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Apr 8, 2020 · 17m · top-founders

1719 He's Expecting $500k PPP Stimulus Check for Virus, At $6m ARR Today, Whats next?

Steve Pockross · 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

Nathan Latka interviews Verblio CEO Steve Pacross to examine how the bootstrapped $6M ARR content creation platform navigates pandemic-era market turbulence through flexible client pause options, lean hiring adjustments, and a pending $500,000 PPP loan.

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 39.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.7 Guest teaching 1.7 Guest disagreement 0.7 Nathan pushing back 1.3
05100:0010:002:15–6:19 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 COVID-19 Business Impact and Paused Accounts Nathan probes into Verblio's metrics during the onset of the pandemic, attempting to clarify whether a 10% drop refers to overall revenue churn or customer count. Steve collaboratively walks through their paused account mechanics and customer tiers.6:20–13:33 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Headcount, Hiring Changes, and Sales Structure Nathan demonstrates significant real-time financial literacy regarding the CARES Act PPP loan calculations, historical SBA lending volume caps, and updated interest rates. Steve openly credits Nathan for providing better guidance on the loan program than government resources.13:34–16:47 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Crisis Marketing Strategy and LinkedIn Content Series Steve explains his crisis-response marketing tactics and new LinkedIn video series before moving into the standard Famous Five closing format. Nathan listens attentively without challenging any answers.2:15–6:19 · Guest teaching 3/10 COVID-19 Business Impact and Paused Accounts Nathan probes into Verblio's metrics during the onset of the pandemic, attempting to clarify whether a 10% drop refers to overall revenue churn or customer count. Steve collaboratively walks through their paused account mechanics and customer tiers.6:20–13:33 · Guest teaching 1/10 Headcount, Hiring Changes, and Sales Structure Nathan demonstrates significant real-time financial literacy regarding the CARES Act PPP loan calculations, historical SBA lending volume caps, and updated interest rates. Steve openly credits Nathan for providing better guidance on the loan program than government resources.13:34–16:47 · Guest teaching 1/10 Crisis Marketing Strategy and LinkedIn Content Series Steve explains his crisis-response marketing tactics and new LinkedIn video series before moving into the standard Famous Five closing format. Nathan listens attentively without challenging any answers.2:15–6:19 · Guest disagreement 1/10 COVID-19 Business Impact and Paused Accounts Nathan probes into Verblio's metrics during the onset of the pandemic, attempting to clarify whether a 10% drop refers to overall revenue churn or customer count. Steve collaboratively walks through their paused account mechanics and customer tiers.6:20–13:33 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Headcount, Hiring Changes, and Sales Structure Nathan demonstrates significant real-time financial literacy regarding the CARES Act PPP loan calculations, historical SBA lending volume caps, and updated interest rates. Steve openly credits Nathan for providing better guidance on the loan program than government resources.13:34–16:47 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Crisis Marketing Strategy and LinkedIn Content Series Steve explains his crisis-response marketing tactics and new LinkedIn video series before moving into the standard Famous Five closing format. Nathan listens attentively without challenging any answers.2:15–6:19 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 COVID-19 Business Impact and Paused Accounts Nathan probes into Verblio's metrics during the onset of the pandemic, attempting to clarify whether a 10% drop refers to overall revenue churn or customer count. Steve collaboratively walks through their paused account mechanics and customer tiers.6:20–13:33 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Headcount, Hiring Changes, and Sales Structure Nathan demonstrates significant real-time financial literacy regarding the CARES Act PPP loan calculations, historical SBA lending volume caps, and updated interest rates. Steve openly credits Nathan for providing better guidance on the loan program than government resources.13:34–16:47 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Crisis Marketing Strategy and LinkedIn Content Series Steve explains his crisis-response marketing tactics and new LinkedIn video series before moving into the standard Famous Five closing format. Nathan listens attentively without challenging any answers.

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 28.7% · guest 71.3%3:00 · Nathan 28.7% · guest 71.3%6:00 · Nathan 36.5% · guest 63.5%6:00 · Nathan 36.5% · guest 63.5%9:00 · Nathan 36.6% · guest 63.4%9:00 · Nathan 36.6% · guest 63.4%12:00 · Nathan 32.7% · guest 67.3%12:00 · Nathan 32.7% · guest 67.3%15:00 · Nathan 29% · guest 71%15:00 · Nathan 29% · guest 71%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 2:15 Correcting previous appearance timeline

Steve mildly pushes back against Nathan's opening premise, clarifying that his prior appearance was a few years ago rather than a few months ago.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:30 Pressing on 10% metric definition

Nathan interrupts to clarify whether the cited 10% drop represents monthly revenue churn or customer cohort count.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:40 Differentiating micro-SMB churn from enterprise tier

Steve explains that the 10% loss specifically affected low-ARPU accounts rather than overall revenue, detailing how larger accounts remained stable.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:29 Nathan explains SBA distribution bottlenecks

Nathan contextualizes the federal relief challenge by citing historical SBA annual lending figures ($25B) against the $350B sudden influx demand.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
COVID-19 Business Impact and Paused Accounts 4312 Nathan probes into Verblio's metrics during the onset of the pandemic, attempting to clarify whether a 10% drop refers to overall revenue churn or customer count. Steve collaboratively walks through their paused account mechanics and customer tiers.
Headcount, Hiring Changes, and Sales Structure 8112 Nathan demonstrates significant real-time financial literacy regarding the CARES Act PPP loan calculations, historical SBA lending volume caps, and updated interest rates. Steve openly credits Nathan for providing better guidance on the loan program than government resources.
Crisis Marketing Strategy and LinkedIn Content Series 2100 Steve explains his crisis-response marketing tactics and new LinkedIn video series before moving into the standard Famous Five closing format. Nathan listens attentively without challenging any answers.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Steve Pacross: Verblio creates content through 3,000 US-based writers
“Verblio is a content creation platform. We provide content through our network of 3000 US based writers. And we do that through our SaaS platform that's focused on how to deliver content at scale.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 1:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pacross: Verblio has around 1,000 platform clients
“We do have around a thousand clients on our platform”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 2:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pacross: Verblio's paused revenue surged 50% in three weeks
“So our paused revenue went up by 50% in three weeks.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 4:43
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pacross: Verblio grew revenue 47% in 2019
“We grew by 50%, 47% last year, with pretty much the same team supporting it and some additional contractors that went on board”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 6:31
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pacross: Verblio has 17 to 18 full-time employees and 23 total workers
“So we have 17 or 18 full-time hires right now, and seven, so we're 23 with the additional full-time contractors too.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 7:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pacross: Verblio has no quota-carrying sales reps
“We don't. We only have an inbound sales lead. We just brought on a fractional VP of sales.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 7:20
Disclosure
Pacross: Verblio is fully bootstrapped with no outside capital
“We are fully bootstrapped. So we have no capital, much less additional capital at our hands.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 7:56
Disclosure
Pacross: Verblio expects roughly $500k from PPP stimulus loan
“I think it should be around a half a million dollars. It could, it depends on how they categorize our freelance writers. If they include those as well then it would be possibly double that, but I expect them not to.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 10:47
Prediction Held up
Pacross: First round of PPP funding will quickly run out
“There's not going to be enough in there for the first round. They're either going to have to reduce the amount or find some other way to funnel through or offer a heck of a lot more.”
Steve Pockross Apr 8, 2020 ▶ 11:13
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