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Feb 5, 2022 · 18m · top-founders

Mozart Helps You Clean Your Data, $0 to $750k ARR in 12 Months, $6m Seed

Peter Fishman · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 4m 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, Mozart Data co-founder Peter Fishman details how the company simplifies the modern data stack, leveraged Y Combinator to raise $6 million, and scaled revenue from $15,000 to over $70,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

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 30.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.0 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 3.4
05100:0010:000:46–6:47 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Peter Fishman and Demystifying Modern Data Stacks Nathan presses Peter to name actual industry tools rather than plugging his own product. Nathan demonstrates familiarity with Y Combinator deal terms, SAFEs, and rolling seed extensions.6:48–9:18 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Acquiring First Customers and Approaching Seven Figures ARR Nathan pushes Peter for specific reference customer names from his YC batch and calculates run-rate revenue from customer count.9:21–11:38 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Sponsor Message: Founderpath SaaS Valuation Software Following an ad read, Peter clarifies that average revenue is much higher than median ARPU due to enterprise contracts, while Nathan breaks down the doubling math into concrete MRR numbers.11:39–14:06 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Composition, High-Touch Onboarding, and Usage Pricing Nathan drills into the organizational breakdown between sales and engineering before discussing net dollar retention and usage-based utility pricing models.14:07–17:48 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 The Famous Five: Favorite Tools and Career Lessons Nathan displays deep industry context during the Famous Five by citing Mode's exact revenue growth and previous founder appearance on his show.0:46–6:47 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Peter Fishman and Demystifying Modern Data Stacks Nathan presses Peter to name actual industry tools rather than plugging his own product. Nathan demonstrates familiarity with Y Combinator deal terms, SAFEs, and rolling seed extensions.6:48–9:18 · Guest teaching 3/10 Acquiring First Customers and Approaching Seven Figures ARR Nathan pushes Peter for specific reference customer names from his YC batch and calculates run-rate revenue from customer count.9:21–11:38 · Guest teaching 3/10 Sponsor Message: Founderpath SaaS Valuation Software Following an ad read, Peter clarifies that average revenue is much higher than median ARPU due to enterprise contracts, while Nathan breaks down the doubling math into concrete MRR numbers.11:39–14:06 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Composition, High-Touch Onboarding, and Usage Pricing Nathan drills into the organizational breakdown between sales and engineering before discussing net dollar retention and usage-based utility pricing models.14:07–17:48 · Guest teaching 2/10 The Famous Five: Favorite Tools and Career Lessons Nathan displays deep industry context during the Famous Five by citing Mode's exact revenue growth and previous founder appearance on his show.0:46–6:47 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Peter Fishman and Demystifying Modern Data Stacks Nathan presses Peter to name actual industry tools rather than plugging his own product. Nathan demonstrates familiarity with Y Combinator deal terms, SAFEs, and rolling seed extensions.6:48–9:18 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Acquiring First Customers and Approaching Seven Figures ARR Nathan pushes Peter for specific reference customer names from his YC batch and calculates run-rate revenue from customer count.9:21–11:38 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Message: Founderpath SaaS Valuation Software Following an ad read, Peter clarifies that average revenue is much higher than median ARPU due to enterprise contracts, while Nathan breaks down the doubling math into concrete MRR numbers.11:39–14:06 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Team Composition, High-Touch Onboarding, and Usage Pricing Nathan drills into the organizational breakdown between sales and engineering before discussing net dollar retention and usage-based utility pricing models.14:07–17:48 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five: Favorite Tools and Career Lessons Nathan displays deep industry context during the Famous Five by citing Mode's exact revenue growth and previous founder appearance on his show.0:46–6:47 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Introducing Peter Fishman and Demystifying Modern Data Stacks Nathan presses Peter to name actual industry tools rather than plugging his own product. Nathan demonstrates familiarity with Y Combinator deal terms, SAFEs, and rolling seed extensions.6:48–9:18 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Acquiring First Customers and Approaching Seven Figures ARR Nathan pushes Peter for specific reference customer names from his YC batch and calculates run-rate revenue from customer count.9:21–11:38 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Sponsor Message: Founderpath SaaS Valuation Software Following an ad read, Peter clarifies that average revenue is much higher than median ARPU due to enterprise contracts, while Nathan breaks down the doubling math into concrete MRR numbers.11:39–14:06 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Team Composition, High-Touch Onboarding, and Usage Pricing Nathan drills into the organizational breakdown between sales and engineering before discussing net dollar retention and usage-based utility pricing models.14:07–17:48 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 The Famous Five: Favorite Tools and Career Lessons Nathan displays deep industry context during the Famous Five by citing Mode's exact revenue growth and previous founder appearance on his show.

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

0:00 · Nathan 42.3% · guest 57.7%0:00 · Nathan 42.3% · guest 57.7%3:00 · Nathan 22.7% · guest 77.3%3:00 · Nathan 22.7% · guest 77.3%6:00 · Nathan 14.4% · guest 85.6%6:00 · Nathan 14.4% · guest 85.6%9:00 · Nathan 47.7% · guest 52.3%9:00 · Nathan 47.7% · guest 52.3%12:00 · Nathan 20.8% · guest 79.2%12:00 · Nathan 20.8% · guest 79.2%15:00 · Nathan 28.1% · guest 71.9%15:00 · Nathan 28.1% · guest 71.9%18:00 · Nathan 96.3% · guest 3.7%18:00 · Nathan 96.3% · guest 3.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:19 Peter clarifies median vs average revenue dynamics

Peter corrects Nathan's revenue estimation by explaining that a heavy right tail of six-figure enterprise contracts skews the average well above the median.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 1:25 Nathan rejects self-serving product plug

When Peter attempts to name his own startup as the quintessential data stack tool, Nathan immediately cuts him off to demand real market examples.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:19 Explaining revenue distribution and causality

Peter educates Nathan on data startup revenue distributions, pointing out why using median ARPU to calculate MRR underestimates top-line revenue.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 15:35 Nathan flexes insider data on Mode's ARR

Nathan demonstrates command of the data ecosystem by citing Mode founder Derek Steer's Yammer background and Mode's jump from $19M to $40M run rate.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Peter Fishman and Demystifying Modern Data Stacks 6214 Nathan presses Peter to name actual industry tools rather than plugging his own product. Nathan demonstrates familiarity with Y Combinator deal terms, SAFEs, and rolling seed extensions.
Acquiring First Customers and Approaching Seven Figures ARR 5325 Nathan pushes Peter for specific reference customer names from his YC batch and calculates run-rate revenue from customer count.
Sponsor Message: Founderpath SaaS Valuation Software 6313 Following an ad read, Peter clarifies that average revenue is much higher than median ARPU due to enterprise contracts, while Nathan breaks down the doubling math into concrete MRR numbers.
Team Composition, High-Touch Onboarding, and Usage Pricing 6213 Nathan drills into the organizational breakdown between sales and engineering before discussing net dollar retention and usage-based utility pricing models.
The Famous Five: Favorite Tools and Career Lessons 7212 Nathan displays deep industry context during the Famous Five by citing Mode's exact revenue growth and previous founder appearance on his show.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mozart Data's ACV is $20K, but its median is $1K monthly
“Our ACB is around 20,000 dollars, but the median is around a thousand dollars a month.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 2:34
Disclosure
Mozart Data raised $6M total through its seed and extensions
“It ended up being actually six through kind of a seat extension.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 3:57
Disclosure
Mozart Data raised seed funding using product demos instead of pitch decks
“In fact, we didn't really raise we didn't really raise with a deck just because you know, I think now people really are most interested in seeing what it is.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 6:34
Assertion Supported
Mozart Data left Y Combinator with Tempo, Rippling, and Gaia GPS
“So in, at the end of Y Combinator we made Three sales and we left Y Combinator with three sales. So that was Tempo and Rippling were sort of the two largest and then Gaia GPS was another sale.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 7:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mozart Data has grown to almost 40 paying customers
“Yeah, we're working with a few dozen, almost 40 customers.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 8:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mozart Data crossed $40K MRR but remains under $1M ARR
“Well, I think it would be, it'd be a little bit more than that, right? So so we are doing a little bit better than that. Haven't hit the magical seven figures of ARR, but.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 8:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mozart Data is growing revenue 10% month-over-month
“You know, in general, we've been growing 10% month over month, which is basically a seven month double time.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 11:04
Disclosure
Fishman wrote the first angel check into Mode Analytics
“I was the first Jack. I don't know if he gave it to David Sachs or if he gave it to me, but that's hysterical.”
Peter Fishman Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 15:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mode Analytics recently passed a $40M revenue run rate
“You know, they broke a nineteen million dollar run rate last year, just passed a forty million dollar run rate.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2022 ▶ 15:45
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