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Jan 6, 2022 · 23m · top-founders

300% YoY Growth, $1.5m Revenue Now Helping Dev Teams Manage Output

Hirsch Tapadia · 12m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m 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, Nathan Latka speaks with Allstacks co-founder and CEO Hirsch Tapadia about building an engineering intelligence and predictive delivery platform, scaling annual recurring revenue to $1.5 million, and preparing for Series A financing.

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 38.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 2.9 Guest disagreement 1.1 Nathan pushing back 2.6
05100:0010:0020:000:49–3:08 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Founder Background and the Engineering Visibility Problem Nathan introduces Hirsch and connects Hirsch's explanation of developer invisibility to practical use cases like stalled Trello cards. Hirsch elaborates on giving agency to stakeholders in a collaborative tone.3:09–5:56 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Machine Learning and Predictive Delivery Forecasting Nathan asks about how Allstacks models scope and points, prompting Hirsch to deliver a detailed explanation of their machine learning forecasting model and second-derivative confidence tracking. Nathan pushes on pricing misunderstanding per month vs per year.5:57–9:23 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Early Company Origins and Joining Techstars Austin Nathan digs into cap tables, equity splits, and typical Techstars deal terms, demonstrating familiarity with historical accelerator economics. Hirsch explains why they chose Austin over Boulder for go-to-market strength.9:24–11:29 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 First Enterprise Customer and Land-and-Expand Strategy Hirsch explains how their first customer was acquired by Syngenta, leading to expansion. Nathan reacts enthusiastically to their net dollar retention, noting it places them in the top 5% of companies he has interviewed.11:31–16:30 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Strategic Sponsor: Axios HQ Communication Platform Following an ad read for Axios HQ, Nathan probes into how CSM quotas and incentives work at Allstacks. Hirsch explains why their CSM compensation model balances revenue retention with program development objectives.16:31–21:03 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Differentiating Data Contributors from Analytics Users Nathan attempts to run math on ARPU and customer metrics, mixing up data generators and data consumers. Hirsch politely corrects the direction of the metrics before Nathan challenges the concept of a 'Seed 2' round.21:08–22:56 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions, and Hirsch provides quick, thoughtful responses without friction.0:49–3:08 · Guest teaching 3/10 Founder Background and the Engineering Visibility Problem Nathan introduces Hirsch and connects Hirsch's explanation of developer invisibility to practical use cases like stalled Trello cards. Hirsch elaborates on giving agency to stakeholders in a collaborative tone.3:09–5:56 · Guest teaching 5/10 Machine Learning and Predictive Delivery Forecasting Nathan asks about how Allstacks models scope and points, prompting Hirsch to deliver a detailed explanation of their machine learning forecasting model and second-derivative confidence tracking. Nathan pushes on pricing misunderstanding per month vs per year.5:57–9:23 · Guest teaching 2/10 Early Company Origins and Joining Techstars Austin Nathan digs into cap tables, equity splits, and typical Techstars deal terms, demonstrating familiarity with historical accelerator economics. Hirsch explains why they chose Austin over Boulder for go-to-market strength.9:24–11:29 · Guest teaching 2/10 First Enterprise Customer and Land-and-Expand Strategy Hirsch explains how their first customer was acquired by Syngenta, leading to expansion. Nathan reacts enthusiastically to their net dollar retention, noting it places them in the top 5% of companies he has interviewed.11:31–16:30 · Guest teaching 3/10 Strategic Sponsor: Axios HQ Communication Platform Following an ad read for Axios HQ, Nathan probes into how CSM quotas and incentives work at Allstacks. Hirsch explains why their CSM compensation model balances revenue retention with program development objectives.16:31–21:03 · Guest teaching 4/10 Differentiating Data Contributors from Analytics Users Nathan attempts to run math on ARPU and customer metrics, mixing up data generators and data consumers. Hirsch politely corrects the direction of the metrics before Nathan challenges the concept of a 'Seed 2' round.21:08–22:56 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions, and Hirsch provides quick, thoughtful responses without friction.0:49–3:08 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founder Background and the Engineering Visibility Problem Nathan introduces Hirsch and connects Hirsch's explanation of developer invisibility to practical use cases like stalled Trello cards. Hirsch elaborates on giving agency to stakeholders in a collaborative tone.3:09–5:56 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Machine Learning and Predictive Delivery Forecasting Nathan asks about how Allstacks models scope and points, prompting Hirsch to deliver a detailed explanation of their machine learning forecasting model and second-derivative confidence tracking. Nathan pushes on pricing misunderstanding per month vs per year.5:57–9:23 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Early Company Origins and Joining Techstars Austin Nathan digs into cap tables, equity splits, and typical Techstars deal terms, demonstrating familiarity with historical accelerator economics. Hirsch explains why they chose Austin over Boulder for go-to-market strength.9:24–11:29 · Guest disagreement 1/10 First Enterprise Customer and Land-and-Expand Strategy Hirsch explains how their first customer was acquired by Syngenta, leading to expansion. Nathan reacts enthusiastically to their net dollar retention, noting it places them in the top 5% of companies he has interviewed.11:31–16:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Strategic Sponsor: Axios HQ Communication Platform Following an ad read for Axios HQ, Nathan probes into how CSM quotas and incentives work at Allstacks. Hirsch explains why their CSM compensation model balances revenue retention with program development objectives.16:31–21:03 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Differentiating Data Contributors from Analytics Users Nathan attempts to run math on ARPU and customer metrics, mixing up data generators and data consumers. Hirsch politely corrects the direction of the metrics before Nathan challenges the concept of a 'Seed 2' round.21:08–22:56 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions, and Hirsch provides quick, thoughtful responses without friction.0:49–3:08 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Founder Background and the Engineering Visibility Problem Nathan introduces Hirsch and connects Hirsch's explanation of developer invisibility to practical use cases like stalled Trello cards. Hirsch elaborates on giving agency to stakeholders in a collaborative tone.3:09–5:56 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Machine Learning and Predictive Delivery Forecasting Nathan asks about how Allstacks models scope and points, prompting Hirsch to deliver a detailed explanation of their machine learning forecasting model and second-derivative confidence tracking. Nathan pushes on pricing misunderstanding per month vs per year.5:57–9:23 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Early Company Origins and Joining Techstars Austin Nathan digs into cap tables, equity splits, and typical Techstars deal terms, demonstrating familiarity with historical accelerator economics. Hirsch explains why they chose Austin over Boulder for go-to-market strength.9:24–11:29 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 First Enterprise Customer and Land-and-Expand Strategy Hirsch explains how their first customer was acquired by Syngenta, leading to expansion. Nathan reacts enthusiastically to their net dollar retention, noting it places them in the top 5% of companies he has interviewed.11:31–16:30 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Strategic Sponsor: Axios HQ Communication Platform Following an ad read for Axios HQ, Nathan probes into how CSM quotas and incentives work at Allstacks. Hirsch explains why their CSM compensation model balances revenue retention with program development objectives.16:31–21:03 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Differentiating Data Contributors from Analytics Users Nathan attempts to run math on ARPU and customer metrics, mixing up data generators and data consumers. Hirsch politely corrects the direction of the metrics before Nathan challenges the concept of a 'Seed 2' round.21:08–22:56 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions, and Hirsch provides quick, thoughtful responses without friction.

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

0:00 · Nathan 55.6% · guest 44.4%0:00 · Nathan 55.6% · guest 44.4%3:00 · Nathan 27.4% · guest 72.6%3:00 · Nathan 27.4% · guest 72.6%6:00 · Nathan 22.4% · guest 77.6%6:00 · Nathan 22.4% · guest 77.6%9:00 · Nathan 35.9% · guest 64.1%9:00 · Nathan 35.9% · guest 64.1%12:00 · Nathan 56.7% · guest 43.3%12:00 · Nathan 56.7% · guest 43.3%15:00 · Nathan 24.9% · guest 75.1%15:00 · Nathan 24.9% · guest 75.1%18:00 · Nathan 40.9% · guest 59.1%18:00 · Nathan 40.9% · guest 59.1%21:00 · Nathan 44.6% · guest 55.4%21:00 · Nathan 44.6% · guest 55.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:17 Correcting data generator vs consumer dynamic

Hirsch directly corrects Nathan's flipped interpretation of whether the 250,000 users are consuming or generating platform data.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 19:15 Challenging the 'Seed 2' naming convention

Nathan calls out the fundraising terminology by asking 'What the hell? What is a seed 2 come on?' when Hirsch describes their interim financing round.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:31 Second-derivative forecasting breakdown

Hirsch educates Nathan on how Allstacks tracks historical code review deviations and calculates second derivatives to project delivery confidence.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:01 Benchmarking net dollar retention against SaaS dataset

Nathan leverages his extensive database of 3,200 founder interviews to benchmark Hirsch's net retention metrics as top 5 percentile.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Founder Background and the Engineering Visibility Problem 5312 Nathan introduces Hirsch and connects Hirsch's explanation of developer invisibility to practical use cases like stalled Trello cards. Hirsch elaborates on giving agency to stakeholders in a collaborative tone.
Machine Learning and Predictive Delivery Forecasting 4513 Nathan asks about how Allstacks models scope and points, prompting Hirsch to deliver a detailed explanation of their machine learning forecasting model and second-derivative confidence tracking. Nathan pushes on pricing misunderstanding per month vs per year.
Early Company Origins and Joining Techstars Austin 6212 Nathan digs into cap tables, equity splits, and typical Techstars deal terms, demonstrating familiarity with historical accelerator economics. Hirsch explains why they chose Austin over Boulder for go-to-market strength.
First Enterprise Customer and Land-and-Expand Strategy 6213 Hirsch explains how their first customer was acquired by Syngenta, leading to expansion. Nathan reacts enthusiastically to their net dollar retention, noting it places them in the top 5% of companies he has interviewed.
Strategic Sponsor: Axios HQ Communication Platform 5313 Following an ad read for Axios HQ, Nathan probes into how CSM quotas and incentives work at Allstacks. Hirsch explains why their CSM compensation model balances revenue retention with program development objectives.
Differentiating Data Contributors from Analytics Users 6424 Nathan attempts to run math on ARPU and customer metrics, mixing up data generators and data consumers. Hirsch politely corrects the direction of the metrics before Nathan challenges the concept of a 'Seed 2' round.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 3111 Nathan runs through his standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions, and Hirsch provides quick, thoughtful responses without friction.

Statements from this episode (10)

Insight
Engineering lacks the data instrumentation of sales and marketing, Tapadia says
“So when you look around your organization and you see marketing, sales, customer success, everybody's really instrumented, really data driven and engineering is not.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 1:41
Disclosure
Allstacks uses machine learning to forecast software delivery dates and drift
“This machine learning algorithm that we developed that then predicts three things. When do we think it's going to get delivered? How does that date change it? And how is the change changing? So is it getting later faster? Is it getting earlier slower?”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 4:30
Insight
Humans rely on 'second derivative' confidence trends for collaboration, Tapadia argues
“Basically what we're trying to explain to folks is, are we confident in what we're saying we're going to do, or are we losing confidence in what we're saying we're going to do? Because that, that second derivative explanation is how humans make decisions with …”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 4:45
Disclosure
Allstacks' typical starting contracts are $12K, $30K, and $50K per year
“We're looking at kind of 12 K, 30 K, 50 K are like our typical starting bands per year.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 5:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Allstacks has 45 total customers as of early 2022
“We're at 45.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 11:27
Disclosure
Allstacks' three customer success managers each handle $1.5M quotas
“We have three customer success managers. Each one handles about a million and a half of quota.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 13:15
Disclosure
Allstacks compensates CSMs for designing scalable success programs, not just renewals
“So we actually compensate our CSMs not just on renewals, but also on methods, techniques, programs that make customers successful that can be broadly applicable.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 14:40
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Allstacks has 1,000 active users but processes data from 250,000 contributors
“So from the perspective of contributors, right, people generating platform data, it's over a quarter million, but from the perspective of actually users of the application you know, we're in the kind of hundreds to about a thousand.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 16:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Allstacks hit $1.5M ARR in late 2021, growing 4X year-over-year
“We've crossed a million at the end of Q three. We're doing we're doing about one five at the end of Q four. That'll be a four X on the year.”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 18:23
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Allstacks' inbound pipeline surged from zero to 40% in a single quarter
“Our inbound pipeline went from zero to about 40% of our pipeline in one quarter”
Hirsch Tapadia Jan 6, 2022 ▶ 20:25
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