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Feb 1, 2022 · 16m · top-founders

Launch AR Campaigns Easily, SaaS Hits $25k MRR Under 8 Months

Matteo Salvi · 7m 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 on Conversations with Nathan Latka, Aryel co-founder and CEO Matteo Salvi explains how his no-code augmented reality marketing platform grew to $25,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Salvi discusses Aryel's freemium business model, customer acquisition economics, founding equity split, and recent $700,000 seed funding round.

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 46.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.3 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 4.8
05100:0010:000:51–3:29 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Matteo Salvi and Aryel's AR Marketing Platform Nathan presses Matteo to move beyond generic marketing descriptions and state concrete customer pricing and typical AR use cases.3:29–8:09 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Founding Backstory, Paid Ads, and User Growth Nathan aggressively audits Matteo's numbers when the claimed customer counts and ARPU imply $180k/month revenue against a $300k annual total, forcing Matteo to admit most paid accounts were lifetime deals.8:11–12:17 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Sponsor Segment: Flatfile Data Onboarding Following the mid-roll ad, Nathan challenges Matteo's claim of being bootstrapped and questions his SAFE terms, while Matteo explains valuation floor mechanisms used in Italian funding.12:17–15:44 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Founding Equity Split, Team Structure, and CAC Nathan breaks down the team equity split, swiftly derives customer acquisition cost ($60 CAC) from Matteo's lead metrics, and wraps up with the Famous Five.0:51–3:29 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Matteo Salvi and Aryel's AR Marketing Platform Nathan presses Matteo to move beyond generic marketing descriptions and state concrete customer pricing and typical AR use cases.3:29–8:09 · Guest teaching 2/10 Founding Backstory, Paid Ads, and User Growth Nathan aggressively audits Matteo's numbers when the claimed customer counts and ARPU imply $180k/month revenue against a $300k annual total, forcing Matteo to admit most paid accounts were lifetime deals.8:11–12:17 · Guest teaching 5/10 Sponsor Segment: Flatfile Data Onboarding Following the mid-roll ad, Nathan challenges Matteo's claim of being bootstrapped and questions his SAFE terms, while Matteo explains valuation floor mechanisms used in Italian funding.12:17–15:44 · Guest teaching 1/10 Founding Equity Split, Team Structure, and CAC Nathan breaks down the team equity split, swiftly derives customer acquisition cost ($60 CAC) from Matteo's lead metrics, and wraps up with the Famous Five.0:51–3:29 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Introducing Matteo Salvi and Aryel's AR Marketing Platform Nathan presses Matteo to move beyond generic marketing descriptions and state concrete customer pricing and typical AR use cases.3:29–8:09 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Founding Backstory, Paid Ads, and User Growth Nathan aggressively audits Matteo's numbers when the claimed customer counts and ARPU imply $180k/month revenue against a $300k annual total, forcing Matteo to admit most paid accounts were lifetime deals.8:11–12:17 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Sponsor Segment: Flatfile Data Onboarding Following the mid-roll ad, Nathan challenges Matteo's claim of being bootstrapped and questions his SAFE terms, while Matteo explains valuation floor mechanisms used in Italian funding.12:17–15:44 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Founding Equity Split, Team Structure, and CAC Nathan breaks down the team equity split, swiftly derives customer acquisition cost ($60 CAC) from Matteo's lead metrics, and wraps up with the Famous Five.0:51–3:29 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Matteo Salvi and Aryel's AR Marketing Platform Nathan presses Matteo to move beyond generic marketing descriptions and state concrete customer pricing and typical AR use cases.3:29–8:09 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Founding Backstory, Paid Ads, and User Growth Nathan aggressively audits Matteo's numbers when the claimed customer counts and ARPU imply $180k/month revenue against a $300k annual total, forcing Matteo to admit most paid accounts were lifetime deals.8:11–12:17 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Sponsor Segment: Flatfile Data Onboarding Following the mid-roll ad, Nathan challenges Matteo's claim of being bootstrapped and questions his SAFE terms, while Matteo explains valuation floor mechanisms used in Italian funding.12:17–15:44 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Founding Equity Split, Team Structure, and CAC Nathan breaks down the team equity split, swiftly derives customer acquisition cost ($60 CAC) from Matteo's lead metrics, and wraps up with the Famous Five.

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

0:00 · Nathan 35.4% · guest 64.6%0:00 · Nathan 35.4% · guest 64.6%3:00 · Nathan 26.1% · guest 73.9%3:00 · Nathan 26.1% · guest 73.9%6:00 · Nathan 62.3% · guest 37.7%6:00 · Nathan 62.3% · guest 37.7%9:00 · Nathan 60.4% · guest 39.6%9:00 · Nathan 60.4% · guest 39.6%12:00 · Nathan 40.5% · guest 59.5%12:00 · Nathan 40.5% · guest 59.5%15:00 · Nathan 64.8% · guest 35.2%15:00 · Nathan 64.8% · guest 35.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:24 Matteo defends Italian SAFE structure

Matteo stands his ground against Nathan's skepticism regarding a valuation floor on a SAFE note, insisting Italian regulations require a valuation range.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:06 Nathan calls out revenue calculation discrepancy

Nathan directly challenges Matteo on how a business supposedly making $180k per month could only reach $300k across the entire year, exposing lifetime deal inflations.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:24 Matteo explains SAFE floor to Nathan

Matteo educates Nathan on Italian startup financing conventions that set a minimum floor alongside a maximum cap on convertible instruments.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:58 Nathan calculates CAC on the fly

Nathan instantly converts Matteo's $10 cost-per-lead and 15% conversion rate into a $60 blended acquisition cost.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Matteo Salvi and Aryel's AR Marketing Platform 5203 Nathan presses Matteo to move beyond generic marketing descriptions and state concrete customer pricing and typical AR use cases.
Founding Backstory, Paid Ads, and User Growth 8228 Nathan aggressively audits Matteo's numbers when the claimed customer counts and ARPU imply $180k/month revenue against a $300k annual total, forcing Matteo to admit most paid accounts were lifetime deals.
Sponsor Segment: Flatfile Data Onboarding 6526 Following the mid-roll ad, Nathan challenges Matteo's claim of being bootstrapped and questions his SAFE terms, while Matteo explains valuation floor mechanisms used in Italian funding.
Founding Equity Split, Team Structure, and CAC 6102 Nathan breaks down the team equity split, swiftly derives customer acquisition cost ($60 CAC) from Matteo's lead metrics, and wraps up with the Famous Five.

Statements from this episode (9)

Disclosure
Salvi: Aryel Spent $10,000 on Ads Last Month
“10,000 dollars.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 4:42
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Salvi: Aryel Has Over 5,000 Users With 15% Paying
“Sorry, at the 15 the 5005 1005 1005 thousand users on the platform, and the 15% is paid.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 5:05
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Salvi: Aryel Generates €20K MRR With €180 Average User Price
“The average price for each user is one 180 euros per month. Our MRR today is about two 20,000 euros per month.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 7:22
Opinion
Latka: Lifetime Deals Are Useless in SaaS
“Those are useless in SaaS.”
Nathan Latka Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 7:56
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Salvi: Aryel Has Around 250 Monthly Paying SaaS Customers
“At the moment, we have about 250.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 8:02
Disclosure
Salvi: Aryel closed a $700,000 seed round in November 2021
“We closed the first seed round of seven 7000 thousand dollars in November.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 10:22
Disclosure
Salvi: Aryel raised seed funding on SAFE with $2.5M floor, $8M cap
“We have a floor of two two dot five million floor and eight million of a cup.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 11:12
Disclosure
Aryel CEO Salvi breaks down founding equity split across core team
“I have the Free 34% of Ariel. And then there is Luke and Leonardo. They have both a 28%. And in the next month, also Vincenzo, who is our product, head of product, comes into Ariel with the five person.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 12:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Aryel CEO Salvi says Google cost per lead is around $10
“I can tell you that at the moment on Google, our cost per lead is about 10 dollars per lead.”
Matteo Salvi Feb 1, 2022 ▶ 13:52
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