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Oct 12, 2020 · 18m · top-founders

Trakto Hits $30k MRR With Canva Competitor. Can They Hit $1m ARR?

Paulo Tenório · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m 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

In this episode of Conversations with Nathan Latka, Trakto founder Paulo Tenório explains how his Brazilian design software platform grew to 30,000 dollars in monthly recurring revenue by combining direct consumer subscriptions with white-label enterprise integrations.

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 5.6 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 4.8
05100:0010:003:26–5:38 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Early Traction, Community Engagement, and Scaling Latka pushes Tenorio past vague buzzwords like 'branding and hustling' to demand exact customer acquisition channels. Tenorio explains how winning a demo day catalyzed viral growth across Brazilian Facebook communities.5:38–10:47 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 B2C versus White-Label API and SDK Model Latka repeatedly interrogates Tenorio on what he means by 'white label,' testing whether it is just a badge removal or true OEM software integration. Tenorio explains their API and SDK licensing structure with partners like MLabs and Santillana.10:49–14:40 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Composition, Burn Rate, and Accelerator Funding Latka drills down into the economics of Tenorio's accelerator agreement with TheVentureCity, correcting Tenorio's casual assertion that investors would simply walk away empty-handed during an acquisition.14:40–16:58 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 SaaS Churn, Competitive Strategy, and Revenue Growth Latka immediately annualizes Tenorio's 6% monthly churn to 72% and challenges his claim of 300% pandemic growth when revenue only doubled from $15k to $30k MRR. Tenorio clarifies that the 3x metric referred to active user volume on Baremetrics.16:59–18:13 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A friendly rapid-fire Famous Five sequence followed by Latka's standard closing metric summary summarizing Tracto's ARR run rate and team metrics.3:26–5:38 · Guest teaching 3/10 Early Traction, Community Engagement, and Scaling Latka pushes Tenorio past vague buzzwords like 'branding and hustling' to demand exact customer acquisition channels. Tenorio explains how winning a demo day catalyzed viral growth across Brazilian Facebook communities.5:38–10:47 · Guest teaching 4/10 B2C versus White-Label API and SDK Model Latka repeatedly interrogates Tenorio on what he means by 'white label,' testing whether it is just a badge removal or true OEM software integration. Tenorio explains their API and SDK licensing structure with partners like MLabs and Santillana.10:49–14:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Composition, Burn Rate, and Accelerator Funding Latka drills down into the economics of Tenorio's accelerator agreement with TheVentureCity, correcting Tenorio's casual assertion that investors would simply walk away empty-handed during an acquisition.14:40–16:58 · Guest teaching 3/10 SaaS Churn, Competitive Strategy, and Revenue Growth Latka immediately annualizes Tenorio's 6% monthly churn to 72% and challenges his claim of 300% pandemic growth when revenue only doubled from $15k to $30k MRR. Tenorio clarifies that the 3x metric referred to active user volume on Baremetrics.16:59–18:13 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A friendly rapid-fire Famous Five sequence followed by Latka's standard closing metric summary summarizing Tracto's ARR run rate and team metrics.3:26–5:38 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Early Traction, Community Engagement, and Scaling Latka pushes Tenorio past vague buzzwords like 'branding and hustling' to demand exact customer acquisition channels. Tenorio explains how winning a demo day catalyzed viral growth across Brazilian Facebook communities.5:38–10:47 · Guest disagreement 2/10 B2C versus White-Label API and SDK Model Latka repeatedly interrogates Tenorio on what he means by 'white label,' testing whether it is just a badge removal or true OEM software integration. Tenorio explains their API and SDK licensing structure with partners like MLabs and Santillana.10:49–14:40 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Team Composition, Burn Rate, and Accelerator Funding Latka drills down into the economics of Tenorio's accelerator agreement with TheVentureCity, correcting Tenorio's casual assertion that investors would simply walk away empty-handed during an acquisition.14:40–16:58 · Guest disagreement 2/10 SaaS Churn, Competitive Strategy, and Revenue Growth Latka immediately annualizes Tenorio's 6% monthly churn to 72% and challenges his claim of 300% pandemic growth when revenue only doubled from $15k to $30k MRR. Tenorio clarifies that the 3x metric referred to active user volume on Baremetrics.16:59–18:13 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A friendly rapid-fire Famous Five sequence followed by Latka's standard closing metric summary summarizing Tracto's ARR run rate and team metrics.3:26–5:38 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Early Traction, Community Engagement, and Scaling Latka pushes Tenorio past vague buzzwords like 'branding and hustling' to demand exact customer acquisition channels. Tenorio explains how winning a demo day catalyzed viral growth across Brazilian Facebook communities.5:38–10:47 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 B2C versus White-Label API and SDK Model Latka repeatedly interrogates Tenorio on what he means by 'white label,' testing whether it is just a badge removal or true OEM software integration. Tenorio explains their API and SDK licensing structure with partners like MLabs and Santillana.10:49–14:40 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Team Composition, Burn Rate, and Accelerator Funding Latka drills down into the economics of Tenorio's accelerator agreement with TheVentureCity, correcting Tenorio's casual assertion that investors would simply walk away empty-handed during an acquisition.14:40–16:58 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 SaaS Churn, Competitive Strategy, and Revenue Growth Latka immediately annualizes Tenorio's 6% monthly churn to 72% and challenges his claim of 300% pandemic growth when revenue only doubled from $15k to $30k MRR. Tenorio clarifies that the 3x metric referred to active user volume on Baremetrics.16:59–18:13 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A friendly rapid-fire Famous Five sequence followed by Latka's standard closing metric summary summarizing Tracto's ARR run rate and team metrics.

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

0:00 · Nathan 56% · guest 44%0:00 · Nathan 56% · guest 44%3:00 · Nathan 13.4% · guest 86.6%3:00 · Nathan 13.4% · guest 86.6%6:00 · Nathan 32.1% · guest 67.9%6:00 · Nathan 32.1% · guest 67.9%9:00 · Nathan 24% · guest 76%9:00 · Nathan 24% · guest 76%12:00 · Nathan 25.8% · guest 74.2%12:00 · Nathan 25.8% · guest 74.2%15:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%15:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%18:00 · Nathan 74.7% · guest 25.3%18:00 · Nathan 74.7% · guest 25.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:33 Tenorio reframes white-label functionality

Tenorio pushes back against Latka's assumption that white-labeling is merely removing branding, clarifying it is a full embedded editor charged on usage.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 16:17 Latka calls out contradictory revenue growth figures

Latka interrupts to point out that doubling from $15k to $30k MRR is 100% growth, directly pressing Tenorio to explain why he claimed 300% growth.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:34 Tenorio details regional viral distribution

Tenorio educates Latka on the unique dynamics of the Northeast Brazilian tech community rallying behind a local founder winning competitions.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 14:50 Latka calculates annualized churn instantly

Latka demonstrates sharp SaaS finance instincts by immediately converting a seemingly modest 6% monthly churn rate into a staggering 72% annual churn.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Early Traction, Community Engagement, and Scaling 5315 Latka pushes Tenorio past vague buzzwords like 'branding and hustling' to demand exact customer acquisition channels. Tenorio explains how winning a demo day catalyzed viral growth across Brazilian Facebook communities.
B2C versus White-Label API and SDK Model 6426 Latka repeatedly interrogates Tenorio on what he means by 'white label,' testing whether it is just a badge removal or true OEM software integration. Tenorio explains their API and SDK licensing structure with partners like MLabs and Santillana.
Team Composition, Burn Rate, and Accelerator Funding 6225 Latka drills down into the economics of Tenorio's accelerator agreement with TheVentureCity, correcting Tenorio's casual assertion that investors would simply walk away empty-handed during an acquisition.
SaaS Churn, Competitive Strategy, and Revenue Growth 7327 Latka immediately annualizes Tenorio's 6% monthly churn to 72% and challenges his claim of 300% pandemic growth when revenue only doubled from $15k to $30k MRR. Tenorio clarifies that the 3x metric referred to active user volume on Baremetrics.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 4101 A friendly rapid-fire Famous Five sequence followed by Latka's standard closing metric summary summarizing Tracto's ARR run rate and team metrics.

Statements from this episode (11)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Trakto has reached over 500,000 total users and 40,000 paying clients
“Oh, so right now we have around like five, 500,000 plus users and paying clients. We are reaching about like 40,000 paying clients so far.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 5:21
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Trakto has 3,000 direct paying customers at a $10 monthly ARPU
“Around like 3000 directly. So that's how they pay us and through the other, the major part like comes through like big tickets. So we have like an ARPU around around like 10 dollars per month.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 6:05
Disclosure
Trakto plans to enter the United States market in 2021
“So we are not like selling in the U S yeah. So that's our plan for 20, 21.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 8:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Trakto users generate between 48,000 and 50,000 new documents weekly
“It's around, like 40 it's in between, like, this week, it's, like, it's gonna be, like, 48 to 50,000, like, new documents every week. We had a month that we reached almost, like, a million new designs, like, in a month, so that was good.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 10:26
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Trakto has raised approximately $500,000 in total venture funding so far
“Tracto raised it so far around like 500 thousand US dollars.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 11:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Trakto currently operates with a cash burn rate of $15,000 monthly
“Right now we're going like 15,000 dollars per month.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 12:45
Assertion Supported
Trakto secures $100,000 investment from TheVentureCity accelerator
“We just got accepted into a really nice accelerator. I'm really proud to be part of the Deventory City team. They're based in Miami. Laura is the CEO. We just got on, on the batch and we got like a 100,000 investment right now.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 12:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TheVentureCity took 6% equity contingent on Trakto raising over $1.5 million
“Actually, they take six percent of the next round and they have, like, a threshold that you must raise more than a million and a half dollars so they're able to cash in.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 13:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Trakto currently experiences approximately 6% monthly gross revenue churn
“You know, we have around like six percent of revenue growth revenue churn.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 14:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Trakto generated approximately $15,000 in monthly recurring revenue in late 2019
“Around like 15,000. We didn't have a white label. We didn't have like a lot of different things that we have right now.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 16:02
Disclosure
Trakto publicly shares its live revenue and churn data via Baremetrics
“We use Barometrics and we have the open data. If people want to check out because it's connected to Stripe, which is our main gateway, you go through tracto.barometrics.com and then you can check out How we are dealing churn and ARPU and everything else.”
Paulo Tenório Oct 12, 2020 ▶ 16:39
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