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Nov 30, 2020 · 19m · top-founders

Perx Hits $27m Valuation

Nathan Latka · 9m spoken Anna (Anna Gong) · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Perx CEO Anna Gong joins Nathan Latka to detail how she orchestrated an enterprise turnaround, scaling annual recurring revenue from $400,000 to $5 million while securing a $27 million pre-money valuation. She discusses restructuring a fragmented cap table, navigating down rounds, and successfully pivoting from a struggling SME loyalty app to enterprise B2B SaaS across Asia.

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 52.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 3.4 Guest disagreement 2.4 Nathan pushing back 5.4
05100:0010:001:30–5:10 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Stage Setup and Asian Market Competitors Nathan immediately rejects Anna's claim that she has no competition and probes her business model using SaaS comps like Twilio and HubSpot. Anna explains the enterprise loyalty landscape in Southeast Asia and her company's pivot to white-label OEM solutions.5:10–9:05 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 CEO Appointment and B2B Turnaround Journey Nathan presses Anna hard on whether the previous founders left voluntarily or were ousted by the board. Anna details the structural reasons B2C apps struggled across fragmented Asian markets and explains high SME merchant churn.9:05–12:00 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Down Rounds, Cap Table Recap, and Revenue Acceleration Nathan quickly calculates cap table dilution and post-money valuations from the 2015 down round while converting annual figures into monthly run rates. Anna explains the complexity of managing strategic Asian family office investors on the cap table.12:03–15:45 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 FastSpring E-Commerce Sponsorship Announcement Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively cross-examines the round sequence to find four million dollars in missing financing, calculating convertible note interest and dilution. Anna clarifies the timing and cap structures of their Series A and Series B equity rounds.15:46–18:07 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Acquisition Inquiries, Cash Runway, and Aggressive Growth Goals Nathan deduces Perx's exact bank balance from burn rate and runway metrics, questioning whether nine months of cash is sustainable for their aggressive 15M ARR target. Anna deflects acquisition hypotheticals and flips personal questions back to the host.1:30–5:10 · Guest teaching 4/10 Stage Setup and Asian Market Competitors Nathan immediately rejects Anna's claim that she has no competition and probes her business model using SaaS comps like Twilio and HubSpot. Anna explains the enterprise loyalty landscape in Southeast Asia and her company's pivot to white-label OEM solutions.5:10–9:05 · Guest teaching 4/10 CEO Appointment and B2B Turnaround Journey Nathan presses Anna hard on whether the previous founders left voluntarily or were ousted by the board. Anna details the structural reasons B2C apps struggled across fragmented Asian markets and explains high SME merchant churn.9:05–12:00 · Guest teaching 3/10 Down Rounds, Cap Table Recap, and Revenue Acceleration Nathan quickly calculates cap table dilution and post-money valuations from the 2015 down round while converting annual figures into monthly run rates. Anna explains the complexity of managing strategic Asian family office investors on the cap table.12:03–15:45 · Guest teaching 4/10 FastSpring E-Commerce Sponsorship Announcement Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively cross-examines the round sequence to find four million dollars in missing financing, calculating convertible note interest and dilution. Anna clarifies the timing and cap structures of their Series A and Series B equity rounds.15:46–18:07 · Guest teaching 2/10 Acquisition Inquiries, Cash Runway, and Aggressive Growth Goals Nathan deduces Perx's exact bank balance from burn rate and runway metrics, questioning whether nine months of cash is sustainable for their aggressive 15M ARR target. Anna deflects acquisition hypotheticals and flips personal questions back to the host.1:30–5:10 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Stage Setup and Asian Market Competitors Nathan immediately rejects Anna's claim that she has no competition and probes her business model using SaaS comps like Twilio and HubSpot. Anna explains the enterprise loyalty landscape in Southeast Asia and her company's pivot to white-label OEM solutions.5:10–9:05 · Guest disagreement 2/10 CEO Appointment and B2B Turnaround Journey Nathan presses Anna hard on whether the previous founders left voluntarily or were ousted by the board. Anna details the structural reasons B2C apps struggled across fragmented Asian markets and explains high SME merchant churn.9:05–12:00 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Down Rounds, Cap Table Recap, and Revenue Acceleration Nathan quickly calculates cap table dilution and post-money valuations from the 2015 down round while converting annual figures into monthly run rates. Anna explains the complexity of managing strategic Asian family office investors on the cap table.12:03–15:45 · Guest disagreement 3/10 FastSpring E-Commerce Sponsorship Announcement Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively cross-examines the round sequence to find four million dollars in missing financing, calculating convertible note interest and dilution. Anna clarifies the timing and cap structures of their Series A and Series B equity rounds.15:46–18:07 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Acquisition Inquiries, Cash Runway, and Aggressive Growth Goals Nathan deduces Perx's exact bank balance from burn rate and runway metrics, questioning whether nine months of cash is sustainable for their aggressive 15M ARR target. Anna deflects acquisition hypotheticals and flips personal questions back to the host.1:30–5:10 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Stage Setup and Asian Market Competitors Nathan immediately rejects Anna's claim that she has no competition and probes her business model using SaaS comps like Twilio and HubSpot. Anna explains the enterprise loyalty landscape in Southeast Asia and her company's pivot to white-label OEM solutions.5:10–9:05 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 CEO Appointment and B2B Turnaround Journey Nathan presses Anna hard on whether the previous founders left voluntarily or were ousted by the board. Anna details the structural reasons B2C apps struggled across fragmented Asian markets and explains high SME merchant churn.9:05–12:00 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Down Rounds, Cap Table Recap, and Revenue Acceleration Nathan quickly calculates cap table dilution and post-money valuations from the 2015 down round while converting annual figures into monthly run rates. Anna explains the complexity of managing strategic Asian family office investors on the cap table.12:03–15:45 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 FastSpring E-Commerce Sponsorship Announcement Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively cross-examines the round sequence to find four million dollars in missing financing, calculating convertible note interest and dilution. Anna clarifies the timing and cap structures of their Series A and Series B equity rounds.15:46–18:07 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Acquisition Inquiries, Cash Runway, and Aggressive Growth Goals Nathan deduces Perx's exact bank balance from burn rate and runway metrics, questioning whether nine months of cash is sustainable for their aggressive 15M ARR target. Anna deflects acquisition hypotheticals and flips personal questions back to the host.

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

0:00 · Nathan 68.3% · guest 31.7%0:00 · Nathan 68.3% · guest 31.7%3:00 · Nathan 20.4% · guest 79.6%3:00 · Nathan 20.4% · guest 79.6%6:00 · Nathan 39% · guest 61%6:00 · Nathan 39% · guest 61%9:00 · Nathan 36.9% · guest 63.1%9:00 · Nathan 36.9% · guest 63.1%12:00 · Nathan 74.4% · guest 25.6%12:00 · Nathan 74.4% · guest 25.6%15:00 · Nathan 59% · guest 41%15:00 · Nathan 59% · guest 41%18:00 · Nathan 85.1% · guest 14.9%18:00 · Nathan 85.1% · guest 14.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 16:25 Blunt dismissal of acquisition hypothetical

Anna completely dismisses Nathan's sister-based buyout thought experiment, stating flatly that her family does not care.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 1:57 Refusing the no-competition premise

Nathan immediately calls out Anna's assertion of having no competitors, arguing that zero competition implies zero addressable market.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:25 Explaining Southeast Asian market fragmentation

Anna educates Nathan on why consumer lifestyle apps fail across Southeast Asia due to disparate country-by-country brand ecosystems.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 14:20 Dissecting convertible note dilution mechanics

Nathan demonstrates sharp financial command by doing real-time math on how converting notes with interest against low caps causes extreme cap table dilution.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Stage Setup and Asian Market Competitors 5425 Nathan immediately rejects Anna's claim that she has no competition and probes her business model using SaaS comps like Twilio and HubSpot. Anna explains the enterprise loyalty landscape in Southeast Asia and her company's pivot to white-label OEM solutions.
CEO Appointment and B2B Turnaround Journey 5426 Nathan presses Anna hard on whether the previous founders left voluntarily or were ousted by the board. Anna details the structural reasons B2C apps struggled across fragmented Asian markets and explains high SME merchant churn.
Down Rounds, Cap Table Recap, and Revenue Acceleration 6324 Nathan quickly calculates cap table dilution and post-money valuations from the 2015 down round while converting annual figures into monthly run rates. Anna explains the complexity of managing strategic Asian family office investors on the cap table.
FastSpring E-Commerce Sponsorship Announcement 7437 Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan aggressively cross-examines the round sequence to find four million dollars in missing financing, calculating convertible note interest and dilution. Anna clarifies the timing and cap structures of their Series A and Series B equity rounds.
Acquisition Inquiries, Cash Runway, and Aggressive Growth Goals 6235 Nathan deduces Perx's exact bank balance from burn rate and runway metrics, questioning whether nine months of cash is sustainable for their aggressive 15M ARR target. Anna deflects acquisition hypotheticals and flips personal questions back to the host.

Statements from this episode (11)

Assertion Supported
Gong: Competitor Aimia is shutting down Asian operations
“AMIA, A-I-M-I-A. They're a public company based out of Toronto. They're literally shutting down Asia.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 2:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gong: Perx focuses on telcos and FSI while competitors target retail
“And then other competitors are highly focused on retail and FMCG, which is a declining sector. So we're actually very diversified into FSI, telcos.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 2:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gong: Perx generates an average ACV of $150,000
“Our average ACV, a 150.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 3:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gong: Perx was doing $400K to $500K ARR upon her arrival
“It was probably about 400 K, 500 K. An ARR.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 7:35
Opinion
Gong: Asian SME merchants are "spoon-fed" by government grants
“In Asia, the merchants are so low tech that it, the maintenance was not scalable either. They're spoon fed. You know, the governments would give them, you know, so much grant money to sustain their business, and they're so entitled to, ah, the government money…”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 8:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gong: Cleaning up cap table of Asian billionaires took two years
“But eventually it took me two years to re recap the entire investment table, because we had a lot of strategic investors and, you know, family money in Asia a lot of billionaires on our cap table, so you gotta play.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 9:42
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gong: Perx scaling ARR from $1M to $5M in current fiscal year
“We're now into the third year of this enterprise solution that we're going to market, and we had started with 500 K, then one million ARR, and now we're actually closing this fiscal year on five million, so the five X growth.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 10:45
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Gong: Perx raised Series B at a $27M pre-money valuation
“So we raise our B round on 27 pre-money, this round.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 15:05
Disclosure
Gong: Perx CEO owns around 10% equity in Perx
“Around 10.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 15:34
Disclosure
Gong: Perx has approximately nine months of cash runway left
“We have about a few million left. We have a nine months runway.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 16:49
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gong: Perx targets $15 million ARR in 2020
“We're looking at 15.”
Anna (Anna Gong) Nov 30, 2020 ▶ 17:08
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