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Oct 15, 2019 · 15m · top-founders

1543 They'll Help You Manufacture Your Product for 1/4th the Cost as Other Brokers, $100k in MRR, 20 Customers

Rich Mokuolu · 6m 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

In this podcast interview, Nathan Latka speaks with InventaPrint co-founder Rich Mokuolu about how the startup scaled to $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue with only $120,000 in accelerator funding. Mokuolu breaks down InventaPrint's hybrid SaaS Plus model, which leverages intelligent manufacturing matchmaking to cut hardware production costs by 75% for enterprise clients while maintaining zero churn.

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 49.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.8 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 2.3 Nathan pushing back 3.5
05100:0010:000:00–2:23 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Episode Preview and InventaPrint Overview Latka opens with an intro summary and immediately questions Mokuolu on the pricing mechanics after Mokuolu momentarily confuses per month vs per year. The guest clarifies the enterprise SaaS tier structure collaboratively.2:23–5:11 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Marketplace Transaction Fees and Broker Comparison Latka pushes to understand what transactions InventaPrint takes a 10% fee on, assuming it was end-consumer retail sales. Mokuolu educates him that the cut is on the manufacturing contract spend, benchmarking it against traditional manufacturing brokers taking 15-25%.5:12–7:13 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Customer Spend Profiles and Revenue Calculation Latka uses Mokuolu's numbers (20 customers at $5k/mo) to compute $100k/mo MRR. Mokuolu is slightly defensive about Latka backing into his revenue, but acknowledges the math.7:13–10:13 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Year-over-Year Growth and Going Full-Time Latka aggressively pushes past Mokuolu's projected pipeline claims to pin down actual monthly revenue and catches a contradiction when Mokuolu claims to be bootstrapped despite taking Techstars funding.10:13–13:23 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Zero Churn and 75% Cost Reduction Drivers Mokuolu refuses to share specific net retention figures citing confidentiality, prompting Latka to push back that he does not host a generalist podcast. Mokuolu responds by thoroughly explaining their value proposition and 75% cost reduction case study.13:23–15:08 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Team Composition and Word-of-Mouth Acquisition A standard wrap-up covering team size, word-of-mouth acquisition, and the Famous Five questions, ending warmly.0:00–2:23 · Guest teaching 2/10 Episode Preview and InventaPrint Overview Latka opens with an intro summary and immediately questions Mokuolu on the pricing mechanics after Mokuolu momentarily confuses per month vs per year. The guest clarifies the enterprise SaaS tier structure collaboratively.2:23–5:11 · Guest teaching 4/10 Marketplace Transaction Fees and Broker Comparison Latka pushes to understand what transactions InventaPrint takes a 10% fee on, assuming it was end-consumer retail sales. Mokuolu educates him that the cut is on the manufacturing contract spend, benchmarking it against traditional manufacturing brokers taking 15-25%.5:12–7:13 · Guest teaching 2/10 Customer Spend Profiles and Revenue Calculation Latka uses Mokuolu's numbers (20 customers at $5k/mo) to compute $100k/mo MRR. Mokuolu is slightly defensive about Latka backing into his revenue, but acknowledges the math.7:13–10:13 · Guest teaching 1/10 Year-over-Year Growth and Going Full-Time Latka aggressively pushes past Mokuolu's projected pipeline claims to pin down actual monthly revenue and catches a contradiction when Mokuolu claims to be bootstrapped despite taking Techstars funding.10:13–13:23 · Guest teaching 5/10 Zero Churn and 75% Cost Reduction Drivers Mokuolu refuses to share specific net retention figures citing confidentiality, prompting Latka to push back that he does not host a generalist podcast. Mokuolu responds by thoroughly explaining their value proposition and 75% cost reduction case study.13:23–15:08 · Guest teaching 1/10 Team Composition and Word-of-Mouth Acquisition A standard wrap-up covering team size, word-of-mouth acquisition, and the Famous Five questions, ending warmly.0:00–2:23 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Episode Preview and InventaPrint Overview Latka opens with an intro summary and immediately questions Mokuolu on the pricing mechanics after Mokuolu momentarily confuses per month vs per year. The guest clarifies the enterprise SaaS tier structure collaboratively.2:23–5:11 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Marketplace Transaction Fees and Broker Comparison Latka pushes to understand what transactions InventaPrint takes a 10% fee on, assuming it was end-consumer retail sales. Mokuolu educates him that the cut is on the manufacturing contract spend, benchmarking it against traditional manufacturing brokers taking 15-25%.5:12–7:13 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Customer Spend Profiles and Revenue Calculation Latka uses Mokuolu's numbers (20 customers at $5k/mo) to compute $100k/mo MRR. Mokuolu is slightly defensive about Latka backing into his revenue, but acknowledges the math.7:13–10:13 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Year-over-Year Growth and Going Full-Time Latka aggressively pushes past Mokuolu's projected pipeline claims to pin down actual monthly revenue and catches a contradiction when Mokuolu claims to be bootstrapped despite taking Techstars funding.10:13–13:23 · Guest disagreement 5/10 Zero Churn and 75% Cost Reduction Drivers Mokuolu refuses to share specific net retention figures citing confidentiality, prompting Latka to push back that he does not host a generalist podcast. Mokuolu responds by thoroughly explaining their value proposition and 75% cost reduction case study.13:23–15:08 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Team Composition and Word-of-Mouth Acquisition A standard wrap-up covering team size, word-of-mouth acquisition, and the Famous Five questions, ending warmly.0:00–2:23 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Episode Preview and InventaPrint Overview Latka opens with an intro summary and immediately questions Mokuolu on the pricing mechanics after Mokuolu momentarily confuses per month vs per year. The guest clarifies the enterprise SaaS tier structure collaboratively.2:23–5:11 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Marketplace Transaction Fees and Broker Comparison Latka pushes to understand what transactions InventaPrint takes a 10% fee on, assuming it was end-consumer retail sales. Mokuolu educates him that the cut is on the manufacturing contract spend, benchmarking it against traditional manufacturing brokers taking 15-25%.5:12–7:13 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Customer Spend Profiles and Revenue Calculation Latka uses Mokuolu's numbers (20 customers at $5k/mo) to compute $100k/mo MRR. Mokuolu is slightly defensive about Latka backing into his revenue, but acknowledges the math.7:13–10:13 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Year-over-Year Growth and Going Full-Time Latka aggressively pushes past Mokuolu's projected pipeline claims to pin down actual monthly revenue and catches a contradiction when Mokuolu claims to be bootstrapped despite taking Techstars funding.10:13–13:23 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Zero Churn and 75% Cost Reduction Drivers Mokuolu refuses to share specific net retention figures citing confidentiality, prompting Latka to push back that he does not host a generalist podcast. Mokuolu responds by thoroughly explaining their value proposition and 75% cost reduction case study.13:23–15:08 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Team Composition and Word-of-Mouth Acquisition A standard wrap-up covering team size, word-of-mouth acquisition, and the Famous Five questions, ending warmly.

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

0:00 · Nathan 65.4% · guest 34.6%0:00 · Nathan 65.4% · guest 34.6%3:00 · Nathan 35.7% · guest 64.3%3:00 · Nathan 35.7% · guest 64.3%6:00 · Nathan 49.4% · guest 50.6%6:00 · Nathan 49.4% · guest 50.6%9:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%9:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%12:00 · Nathan 28.3% · guest 71.7%12:00 · Nathan 28.3% · guest 71.7%15:00 · Nathan 92.8% · guest 7.2%15:00 · Nathan 92.8% · guest 7.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:44 Refusal to disclose retention metrics

Mokuolu firmly shuts down Latka's inquiry regarding specific net retention percentages, insisting on keeping private data confidential.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 8:05 Refusal of projected pipeline framing

Latka cuts off Mokuolu's shift toward pipeline projections, insisting on knowing the exact actual revenue achieved today.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:54 Explaining manufacturing broker cuts

Mokuolu dismantles Latka's misconception about retail tracking by explaining that the marketplace fee is taken directly on manufacturer spend, undercutting traditional 25% broker fees.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:52 Catching Techstars capital contradiction

Latka instantly checks Mokuolu after the guest claims to be completely bootstrapped, pointing out his $120k Techstars raise.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Episode Preview and InventaPrint Overview 3212 Latka opens with an intro summary and immediately questions Mokuolu on the pricing mechanics after Mokuolu momentarily confuses per month vs per year. The guest clarifies the enterprise SaaS tier structure collaboratively.
Marketplace Transaction Fees and Broker Comparison 4424 Latka pushes to understand what transactions InventaPrint takes a 10% fee on, assuming it was end-consumer retail sales. Mokuolu educates him that the cut is on the manufacturing contract spend, benchmarking it against traditional manufacturing brokers taking 15-25%.
Customer Spend Profiles and Revenue Calculation 5223 Latka uses Mokuolu's numbers (20 customers at $5k/mo) to compute $100k/mo MRR. Mokuolu is slightly defensive about Latka backing into his revenue, but acknowledges the math.
Year-over-Year Growth and Going Full-Time 5146 Latka aggressively pushes past Mokuolu's projected pipeline claims to pin down actual monthly revenue and catches a contradiction when Mokuolu claims to be bootstrapped despite taking Techstars funding.
Zero Churn and 75% Cost Reduction Drivers 4555 Mokuolu refuses to share specific net retention figures citing confidentiality, prompting Latka to push back that he does not host a generalist podcast. Mokuolu responds by thoroughly explaining their value proposition and 75% cost reduction case study.
Team Composition and Word-of-Mouth Acquisition 2101 A standard wrap-up covering team size, word-of-mouth acquisition, and the Famous Five questions, ending warmly.

Statements from this episode (13)

Disclosure
InventaPrint uses a hybrid SaaS and transaction fee business model
“Our model is we're a SaaS Plus company, so we have an annual license fee that hardware companies pay us, and the plus side of things is We get paid on each transaction from the manufacturers.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 1:24
Assertion Partly supported
Mokuolu: Hardware manufacturing brokers take 15% to 25% commissions
“You have manufacturing brokers in the hardware space. And those people take anywhere between 15 to upwards of 25%, right?”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 4:37
Disclosure
InventaPrint charges a 10% transaction fee to undercut traditional brokers
“So what we do is by using a 10%, we're actually undercutting the broker market, and giving a more cost-competitive solution there.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 4:54
Disclosure
InventaPrint targets clients spending at least $1M annually on manufacturing
“Our dollar profile is, you know, for a mid-market company, we really determine it by a million dollars worth of spend a year, and then for the enterprises over that so that's where we kind of target the mid-market enterprise range.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 5:21
Assertion Not checkable as stated
InventaPrint has built a network of over 100 manufacturers
“So right now we have a network of over a hundred manufacturers.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 6:36
Disclosure
InventaPrint founders transitioned to working full-time just three months ago
“We actually just went full-time about three months ago, both of us.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 7:38
Assertion Not checkable as stated
InventaPrint generates $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue across 20 customers
“So if you were to multiply again, like five grand per month by 20.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 8:40
Disclosure
InventaPrint raised $120,000 from the Techstars accelerator
“Right, so that, a hundred and, a 120 grand.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 9:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mokuolu claims InventaPrint has zero customer churn due to selective onboarding
“No churn, actually. Probably that might change in the future, but right now we're, because we're very selective in who we work with, we make sure that we can provide value to people that we're onboarding.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 10:16
Assertion Not checkable as stated
InventaPrint Case Studies Show Average 75% Manufacturing Cost Reductions
“Right now, the customers that use us, the reason why there's no churn, because we actually represent our case studies show roughly averaging 75% in cost reductions.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 11:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mokuolu: InventaPrint Cut Client's Part Cost from $50k to Under $2k
“A nanotechnology company came to us. It had a 50,000 dollar injection motor part design, and as part of the bidding process, manufacturers in our network not offer, not only offer a price, but they also offer feedback on your design intent, right? So in this c…”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 12:24
Opinion
Mokuolu: Traditional Brokers Upcharge Manufacturing to Inflate GMV
“If that client was to go to anyone else, they would gladly take the 50,000 dollars and maybe even upcharge them to 70,000 dollars to get their GMV higher, right? But it really doesn't serve that customer.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 13:11
Disclosure
InventaPrint currently operates with a team of just four people
“So, four team members right now.”
Rich Mokuolu Oct 15, 2019 ▶ 13:29
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