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Aug 19, 2021 · 18m · top-founders

Retail SaaS Taking Off Post Pandemic, $1m+ ARR, Raising $8m Series A Now

Michelle Bacharach · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken Frank Bien · 4s spoken Eric Yuan · 4s spoken Vivek Bhaskaran · 2s spoken
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

FindMine CEO and co-founder Michelle Bacharach joins Nathan Latka to discuss how her retail machine learning platform surpassed $1 million in ARR and is preparing an $8 million Series A round to scale enterprise merchandising automation.

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 40.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 1.2 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 1.8
05100:0010:000:20–4:27 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Conversations with Nathan Latka Subscriber Announcement After an initial subscriber promo, Nathan drills into Michelle's business model, ACV ($160k/yr), entry price points ($20k/yr), and top contract sizes. Michelle clearly outlines her machine learning retail automation platform in a collaborative manner.4:28–6:56 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Origins, COVID Disruptions, and $1 Million ARR Nathan does rapid back-of-the-envelope math on Michelle's customer count and ARPU to confirm she has crossed the $1M ARR threshold. Michelle verifies the calculation and details how COVID initially hurt but ultimately accelerated retail tech adoption.6:58–9:17 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Fundraising Journey and Series A Capital Strategy Nathan inquires about their historical $7M seed funding and VC flywheel dynamics. Michelle explains their plans for an $8M Series A to capitalize on the 10 to 15 year pull-forward in e-commerce tech.9:20–13:21 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Sponsor Message: Streamlining SaaS Onboarding with Flatfile Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan presses into sales hiring unit economics, commission structures, and Series A valuation/dilution math ($45M-$80M post). Michelle shows solid command of her sales ramp and team structure.13:24–16:56 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Revenue Growth Trajectory and Customer Retention Michelle explains how only COVID-induced customer bankruptcies caused churn, and outlines new product expansions like brand edit syndication. Nathan helps frame their revenue run-rate growth towards 400% year-over-year.16:58–18:11 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, closing out the interview on a friendly and supportive note.0:20–4:27 · Guest teaching 2/10 Conversations with Nathan Latka Subscriber Announcement After an initial subscriber promo, Nathan drills into Michelle's business model, ACV ($160k/yr), entry price points ($20k/yr), and top contract sizes. Michelle clearly outlines her machine learning retail automation platform in a collaborative manner.4:28–6:56 · Guest teaching 1/10 Origins, COVID Disruptions, and $1 Million ARR Nathan does rapid back-of-the-envelope math on Michelle's customer count and ARPU to confirm she has crossed the $1M ARR threshold. Michelle verifies the calculation and details how COVID initially hurt but ultimately accelerated retail tech adoption.6:58–9:17 · Guest teaching 1/10 Fundraising Journey and Series A Capital Strategy Nathan inquires about their historical $7M seed funding and VC flywheel dynamics. Michelle explains their plans for an $8M Series A to capitalize on the 10 to 15 year pull-forward in e-commerce tech.9:20–13:21 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Message: Streamlining SaaS Onboarding with Flatfile Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan presses into sales hiring unit economics, commission structures, and Series A valuation/dilution math ($45M-$80M post). Michelle shows solid command of her sales ramp and team structure.13:24–16:56 · Guest teaching 2/10 Revenue Growth Trajectory and Customer Retention Michelle explains how only COVID-induced customer bankruptcies caused churn, and outlines new product expansions like brand edit syndication. Nathan helps frame their revenue run-rate growth towards 400% year-over-year.16:58–18:11 · Guest teaching 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, closing out the interview on a friendly and supportive note.0:20–4:27 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Conversations with Nathan Latka Subscriber Announcement After an initial subscriber promo, Nathan drills into Michelle's business model, ACV ($160k/yr), entry price points ($20k/yr), and top contract sizes. Michelle clearly outlines her machine learning retail automation platform in a collaborative manner.4:28–6:56 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Origins, COVID Disruptions, and $1 Million ARR Nathan does rapid back-of-the-envelope math on Michelle's customer count and ARPU to confirm she has crossed the $1M ARR threshold. Michelle verifies the calculation and details how COVID initially hurt but ultimately accelerated retail tech adoption.6:58–9:17 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Fundraising Journey and Series A Capital Strategy Nathan inquires about their historical $7M seed funding and VC flywheel dynamics. Michelle explains their plans for an $8M Series A to capitalize on the 10 to 15 year pull-forward in e-commerce tech.9:20–13:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Message: Streamlining SaaS Onboarding with Flatfile Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan presses into sales hiring unit economics, commission structures, and Series A valuation/dilution math ($45M-$80M post). Michelle shows solid command of her sales ramp and team structure.13:24–16:56 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Revenue Growth Trajectory and Customer Retention Michelle explains how only COVID-induced customer bankruptcies caused churn, and outlines new product expansions like brand edit syndication. Nathan helps frame their revenue run-rate growth towards 400% year-over-year.16:58–18:11 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, closing out the interview on a friendly and supportive note.0:20–4:27 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Conversations with Nathan Latka Subscriber Announcement After an initial subscriber promo, Nathan drills into Michelle's business model, ACV ($160k/yr), entry price points ($20k/yr), and top contract sizes. Michelle clearly outlines her machine learning retail automation platform in a collaborative manner.4:28–6:56 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Origins, COVID Disruptions, and $1 Million ARR Nathan does rapid back-of-the-envelope math on Michelle's customer count and ARPU to confirm she has crossed the $1M ARR threshold. Michelle verifies the calculation and details how COVID initially hurt but ultimately accelerated retail tech adoption.6:58–9:17 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Fundraising Journey and Series A Capital Strategy Nathan inquires about their historical $7M seed funding and VC flywheel dynamics. Michelle explains their plans for an $8M Series A to capitalize on the 10 to 15 year pull-forward in e-commerce tech.9:20–13:21 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Sponsor Message: Streamlining SaaS Onboarding with Flatfile Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan presses into sales hiring unit economics, commission structures, and Series A valuation/dilution math ($45M-$80M post). Michelle shows solid command of her sales ramp and team structure.13:24–16:56 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Revenue Growth Trajectory and Customer Retention Michelle explains how only COVID-induced customer bankruptcies caused churn, and outlines new product expansions like brand edit syndication. Nathan helps frame their revenue run-rate growth towards 400% year-over-year.16:58–18:11 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan runs through his standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, closing out the interview on a friendly and supportive note.

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

0:00 · Nathan 55.8% · guest 44.2%0:00 · Nathan 55.8% · guest 44.2%3:00 · Nathan 16.5% · guest 83.5%3:00 · Nathan 16.5% · guest 83.5%6:00 · Nathan 25.2% · guest 74.8%6:00 · Nathan 25.2% · guest 74.8%9:00 · Nathan 68.8% · guest 31.2%9:00 · Nathan 68.8% · guest 31.2%12:00 · Nathan 50.1% · guest 49.9%12:00 · Nathan 50.1% · guest 49.9%15:00 · Nathan 16.3% · guest 83.7%15:00 · Nathan 16.3% · guest 83.7%18:00 · Nathan 83.7% · guest 16.3%18:00 · Nathan 83.7% · guest 16.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:01 Clarifying monthly run-rate vs growth percentages

In a very cordial episode, Michelle gently pushes back on Nathan's specific monthly revenue math, clarifying that while she doesn't track that exact monthly breakdown offhand, the macro percentage growth numbers are solid.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:05 Nathan frames dilution vs valuation boundaries

Nathan reframes Michelle's Series A target into hard valuation numbers, asserting that selling 10-20% means requiring a $45M to $80M post-money valuation.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 2:01 Michelle explains machine learning prediction approach

Michelle educates Nathan on why predicting merchant behavior rather than consumer behavior leads to aspirational brand experiences that outperform conventional recommendations.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:40 Nathan deduces $1M ARR milestone

Nathan quickly computes customer counts and ACV figures live on air to pinpoint that FindMine has surpassed the $1M ARR run-rate milestone.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Conversations with Nathan Latka Subscriber Announcement 5212 After an initial subscriber promo, Nathan drills into Michelle's business model, ACV ($160k/yr), entry price points ($20k/yr), and top contract sizes. Michelle clearly outlines her machine learning retail automation platform in a collaborative manner.
Origins, COVID Disruptions, and $1 Million ARR 6112 Nathan does rapid back-of-the-envelope math on Michelle's customer count and ARPU to confirm she has crossed the $1M ARR threshold. Michelle verifies the calculation and details how COVID initially hurt but ultimately accelerated retail tech adoption.
Fundraising Journey and Series A Capital Strategy 5112 Nathan inquires about their historical $7M seed funding and VC flywheel dynamics. Michelle explains their plans for an $8M Series A to capitalize on the 10 to 15 year pull-forward in e-commerce tech.
Sponsor Message: Streamlining SaaS Onboarding with Flatfile 6113 Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan presses into sales hiring unit economics, commission structures, and Series A valuation/dilution math ($45M-$80M post). Michelle shows solid command of her sales ramp and team structure.
Revenue Growth Trajectory and Customer Retention 5212 Michelle explains how only COVID-induced customer bankruptcies caused churn, and outlines new product expansions like brand edit syndication. Nathan helps frame their revenue run-rate growth towards 400% year-over-year.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 3000 Nathan runs through his standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, closing out the interview on a friendly and supportive note.

Statements from this episode (11)

Disclosure
Bacharach: FindMine average contract size is about $160k annually
“Our average contract size is about a 160,000 per year.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 3:14
Disclosure
Bacharach: FindMine entry-level pricing starts at around $20k annually
“It's about 20,000 a year.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 3:52
Disclosure
Bacharach: FindMine largest contract is roughly $750,000 per year
“Our largest contracts, probably about three quarters of a million.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 4:21
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bacharach: FindMine has about eight paying customer accounts
“We're working with about eight different payers.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 6:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bacharach: FindMine has surpassed $1 million in ARR
“We have passed that, yep.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 6:53
Assertion Supported
Bacharach: FindMine has raised about $7M lifetime to date
“We raised about seven million dollars lifetime to date.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 7:00
Disclosure
Bacharach: FindMine is targeting an $8M Series A round
“So we're looking to do like an eight million dollar series a you know, kind of right down the middle.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 8:47
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bacharach: FindMine has zero product-related customer churn
“We lost three customers due to bankruptcy. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, we've actually only had the only turn we've ever had are those three bankruptcies and two companies that got spun off to private equity by their owner. So we've never actually had a…”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 13:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Bacharach: FindMine has grown 140% since the start of 2021
“Since the beginning of 20, 21, it's a 140%”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 14:02
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Bacharach: FindMine should hit 400% YoY growth by end of 2021
“And we should end the year at 400% year over year.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 14:09
Assertion Supported
Bacharach: Retailers like Walmart and Macy's monetize sites via ad networks
“So you're starting to see a trend in retail where multibrand retailers, you know, like Walmart has Walmart Connect. Macy's has Macy's media network where they're monetizing their websites with traditional advertising.”
Michelle Bacharach Aug 19, 2021 ▶ 15:57
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