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May 12, 2021 · 23m · top-founders

Virtual Leasing Tour SaaS Hits $5m Revenue, Sells 60% at $34m Valuation Bringing on New Strategic Partner

Matt Weirich · 14m 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

RealLink co-founder and CEO Matt Weirich joins Nathan Latka to discuss how the virtual leasing SaaS scaled past $5 million in ARR, shifted to a flat-fee enterprise model, and executed a $16 million growth equity and secondary liquidity round with Susquehanna.

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 31.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.0 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 3.5
05100:0010:0020:001:38–5:58 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Matt Weirich and RealLink's Virtual Leasing Platform Nathan probes into the SaaS pricing structure and potential utility upsells. Matt explains why they moved away from usage-based pricing to flat per-property fees to encourage adoption.5:58–11:04 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Scale Metrics, Unit Volumes, and Enterprise Expansion Motion Nathan breaks down the enterprise roll-up metrics, understanding the unit-to-property distribution and land-and-expand sales motion.11:15–14:48 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Pivoting from Residential Brokerages to Multifamily Communities Nathan seeks clarity when property vs portfolio unit numbers cause slight confusion, and Matt clarifies their 100-unit threshold and portfolio sizing tiers.14:49–17:33 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Pandemic Tailwinds and Scaling to Five Million ARR Nathan quickly runs the ARR math and year-over-year growth trajectories, tracking how pandemic shutdowns created massive tailwinds from $1M to $4.5M ARR.17:35–20:21 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Sales Organization Structure, Quotas, and Retention Dynamics Nathan immediately calculates annual rep quota targets ($2.4M ARR per rep) and notes how aggressive that is compared to SaaS industry norms like $1M quotas on $200k OTE.20:21–23:26 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 The Susquehanna Growth Deal: Valuation and Secondary Structure Nathan immediately identifies the deal as a majority secondary buyout and challenges Matt on why they accepted a relatively low $22M valuation given their rapid 400% ARR growth.1:38–5:58 · Guest teaching 4/10 Introducing Matt Weirich and RealLink's Virtual Leasing Platform Nathan probes into the SaaS pricing structure and potential utility upsells. Matt explains why they moved away from usage-based pricing to flat per-property fees to encourage adoption.5:58–11:04 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scale Metrics, Unit Volumes, and Enterprise Expansion Motion Nathan breaks down the enterprise roll-up metrics, understanding the unit-to-property distribution and land-and-expand sales motion.11:15–14:48 · Guest teaching 4/10 Pivoting from Residential Brokerages to Multifamily Communities Nathan seeks clarity when property vs portfolio unit numbers cause slight confusion, and Matt clarifies their 100-unit threshold and portfolio sizing tiers.14:49–17:33 · Guest teaching 2/10 Pandemic Tailwinds and Scaling to Five Million ARR Nathan quickly runs the ARR math and year-over-year growth trajectories, tracking how pandemic shutdowns created massive tailwinds from $1M to $4.5M ARR.17:35–20:21 · Guest teaching 2/10 Sales Organization Structure, Quotas, and Retention Dynamics Nathan immediately calculates annual rep quota targets ($2.4M ARR per rep) and notes how aggressive that is compared to SaaS industry norms like $1M quotas on $200k OTE.20:21–23:26 · Guest teaching 3/10 The Susquehanna Growth Deal: Valuation and Secondary Structure Nathan immediately identifies the deal as a majority secondary buyout and challenges Matt on why they accepted a relatively low $22M valuation given their rapid 400% ARR growth.1:38–5:58 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Matt Weirich and RealLink's Virtual Leasing Platform Nathan probes into the SaaS pricing structure and potential utility upsells. Matt explains why they moved away from usage-based pricing to flat per-property fees to encourage adoption.5:58–11:04 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Scale Metrics, Unit Volumes, and Enterprise Expansion Motion Nathan breaks down the enterprise roll-up metrics, understanding the unit-to-property distribution and land-and-expand sales motion.11:15–14:48 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Pivoting from Residential Brokerages to Multifamily Communities Nathan seeks clarity when property vs portfolio unit numbers cause slight confusion, and Matt clarifies their 100-unit threshold and portfolio sizing tiers.14:49–17:33 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Pandemic Tailwinds and Scaling to Five Million ARR Nathan quickly runs the ARR math and year-over-year growth trajectories, tracking how pandemic shutdowns created massive tailwinds from $1M to $4.5M ARR.17:35–20:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sales Organization Structure, Quotas, and Retention Dynamics Nathan immediately calculates annual rep quota targets ($2.4M ARR per rep) and notes how aggressive that is compared to SaaS industry norms like $1M quotas on $200k OTE.20:21–23:26 · Guest disagreement 2/10 The Susquehanna Growth Deal: Valuation and Secondary Structure Nathan immediately identifies the deal as a majority secondary buyout and challenges Matt on why they accepted a relatively low $22M valuation given their rapid 400% ARR growth.1:38–5:58 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Matt Weirich and RealLink's Virtual Leasing Platform Nathan probes into the SaaS pricing structure and potential utility upsells. Matt explains why they moved away from usage-based pricing to flat per-property fees to encourage adoption.5:58–11:04 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Scale Metrics, Unit Volumes, and Enterprise Expansion Motion Nathan breaks down the enterprise roll-up metrics, understanding the unit-to-property distribution and land-and-expand sales motion.11:15–14:48 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Pivoting from Residential Brokerages to Multifamily Communities Nathan seeks clarity when property vs portfolio unit numbers cause slight confusion, and Matt clarifies their 100-unit threshold and portfolio sizing tiers.14:49–17:33 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Pandemic Tailwinds and Scaling to Five Million ARR Nathan quickly runs the ARR math and year-over-year growth trajectories, tracking how pandemic shutdowns created massive tailwinds from $1M to $4.5M ARR.17:35–20:21 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Sales Organization Structure, Quotas, and Retention Dynamics Nathan immediately calculates annual rep quota targets ($2.4M ARR per rep) and notes how aggressive that is compared to SaaS industry norms like $1M quotas on $200k OTE.20:21–23:26 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 The Susquehanna Growth Deal: Valuation and Secondary Structure Nathan immediately identifies the deal as a majority secondary buyout and challenges Matt on why they accepted a relatively low $22M valuation given their rapid 400% ARR growth.

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

0:00 · Nathan 63.4% · guest 36.6%0:00 · Nathan 63.4% · guest 36.6%3:00 · Nathan 15.6% · guest 84.4%3:00 · Nathan 15.6% · guest 84.4%6:00 · Nathan 27.2% · guest 72.8%6:00 · Nathan 27.2% · guest 72.8%9:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%9:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%12:00 · Nathan 35.1% · guest 64.9%12:00 · Nathan 35.1% · guest 64.9%15:00 · Nathan 24.1% · guest 75.9%15:00 · Nathan 24.1% · guest 75.9%18:00 · Nathan 28.8% · guest 71.2%18:00 · Nathan 28.8% · guest 71.2%21:00 · Nathan 37.5% · guest 62.5%21:00 · Nathan 37.5% · guest 62.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 22:28 Matt defends valuation multiple and timing

Matt calmly defends selling at a $22M valuation by explaining that institutional underwriters discounted recent surge momentum before multiple quarters of historic proof were established.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 22:08 Nathan presses on low valuation multiple

Nathan directly challenges the deal economics, stating that a $22M valuation is exceptionally low for a company growing from $1M to over $4.5M in ARR.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:14 Matt explains why usage-based pricing failed

Matt educates the host on SaaS economics in multifamily leasing, explaining that metering usage incentivized customers to use the platform less, forcing a shift to flat fees.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 19:00 Nathan analyzes quota-to-OTE industry benchmarks

Nathan demonstrates SaaS sales domain knowledge by converting quarterly property quotas into $2.4M ARR per rep and contrasting it with the typical $1M quota standard.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Matt Weirich and RealLink's Virtual Leasing Platform 5413 Nathan probes into the SaaS pricing structure and potential utility upsells. Matt explains why they moved away from usage-based pricing to flat per-property fees to encourage adoption.
Scale Metrics, Unit Volumes, and Enterprise Expansion Motion 5212 Nathan breaks down the enterprise roll-up metrics, understanding the unit-to-property distribution and land-and-expand sales motion.
Pivoting from Residential Brokerages to Multifamily Communities 5413 Nathan seeks clarity when property vs portfolio unit numbers cause slight confusion, and Matt clarifies their 100-unit threshold and portfolio sizing tiers.
Pandemic Tailwinds and Scaling to Five Million ARR 6212 Nathan quickly runs the ARR math and year-over-year growth trajectories, tracking how pandemic shutdowns created massive tailwinds from $1M to $4.5M ARR.
Sales Organization Structure, Quotas, and Retention Dynamics 7214 Nathan immediately calculates annual rep quota targets ($2.4M ARR per rep) and notes how aggressive that is compared to SaaS industry norms like $1M quotas on $200k OTE.
The Susquehanna Growth Deal: Valuation and Secondary Structure 8327 Nathan immediately identifies the deal as a majority secondary buyout and challenges Matt on why they accepted a relatively low $22M valuation given their rapid 400% ARR growth.

Statements from this episode (16)

Disclosure
Weirich: RealLink was founded from consumer frustration, not real estate experience
“I actually don't have a formal background in real estate or anything like that. It was more of the consumer pain point that drove me to start the business. I was moving from Purdue university up to Chicago, about a two to three hour drive, not terribly far, bu…”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 2:27
Disclosure
Weirich: RealLink shifted from consumer focus to B2B SaaS
“Here we are 10 years later working on the B to B SaaS side of it instead of the consumer side of it”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 3:05
Disclosure
RealLink: Average property pricing is around $325 per month
“So the average price point for Relink is right around that three 25 per month. And that's unlimited live video tours, pre-recorded video tours, cloud storage, integrations, all of that.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 4:44
Insight
Weirich: Usage-based pricing led customers to minimize platform usage
“Early on when we launched our company, we actually charged based on usage. And what we found very quickly was that the only result that drove was teams trying to minimize their usage.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 5:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weirich: RealLink reaches 500k units across 1,400 US and UK properties
“So we're actually pushing in 500,000 units now on the platform, which is great. So rolling that up on a property level, we're around 1400 individual properties using a platform between the U S and the UK.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 6:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weirich: RealLink has approximately 150 enterprise clients
“When you roll that up to our enterprise clients, we have about a 150 enterprise clients.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 6:44
Insight
Selling B2B real estate tech agent-by-agent is a failed GTM strategy
“We realized very quickly that was not a B to B go to market strategy. Brokerages did not want to pay for technology for their agents. And so we had to sell agent by agent by agent. And it just was not an easy or feasible go to market strategy for a startup.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 9:55
Assertion Supported
Weirich: RealLink Raised $330k Friends & Family in 2013, $1.1M Seed in 2016
“So we did a friends and family round of funding End of 20 13, I believe it was we raised a 130,000. So very small. One 30. 330. So we made that stretch much longer than it should have. And we didn't do a formal seed round of funding until 2016 when we did a 1.…”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 10:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weirich: RealLink grew from $1M to roughly $4.5M ARR in 2020
“So we actually hit one million ARR in January of twenty-twenty. Which was a huge milestone for us. And then we ended the year at 4.5 ish, give or take.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 15:58
Disclosure
Weirich: RealLink targets $8M ARR for 2021
“The goal's eight.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 16:52
Disclosure
RealLink sales reps carry a $600K quarterly ARR quota
“And so we've really settled of a goal quota of Around a 180 properties per quarter, give or take... So if they're adding a 180 properties, rough, Matt, we could expect them to do about 600,000 ARR.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 18:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Expansion accounts for 75% to 80% of RealLink sales
“The land and expand, the farming and that growth for us has typically made up about 75 to 80% of our sales.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 19:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weirich: RealLink annual gross revenue churn is under 10%
“So very low. Thankfully we're at less than 10% annual.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 20:10
Disclosure
Secondary liquidity comprised two-thirds of RealLink's recent funding transaction
“So out of the twenty two million valuation, secondary was probably call it two thirds.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 21:01
Disclosure
RealLink raised $16M at a $22M valuation from Susquehanna Growth Equity
“About 16 out of 22.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 21:19
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weirich: $22M Valuation Was the High End in October 2020
“The, that was actually the high end of the valuations that we were getting in the thick of it, obviously. So we did that round. We closed it in October of last year. And so we weren't at 4.5 yet at that point.”
Matt Weirich May 12, 2021 ▶ 22:29
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