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Nov 20, 2019 · 20m · top-founders

1579 Growth Marketing Conf SF Dec 10th Breaks $1.5m in Revenues

Vasil Azarov · 12m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
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Nathan Latka interviews Vasil Azarov, founder of Growth Marketing Conference, exploring the unit economics, tactical hotel negotiations, lean operational automation, and partner marketing strategies used to scale the event to $1.5 million in annual revenue.

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 32.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.4 Guest teaching 4.4 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 2.2
05100:0010:0020:002:06–5:22 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Early Event Logistics and Hotel Negotiation Strategy Nathan asks detailed questions about venue logistics and hotel minimums. Vasil schools him and the audience on hotel negotiation strategy, explaining why organizers should eliminate room rental fees in exchange for higher food and beverage minimums.5:24–10:38 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Ticketing Strategy, Strategic Comps, and Attendee Growth Nathan performs real-time unit economics calculations on ticket revenues, though there is a brief mix-up between 2014 and 2015 numbers that Vasil clarifies. Nathan also demonstrates familiar knowledge of Vasil's team members.10:39–12:39 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Paid Acquisition, Cross-Promotions, and Community Partnerships Nathan probes into digital ad spending across PPC and Facebook. Vasil explains their multi-touch attribution challenges and collaborative cross-promotions with competing conferences like GrowthHackers.12:39–16:52 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Hitting $1.5 Million Revenue and Scaling Operations Nathan pushes Vasil on whether 2019 will be his first million-dollar event, which Vasil corrects by pointing out they already crossed $1M the prior year. Nathan digs into sponsor pricing tiers and offshore data operations.16:52–18:24 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Speaker Selection Criteria and Presentation Quality Vetting Nathan asks how Vasil prevents boring presentations from hyper-technical speakers. Vasil details his three-part vetting criteria focused on practitioner experience, stage presence, and brand recognition.2:06–5:22 · Guest teaching 6/10 Early Event Logistics and Hotel Negotiation Strategy Nathan asks detailed questions about venue logistics and hotel minimums. Vasil schools him and the audience on hotel negotiation strategy, explaining why organizers should eliminate room rental fees in exchange for higher food and beverage minimums.5:24–10:38 · Guest teaching 4/10 Ticketing Strategy, Strategic Comps, and Attendee Growth Nathan performs real-time unit economics calculations on ticket revenues, though there is a brief mix-up between 2014 and 2015 numbers that Vasil clarifies. Nathan also demonstrates familiar knowledge of Vasil's team members.10:39–12:39 · Guest teaching 3/10 Paid Acquisition, Cross-Promotions, and Community Partnerships Nathan probes into digital ad spending across PPC and Facebook. Vasil explains their multi-touch attribution challenges and collaborative cross-promotions with competing conferences like GrowthHackers.12:39–16:52 · Guest teaching 5/10 Hitting $1.5 Million Revenue and Scaling Operations Nathan pushes Vasil on whether 2019 will be his first million-dollar event, which Vasil corrects by pointing out they already crossed $1M the prior year. Nathan digs into sponsor pricing tiers and offshore data operations.16:52–18:24 · Guest teaching 4/10 Speaker Selection Criteria and Presentation Quality Vetting Nathan asks how Vasil prevents boring presentations from hyper-technical speakers. Vasil details his three-part vetting criteria focused on practitioner experience, stage presence, and brand recognition.2:06–5:22 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Early Event Logistics and Hotel Negotiation Strategy Nathan asks detailed questions about venue logistics and hotel minimums. Vasil schools him and the audience on hotel negotiation strategy, explaining why organizers should eliminate room rental fees in exchange for higher food and beverage minimums.5:24–10:38 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Ticketing Strategy, Strategic Comps, and Attendee Growth Nathan performs real-time unit economics calculations on ticket revenues, though there is a brief mix-up between 2014 and 2015 numbers that Vasil clarifies. Nathan also demonstrates familiar knowledge of Vasil's team members.10:39–12:39 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Paid Acquisition, Cross-Promotions, and Community Partnerships Nathan probes into digital ad spending across PPC and Facebook. Vasil explains their multi-touch attribution challenges and collaborative cross-promotions with competing conferences like GrowthHackers.12:39–16:52 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Hitting $1.5 Million Revenue and Scaling Operations Nathan pushes Vasil on whether 2019 will be his first million-dollar event, which Vasil corrects by pointing out they already crossed $1M the prior year. Nathan digs into sponsor pricing tiers and offshore data operations.16:52–18:24 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Speaker Selection Criteria and Presentation Quality Vetting Nathan asks how Vasil prevents boring presentations from hyper-technical speakers. Vasil details his three-part vetting criteria focused on practitioner experience, stage presence, and brand recognition.2:06–5:22 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Early Event Logistics and Hotel Negotiation Strategy Nathan asks detailed questions about venue logistics and hotel minimums. Vasil schools him and the audience on hotel negotiation strategy, explaining why organizers should eliminate room rental fees in exchange for higher food and beverage minimums.5:24–10:38 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Ticketing Strategy, Strategic Comps, and Attendee Growth Nathan performs real-time unit economics calculations on ticket revenues, though there is a brief mix-up between 2014 and 2015 numbers that Vasil clarifies. Nathan also demonstrates familiar knowledge of Vasil's team members.10:39–12:39 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Paid Acquisition, Cross-Promotions, and Community Partnerships Nathan probes into digital ad spending across PPC and Facebook. Vasil explains their multi-touch attribution challenges and collaborative cross-promotions with competing conferences like GrowthHackers.12:39–16:52 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Hitting $1.5 Million Revenue and Scaling Operations Nathan pushes Vasil on whether 2019 will be his first million-dollar event, which Vasil corrects by pointing out they already crossed $1M the prior year. Nathan digs into sponsor pricing tiers and offshore data operations.16:52–18:24 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Speaker Selection Criteria and Presentation Quality Vetting Nathan asks how Vasil prevents boring presentations from hyper-technical speakers. Vasil details his three-part vetting criteria focused on practitioner experience, stage presence, and brand recognition.

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

0:00 · Nathan 37.7% · guest 62.3%0:00 · Nathan 37.7% · guest 62.3%3:00 · Nathan 26.2% · guest 73.8%3:00 · Nathan 26.2% · guest 73.8%6:00 · Nathan 39.3% · guest 60.7%6:00 · Nathan 39.3% · guest 60.7%9:00 · Nathan 29.4% · guest 70.6%9:00 · Nathan 29.4% · guest 70.6%12:00 · Nathan 19.8% · guest 80.2%12:00 · Nathan 19.8% · guest 80.2%15:00 · Nathan 31.6% · guest 68.4%15:00 · Nathan 31.6% · guest 68.4%18:00 · Nathan 42.2% · guest 57.8%18:00 · Nathan 42.2% · guest 57.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:45 Vasil corrects host on first million-dollar year

When Nathan tries to dramatize 2019 as the first million-dollar milestone, Vasil directly refutes the premise, noting they crossed $1 million the prior year.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 12:06 Nathan demands specific competitor names

Nathan refuses Vasil's vague description of industry partners and playfully pushes him to name specific competing conferences on the record.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:10 Masterclass on venue and F&B negotiation

Vasil provides an actionable masterclass on hotel contracts, explaining the margin economics of food and beverage to eliminate room rental fees entirely.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 19:46 Nathan highlights UiPath valuation and growth trajectory

When Vasil mentions a lesser-known presenter building on UiPath, Nathan steps in with industry context, identifying UiPath as one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in history.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Early Event Logistics and Hotel Negotiation Strategy 4612 Nathan asks detailed questions about venue logistics and hotel minimums. Vasil schools him and the audience on hotel negotiation strategy, explaining why organizers should eliminate room rental fees in exchange for higher food and beverage minimums.
Ticketing Strategy, Strategic Comps, and Attendee Growth 5413 Nathan performs real-time unit economics calculations on ticket revenues, though there is a brief mix-up between 2014 and 2015 numbers that Vasil clarifies. Nathan also demonstrates familiar knowledge of Vasil's team members.
Paid Acquisition, Cross-Promotions, and Community Partnerships 4312 Nathan probes into digital ad spending across PPC and Facebook. Vasil explains their multi-touch attribution challenges and collaborative cross-promotions with competing conferences like GrowthHackers.
Hitting $1.5 Million Revenue and Scaling Operations 5513 Nathan pushes Vasil on whether 2019 will be his first million-dollar event, which Vasil corrects by pointing out they already crossed $1M the prior year. Nathan digs into sponsor pricing tiers and offshore data operations.
Speaker Selection Criteria and Presentation Quality Vetting 4401 Nathan asks how Vasil prevents boring presentations from hyper-technical speakers. Vasil details his three-part vetting criteria focused on practitioner experience, stage presence, and brand recognition.

Statements from this episode (13)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Azarov: Growth Marketing Conference to collect first sizable profit in 2019
“This year is the first time when we will collect more or less sizable profit. Previously we were investing every profit, every dollar that we made into the future, the development of the event.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 1:43
Insight
Never prepay hotel rooms; trade higher catering spend for waived space rental
“Don't ever prepay for the rooms. They, sometimes they would want to charge you for the space, just the rental space. So they would say this room would cost 10,000 dollars to rent. Plus you have to spend 50,000 dollars on food and drinks. You tell them instead,…”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 4:11
Insight
Azarov: New Events Must Strategically Give Away Free Tickets
“One of the things when you start an event, you would have to give away a lot of tickets for free, so that's just the nature of it. And but you need to make sure you do it strategically.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 5:43
Disclosure
Growth Marketing Conference Allocated 400 Free Strategic Passes in 2019
“We allocated around 400 of this, and we also give away some community passes.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 6:40
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Growth Marketing Conf Projects 1,700 Attendees for December 2019 Event
“We're projecting about 1700 throughout two days of date.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 7:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Growth Marketing Conference 2019 revenue is 50% tickets, 50% sponsorships
“And this is the first year when we the breakdown between ticket sales and sponsorships are fifty-fifty.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 7:29
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Azarov: Growth Marketing Conference Grows Revenue and Attendees 25% Annually
“Every single year, pretty much and we've been consistently growing around 25% revenue and attendees. Year after year.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 8:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Growth Marketing Conference operates with twelve people, only four full-time
“We have 12 people right now, but only four of them full time.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 9:22
Disclosure
Growth Marketing Conference budgets $35,000 for 2019 digital ad spend
“So I think PPC would be around 20 K this year and Facebook ads will be maybe 15.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 10:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Azarov: Manual tracking shows conference paid ads are profitable
“Attribution is really hard when it comes to events because it's always multi-touch, but at least we know just by tracking every single ticket sale almost manually, we know that it's profitable.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 11:08
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Growth Marketing Conference projects $1.3M to $1.5M in 2019 top-line revenue
“This year it will be anywhere between 1.3 to 1.5. Hopefully.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 13:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Growth Marketing Conference drives ticket sales through a 110,000-subscriber email list
“Our list is right now is about 110,000 from which the 30,000 are very engaged segment.”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 16:01
Disclosure
Azarov targets active practitioners and engaging communicators over high-level executives for conferences
“So there are three main characteristic in every speaker that I look for. First of all, it needs to, he or she needs to be a practitioner, right? So sometimes we would prefer to have a manager and director level, but somebody who's in the trenches and who can r…”
Vasil Azarov Nov 20, 2019 ▶ 17:20
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