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Mar 12, 2021 · 17m · top-founders

25m Wordpress Plugin Downloads, Now Raising $3m for SaaS Product

Tigran Nazarian · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 4m spoken Frank Bien · 4s spoken Eric Yuan · 4s 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, TenWeb.io founder and CEO Tigran Nazarian details how his team converted 25 million WordPress plugin downloads into an automated SaaS hosting platform generating $30,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Nazarian breaks down TenWeb's unit economics, organizational model, and growth plans as the company raises a $3 million seed round to accelerate scaling.

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 32.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.0 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 2.4 Nathan pushing back 5.0
05100:0010:000:00–3:06 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Interview Preview: Customer Numbers and Revenue Metrics Nathan introduces the guest and quickly calculates monthly recurring revenue from hosted website counts and average pricing. Tigran gently clarifies the distinction between total customers and hosted websites.3:07–6:02 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Origins in WordPress Plugins and Evolution to SaaS Tigran details their legacy plugin business with 25 million downloads and 60k per month in revenue. Nathan probes how effectively that existing footprint converts into their new standalone SaaS product.6:02–10:20 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Fundraising Strategy and Paid Acquisition Economics Nathan presses heavily on the fundraising strategy, calculating a 3-4 month payback period on a 100 dollar CAC and questioning why a company with fast payback and minimal burn needs to dilute equity with a 3 million dollar seed round.10:20–12:20 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Composition, Valuation Perspectives, and Long-Term Ambitions Nathan explores the 60-person Armenian team structure and tests Tigran with a hypothetical 5 million dollar buyout offer, which Tigran instantly dismisses by citing 100 million dollar-plus ambitions.12:22–15:44 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Retention Challenges, Churn Dynamics, and Product Roadmap Nathan challenges Tigran on churn, refusing to accept broad hosting industry benchmarks when the SaaS product has only been active for four months.0:00–3:06 · Guest teaching 2/10 Interview Preview: Customer Numbers and Revenue Metrics Nathan introduces the guest and quickly calculates monthly recurring revenue from hosted website counts and average pricing. Tigran gently clarifies the distinction between total customers and hosted websites.3:07–6:02 · Guest teaching 3/10 Origins in WordPress Plugins and Evolution to SaaS Tigran details their legacy plugin business with 25 million downloads and 60k per month in revenue. Nathan probes how effectively that existing footprint converts into their new standalone SaaS product.6:02–10:20 · Guest teaching 2/10 Fundraising Strategy and Paid Acquisition Economics Nathan presses heavily on the fundraising strategy, calculating a 3-4 month payback period on a 100 dollar CAC and questioning why a company with fast payback and minimal burn needs to dilute equity with a 3 million dollar seed round.10:20–12:20 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Composition, Valuation Perspectives, and Long-Term Ambitions Nathan explores the 60-person Armenian team structure and tests Tigran with a hypothetical 5 million dollar buyout offer, which Tigran instantly dismisses by citing 100 million dollar-plus ambitions.12:22–15:44 · Guest teaching 2/10 Retention Challenges, Churn Dynamics, and Product Roadmap Nathan challenges Tigran on churn, refusing to accept broad hosting industry benchmarks when the SaaS product has only been active for four months.0:00–3:06 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Interview Preview: Customer Numbers and Revenue Metrics Nathan introduces the guest and quickly calculates monthly recurring revenue from hosted website counts and average pricing. Tigran gently clarifies the distinction between total customers and hosted websites.3:07–6:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Origins in WordPress Plugins and Evolution to SaaS Tigran details their legacy plugin business with 25 million downloads and 60k per month in revenue. Nathan probes how effectively that existing footprint converts into their new standalone SaaS product.6:02–10:20 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Fundraising Strategy and Paid Acquisition Economics Nathan presses heavily on the fundraising strategy, calculating a 3-4 month payback period on a 100 dollar CAC and questioning why a company with fast payback and minimal burn needs to dilute equity with a 3 million dollar seed round.10:20–12:20 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Team Composition, Valuation Perspectives, and Long-Term Ambitions Nathan explores the 60-person Armenian team structure and tests Tigran with a hypothetical 5 million dollar buyout offer, which Tigran instantly dismisses by citing 100 million dollar-plus ambitions.12:22–15:44 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Retention Challenges, Churn Dynamics, and Product Roadmap Nathan challenges Tigran on churn, refusing to accept broad hosting industry benchmarks when the SaaS product has only been active for four months.0:00–3:06 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Interview Preview: Customer Numbers and Revenue Metrics Nathan introduces the guest and quickly calculates monthly recurring revenue from hosted website counts and average pricing. Tigran gently clarifies the distinction between total customers and hosted websites.3:07–6:02 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Origins in WordPress Plugins and Evolution to SaaS Tigran details their legacy plugin business with 25 million downloads and 60k per month in revenue. Nathan probes how effectively that existing footprint converts into their new standalone SaaS product.6:02–10:20 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Fundraising Strategy and Paid Acquisition Economics Nathan presses heavily on the fundraising strategy, calculating a 3-4 month payback period on a 100 dollar CAC and questioning why a company with fast payback and minimal burn needs to dilute equity with a 3 million dollar seed round.10:20–12:20 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Team Composition, Valuation Perspectives, and Long-Term Ambitions Nathan explores the 60-person Armenian team structure and tests Tigran with a hypothetical 5 million dollar buyout offer, which Tigran instantly dismisses by citing 100 million dollar-plus ambitions.12:22–15:44 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Retention Challenges, Churn Dynamics, and Product Roadmap Nathan challenges Tigran on churn, refusing to accept broad hosting industry benchmarks when the SaaS product has only been active for four months.

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

0:00 · Nathan 61.1% · guest 38.9%0:00 · Nathan 61.1% · guest 38.9%3:00 · Nathan 19.6% · guest 80.4%3:00 · Nathan 19.6% · guest 80.4%6:00 · Nathan 30.2% · guest 69.8%6:00 · Nathan 30.2% · guest 69.8%9:00 · Nathan 29.7% · guest 70.3%9:00 · Nathan 29.7% · guest 70.3%12:00 · Nathan 19.8% · guest 80.2%12:00 · Nathan 19.8% · guest 80.2%15:00 · Nathan 37% · guest 63%15:00 · Nathan 37% · guest 63%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:13 Dismissal of 5M acquisition offer

Tigran immediately and flatly shuts down Nathan's hypothetical 5 million dollar cash buyout offer, asserting that the business has potential exceeding a hundred million dollars.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:18 Calling out premature churn assumptions

Nathan refuses to let Tigran substitute general web hosting longevity averages for actual churn data when the SaaS product has only operated for four months.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:48 Distinguishing SaaS architecture from legacy plugin sales

Tigran educates Nathan on why their 60k per month plugin revenue is considered legacy and explains the specific hosting, speed, and automation bottlenecks that required launching a dedicated SaaS platform.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:05 Deconstructing unit economics against seed dilution

Nathan demonstrates mastery of SaaS growth mechanics by computing Tigran's 3-to-4 month payback period and arguing that equity financing is unnecessary if ad economics already self-fund.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Interview Preview: Customer Numbers and Revenue Metrics 5212 Nathan introduces the guest and quickly calculates monthly recurring revenue from hosted website counts and average pricing. Tigran gently clarifies the distinction between total customers and hosted websites.
Origins in WordPress Plugins and Evolution to SaaS 5313 Tigran details their legacy plugin business with 25 million downloads and 60k per month in revenue. Nathan probes how effectively that existing footprint converts into their new standalone SaaS product.
Fundraising Strategy and Paid Acquisition Economics 7237 Nathan presses heavily on the fundraising strategy, calculating a 3-4 month payback period on a 100 dollar CAC and questioning why a company with fast payback and minimal burn needs to dilute equity with a 3 million dollar seed round.
Team Composition, Valuation Perspectives, and Long-Term Ambitions 6245 Nathan explores the 60-person Armenian team structure and tests Tigran with a hypothetical 5 million dollar buyout offer, which Tigran instantly dismisses by citing 100 million dollar-plus ambitions.
Retention Challenges, Churn Dynamics, and Product Roadmap 7238 Nathan challenges Tigran on churn, refusing to accept broad hosting industry benchmarks when the SaaS product has only been active for four months.

Statements from this episode (14)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
TenWeb customers pay $10 per site and average $40 to $45 monthly
“They pay on average per month around 10 dollars per website, and the average customer has around three, four websites. So, okay, so 45 dollars, 40 bucks per month.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 2:38
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TenWeb hosts approximately 3,000 websites on its platform
“We have around the 3000 customers. 3000 hosted websites. It's better to say this way.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 2:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TenWeb generates approximately $30,000 per month in revenue
“Yeah. Approximately. Yes.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 3:05
Assertion Partly supported
TenWeb's team built 60 WordPress plugins with 25 million downloads
“We previously developed WordPress plugins and built numerous plugins, more than 60 plugins with more than twenty-five million total downloads.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 3:30
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nazarian: TenWeb earns around $60,000 monthly from legacy plugins
“We have around 60,000 per month revenue From plugins.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 4:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Most TenWeb customers are acquired directly, not from legacy plugins
“Although we bring TenWeb customers, not, most of our customers are not our plugin customers. We just bring them directly to TenWeb platform.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 5:22
Disclosure
TenWeb is raising a $3 million seed round
“Right now, we're raising three millions right now.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 6:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TenWeb's customer acquisition cost is $100
“Our customer acquisition cost is a hundred dollars.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 8:51
Prediction Not checkable as stated
TenWeb can scale ad spend to $100,000 monthly without losing efficiency
“See the prospect of ads on this, the current channel that it is quite scalable and we can scale it up to several up to a 100,000 per month. I mean, add the budget without losing its efficiency.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 9:24
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TenWeb currently burns around $20,000 per month
“Around 20,000.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 10:08
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nazarian: TenWeb employs over 60 people
“We have a big team of more than 60 people.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 10:25
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Nazarian predicts TenWeb will become at least a $100M business
“At least we see right now the prospect for Temweb to grow at least a hundred million dollar business, so we won't sell it for five million.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 11:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nazarian: Average agency client stays with web hosting up to four years
“Taking into account the hosting industry and site builder industry in general, we can say that average agency type client stays with Hosting around a few years, up to four years.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 13:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nazarian: Half of TenWeb signups choose annual upfront subscriptions
“About half of them. So they are either monthly customers or yearly customers.”
Tigran Nazarian Mar 12, 2021 ▶ 14:21
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