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Jun 18, 2022 · 16m · top-founders

Side project accidentally hits $7k, when does he go full time?

Albin Dumoya · 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

Host Nathan Latka interviews Selecteev founder Albin Dumoya about bootstrapping an applicant evaluation SaaS platform from an accelerator side project to $7,000 in monthly recurring revenue with a lean, freelancer-driven team.

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 40.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 3.2 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 2.8
05100:0010:000:48–4:21 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Albin Dumoya and Selecteev Side Project Latka drills into unit economics, pricing structure, and candidate volume. Albin clearly educates Latka on the specific non-HR evaluation niche and seasonal usage patterns.4:27–7:10 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Customer Concentration, Market Size, and Defining a Real Business Latka challenges Albin's assumption that a 'real company' requires venture capital and large market sizes. Albin defends his reasoning around market size constraints while clarifying his personal benchmark is paying full-time salaries.7:10–9:59 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Managing Freelancer Workflows and Sourcing on Malt Latka investigates how Albin manages four freelancers without burning through them. Albin outlines his delegation structure across content SEO, LinkedIn growth, and webinars.10:01–14:55 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Product Origin, 100% Equity Ownership, and Revenue Growth Latka models Albin's MRR and growth trajectory from $3.5k to $7k. Albin explains the accelerator spinout agreement where he retained 100% equity in exchange for lifetime free platform access.14:55–16:01 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise responses about tools, age, and reflections.0:48–4:21 · Guest teaching 4/10 Introducing Albin Dumoya and Selecteev Side Project Latka drills into unit economics, pricing structure, and candidate volume. Albin clearly educates Latka on the specific non-HR evaluation niche and seasonal usage patterns.4:27–7:10 · Guest teaching 4/10 Customer Concentration, Market Size, and Defining a Real Business Latka challenges Albin's assumption that a 'real company' requires venture capital and large market sizes. Albin defends his reasoning around market size constraints while clarifying his personal benchmark is paying full-time salaries.7:10–9:59 · Guest teaching 3/10 Managing Freelancer Workflows and Sourcing on Malt Latka investigates how Albin manages four freelancers without burning through them. Albin outlines his delegation structure across content SEO, LinkedIn growth, and webinars.10:01–14:55 · Guest teaching 4/10 Product Origin, 100% Equity Ownership, and Revenue Growth Latka models Albin's MRR and growth trajectory from $3.5k to $7k. Albin explains the accelerator spinout agreement where he retained 100% equity in exchange for lifetime free platform access.14:55–16:01 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise responses about tools, age, and reflections.0:48–4:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Albin Dumoya and Selecteev Side Project Latka drills into unit economics, pricing structure, and candidate volume. Albin clearly educates Latka on the specific non-HR evaluation niche and seasonal usage patterns.4:27–7:10 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Customer Concentration, Market Size, and Defining a Real Business Latka challenges Albin's assumption that a 'real company' requires venture capital and large market sizes. Albin defends his reasoning around market size constraints while clarifying his personal benchmark is paying full-time salaries.7:10–9:59 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Managing Freelancer Workflows and Sourcing on Malt Latka investigates how Albin manages four freelancers without burning through them. Albin outlines his delegation structure across content SEO, LinkedIn growth, and webinars.10:01–14:55 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Product Origin, 100% Equity Ownership, and Revenue Growth Latka models Albin's MRR and growth trajectory from $3.5k to $7k. Albin explains the accelerator spinout agreement where he retained 100% equity in exchange for lifetime free platform access.14:55–16:01 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise responses about tools, age, and reflections.0:48–4:21 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Albin Dumoya and Selecteev Side Project Latka drills into unit economics, pricing structure, and candidate volume. Albin clearly educates Latka on the specific non-HR evaluation niche and seasonal usage patterns.4:27–7:10 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Customer Concentration, Market Size, and Defining a Real Business Latka challenges Albin's assumption that a 'real company' requires venture capital and large market sizes. Albin defends his reasoning around market size constraints while clarifying his personal benchmark is paying full-time salaries.7:10–9:59 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Managing Freelancer Workflows and Sourcing on Malt Latka investigates how Albin manages four freelancers without burning through them. Albin outlines his delegation structure across content SEO, LinkedIn growth, and webinars.10:01–14:55 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Product Origin, 100% Equity Ownership, and Revenue Growth Latka models Albin's MRR and growth trajectory from $3.5k to $7k. Albin explains the accelerator spinout agreement where he retained 100% equity in exchange for lifetime free platform access.14:55–16:01 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise responses about tools, age, and reflections.

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

0:00 · Nathan 51.8% · guest 48.2%0:00 · Nathan 51.8% · guest 48.2%3:00 · Nathan 32.1% · guest 67.9%3:00 · Nathan 32.1% · guest 67.9%6:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%6:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%9:00 · Nathan 59.5% · guest 40.5%9:00 · Nathan 59.5% · guest 40.5%12:00 · Nathan 26.3% · guest 73.7%12:00 · Nathan 26.3% · guest 73.7%15:00 · Nathan 56.9% · guest 43.1%15:00 · Nathan 56.9% · guest 43.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:09 Defending market size and VC framing

Albin pushes back against Latka's premise by explaining that temporal, niche markets make raising funds difficult compared to broad sales enablement tools.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 6:09 Pushing back on fundraising as legitimacy

Latka refuses Albin's framing that real businesses are defined by VC viability, arguing most real companies are bootstrapped and non-funded.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:15 Explaining the spinout agreement terms

Albin explains how he retained 100% equity from a prior employer by trading lifetime free software access rather than surrendering cap table ownership.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:37 Instant mental math on MRR metrics

Latka immediately calculates total revenue run rate and MRR on the fly using customer counts and average ARPU figures.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Albin Dumoya and Selecteev Side Project 5413 Latka drills into unit economics, pricing structure, and candidate volume. Albin clearly educates Latka on the specific non-HR evaluation niche and seasonal usage patterns.
Customer Concentration, Market Size, and Defining a Real Business 6436 Latka challenges Albin's assumption that a 'real company' requires venture capital and large market sizes. Albin defends his reasoning around market size constraints while clarifying his personal benchmark is paying full-time salaries.
Managing Freelancer Workflows and Sourcing on Malt 5312 Latka investigates how Albin manages four freelancers without burning through them. Albin outlines his delegation structure across content SEO, LinkedIn growth, and webinars.
Product Origin, 100% Equity Ownership, and Revenue Growth 6412 Latka models Albin's MRR and growth trajectory from $3.5k to $7k. Albin explains the accelerator spinout agreement where he retained 100% equity in exchange for lifetime free platform access.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 2111 Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise responses about tools, age, and reflections.

Statements from this episode (8)

Disclosure
Selecteev's average customer pays about 200 euros monthly on standard plan
“Basically it's about 200 euros a month. That's the standard plan is the most used by far.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 2:37
Disclosure
Dumoya: Selecteev processed 10,000 to 15,000 candidates in April 2020
“I would say in total on our customers, I would say about 10 to 15,000, something like that.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 3:41
Disclosure
Selecteev had around 30 active customer accounts as of early 2020
“Yeah, that would be around 30.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 4:18
Opinion
Dumoya doubts Selecteev can raise venture capital due to small target market
“I'm not sure that Selective can go for fundraising, for example, because the market is pretty small and temporal.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 5:37
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dumoya: Selecteev has a team of roughly six including freelancers
“We've got freelancers. So that, that, that makes the team to about six people.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 6:52
Disclosure
Dumoya kept Selecteev's IP by giving former accelerator free lifetime access
“Basically the, when I left the company, the product was dying if I didn't take it. And so the deal was that I would take it and they would use it for free for life. And then I would do whatever I needed.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 11:20
Disclosure
Selecteev's monthly webinars draw 30 attendees and convert roughly one customer
“The webinars, usually we have around 30 people per webinar so once a month, and right now, I'd say the conversion rate would be one customer per, per month.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 13:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dumoya: Selecteev's Main Competitor Is Google Forms and Spreadsheets
“Our main competitor is Google form. So basically people get their candidates on a Google form and then they have this Excel spreadsheet that they have to share to everybody and manage evaluations by email or PDF or whatever you can think about.”
Albin Dumoya Jun 18, 2022 ▶ 14:23
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