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Oct 10, 2020 · 17m · top-founders

Starred Looking to Raise $4m Series A for HR Tech

Lars van Wieren · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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

Lars van Wieren, founder and CEO of Starred, discusses pivoting his SaaS company to focus on candidate experience, achieving a $2 million ARR run rate with 20 percent profit margins, and preparing for a $3 million to $4 million Series A round.

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 40.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 3.0
05100:0010:002:36–7:26 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Starred's Evolution and Market Pivot Nathan pulls data from their prior 2018 interview to press Lars on flat top-line revenue and drills into loan interest rates, while Lars clarifies that underlying new business revenue is doubling.7:28–9:51 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Team Restructure and Product-Led Growth Nathan inquires about team size and quota-carrying sales rep counts, prompting Lars to explain their transition toward product-led growth and ATS integrations.9:53–12:45 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Monetizing and Selling the Legacy Product Line Nathan challenges the signaling of generating a profit rather than investing for growth, and aggressively probes how a potential buyer would evaluate the delisted legacy product.12:45–14:52 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Enterprise Traction and Series A Fundraising Ambitions The conversation is collaborative as Lars shares enterprise retention metrics and fundraising plans, with Nathan computing the implied pre-money valuation.14:52–17:09 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Candidate Experience Case Study: The Virgin Example Lars presents the business case for candidate experience using Virgin before proceeding smoothly through the Famous Five questions and closing metrics summary.2:36–7:26 · Guest teaching 2/10 Starred's Evolution and Market Pivot Nathan pulls data from their prior 2018 interview to press Lars on flat top-line revenue and drills into loan interest rates, while Lars clarifies that underlying new business revenue is doubling.7:28–9:51 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Restructure and Product-Led Growth Nathan inquires about team size and quota-carrying sales rep counts, prompting Lars to explain their transition toward product-led growth and ATS integrations.9:53–12:45 · Guest teaching 2/10 Monetizing and Selling the Legacy Product Line Nathan challenges the signaling of generating a profit rather than investing for growth, and aggressively probes how a potential buyer would evaluate the delisted legacy product.12:45–14:52 · Guest teaching 1/10 Enterprise Traction and Series A Fundraising Ambitions The conversation is collaborative as Lars shares enterprise retention metrics and fundraising plans, with Nathan computing the implied pre-money valuation.14:52–17:09 · Guest teaching 3/10 Candidate Experience Case Study: The Virgin Example Lars presents the business case for candidate experience using Virgin before proceeding smoothly through the Famous Five questions and closing metrics summary.2:36–7:26 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Starred's Evolution and Market Pivot Nathan pulls data from their prior 2018 interview to press Lars on flat top-line revenue and drills into loan interest rates, while Lars clarifies that underlying new business revenue is doubling.7:28–9:51 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Team Restructure and Product-Led Growth Nathan inquires about team size and quota-carrying sales rep counts, prompting Lars to explain their transition toward product-led growth and ATS integrations.9:53–12:45 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Monetizing and Selling the Legacy Product Line Nathan challenges the signaling of generating a profit rather than investing for growth, and aggressively probes how a potential buyer would evaluate the delisted legacy product.12:45–14:52 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Enterprise Traction and Series A Fundraising Ambitions The conversation is collaborative as Lars shares enterprise retention metrics and fundraising plans, with Nathan computing the implied pre-money valuation.14:52–17:09 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Candidate Experience Case Study: The Virgin Example Lars presents the business case for candidate experience using Virgin before proceeding smoothly through the Famous Five questions and closing metrics summary.2:36–7:26 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Starred's Evolution and Market Pivot Nathan pulls data from their prior 2018 interview to press Lars on flat top-line revenue and drills into loan interest rates, while Lars clarifies that underlying new business revenue is doubling.7:28–9:51 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Team Restructure and Product-Led Growth Nathan inquires about team size and quota-carrying sales rep counts, prompting Lars to explain their transition toward product-led growth and ATS integrations.9:53–12:45 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Monetizing and Selling the Legacy Product Line Nathan challenges the signaling of generating a profit rather than investing for growth, and aggressively probes how a potential buyer would evaluate the delisted legacy product.12:45–14:52 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Enterprise Traction and Series A Fundraising Ambitions The conversation is collaborative as Lars shares enterprise retention metrics and fundraising plans, with Nathan computing the implied pre-money valuation.14:52–17:09 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Candidate Experience Case Study: The Virgin Example Lars presents the business case for candidate experience using Virgin before proceeding smoothly through the Famous Five questions and closing metrics summary.

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

0:00 · Nathan 69.2% · guest 30.8%0:00 · Nathan 69.2% · guest 30.8%3:00 · Nathan 26.9% · guest 73.1%3:00 · Nathan 26.9% · guest 73.1%6:00 · Nathan 30.9% · guest 69.1%6:00 · Nathan 30.9% · guest 69.1%9:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%9:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%12:00 · Nathan 26.9% · guest 73.1%12:00 · Nathan 26.9% · guest 73.1%15:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%15:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:05 Lars reframes flat top-line performance

Lars rejects the negative framing of flat revenue by explaining that legacy churn masks 100% year-over-year growth in the focused new product line.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:53 Nathan challenges profitability signaling

Nathan directly challenges why Lars is stockpiling profit, arguing that venture investors interpret profitability as an inability to find growth channels.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 14:58 Virgin candidate experience bottom-line impact

Lars illustrates the financial value of his sector by explaining how poor candidate experience cost Virgin $5M annually in canceled consumer subscriptions.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 4:49 Nathan tracks multi-year revenue stagnation

Nathan uses historical metrics from their 2018 interview to catch the founder on total revenue remaining flat at a $2M run rate.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Starred's Evolution and Market Pivot 6225 Nathan pulls data from their prior 2018 interview to press Lars on flat top-line revenue and drills into loan interest rates, while Lars clarifies that underlying new business revenue is doubling.
Team Restructure and Product-Led Growth 4212 Nathan inquires about team size and quota-carrying sales rep counts, prompting Lars to explain their transition toward product-led growth and ATS integrations.
Monetizing and Selling the Legacy Product Line 6215 Nathan challenges the signaling of generating a profit rather than investing for growth, and aggressively probes how a potential buyer would evaluate the delisted legacy product.
Enterprise Traction and Series A Fundraising Ambitions 5102 The conversation is collaborative as Lars shares enterprise retention metrics and fundraising plans, with Nathan computing the implied pre-money valuation.
Candidate Experience Case Study: The Virgin Example 4301 Lars presents the business case for candidate experience using Virgin before proceeding smoothly through the Famous Five questions and closing metrics summary.

Statements from this episode (13)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Van Wieren: Starred ACV Is ~$10K for Candidate Experience, ~$20K for Engagement
“And if you look at the candidate experience side, it's more or less 10,000 ACVs, so 10,000 per year, and employee engagement is more like 20,000 per year.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 2:53
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Van Wieren: Starred Has ~150 Legacy Clients and 70-80 New Focus Clients
“The customer satisfaction business, and that's still the majority of our revenue. So that's around 150 clients, and we have around 70, 80 clients in the new focus.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 3:21
Insight
Van Wieren: Startups Serving Everyone Serve No One; Dominate a Niche Pond
“Essentially we tried to be there for everyone. So we were there for no one. And two years ago we sat down because every day we saw another competitor and we were a tiny fish, a fish in the big ocean. And we thought it's better to become like a big fish in a sm…”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 3:53
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Van Wieren: Starred reaches $2M ARR split between legacy and new product
“So it's around two million right now, and it's split equally amongst the two.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 4:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Van Wieren: Starred candidate experience business doubles yearly, signing Brex and Robinhood
“In our focus, we're doubling every year, and we're signing also big American companies, or at least big tech companies like Elastic, Robinhood, Brex.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 5:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Van Wieren: Starred operates at 20% profit margin on $170K monthly revenue
“About 20%.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 5:52
Disclosure
Van Wieren: Starred took $1.5M government-backed loan, holds no VC funding
“We only got a bank loan government-backed bank loan of 1.5 million, but we don't have a VC yet.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 6:39
Insight
Van Wieren: In Crises, Capture Customer Time If You Cannot Get Money
“In times of crisis, if you can't get their money, you can at least get their time.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 8:14
Disclosure
Starred Is in Talks to Divest Its Legacy Business
“And we are also having some conversations with other companies, maybe to acquire our legacy business.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 10:36
Disclosure
Van Wieren Would Consider Selling Starred Legacy Business at 3x-5x Revenue
“But if there's a company offering a three to five X, for instance, it's definitely worth looking at.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 11:12
Disclosure
Starred Stopped Selling Legacy Product in Early 2020 to Focus
“You can't find our legacy product any longer. So that's also something we changed beginning of this year. We said, if you really want to focus, we should stop selling in our legacy business.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 11:35
Disclosure
Starred plans to raise $3M-$4M Series A at 20%-30% dilution
“Around three to four million, we would say. And what valuation would you try and get? Yeah, I think it's a typical Series A, so I think you would give away, or at least how it works here in Europe, 20 to 30% of the company.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 14:07
Assertion Supported
Van Wieren: Poor candidate experience cost Virgin $5M yearly in cancellations
“So Virgin is one of our clients, and they found out that in the beginning they were offering quite a bad candidate experience, and it was costing them five million per year, bottom line, because people were canceling their subscription.”
Lars van Wieren Oct 10, 2020 ▶ 15:09
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