StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Jan 2, 2020 · 18m · top-founders

1622 Can You Help This Devleoper Figure Out Distribution in Recruiting Software Space?

Adrian Russo · 11m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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

Recruit Locator founder Adrian Russo discusses how he bootstrapped a niche candidate-sourcing SaaS to $7,000 MRR by funding software development with recruitment consulting, while navigating customer acquisition and product development challenges.

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 29.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.2 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 2.3 Nathan pushing back 4.3
05100:0010:001:23–3:50 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Recruit Locator Product Overview and Value Proposition The conversation begins cordially with Adrian explaining Recruit Locator's value proposition and features. Latka asks straightforward exploratory questions and asks for clarification on industry jargon like 'clear talent'.3:50–6:11 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Platform Relaunch and Feedback-Driven Engineering Latka performs quick napkin math converting annual pricing to monthly revenue run-rate. Adrian discusses user feedback that led to removing unpopular features like the map radius pin.6:11–9:13 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Paid Acquisition Channels and Conversion Funnel Analysis Latka pushes back hard when Adrian claims to generate 7,000 clicks from a $15 Facebook ad spend. Latka presses on the conversion funnel until Adrian admits paid social hasn't actually yielded paying customers.9:13–14:20 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Consulting Revenue and Bootstrapped Remote Team Structure Latka aggressively challenges Adrian's thesis that expanding the engineering team is the path to $1M ARR rather than fixing distribution. Latka also corrects Adrian's assumption that low price points protect against churn.14:20–16:26 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Inbound Content Marketing Strategy and Freemium Conversion Latka presses Adrian on how inbound content will solve conversion bottlenecks if paid social failed. Adrian pushes back, clarifying the structural difference between on-site SEO knowledge hubs and paid social posts.16:26–17:51 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka conducts the standard Famous Five closing rapid-fire questions, pausing briefly in disbelief when Adrian initially mentions manual invoicing before clarifying it is only for consulting.1:23–3:50 · Guest teaching 3/10 Recruit Locator Product Overview and Value Proposition The conversation begins cordially with Adrian explaining Recruit Locator's value proposition and features. Latka asks straightforward exploratory questions and asks for clarification on industry jargon like 'clear talent'.3:50–6:11 · Guest teaching 2/10 Platform Relaunch and Feedback-Driven Engineering Latka performs quick napkin math converting annual pricing to monthly revenue run-rate. Adrian discusses user feedback that led to removing unpopular features like the map radius pin.6:11–9:13 · Guest teaching 1/10 Paid Acquisition Channels and Conversion Funnel Analysis Latka pushes back hard when Adrian claims to generate 7,000 clicks from a $15 Facebook ad spend. Latka presses on the conversion funnel until Adrian admits paid social hasn't actually yielded paying customers.9:13–14:20 · Guest teaching 2/10 Consulting Revenue and Bootstrapped Remote Team Structure Latka aggressively challenges Adrian's thesis that expanding the engineering team is the path to $1M ARR rather than fixing distribution. Latka also corrects Adrian's assumption that low price points protect against churn.14:20–16:26 · Guest teaching 4/10 Inbound Content Marketing Strategy and Freemium Conversion Latka presses Adrian on how inbound content will solve conversion bottlenecks if paid social failed. Adrian pushes back, clarifying the structural difference between on-site SEO knowledge hubs and paid social posts.16:26–17:51 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka conducts the standard Famous Five closing rapid-fire questions, pausing briefly in disbelief when Adrian initially mentions manual invoicing before clarifying it is only for consulting.1:23–3:50 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Recruit Locator Product Overview and Value Proposition The conversation begins cordially with Adrian explaining Recruit Locator's value proposition and features. Latka asks straightforward exploratory questions and asks for clarification on industry jargon like 'clear talent'.3:50–6:11 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Platform Relaunch and Feedback-Driven Engineering Latka performs quick napkin math converting annual pricing to monthly revenue run-rate. Adrian discusses user feedback that led to removing unpopular features like the map radius pin.6:11–9:13 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Paid Acquisition Channels and Conversion Funnel Analysis Latka pushes back hard when Adrian claims to generate 7,000 clicks from a $15 Facebook ad spend. Latka presses on the conversion funnel until Adrian admits paid social hasn't actually yielded paying customers.9:13–14:20 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Consulting Revenue and Bootstrapped Remote Team Structure Latka aggressively challenges Adrian's thesis that expanding the engineering team is the path to $1M ARR rather than fixing distribution. Latka also corrects Adrian's assumption that low price points protect against churn.14:20–16:26 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Inbound Content Marketing Strategy and Freemium Conversion Latka presses Adrian on how inbound content will solve conversion bottlenecks if paid social failed. Adrian pushes back, clarifying the structural difference between on-site SEO knowledge hubs and paid social posts.16:26–17:51 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka conducts the standard Famous Five closing rapid-fire questions, pausing briefly in disbelief when Adrian initially mentions manual invoicing before clarifying it is only for consulting.1:23–3:50 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Recruit Locator Product Overview and Value Proposition The conversation begins cordially with Adrian explaining Recruit Locator's value proposition and features. Latka asks straightforward exploratory questions and asks for clarification on industry jargon like 'clear talent'.3:50–6:11 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Platform Relaunch and Feedback-Driven Engineering Latka performs quick napkin math converting annual pricing to monthly revenue run-rate. Adrian discusses user feedback that led to removing unpopular features like the map radius pin.6:11–9:13 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Paid Acquisition Channels and Conversion Funnel Analysis Latka pushes back hard when Adrian claims to generate 7,000 clicks from a $15 Facebook ad spend. Latka presses on the conversion funnel until Adrian admits paid social hasn't actually yielded paying customers.9:13–14:20 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Consulting Revenue and Bootstrapped Remote Team Structure Latka aggressively challenges Adrian's thesis that expanding the engineering team is the path to $1M ARR rather than fixing distribution. Latka also corrects Adrian's assumption that low price points protect against churn.14:20–16:26 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Inbound Content Marketing Strategy and Freemium Conversion Latka presses Adrian on how inbound content will solve conversion bottlenecks if paid social failed. Adrian pushes back, clarifying the structural difference between on-site SEO knowledge hubs and paid social posts.16:26–17:51 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka conducts the standard Famous Five closing rapid-fire questions, pausing briefly in disbelief when Adrian initially mentions manual invoicing before clarifying it is only for consulting.

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

0:00 · Nathan 41.7% · guest 58.3%0:00 · Nathan 41.7% · guest 58.3%3:00 · Nathan 18.4% · guest 81.6%3:00 · Nathan 18.4% · guest 81.6%6:00 · Nathan 27.8% · guest 72.2%6:00 · Nathan 27.8% · guest 72.2%9:00 · Nathan 24.8% · guest 75.2%9:00 · Nathan 24.8% · guest 75.2%12:00 · Nathan 28.5% · guest 71.5%12:00 · Nathan 28.5% · guest 71.5%15:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%15:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%18:00 · Nathan 96.1% · guest 3.9%18:00 · Nathan 96.1% · guest 3.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:35 Adrian rejects Latka's framing regarding churn

Adrian firmly rejects Latka's premise that the product is insufficient, clarifying that annual upfront contracts prevent churn from appearing immediately.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 12:26 Latka cuts off Adrian over contradictory churn claims

Latka challenges Adrian for simultaneously claiming zero churn while insisting the product needs more developers to build missing features.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:49 Adrian educates Latka on owned-media content distribution

Adrian explains why promoting short-form posts on third-party social networks differs fundamentally from building an on-site inbound knowledge hub modeled after HubSpot.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:30 Latka corrects Adrian on SaaS churn economics

Latka cites SaaS benchmarks to demonstrate that low-price SMB customers typically churn at much higher rates than high-ACV enterprise clients.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Recruit Locator Product Overview and Value Proposition 3311 The conversation begins cordially with Adrian explaining Recruit Locator's value proposition and features. Latka asks straightforward exploratory questions and asks for clarification on industry jargon like 'clear talent'.
Platform Relaunch and Feedback-Driven Engineering 4212 Latka performs quick napkin math converting annual pricing to monthly revenue run-rate. Adrian discusses user feedback that led to removing unpopular features like the map radius pin.
Paid Acquisition Channels and Conversion Funnel Analysis 7137 Latka pushes back hard when Adrian claims to generate 7,000 clicks from a $15 Facebook ad spend. Latka presses on the conversion funnel until Adrian admits paid social hasn't actually yielded paying customers.
Consulting Revenue and Bootstrapped Remote Team Structure 8248 Latka aggressively challenges Adrian's thesis that expanding the engineering team is the path to $1M ARR rather than fixing distribution. Latka also corrects Adrian's assumption that low price points protect against churn.
Inbound Content Marketing Strategy and Freemium Conversion 6446 Latka presses Adrian on how inbound content will solve conversion bottlenecks if paid social failed. Adrian pushes back, clarifying the structural difference between on-site SEO knowledge hubs and paid social posts.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 3112 Latka conducts the standard Famous Five closing rapid-fire questions, pausing briefly in disbelief when Adrian initially mentions manual invoicing before clarifying it is only for consulting.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Adrian Russo: Recruit Locator charges $250 annually with five free daily searches
“We have we have a free meal model where you know, people could sign up for free and try the tool with a limited number of searches. They get you know, five searches a day. And then for a year, we charge two 50.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 2:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adrian Russo: Recruit Locator beats LinkedIn Recruiter on search result count and relevancy
“We have LinkedIn search, which actually provides a more robust search than LinkedIn. We actually have a video out there where we beat, you know, LinkedIn recruiter search results by number and relevancy.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 3:02
Disclosure
Russo: Recruit Locator currently has 300 customers
“We have 300 right now.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 4:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Russo: Recruit Locator Yields 10-15 Signups from 7,000 Facebook Clicks
“The conversion data is sometimes low. You know, we might get from those 7000 clicks you know, we might get, you know, 10, 15 people who would sign up, so it's really low. And then we look at that, and even with that amount, we might get, you know, five or six …”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 7:40
Disclosure
Adrian Russo: Recruit Locator is completely bootstrapped with zero funding
“We haven't accepted any funding. You're bootstrapped. Yeah, completely.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 9:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adrian Russo: Recruit Locator achieved profitability in 2017
“We're profitable. We were profitable in year two. So 2016, we're, we, 2017, we are, and 2018, we've grown even more.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 9:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adrian Russo: Recruit Locator team consists of three people
“We have three people right now. Myself Joanne Burt, who's one of our partners, and Joseph de la Pena, who's one of the other developers.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 9:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adrian Russo: Consulting provides the majority of Recruit Locator's revenue
“We do consulting. That's where you know, right now our majority of the revenue comes from there.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 10:13
Insight
Russo: SaaS revenue growth requires continuously expanding engineering teams
“If you have a SaaS product, you need to really keep growing your dev team. That's where the money's going to come from.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 10:48
Disclosure
Russo: Annual Contracts Temporarily Hide Churn for Early-Stage SaaS
“We have an annual subscription model, right? So we haven't, you know, it's been since July, so we're not gonna have any churn because people, you know, people have signed up for a year.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 12:43
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Russo: Recruitment market is moving entirely to ATS-integrated tools
“The whole market's going to, you know, integrated solutions. They want You know, recruiters want an integrated solution with their ATS.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 13:40
Opinion
Russo: Almost Every Job Requires a Technical Background
“To get started in in programming because, you know, that's really where technology is going, you know, with everything now I think you have to have a technical background for almost every job, at least some kind of technical background.”
Adrian Russo Jan 2, 2020 ▶ 17:37
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more