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Oct 28, 2020 · 17m · top-founders

Appify Recruits Powerhouse CEO, Hits 45 Customers for No Code App Building Platform

Jen Grant · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m 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

Appify CEO Jen Grant joins Nathan Latka to discuss scaling the enterprise no-code platform, navigating sales quota capacity, and structuring executive compensation after raising $11.45 million in venture funding.

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 40.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.2
05100:0010:000:22–2:34 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 GetLatka Subscription Overview and Episode Promotion This segment is primarily a promotional monologue for GetLatka subscription and an introduction to Jen Grant's background at Google and Box.2:35–6:39 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Democratizing Business Applications with Appify's No-Code Platform Nathan references industry comps like BusinessApps and BuildFire and challenges the logic of targeting field service workers during COVID, prompting Grant to explain the essential worker market.6:40–10:26 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Composition, ARPU Metrics, and Sales Quota Strategy Nathan digs into sales mechanics, calculating average blended ARPU and questioning sales compensation ratios and on-target earnings multiples for early sales reps.10:28–14:19 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Sponsor Segment: Design Pickle Creative Services Following a sponsor read, Nathan calculates Appify's approximate monthly recurring revenue and probes into expansion retention and customer churn dynamics.14:19–17:22 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Best Practices for Structuring Recruited CEO Equity and Compensation Nathan asks how recruited CEO equity packages are structured and guesses 10-20%, leading Grant to educate him that standard post-Series A executive equity bands are actually 6-9%.0:22–2:34 · Guest teaching 0/10 GetLatka Subscription Overview and Episode Promotion This segment is primarily a promotional monologue for GetLatka subscription and an introduction to Jen Grant's background at Google and Box.2:35–6:39 · Guest teaching 3/10 Democratizing Business Applications with Appify's No-Code Platform Nathan references industry comps like BusinessApps and BuildFire and challenges the logic of targeting field service workers during COVID, prompting Grant to explain the essential worker market.6:40–10:26 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Composition, ARPU Metrics, and Sales Quota Strategy Nathan digs into sales mechanics, calculating average blended ARPU and questioning sales compensation ratios and on-target earnings multiples for early sales reps.10:28–14:19 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Segment: Design Pickle Creative Services Following a sponsor read, Nathan calculates Appify's approximate monthly recurring revenue and probes into expansion retention and customer churn dynamics.14:19–17:22 · Guest teaching 6/10 Best Practices for Structuring Recruited CEO Equity and Compensation Nathan asks how recruited CEO equity packages are structured and guesses 10-20%, leading Grant to educate him that standard post-Series A executive equity bands are actually 6-9%.0:22–2:34 · Guest disagreement 0/10 GetLatka Subscription Overview and Episode Promotion This segment is primarily a promotional monologue for GetLatka subscription and an introduction to Jen Grant's background at Google and Box.2:35–6:39 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Democratizing Business Applications with Appify's No-Code Platform Nathan references industry comps like BusinessApps and BuildFire and challenges the logic of targeting field service workers during COVID, prompting Grant to explain the essential worker market.6:40–10:26 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Team Composition, ARPU Metrics, and Sales Quota Strategy Nathan digs into sales mechanics, calculating average blended ARPU and questioning sales compensation ratios and on-target earnings multiples for early sales reps.10:28–14:19 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Segment: Design Pickle Creative Services Following a sponsor read, Nathan calculates Appify's approximate monthly recurring revenue and probes into expansion retention and customer churn dynamics.14:19–17:22 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Best Practices for Structuring Recruited CEO Equity and Compensation Nathan asks how recruited CEO equity packages are structured and guesses 10-20%, leading Grant to educate him that standard post-Series A executive equity bands are actually 6-9%.0:22–2:34 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 GetLatka Subscription Overview and Episode Promotion This segment is primarily a promotional monologue for GetLatka subscription and an introduction to Jen Grant's background at Google and Box.2:35–6:39 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Democratizing Business Applications with Appify's No-Code Platform Nathan references industry comps like BusinessApps and BuildFire and challenges the logic of targeting field service workers during COVID, prompting Grant to explain the essential worker market.6:40–10:26 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Team Composition, ARPU Metrics, and Sales Quota Strategy Nathan digs into sales mechanics, calculating average blended ARPU and questioning sales compensation ratios and on-target earnings multiples for early sales reps.10:28–14:19 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Sponsor Segment: Design Pickle Creative Services Following a sponsor read, Nathan calculates Appify's approximate monthly recurring revenue and probes into expansion retention and customer churn dynamics.14:19–17:22 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Best Practices for Structuring Recruited CEO Equity and Compensation Nathan asks how recruited CEO equity packages are structured and guesses 10-20%, leading Grant to educate him that standard post-Series A executive equity bands are actually 6-9%.

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

0:00 · Nathan 60.8% · guest 39.2%0:00 · Nathan 60.8% · guest 39.2%3:00 · Nathan 32.7% · guest 67.3%3:00 · Nathan 32.7% · guest 67.3%6:00 · Nathan 26.6% · guest 73.4%6:00 · Nathan 26.6% · guest 73.4%9:00 · Nathan 50.5% · guest 49.5%9:00 · Nathan 50.5% · guest 49.5%12:00 · Nathan 31.2% · guest 68.8%12:00 · Nathan 31.2% · guest 68.8%15:00 · Nathan 42.1% · guest 57.9%15:00 · Nathan 42.1% · guest 57.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:57 Grant counters COVID field service assumption

Grant reframes Nathan's premise that field services are halted during lockdowns by emphasizing the non-discretionary nature of essential equipment maintenance.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:50 Nathan pushes back on COVID sales focus

Nathan directly questions why Appify is focusing on on-site mobile workforces during a global pandemic.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:33 Grant clarifies realistic recruited CEO equity benchmarks

When Nathan suggests a high 10-20% equity band for recruited CEOs, Grant corrects the range to the standard 6-9% post-Series A market rate.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:16 Nathan deduces unit economics and quota constraints

Nathan demonstrates SaaS expertise by forcing a blended ARPU calculation and noting that low ARPU limits sales-touch economics without high volume.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
GetLatka Subscription Overview and Episode Promotion 1000 This segment is primarily a promotional monologue for GetLatka subscription and an introduction to Jen Grant's background at Google and Box.
Democratizing Business Applications with Appify's No-Code Platform 5324 Nathan references industry comps like BusinessApps and BuildFire and challenges the logic of targeting field service workers during COVID, prompting Grant to explain the essential worker market.
Team Composition, ARPU Metrics, and Sales Quota Strategy 6213 Nathan digs into sales mechanics, calculating average blended ARPU and questioning sales compensation ratios and on-target earnings multiples for early sales reps.
Sponsor Segment: Design Pickle Creative Services 5112 Following a sponsor read, Nathan calculates Appify's approximate monthly recurring revenue and probes into expansion retention and customer churn dynamics.
Best Practices for Structuring Recruited CEO Equity and Compensation 3612 Nathan asks how recruited CEO equity packages are structured and guesses 10-20%, leading Grant to educate him that standard post-Series A executive equity bands are actually 6-9%.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Partly supported
Grant: Appify Founder Hari Sold ServiceMax to GE for $1B
“Hari was the co-founder of ServiceMax, brought that company to, sold it to GE for a billion.”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 4:53
Disclosure
Grant: Appify has about 45 employees across Bangalore and the US
“We've got about 45 folks on the team. We have a big engineering team in Bangalore, and then we have a smaller go-to-market team in the U.S.”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 7:01
Disclosure
Grant: Appify enterprise ASP is $12k ARR, SMBs pay $1.5k-$3k
“Our average selling price for enterprises is in the 12 K range, 12 K A or R. But we do have a lot of SMBs that are in the 1503 thousand K range.”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 7:30
Disclosure
Grant: Appify's blended average revenue is around $5,000 per customer annually
“I'd say we're probably average around five K a year”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 8:08
Disclosure
Grant: Appify employs four quota-carrying reps and a sales leader
“We have four right now, plus the leader. So we have three inside sales reps. Plus we just hired what we're calling a strategic account executive”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 10:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Grant: Appify currently has about 45 customers
“We're just at about 45 customers right now.”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 12:53
Disclosure
Grant: Appify raised an $8M Series A plus a $3.45M extension
“We raised our series a, and then we just did an extension on the round this summer. So we ended up with eight before, and then we added 3.45 this summer”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 13:20
Assertion Supported
Grant: Rajiv from Mayfield is Appify's lead Series A investor
“Rajiv is from Mayfield is our Main guy.”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 15:08
Insight
Grant: Recruited CEOs post-Series A typically receive 6% to 9% equity
“Post series A, it's usually between six and nine. So it's in that range.”
Jen Grant Oct 28, 2020 ▶ 15:43
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