Jun 21, 2022 · 22m · top-founders
Perfect timing Security SaaS Hits $12m Revenue, Closes $80m on $500m Valuation last week
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Nathan Latka interviews Coro co-founder Dror Liwer on building an all-in-one mid-market cybersecurity platform, maintaining 300% YoY revenue growth toward an $18 million ARR target, and securing an $80 million Series C round at a $500 million 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 37.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 6.3 Guest teaching 3.9 Guest disagreement 2.4 Nathan pushing back 4.3
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:42 Liwer rejects secondary liquidity premise
Liwer firmly rejects Latka's suggestion that employees need secondary liquidity, asserting that employees are motivated by the mission and are already paid well.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 17:24 Latka pushes back on employee equity lockupLatka refuses to accept Liwer's assertion that employees simply believe in the mission, pressing on real-world employee needs like buying homes and starting families.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:24 Liwer outlines the cybersecurity risk-visibility funnelLiwer educates Latka on how free monitoring exposes active cyber threats, prompting high-intent self-conversions to paid automated remediation.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:49 Latka calls out seat-to-revenue math disparityLatka calculates that 2 million seats at $7 should equal $14M monthly revenue, forcing Liwer to disclose their freemium breakdown.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dror Liwer's Career Transition and Coro's Inception | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | Latka introduces Liwer and digs into the founding story and initial pricing model. Liwer gently pushes back on Latka describing their pricing as 'cheap', reframing it as intentional mid-market affordability. | |
| Pivoting from Enterprise Crowds to Mid-Market Domination | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Latka quickly calculates aggregate seat counts across the customer base, which Liwer confirms is accurate. Liwer details Coro's pivot from saturated enterprise cybersecurity to the underserved mid-market. | |
| Revenue Growth Trajectory and Channel Partner Strategy | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | Latka probes revenue metrics, growth rate targets, and net expansion retention. Liwer outlines the breakdown between direct sales and MSP channel partners while admitting he cannot name specific partners. | |
| Freemium Business Model and Conversion Metrics | 8 | 4 | 2 | 6 | Latka uses unit economics math to challenge the gap between 2 million platform seats and the company's revenue run rate. Liwer clarifies that the vast majority are on a free tier monitoring model before converting to paid remediation. | |
| Freemium Conversion Playbook and Automated AI Remediation | 5 | 6 | 1 | 3 | Liwer breaks down Coro's freemium playbook, explaining how exposing active risk alerts drives automated conversions. Latka notes the actionable takeaway for SaaS founders. | |
| Fundraising History and Stance on Secondary Liquidity | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | Latka challenges Liwer on not offering secondary liquidity to early employees who may want to buy homes or hit life milestones. Liwer defends his policy by arguing that employees believe in the mission and receive competitive salaries. | |
| VC Partnerships, Historical Milestones, and Series C Valuation | 7 | 3 | 3 | 5 | Latka drills into Coro's fundraising history and highlights that they raised a $20M Series B before crossing $1M ARR. Liwer confirms their Series C valuation of roughly $500M post-money. |
Statements from this episode (16)
Mid-market cybersecurity historically requires 6-15 products costing $40-$115 per user
“They would need to buy anywhere between six to 15 different products spend between 40 to a 115 dollars per user per month.”
Coro's ideal customer profile is typically around 600 seats
“Normally our sweet spot is around 600.”
Liwer: Enterprise security prices reflect lavish marketing and customer entertainment budgets
“Really what the enterprise players have done was price it in a way that justifies the millions of dollars that they spend on marketing and on whining and dining their customers.”
Coro serves approximately 4,500 customers on its cybersecurity platform
“We have about 4500 customers on our platform today.”
Coro protects roughly two to three million seats across its customer base
“It's actually very fair to say. You hit it almost exactly.”
Liwer: The enterprise cybersecurity market contains roughly 2,700 competing vendors
“And in that market, there are 2700 vendors.”
Liwer: Coro has grown revenue 300% YoY for three consecutive years
“We have grown 300% year over year for the last three years straight.”
Liwer: Coro's revenue splits evenly between channel partners and direct sales
“About 50% of our revenue comes from that and 50% from direct sales.”
Coro offers free lifetime monitoring, charging only for automated threat mitigation
“So we do have a freemium model. So our freemium model is all about free monitoring for life. And then if you want us to also do the mitigation on your behalf, then that's when you start paying.”
Liwer: Coro drives freemium conversions by surfacing risk alerts requiring remediation
“What we're doing is we're providing them for the first time disability into the real risk environment. So we're, for free, they're being, they're connected to our platform. They deploy us onto their email and onto their endpoints and onto whatever it is that t…”
Liwer: Most cybersecurity work consists of menial monitoring and event-chasing
“Mostly in cybersecurity, it's menial tasks. It's constantly monitoring and running around and doing what in the cybersecurity world is called chasing events.”
Coro has raised over $125 million in total venture funding
“We've raised over a hundred and twenty five million dollars so far.”
Liwer: Coro groups a $20M pre-round into its $60M Series C
“The official C-ROM was 60, but we raised another 20 just before that. So we prefer to look at it as an in total.”
Liwer: Mid-market cybersecurity remains an industry blue ocean
“We believe that we are in a position to dominate one of the only blue oceans left in cybersecurity, which is mid and small business, mid market and small business. The entire industry is focused either on the consumer market or the enterprise market.”