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Oct 17, 2021 · 18m · top-founders

A PE Firm Should Buy This $7m ARR Company Stuck Inside a Publicly Traded Firm

Massimo Arrigoni · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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Host Nathan Latka interviews Beefree CEO Massimo Arrigoni to explore the SaaS company's $7 million ARR dual-revenue model and the public valuation discrepancy of its European parent company, highlighting potential private equity acquisition opportunities.

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 40.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.4 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 2.4
05100:0010:000:49–4:30 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Massimo Arrigoni and the Vision Behind Beefree Nathan explores Beefree's unique positioning as an embeddable editor versus direct PLG competitor to Canva. Massimo explains the revenue split and low churn mechanics across their white-label partner base.4:31–8:05 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Analyzing Subscription Metrics, Average Revenue Per User, and Growth Nathan aggregates the customer count and ARPU figures across both business segments in real time to calculate total ARR. Massimo confirms Nathan's calculated run rate of over $7M ARR is spot on.8:09–15:20 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Sponsor Feature: Scaling International Hiring and Payroll with Remote Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively questions why Beefree remains inside a public Italian holding company trading at a 1x revenue multiple. Nathan directly pitches PE firms to acquire the asset, while Massimo pushes back on selling at a discount.15:20–17:38 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Examining Beefree's Team Distribution and Engineering Headcount Allocation Nathan covers team headcount, product-to-sales ratios, and runs through the standard Famous Five lightning round questions in an agreeable, conversational manner.17:38–18:12 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Episode Conclusion and Summary of Beefree's SaaS Metrics Nathan delivers a rapid solo summary wrapping up the entire financial teardown, customer counts, and growth trajectory of Beefree.0:49–4:30 · Guest teaching 3/10 Introducing Massimo Arrigoni and the Vision Behind Beefree Nathan explores Beefree's unique positioning as an embeddable editor versus direct PLG competitor to Canva. Massimo explains the revenue split and low churn mechanics across their white-label partner base.4:31–8:05 · Guest teaching 2/10 Analyzing Subscription Metrics, Average Revenue Per User, and Growth Nathan aggregates the customer count and ARPU figures across both business segments in real time to calculate total ARR. Massimo confirms Nathan's calculated run rate of over $7M ARR is spot on.8:09–15:20 · Guest teaching 4/10 Sponsor Feature: Scaling International Hiring and Payroll with Remote Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively questions why Beefree remains inside a public Italian holding company trading at a 1x revenue multiple. Nathan directly pitches PE firms to acquire the asset, while Massimo pushes back on selling at a discount.15:20–17:38 · Guest teaching 1/10 Examining Beefree's Team Distribution and Engineering Headcount Allocation Nathan covers team headcount, product-to-sales ratios, and runs through the standard Famous Five lightning round questions in an agreeable, conversational manner.17:38–18:12 · Guest teaching 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Summary of Beefree's SaaS Metrics Nathan delivers a rapid solo summary wrapping up the entire financial teardown, customer counts, and growth trajectory of Beefree.0:49–4:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Massimo Arrigoni and the Vision Behind Beefree Nathan explores Beefree's unique positioning as an embeddable editor versus direct PLG competitor to Canva. Massimo explains the revenue split and low churn mechanics across their white-label partner base.4:31–8:05 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Analyzing Subscription Metrics, Average Revenue Per User, and Growth Nathan aggregates the customer count and ARPU figures across both business segments in real time to calculate total ARR. Massimo confirms Nathan's calculated run rate of over $7M ARR is spot on.8:09–15:20 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Sponsor Feature: Scaling International Hiring and Payroll with Remote Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively questions why Beefree remains inside a public Italian holding company trading at a 1x revenue multiple. Nathan directly pitches PE firms to acquire the asset, while Massimo pushes back on selling at a discount.15:20–17:38 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Examining Beefree's Team Distribution and Engineering Headcount Allocation Nathan covers team headcount, product-to-sales ratios, and runs through the standard Famous Five lightning round questions in an agreeable, conversational manner.17:38–18:12 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Summary of Beefree's SaaS Metrics Nathan delivers a rapid solo summary wrapping up the entire financial teardown, customer counts, and growth trajectory of Beefree.0:49–4:30 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Massimo Arrigoni and the Vision Behind Beefree Nathan explores Beefree's unique positioning as an embeddable editor versus direct PLG competitor to Canva. Massimo explains the revenue split and low churn mechanics across their white-label partner base.4:31–8:05 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Analyzing Subscription Metrics, Average Revenue Per User, and Growth Nathan aggregates the customer count and ARPU figures across both business segments in real time to calculate total ARR. Massimo confirms Nathan's calculated run rate of over $7M ARR is spot on.8:09–15:20 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Sponsor Feature: Scaling International Hiring and Payroll with Remote Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively questions why Beefree remains inside a public Italian holding company trading at a 1x revenue multiple. Nathan directly pitches PE firms to acquire the asset, while Massimo pushes back on selling at a discount.15:20–17:38 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Examining Beefree's Team Distribution and Engineering Headcount Allocation Nathan covers team headcount, product-to-sales ratios, and runs through the standard Famous Five lightning round questions in an agreeable, conversational manner.17:38–18:12 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Summary of Beefree's SaaS Metrics Nathan delivers a rapid solo summary wrapping up the entire financial teardown, customer counts, and growth trajectory of Beefree.

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

0:00 · Nathan 53.8% · guest 46.2%0:00 · Nathan 53.8% · guest 46.2%3:00 · Nathan 9.6% · guest 90.4%3:00 · Nathan 9.6% · guest 90.4%6:00 · Nathan 49.1% · guest 50.9%6:00 · Nathan 49.1% · guest 50.9%9:00 · Nathan 46.3% · guest 53.7%9:00 · Nathan 46.3% · guest 53.7%12:00 · Nathan 43.7% · guest 56.3%12:00 · Nathan 43.7% · guest 56.3%15:00 · Nathan 34.7% · guest 65.3%15:00 · Nathan 34.7% · guest 65.3%18:00 · Nathan 92.1% · guest 7.9%18:00 · Nathan 92.1% · guest 7.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:04 Rejecting the lowball buyout thesis

Massimo firmly rejects Nathan's suggestion to sell the business for $14 million, insisting Beefree's growth trajectory and market potential command a much higher multiple.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 14:12 Nathan insists shareholders would force a buyout

Nathan counters Massimo's resistance by arguing that public shareholders would readily vote in favor of a 100% premium buyout regardless of management's wishes.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:19 Explaining the Italian AIM stock exchange discount

Massimo educates Nathan on why their profitable parent company trades at a 1x multiple due to low liquidity on the Milan AIM stock exchange.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:08 Nathan nails the live revenue arithmetic

Nathan combines the disparate monthly ARPU and user counts from two distinct business lines to accurately deduce the company's run rate before Massimo discloses it.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Massimo Arrigoni and the Vision Behind Beefree 6312 Nathan explores Beefree's unique positioning as an embeddable editor versus direct PLG competitor to Canva. Massimo explains the revenue split and low churn mechanics across their white-label partner base.
Analyzing Subscription Metrics, Average Revenue Per User, and Growth 7212 Nathan aggregates the customer count and ARPU figures across both business segments in real time to calculate total ARR. Massimo confirms Nathan's calculated run rate of over $7M ARR is spot on.
Sponsor Feature: Scaling International Hiring and Payroll with Remote 8447 Following an ad read, Nathan aggressively questions why Beefree remains inside a public Italian holding company trading at a 1x revenue multiple. Nathan directly pitches PE firms to acquire the asset, while Massimo pushes back on selling at a discount.
Examining Beefree's Team Distribution and Engineering Headcount Allocation 4101 Nathan covers team headcount, product-to-sales ratios, and runs through the standard Famous Five lightning round questions in an agreeable, conversational manner.
Episode Conclusion and Summary of Beefree's SaaS Metrics 7000 Nathan delivers a rapid solo summary wrapping up the entire financial teardown, customer counts, and growth trajectory of Beefree.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Arrigoni: Beefree revenue splits evenly between embed SDK and self-serve
“About 50% of B is the embeddable editor. So SAS companies that embed B in their platform, just because it makes sense instead of developing their own. And then the other 50% is people, it's more like the Canva side. People that just come to BeFree.io and want …”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 2:02
Disclosure
Arrigoni: Beefree's embeddable editor has 600 customers at $600 monthly ARPU
“So on the embeddable editors side, only about 600 customers monthly are by about 600 dollars.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 2:55
Disclosure
Arrigoni: Beefree SDK boasts zero gross churn and negative net churn
“But once we're in no churn, like there's basically no churn because you cannot take out a visual builder that you've embedded right. So gross customer churn Is almost zero. And the revenue churn is net revenue churn is negative, you know, big time negative.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 3:23
Disclosure
Arrigoni: Beefree converts 9% of free users to 10,000 monthly trials
“And then we convert about nine percent of those into free trials, over 10,000 free trials a month.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 4:22
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Arrigoni: Beefree's SMB self-serve product averages $25 monthly ARPU
“It's about 25 dollars.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 4:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Arrigoni: Beefree has 11,000 paying SMB customers
“About 11,000.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 5:21
Assertion Supported
Arrigoni: Beefree has crossed $7M in annual recurring revenue
“So again, we're a subsidiary of publicly traded companies. So the last thing that we disclosed was over seven million in ARR.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 6:24
Assertion Supported
Arrigoni: Beefree's revenue is growing at over 50% year-over-year
“A year ago, well, this year we're growing over 50%.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 6:51
Disclosure
Arrigoni: Beefree receives acquisition inquiries from buyers almost daily
“We get approached daily pretty much”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 11:40
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Arrigoni: Beefree reached $7M ARR with only three quota-carrying sales reps
“We have now it's two or three that are in that you know, kind of profile.”
Massimo Arrigoni Oct 17, 2021 ▶ 15:40
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