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Mar 27, 2021 · 19m · top-founders

Worth $2.6b Today, What About 36 Months Ago?

Alex Yampolskiy · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m spoken Eric Yuan · 4s spoken Vivek Bhaskaran · 2s spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of the Latka podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Alexander Yampolsky, founder and CEO of SecurityScorecard, exploring how the company scaled to $30 million in ARR with 115% net revenue retention. Yampolsky details the platform's non-intrusive security rating model, healthy enterprise unit economics, venture fundraising journey, and long-term vision to make cybersecurity ratings an industry standard.

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 29.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.4 Guest teaching 3.8 Guest disagreement 3.0 Nathan pushing back 5.4
05100:0010:002:15–4:48 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Non-Intrusive Security Ratings and Pricing Model Latka challenges Yampolsky's security model as basic hacking and fear-based selling. Yampolsky firmly reframes their non-intrusive telemetry methodology and rejects the fear, uncertainty, and doubt approach.4:48–7:16 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Scaling to $30M ARR and Negative Churn Latka executes rapid on-the-fly SaaS math combining ACV and customer count to estimate monthly run-rate. He presses Yampolsky to disambiguate gross logo churn from net revenue retention.7:16–10:33 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Engineering Focus, Marketing Channels, and Unit Economics When Yampolsky hesitates to reveal exact payback metrics, Latka infers a sub-one-year period and extracts dollar CAC and LTV benchmarks based on ACV multiples.10:34–13:47 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Founding Backstory, Venture Funding, and Capital Efficiency Latka calls out a direct logical inconsistency when Yampolsky claims all venture capital is still in the bank despite acknowledging the business is not cash flow positive. Yampolsky is forced to clarify he meant unspent Series C funds.13:48–18:33 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Defining Category Vision and Rejecting Early Buyouts Latka asks if a $500M acquisition offer would tempt him to sell, prompting Yampolsky to elaborate on his long-term category creation vision using a Henry Ford analogy before shifting into rapid-fire closing questions.2:15–4:48 · Guest teaching 5/10 Non-Intrusive Security Ratings and Pricing Model Latka challenges Yampolsky's security model as basic hacking and fear-based selling. Yampolsky firmly reframes their non-intrusive telemetry methodology and rejects the fear, uncertainty, and doubt approach.4:48–7:16 · Guest teaching 3/10 Scaling to $30M ARR and Negative Churn Latka executes rapid on-the-fly SaaS math combining ACV and customer count to estimate monthly run-rate. He presses Yampolsky to disambiguate gross logo churn from net revenue retention.7:16–10:33 · Guest teaching 3/10 Engineering Focus, Marketing Channels, and Unit Economics When Yampolsky hesitates to reveal exact payback metrics, Latka infers a sub-one-year period and extracts dollar CAC and LTV benchmarks based on ACV multiples.10:34–13:47 · Guest teaching 3/10 Founding Backstory, Venture Funding, and Capital Efficiency Latka calls out a direct logical inconsistency when Yampolsky claims all venture capital is still in the bank despite acknowledging the business is not cash flow positive. Yampolsky is forced to clarify he meant unspent Series C funds.13:48–18:33 · Guest teaching 5/10 Defining Category Vision and Rejecting Early Buyouts Latka asks if a $500M acquisition offer would tempt him to sell, prompting Yampolsky to elaborate on his long-term category creation vision using a Henry Ford analogy before shifting into rapid-fire closing questions.2:15–4:48 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Non-Intrusive Security Ratings and Pricing Model Latka challenges Yampolsky's security model as basic hacking and fear-based selling. Yampolsky firmly reframes their non-intrusive telemetry methodology and rejects the fear, uncertainty, and doubt approach.4:48–7:16 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Scaling to $30M ARR and Negative Churn Latka executes rapid on-the-fly SaaS math combining ACV and customer count to estimate monthly run-rate. He presses Yampolsky to disambiguate gross logo churn from net revenue retention.7:16–10:33 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Engineering Focus, Marketing Channels, and Unit Economics When Yampolsky hesitates to reveal exact payback metrics, Latka infers a sub-one-year period and extracts dollar CAC and LTV benchmarks based on ACV multiples.10:34–13:47 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Founding Backstory, Venture Funding, and Capital Efficiency Latka calls out a direct logical inconsistency when Yampolsky claims all venture capital is still in the bank despite acknowledging the business is not cash flow positive. Yampolsky is forced to clarify he meant unspent Series C funds.13:48–18:33 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Defining Category Vision and Rejecting Early Buyouts Latka asks if a $500M acquisition offer would tempt him to sell, prompting Yampolsky to elaborate on his long-term category creation vision using a Henry Ford analogy before shifting into rapid-fire closing questions.2:15–4:48 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Non-Intrusive Security Ratings and Pricing Model Latka challenges Yampolsky's security model as basic hacking and fear-based selling. Yampolsky firmly reframes their non-intrusive telemetry methodology and rejects the fear, uncertainty, and doubt approach.4:48–7:16 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Scaling to $30M ARR and Negative Churn Latka executes rapid on-the-fly SaaS math combining ACV and customer count to estimate monthly run-rate. He presses Yampolsky to disambiguate gross logo churn from net revenue retention.7:16–10:33 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Engineering Focus, Marketing Channels, and Unit Economics When Yampolsky hesitates to reveal exact payback metrics, Latka infers a sub-one-year period and extracts dollar CAC and LTV benchmarks based on ACV multiples.10:34–13:47 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Founding Backstory, Venture Funding, and Capital Efficiency Latka calls out a direct logical inconsistency when Yampolsky claims all venture capital is still in the bank despite acknowledging the business is not cash flow positive. Yampolsky is forced to clarify he meant unspent Series C funds.13:48–18:33 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Defining Category Vision and Rejecting Early Buyouts Latka asks if a $500M acquisition offer would tempt him to sell, prompting Yampolsky to elaborate on his long-term category creation vision using a Henry Ford analogy before shifting into rapid-fire closing questions.

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

0:00 · Nathan 65.5% · guest 34.5%0:00 · Nathan 65.5% · guest 34.5%3:00 · Nathan 28.5% · guest 71.5%3:00 · Nathan 28.5% · guest 71.5%6:00 · Nathan 22.1% · guest 77.9%6:00 · Nathan 22.1% · guest 77.9%9:00 · Nathan 13.4% · guest 86.6%9:00 · Nathan 13.4% · guest 86.6%12:00 · Nathan 23.5% · guest 76.5%12:00 · Nathan 23.5% · guest 76.5%15:00 · Nathan 11.2% · guest 88.8%15:00 · Nathan 11.2% · guest 88.8%18:00 · Nathan 57% · guest 43%18:00 · Nathan 57% · guest 43%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 3:27 Rejecting fear-based sales premise

Yampolsky directly rejects Latka's assertion that SecurityScorecard relies on fear, uncertainty, and doubt to coerce customers into buying.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:18 Calling out cash flow contradiction

Latka bluntly interrupts to point out that having all raised money still in the bank while being unprofitable is logically impossible.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 2:56 Explaining outside-in security telemetry

Yampolsky educates Latka on non-intrusive external signal gathering, correcting the misconception that the product performs active unauthorized penetration testing.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:58 Correcting SaaS churn terminology

Latka demonstrates sharp domain mastery by immediately translating confusing negative-churn phrasing into standard 115% net revenue retention terms.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Non-Intrusive Security Ratings and Pricing Model 6545 Latka challenges Yampolsky's security model as basic hacking and fear-based selling. Yampolsky firmly reframes their non-intrusive telemetry methodology and rejects the fear, uncertainty, and doubt approach.
Scaling to $30M ARR and Negative Churn 8326 Latka executes rapid on-the-fly SaaS math combining ACV and customer count to estimate monthly run-rate. He presses Yampolsky to disambiguate gross logo churn from net revenue retention.
Engineering Focus, Marketing Channels, and Unit Economics 7335 When Yampolsky hesitates to reveal exact payback metrics, Latka infers a sub-one-year period and extracts dollar CAC and LTV benchmarks based on ACV multiples.
Founding Backstory, Venture Funding, and Capital Efficiency 7348 Latka calls out a direct logical inconsistency when Yampolsky claims all venture capital is still in the bank despite acknowledging the business is not cash flow positive. Yampolsky is forced to clarify he meant unspent Series C funds.
Defining Category Vision and Rejecting Early Buyouts 4523 Latka asks if a $500M acquisition offer would tempt him to sell, prompting Yampolsky to elaborate on his long-term category creation vision using a Henry Ford analogy before shifting into rapid-fire closing questions.

Statements from this episode (12)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
SecurityScorecard ACV ranges from $80K to $100K paid upfront
“You know, average contract value could be around 80 to a hundred K per year, paid up front.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 4:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard has over 450 customers
“So we have over a 450 customers and rapidly growing every single year.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 4:51
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard is on track for $25M to $30M in ARR
“We're in the 25 to thirty million ARR this year.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 5:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard's Net Promoter Score is in the 60s
“Our net promoter score is in the sixties.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 6:27
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard has negative 15% net churn
“We're net 15, like we're around net 15%. Negative, negative, -15.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 6:58
Insight
Yampolsky: Great marketing cannot save bad tech, but great tech overcomes weak sales
“Half of our company is dedicated to product and engineering because we believe that ultimately, I mean, if you have crappy technology and really good sales and marketing team that's only going to last you so long. If you have an amazing technology and crappy s…”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 7:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard's CAC payback period is under one year
“We're under a year.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 8:51
Disclosure
SecurityScorecard spends over $1M per year on events and conferences
“Yeah, we're spending more than a million in events.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 10:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard maintains an LTV to CAC ratio over 3x
“I mean, we see in, look, I mean, we see in LTV to CAC over, over three, which is good in the enterprise space.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 10:21
Opinion
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard should currently be valued above $250M
“I mean, right now, given that we made more headway, we should be above that valuation right now.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 12:39
Disclosure
Yampolsky: SecurityScorecard has multi-year runway and won't raise soon
“So we have enough money for multiple years. We're not planning to raise anytime soon.”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 13:37
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Elon Musk told Yampolsky he reverse-engineers his daily schedule for impact
“When I asked him, how does he know that what he's working on during the day is really making a difference? He said to me, at the end of each day, he reverse engineers his day and says, how did I spend my time? Which meetings did I attend? Who did I speak to? W…”
Alex Yampolskiy Mar 27, 2021 ▶ 16:00
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