitably
“We are profitable. We are profitable.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 11:05
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kurdelowicz: Biami's top costs are payroll and third-party data providers
“Our biggest costs are actually, you know, it's almost an equal is, you know, one is, you know, how much money we pay to people, but actually a big, big cost is also how much we pay for like third party service providers, specifically data.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 11:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kurdelowicz: Biami employs 12 full-time and 8 part-time workers
“Well, full-time it will be 12, definitely. Yes. 12 will be with, and so, so six are, yeah, six are part-timers and two, eight are part-timers. Yes.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 12:48
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kurdelowicz: Biami receives acquisition and investment inquiries almost weekly
“So we get interesting emails almost on a weekly basis.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 13:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kurdelowicz: Biami holds recurring catch-up calls with two potential acquirers
“There are two companies where, you know, we talk to and do some sort of a catch ups like every six months.”
Marcin Kurdelowicz Oct 4, 2022 ▶ 14:09
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