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Mar 15, 2022 · 18m · top-founders

100% YoY Growth to $1m Today, Raising $5m on $30m Post

Konstantin Bayondin · 8m 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 episode of Conversations with Nathan Latka, Tommy.ai founder and CEO Konstantin Bayondin details how his predictive marketing SaaS reached $1M in ARR with 24 enterprise customers and outlines his plans for a $5M seed round at a $30M 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 42.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 3.8
05100:0010:000:48–3:50 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Tommy.ai Value Proposition, Ideal Customer Profile, and Pricing Latka immediately seeks clarity on pricing tiers and calculates run-rate revenue from customer counts. Bayondin clarifies that several clients are currently ramping up, adjusting Latka's mental math from $120k/mo to around $80k–$90k/mo.3:51–8:28 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Historical Revenue Growth and Genesis of Tommy.ai Latka spots an apparent mathematical contradiction between Bayondin's 2020 and 2021 MRR figures and directly challenges whether the business shrunk. Bayondin clarifies the exact sequence of calendar months, solo bootstrapping, and initial hiring milestones.8:28–12:55 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Fundraising History, Seed Round Ambitions, and Debt Financing Discussion Latka drills into Bayondin's fundraising valuation ($5M on $30M post) and pitches debt financing via Founderpath. Bayondin pushes back against venture debt, arguing that equity provides downside protection and strategic investor networks.12:56–15:22 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Retention, Go-to-Market Strategy, and Unit Economics Latka examines retention metrics and fully loaded CAC economics. Bayondin outlines pilot conversion rates, gross burn of $130k/mo, and target CAC capped at 40% of first-year ACV.15:22–18:16 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Episode Summary During the Famous Five, Latka probes into whether Bayondin's Russian background affects business given current geopolitics. Bayondin smoothly points to Delaware C-corp incorporation and global focus before Latka wraps up with a metric summary.0:48–3:50 · Guest teaching 3/10 Tommy.ai Value Proposition, Ideal Customer Profile, and Pricing Latka immediately seeks clarity on pricing tiers and calculates run-rate revenue from customer counts. Bayondin clarifies that several clients are currently ramping up, adjusting Latka's mental math from $120k/mo to around $80k–$90k/mo.3:51–8:28 · Guest teaching 4/10 Historical Revenue Growth and Genesis of Tommy.ai Latka spots an apparent mathematical contradiction between Bayondin's 2020 and 2021 MRR figures and directly challenges whether the business shrunk. Bayondin clarifies the exact sequence of calendar months, solo bootstrapping, and initial hiring milestones.8:28–12:55 · Guest teaching 3/10 Fundraising History, Seed Round Ambitions, and Debt Financing Discussion Latka drills into Bayondin's fundraising valuation ($5M on $30M post) and pitches debt financing via Founderpath. Bayondin pushes back against venture debt, arguing that equity provides downside protection and strategic investor networks.12:56–15:22 · Guest teaching 2/10 Retention, Go-to-Market Strategy, and Unit Economics Latka examines retention metrics and fully loaded CAC economics. Bayondin outlines pilot conversion rates, gross burn of $130k/mo, and target CAC capped at 40% of first-year ACV.15:22–18:16 · Guest teaching 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Episode Summary During the Famous Five, Latka probes into whether Bayondin's Russian background affects business given current geopolitics. Bayondin smoothly points to Delaware C-corp incorporation and global focus before Latka wraps up with a metric summary.0:48–3:50 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Tommy.ai Value Proposition, Ideal Customer Profile, and Pricing Latka immediately seeks clarity on pricing tiers and calculates run-rate revenue from customer counts. Bayondin clarifies that several clients are currently ramping up, adjusting Latka's mental math from $120k/mo to around $80k–$90k/mo.3:51–8:28 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Historical Revenue Growth and Genesis of Tommy.ai Latka spots an apparent mathematical contradiction between Bayondin's 2020 and 2021 MRR figures and directly challenges whether the business shrunk. Bayondin clarifies the exact sequence of calendar months, solo bootstrapping, and initial hiring milestones.8:28–12:55 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Fundraising History, Seed Round Ambitions, and Debt Financing Discussion Latka drills into Bayondin's fundraising valuation ($5M on $30M post) and pitches debt financing via Founderpath. Bayondin pushes back against venture debt, arguing that equity provides downside protection and strategic investor networks.12:56–15:22 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Retention, Go-to-Market Strategy, and Unit Economics Latka examines retention metrics and fully loaded CAC economics. Bayondin outlines pilot conversion rates, gross burn of $130k/mo, and target CAC capped at 40% of first-year ACV.15:22–18:16 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Episode Summary During the Famous Five, Latka probes into whether Bayondin's Russian background affects business given current geopolitics. Bayondin smoothly points to Delaware C-corp incorporation and global focus before Latka wraps up with a metric summary.0:48–3:50 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Tommy.ai Value Proposition, Ideal Customer Profile, and Pricing Latka immediately seeks clarity on pricing tiers and calculates run-rate revenue from customer counts. Bayondin clarifies that several clients are currently ramping up, adjusting Latka's mental math from $120k/mo to around $80k–$90k/mo.3:51–8:28 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Historical Revenue Growth and Genesis of Tommy.ai Latka spots an apparent mathematical contradiction between Bayondin's 2020 and 2021 MRR figures and directly challenges whether the business shrunk. Bayondin clarifies the exact sequence of calendar months, solo bootstrapping, and initial hiring milestones.8:28–12:55 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Fundraising History, Seed Round Ambitions, and Debt Financing Discussion Latka drills into Bayondin's fundraising valuation ($5M on $30M post) and pitches debt financing via Founderpath. Bayondin pushes back against venture debt, arguing that equity provides downside protection and strategic investor networks.12:56–15:22 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Retention, Go-to-Market Strategy, and Unit Economics Latka examines retention metrics and fully loaded CAC economics. Bayondin outlines pilot conversion rates, gross burn of $130k/mo, and target CAC capped at 40% of first-year ACV.15:22–18:16 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Episode Summary During the Famous Five, Latka probes into whether Bayondin's Russian background affects business given current geopolitics. Bayondin smoothly points to Delaware C-corp incorporation and global focus before Latka wraps up with a metric summary.

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

0:00 · Nathan 48.6% · guest 51.4%0:00 · Nathan 48.6% · guest 51.4%3:00 · Nathan 27.4% · guest 72.6%3:00 · Nathan 27.4% · guest 72.6%6:00 · Nathan 36.9% · guest 63.1%6:00 · Nathan 36.9% · guest 63.1%9:00 · Nathan 54% · guest 46%9:00 · Nathan 54% · guest 46%12:00 · Nathan 35.9% · guest 64.1%12:00 · Nathan 35.9% · guest 64.1%15:00 · Nathan 52.9% · guest 47.1%15:00 · Nathan 52.9% · guest 47.1%18:00 · Nathan 95.5% · guest 4.5%18:00 · Nathan 95.5% · guest 4.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:17 Bayondin defends equity over venture debt

Bayondin firmly rejects Latka's premise that debt is preferable for growth, arguing that debt introduces future drawbacks and lacks the smart network and downside protection of VC equity.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:38 Latka presses on conflicting MRR data points

Latka refuses to let ambiguous growth numbers pass, explicitly questioning whether the company shrank during its first 12 months after comparing reported 2020 and 2021 numbers.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:53 Bayondin lays out exact bootstrapping and hiring timeline

Bayondin walks Latka month by month through 2020 solo revenue, early 2021 growth, and subsequent hiring to resolve Latka's confusion over historical run rates.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:59 Latka quotes exact underwriting terms and interest pricing

Latka demonstrates deep domain mastery in SaaS finance by structuring an on-the-spot $500k non-dilutive loan offer based on Bayondin's exact cash balance, burn rate, and payback timeline.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Tommy.ai Value Proposition, Ideal Customer Profile, and Pricing 5313 Latka immediately seeks clarity on pricing tiers and calculates run-rate revenue from customer counts. Bayondin clarifies that several clients are currently ramping up, adjusting Latka's mental math from $120k/mo to around $80k–$90k/mo.
Historical Revenue Growth and Genesis of Tommy.ai 6426 Latka spots an apparent mathematical contradiction between Bayondin's 2020 and 2021 MRR figures and directly challenges whether the business shrunk. Bayondin clarifies the exact sequence of calendar months, solo bootstrapping, and initial hiring milestones.
Fundraising History, Seed Round Ambitions, and Debt Financing Discussion 7335 Latka drills into Bayondin's fundraising valuation ($5M on $30M post) and pitches debt financing via Founderpath. Bayondin pushes back against venture debt, arguing that equity provides downside protection and strategic investor networks.
Retention, Go-to-Market Strategy, and Unit Economics 6212 Latka examines retention metrics and fully loaded CAC economics. Bayondin outlines pilot conversion rates, gross burn of $130k/mo, and target CAC capped at 40% of first-year ACV.
Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions and Episode Summary 5123 During the Famous Five, Latka probes into whether Bayondin's Russian background affects business given current geopolitics. Bayondin smoothly points to Delaware C-corp incorporation and global focus before Latka wraps up with a metric summary.

Statements from this episode (14)

Disclosure
Tommy.ai charges enterprise customers $5,000 per month
“We are an enterprise SaaS business and we charge a fee of 5000 dollars per month. Yeah, with them of 50 to 100,000 dollars a year.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 2:18
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai hit $1M ARR with 24 customers in December 2021
“So we are we have some customers that are ramping up. So we have we reached a one million ARR last December, this December, like the December last year. And we have 24 customers. It gives us a four to 5000 dollars.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 3:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai operates with a 19-person team
“So we are 19 people, half of the team are technology, engineers, product people and myself.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 6:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai reached $22,000 MRR with a solo founder before hiring
“So I started in April was running it alone by December, 20, 20, I had 22 thousand dollars a month. I still run it alone and I started to hire people in February, March last year, 20, 21. And by that time I had a 35 key run rate per month.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 7:54
Disclosure
Tommy.ai raised a $1M pre-seed round in April 2021
“So we raised one million dollars in receipt a year ago closing in April.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 8:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai has soft commitments for half of its $5M seed round
“And we have about a half of the round already in soft commitments, looking for a lead investor.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 10:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai has only six customers older than one year
“We had six customers that are more than one year. So it's you know, really hard to judge what is our churn. And most of the customer base came within the last six to nine months.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 13:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai expects to convert two-thirds of pilots to recurring contracts
“We run a pilot project with our customers to prove the value to them and we get an expect to get two thirds of them to convert into recurring permanent customers.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 13:15
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai estimates 1% to 2% monthly churn for converted pilots
“By far we estimate that our children should be like around one, two percent per month for those customers who, you know, converted from a pilot to a yearly contract.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 13:28
Disclosure
Tommy.ai spent only $4,000 on social ads in Q4 2021
“So for Q four last year, we spent only 4000 dollars on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 13:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tommy.ai converts 20% of product demos into contracts
“Whenever we get to a call whenever we show a demo of our product, we get a conversion into a contract for like 20% of our conversations.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 14:35
Disclosure
Tommy.ai operates with a $130,000 monthly gross burn rate
“Our gross burn is 130 a month.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 14:55
Disclosure
Tommy.ai targets an acquisition cost of 40% of first-year revenue
“Our target cost on sales is 40% of the revenue.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 15:01
Disclosure
Tommy.ai says Russian market fallout will not impact global business
“We are, we're a U S based company, Delaware C corp and Russia is a really small part of the global marketing technology and online marketing Market. So it's not, not a big deal for us.”
Konstantin Bayondin Mar 15, 2022 ▶ 16:06
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