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Dec 8, 2021 · 16m · top-founders

India Based SaaS hits $20k MRR, Growing Fast with 160k Users

Madhavi Shankar · 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, SpaceBasic founder Madhavi Shankar discusses building a B2B SaaS platform that digitizes Indian university campus housing. Shankar outlines how the company achieved $20,000 in monthly recurring revenue, scaled to 160,000 active users, and preserved founder equity through capital-efficient bootstrapping.

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 38.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.2 Guest teaching 1.4 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 3.0
05100:0010:000:44–4:18 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Madhavi Shankar and SpaceBasic's Value Proposition Latka methodically deconstructs Shankar's metrics, separating total users from paying student seats and correcting annualized pricing to deduce her true MRR.4:18–7:51 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Company Inception and Launching in the Indian Market When Shankar attempts to withhold her initial funding amount as undisclosed, Latka pushes back firmly to get an exact dollar range.7:55–11:13 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Sponsor Break: Scaling Global Teams with Remote.com Following the sponsor break, Latka walks Shankar through her YoY growth numbers, inferring past baseline revenue during the pandemic lockdown.11:14–14:15 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Equity Distribution, ESOP Pool, and Fundraising Targets Latka demonstrates startup finance expertise by quickly calculating an implied $5M valuation cap based on Shankar selling 5-6% for $250k.14:15–16:10 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the standard Famous Five questions and delivers a concise closing recap of the company's vital statistics.0:44–4:18 · Guest teaching 3/10 Introducing Madhavi Shankar and SpaceBasic's Value Proposition Latka methodically deconstructs Shankar's metrics, separating total users from paying student seats and correcting annualized pricing to deduce her true MRR.4:18–7:51 · Guest teaching 1/10 Company Inception and Launching in the Indian Market When Shankar attempts to withhold her initial funding amount as undisclosed, Latka pushes back firmly to get an exact dollar range.7:55–11:13 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Break: Scaling Global Teams with Remote.com Following the sponsor break, Latka walks Shankar through her YoY growth numbers, inferring past baseline revenue during the pandemic lockdown.11:14–14:15 · Guest teaching 2/10 Equity Distribution, ESOP Pool, and Fundraising Targets Latka demonstrates startup finance expertise by quickly calculating an implied $5M valuation cap based on Shankar selling 5-6% for $250k.14:15–16:10 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the standard Famous Five questions and delivers a concise closing recap of the company's vital statistics.0:44–4:18 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Madhavi Shankar and SpaceBasic's Value Proposition Latka methodically deconstructs Shankar's metrics, separating total users from paying student seats and correcting annualized pricing to deduce her true MRR.4:18–7:51 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Company Inception and Launching in the Indian Market When Shankar attempts to withhold her initial funding amount as undisclosed, Latka pushes back firmly to get an exact dollar range.7:55–11:13 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Break: Scaling Global Teams with Remote.com Following the sponsor break, Latka walks Shankar through her YoY growth numbers, inferring past baseline revenue during the pandemic lockdown.11:14–14:15 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Equity Distribution, ESOP Pool, and Fundraising Targets Latka demonstrates startup finance expertise by quickly calculating an implied $5M valuation cap based on Shankar selling 5-6% for $250k.14:15–16:10 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the standard Famous Five questions and delivers a concise closing recap of the company's vital statistics.0:44–4:18 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Introducing Madhavi Shankar and SpaceBasic's Value Proposition Latka methodically deconstructs Shankar's metrics, separating total users from paying student seats and correcting annualized pricing to deduce her true MRR.4:18–7:51 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Company Inception and Launching in the Indian Market When Shankar attempts to withhold her initial funding amount as undisclosed, Latka pushes back firmly to get an exact dollar range.7:55–11:13 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Sponsor Break: Scaling Global Teams with Remote.com Following the sponsor break, Latka walks Shankar through her YoY growth numbers, inferring past baseline revenue during the pandemic lockdown.11:14–14:15 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Equity Distribution, ESOP Pool, and Fundraising Targets Latka demonstrates startup finance expertise by quickly calculating an implied $5M valuation cap based on Shankar selling 5-6% for $250k.14:15–16:10 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the standard Famous Five questions and delivers a concise closing recap of the company's vital statistics.

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

0:00 · Nathan 46.8% · guest 53.2%0:00 · Nathan 46.8% · guest 53.2%3:00 · Nathan 21.7% · guest 78.3%3:00 · Nathan 21.7% · guest 78.3%6:00 · Nathan 56.4% · guest 43.6%6:00 · Nathan 56.4% · guest 43.6%9:00 · Nathan 39% · guest 61%9:00 · Nathan 39% · guest 61%12:00 · Nathan 21.6% · guest 78.4%12:00 · Nathan 21.6% · guest 78.4%15:00 · Nathan 60.8% · guest 39.2%15:00 · Nathan 60.8% · guest 39.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:48 Guarding undisclosed funding round

Shankar initially declines to state the dollar amount raised, politely trying to deflect before being pressed for the figure.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 6:06 Refusing to accept undisclosed funding

Latka explicitly rejects Shankar's refusal to share numbers, emphasizing that the initial round size is crucial context for the story.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:53 Correcting total users vs paid student seats

Shankar clarifies that her headline 160k user number includes staff and parents, educating the host that only 55k-60k are paid student seats.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:09 Host immediately computes cap from dilution

Latka demonstrates his fluency in venture math by calculating the implied $5M valuation cap within seconds of hearing the dilution percentage.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Madhavi Shankar and SpaceBasic's Value Proposition 6314 Latka methodically deconstructs Shankar's metrics, separating total users from paying student seats and correcting annualized pricing to deduce her true MRR.
Company Inception and Launching in the Indian Market 4125 When Shankar attempts to withhold her initial funding amount as undisclosed, Latka pushes back firmly to get an exact dollar range.
Sponsor Break: Scaling Global Teams with Remote.com 5112 Following the sponsor break, Latka walks Shankar through her YoY growth numbers, inferring past baseline revenue during the pandemic lockdown.
Equity Distribution, ESOP Pool, and Fundraising Targets 7213 Latka demonstrates startup finance expertise by quickly calculating an implied $5M valuation cap based on Shankar selling 5-6% for $250k.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 4001 Latka runs through the standard Famous Five questions and delivers a concise closing recap of the company's vital statistics.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic charges Indian universities $4 to $9 per student annually
“We charge between four to nine dollars per student per year, since it's still you know, that's the basic version, but like when we add the AI aspect of it kind of customizes. There's an enterprise pricing available as well, but that's the, you know, average ba…”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 2:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic serves 65 to 70 universities and 160,000 total users
“So, you know, at the moment, we work with about 65, 70 universities, about a 150, 60,000 users in total.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 2:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic has 55,000 to 60,000 paying student users on platform
“We charge per student per year. Though we have different users using it at the moment, we just charge the students and we're, we are about around 55 to 60,000 students on the platform.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 3:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic Hit Cash Flow Breakeven in 2020 Before Angel Round
“In 2020, we were cash flow breakeven and we raised you know our first round of funding you know, a more of a angel round this year in May.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 5:35
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
SpaceBasic Raised Between $250K and $500K in Initial Angel Round
“We're talking between 250 K to half a million dollars.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 6:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic Operates With 15 Full-Time Employees and 21 Total Staff
“Today we're about 15 on and off. That's our total team size. But if we take in our advisors and all of our, you know, consultants, we're a team of about 21 people.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 7:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic: Average University Client Has 800 to 1,200 Students
“Every university has an average ticket size of about 800 to a 1200 students. That's an average size.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 9:31
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SpaceBasic grew new customer acquisition by 35% year-over-year
“We have grown about 35% in terms of new customer acquisition.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 10:11
Disclosure
SpaceBasic sold only 5% to 6% equity in its initial angel round
“No, we were not. We were more we were less than we were around five, six percent or less than that.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 12:48
Disclosure
SpaceBasic aims to raise around $1 million in next funding round
“You know, we're still yet to finalize on the math, but I'm thinking maybe a million or so is what we're looking to raise.”
Madhavi Shankar Dec 8, 2021 ▶ 13:59
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