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Dec 30, 2021 · 16m · top-founders

Cities Manage Traveler Activities Using This $3.5m Valuation Tool with $100k in ARR

Tommy Bertanen · 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

In this episode of Conversations with Nathan Latka, Doerz founder Tommy Bertanen discusses how his company pivoted from a consumer travel marketplace to a municipal B2G SaaS platform, doubling ARR to €92,000 while preparing for institutional expansion across Europe.

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 39.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 1.8 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 3.3
05100:0010:000:53–4:15 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Tommy Bertanen on Doerz's Pivot to B2G SaaS Nathan presses Tommy repeatedly to clarify whether Doerz is B2C or B2B, challenging Tommy's initial explanation to show that the SaaS offering and activity licensing share the same core underlying model.4:15–8:25 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Founding Journey, Seed Funding, and Equity Crowdfunding Structure Nathan digs into Tommy's capitalization history, calculating the founder's fully diluted ownership live based on Seedrs crowdfunding and the 30% option pool.8:27–14:41 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Financial Control and Expense Management with Ramp Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively parses booking volume, transaction size, and marketplace GMV versus recurring SaaS revenue from municipal customers.14:42–16:03 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing sequence followed by Nathan's summary of the metrics and company timeline.0:53–4:15 · Guest teaching 3/10 Tommy Bertanen on Doerz's Pivot to B2G SaaS Nathan presses Tommy repeatedly to clarify whether Doerz is B2C or B2B, challenging Tommy's initial explanation to show that the SaaS offering and activity licensing share the same core underlying model.4:15–8:25 · Guest teaching 2/10 Founding Journey, Seed Funding, and Equity Crowdfunding Structure Nathan digs into Tommy's capitalization history, calculating the founder's fully diluted ownership live based on Seedrs crowdfunding and the 30% option pool.8:27–14:41 · Guest teaching 2/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Financial Control and Expense Management with Ramp Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively parses booking volume, transaction size, and marketplace GMV versus recurring SaaS revenue from municipal customers.14:42–16:03 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing sequence followed by Nathan's summary of the metrics and company timeline.0:53–4:15 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Tommy Bertanen on Doerz's Pivot to B2G SaaS Nathan presses Tommy repeatedly to clarify whether Doerz is B2C or B2B, challenging Tommy's initial explanation to show that the SaaS offering and activity licensing share the same core underlying model.4:15–8:25 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founding Journey, Seed Funding, and Equity Crowdfunding Structure Nathan digs into Tommy's capitalization history, calculating the founder's fully diluted ownership live based on Seedrs crowdfunding and the 30% option pool.8:27–14:41 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Financial Control and Expense Management with Ramp Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively parses booking volume, transaction size, and marketplace GMV versus recurring SaaS revenue from municipal customers.14:42–16:03 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing sequence followed by Nathan's summary of the metrics and company timeline.0:53–4:15 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Tommy Bertanen on Doerz's Pivot to B2G SaaS Nathan presses Tommy repeatedly to clarify whether Doerz is B2C or B2B, challenging Tommy's initial explanation to show that the SaaS offering and activity licensing share the same core underlying model.4:15–8:25 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Founding Journey, Seed Funding, and Equity Crowdfunding Structure Nathan digs into Tommy's capitalization history, calculating the founder's fully diluted ownership live based on Seedrs crowdfunding and the 30% option pool.8:27–14:41 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Financial Control and Expense Management with Ramp Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively parses booking volume, transaction size, and marketplace GMV versus recurring SaaS revenue from municipal customers.14:42–16:03 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing sequence followed by Nathan's summary of the metrics and company timeline.

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

0:00 · Nathan 45.9% · guest 54.1%0:00 · Nathan 45.9% · guest 54.1%3:00 · Nathan 22.4% · guest 77.6%3:00 · Nathan 22.4% · guest 77.6%6:00 · Nathan 47.9% · guest 52.1%6:00 · Nathan 47.9% · guest 52.1%9:00 · Nathan 40.7% · guest 59.3%9:00 · Nathan 40.7% · guest 59.3%12:00 · Nathan 36.8% · guest 63.2%12:00 · Nathan 36.8% · guest 63.2%15:00 · Nathan 53.4% · guest 46.6%15:00 · Nathan 53.4% · guest 46.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:16 Tommy rejects Nathan's simple B2C classification

Tommy resists Nathan's framing that the company is purely B2C, explaining that Doerz operates across C2C, B2C, and B2G SaaS models.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:48 Nathan presses on SaaS product differences

Nathan interrupts Tommy to point out that the two distinct use cases Tommy described actually rely on the exact same business model.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 2:12 Tommy explains municipal SaaS licensing in Germany

Tommy educates Nathan on why scaling local experiences across Europe required pivoting into selling software directly to municipal tourism boards.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:15 Nathan breaks down cap table math

Nathan demonstrates financial mastery by converting Tommy's confusing share numbers, option pool, and crowdfunding percentages into an exact fully diluted ownership calculation.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Tommy Bertanen on Doerz's Pivot to B2G SaaS 5325 Nathan presses Tommy repeatedly to clarify whether Doerz is B2C or B2B, challenging Tommy's initial explanation to show that the SaaS offering and activity licensing share the same core underlying model.
Founding Journey, Seed Funding, and Equity Crowdfunding Structure 6213 Nathan digs into Tommy's capitalization history, calculating the founder's fully diluted ownership live based on Seedrs crowdfunding and the 30% option pool.
Mid-Roll Sponsor: Financial Control and Expense Management with Ramp 6214 Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively parses booking volume, transaction size, and marketplace GMV versus recurring SaaS revenue from municipal customers.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 3001 Standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing sequence followed by Nathan's summary of the metrics and company timeline.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
SaaS licenses generate 90% to 95% of Doerz's total revenue
“SaaS license fees and subscriptions easily. So that's kind of like bringing us 90, 90 to 95% of all our revenue today.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 4:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Doerz is raising municipal SaaS rates from €249 to €450 monthly
“It's a city owned businesses, like visit organizations, they pay at the moment, 249 euros per month. Now we're just about to raise the price to 450 euros per month.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 4:24
Assertion Supported
Doerz has raised slightly under €500,000 via equity crowdfunding
“So we've been raising something like a little bit less than half a million in euros in, in like true crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 5:37
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Doerz reached a €3.5 million fully diluted valuation in its latest round
“Yeah, we had like lately last round we, that was 3.5 million fully deluded and two million with the share.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 7:02
Assertion Supported
Roughly 450 crowdfunding investors own just under 15% of Doerz
“A little bit less than 15%, and that's 450 people like individuals altogether. Some companies, some angels, but mainly just, you know, ordinary people who want to own a part of the growing business.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 7:59
Insight
Equity crowdfunding splits evenly between direct networks, secondary networks, and outsiders
“Sometimes they say that one third comes from your network. One third comes from the network of your network. And then one third, like honestly comes outside of that. And I might say that's pretty close to the truth.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 10:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Doerz reaches €92k ARR across 40 paying municipal customers
“We would have today 40 paying customers and through that we have the roughly 80, 90 cities. So, so ARR annual recurring revenue, 90 2000 today and growing.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 12:22
Assertion Partly supported
Doerz triples revenue two consecutive years, projects doubling in 2021
“So we've been able to triple our revenue two years in a row. And this year we're going to be doubling it.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 13:26
Disclosure
Doerz seeks to raise €1M in H1 2022
“We're looking to raise one million in in like first half of next year. So I started already my long list.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 14:26
Disclosure
Doerz targets €4M pre-money valuation for next funding round
“It's going to be four million pre money.”
Tommy Bertanen Dec 30, 2021 ▶ 14:36
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