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Aug 24, 2021 · 20m · top-founders

400 Firms pay $1k/mo For This Investor Database, Growing 100% YoY Bootstrapped

Guy Koston · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken Frank Bien · 4s spoken Eric Yuan · 4s spoken Vivek Bhaskaran · 2s 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 Guy Koston, co-founder and CEO of Dakota, exploring how he bootstrapped a proprietary institutional allocator database from an outsourced sales agency into a $5M ARR SaaS platform with 100% founder ownership and 115% net dollar retention.

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 36.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.4 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.2
05100:0010:0020:000:00–5:02 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Episode Preview: Projecting Annual Capital Raising Figures Nathan quickly breaks down pricing structures, calculating seat averages and ACV on the fly. Guy clarifies that his database caters to institutional allocators rather than wealth LPs.5:02–9:14 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Pivot to Data and the Genesis of Dakota Live Nathan probes how the legacy business worked, calculating the cut of management fees from $40B raised. Guy explains the evolution from a failed pitch platform into Dakota Live and software data licenses.9:18–14:30 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Global Hiring with Remote.com Following an ad read, Nathan models out the math for quota targets, ARR velocity, and customer expansion rates, matching Guy's operational numbers closely.14:30–18:17 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Bootstrapping Strategy, Retention Metrics, and Acquisition Outlook Nathan presses Guy on exact churn metrics and presents a hypothetical forty million acquisition buyout from PitchBook, which Guy promptly rejects to maintain control and growth.18:17–19:58 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Famous Five Questions and Final Interview Summary Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format without resistance and delivers a comprehensive recap of Dakota's SaaS and agency metrics.0:00–5:02 · Guest teaching 4/10 Episode Preview: Projecting Annual Capital Raising Figures Nathan quickly breaks down pricing structures, calculating seat averages and ACV on the fly. Guy clarifies that his database caters to institutional allocators rather than wealth LPs.5:02–9:14 · Guest teaching 3/10 Pivot to Data and the Genesis of Dakota Live Nathan probes how the legacy business worked, calculating the cut of management fees from $40B raised. Guy explains the evolution from a failed pitch platform into Dakota Live and software data licenses.9:18–14:30 · Guest teaching 2/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Global Hiring with Remote.com Following an ad read, Nathan models out the math for quota targets, ARR velocity, and customer expansion rates, matching Guy's operational numbers closely.14:30–18:17 · Guest teaching 3/10 Bootstrapping Strategy, Retention Metrics, and Acquisition Outlook Nathan presses Guy on exact churn metrics and presents a hypothetical forty million acquisition buyout from PitchBook, which Guy promptly rejects to maintain control and growth.18:17–19:58 · Guest teaching 0/10 Famous Five Questions and Final Interview Summary Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format without resistance and delivers a comprehensive recap of Dakota's SaaS and agency metrics.0:00–5:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Episode Preview: Projecting Annual Capital Raising Figures Nathan quickly breaks down pricing structures, calculating seat averages and ACV on the fly. Guy clarifies that his database caters to institutional allocators rather than wealth LPs.5:02–9:14 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Pivot to Data and the Genesis of Dakota Live Nathan probes how the legacy business worked, calculating the cut of management fees from $40B raised. Guy explains the evolution from a failed pitch platform into Dakota Live and software data licenses.9:18–14:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Global Hiring with Remote.com Following an ad read, Nathan models out the math for quota targets, ARR velocity, and customer expansion rates, matching Guy's operational numbers closely.14:30–18:17 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Bootstrapping Strategy, Retention Metrics, and Acquisition Outlook Nathan presses Guy on exact churn metrics and presents a hypothetical forty million acquisition buyout from PitchBook, which Guy promptly rejects to maintain control and growth.18:17–19:58 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Famous Five Questions and Final Interview Summary Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format without resistance and delivers a comprehensive recap of Dakota's SaaS and agency metrics.0:00–5:02 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Episode Preview: Projecting Annual Capital Raising Figures Nathan quickly breaks down pricing structures, calculating seat averages and ACV on the fly. Guy clarifies that his database caters to institutional allocators rather than wealth LPs.5:02–9:14 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Pivot to Data and the Genesis of Dakota Live Nathan probes how the legacy business worked, calculating the cut of management fees from $40B raised. Guy explains the evolution from a failed pitch platform into Dakota Live and software data licenses.9:18–14:30 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Global Hiring with Remote.com Following an ad read, Nathan models out the math for quota targets, ARR velocity, and customer expansion rates, matching Guy's operational numbers closely.14:30–18:17 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Bootstrapping Strategy, Retention Metrics, and Acquisition Outlook Nathan presses Guy on exact churn metrics and presents a hypothetical forty million acquisition buyout from PitchBook, which Guy promptly rejects to maintain control and growth.18:17–19:58 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Famous Five Questions and Final Interview Summary Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format without resistance and delivers a comprehensive recap of Dakota's SaaS and agency metrics.

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

0:00 · Nathan 56.6% · guest 43.4%0:00 · Nathan 56.6% · guest 43.4%3:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%3:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%6:00 · Nathan 13.4% · guest 86.6%6:00 · Nathan 13.4% · guest 86.6%9:00 · Nathan 65.6% · guest 34.4%9:00 · Nathan 65.6% · guest 34.4%12:00 · Nathan 40.1% · guest 59.9%12:00 · Nathan 40.1% · guest 59.9%15:00 · Nathan 18.8% · guest 81.2%15:00 · Nathan 18.8% · guest 81.2%18:00 · Nathan 44.5% · guest 55.5%18:00 · Nathan 44.5% · guest 55.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:33 Refusing hypothetical acquisition offer

Guy firmly rejects Nathan's hypothetical forty million cash buyout from PitchBook, insisting the company is not for sale.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 16:07 Pressing for quantified churn figures

Nathan interrupts Guy's qualitative explanation about client turnover to demand exact annual churn percentages.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 2:54 Correcting LP target profile

Guy educates Nathan on the difference between high-net-worth angel lists and institutional allocators like state pension funds and university endowments.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:20 Fast calculation of agency fee commissions

Nathan rapidly translates basis points and forty billion in assets raised into exact commission fee revenue brackets.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Episode Preview: Projecting Annual Capital Raising Figures 5412 Nathan quickly breaks down pricing structures, calculating seat averages and ACV on the fly. Guy clarifies that his database caters to institutional allocators rather than wealth LPs.
Pivot to Data and the Genesis of Dakota Live 6313 Nathan probes how the legacy business worked, calculating the cut of management fees from $40B raised. Guy explains the evolution from a failed pitch platform into Dakota Live and software data licenses.
Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Global Hiring with Remote.com 6212 Following an ad read, Nathan models out the math for quota targets, ARR velocity, and customer expansion rates, matching Guy's operational numbers closely.
Bootstrapping Strategy, Retention Metrics, and Acquisition Outlook 6324 Nathan presses Guy on exact churn metrics and presents a hypothetical forty million acquisition buyout from PitchBook, which Guy promptly rejects to maintain control and growth.
Famous Five Questions and Final Interview Summary 4000 Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format without resistance and delivers a comprehensive recap of Dakota's SaaS and agency metrics.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dakota has raised over $40 billion for investment firms since 2006
“We founded our firm in 2006 investment firms hire us to be their outsource sales and marketing team, which means we raise capital for their investment strategies. So we've raised over forty billion since that time.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 2:05
Disclosure
Over 400 investment firms use Dakota's fundraising database
“And we now have over 400 investment firms and growing using our data to set up meetings to raise money.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 2:41
Disclosure
Dakota charges $12,500 annually for two seats plus $1,000 per extra user
“It's 12,500 for two user licenses and then a thousand dollars for each additional user.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 3:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dakota launched its 2018 platform with 14 customers paying $55,750 annually
“We launched it June of 2018. 14 paying customers. Paid us 55,007 and 50 dollars a year.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 5:28
Insight
Why 'database' is a dirty word in institutional investing
“And the word database in our industry is a really dirty word because most data is stale.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 13:15
Disclosure
Guy Koston: Dakota targets 70 to 100 contracts per sales rep annually
“I would say it has to be between 70 and a hundred contracts.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 14:15
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dakota maintains roughly 115% net dollar retention
“We're probably one 15.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 16:27
Disclosure
Guy Koston owns 100% of Dakota with no outside equity investors
“Right now. Yes.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 17:04
Disclosure
Why Guy Koston would reject a $40M all-cash acquisition offer for Dakota
“No. No, no. We're even, even, even one guy made a comment, like the thing that makes the product great is that we're in it and using it. And it's like this culture right now. So no plans to sell right now.”
Guy Koston Aug 24, 2021 ▶ 17:39
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