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Oct 14, 2019 · 21m · top-founders

1542 She Spends $300k/mo on Sponsored Instagram Posts

Vera Kopp · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m 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 Vera Kopp, founder of Incast, exploring how her bootstrapped influencer marketing platform grew to process $300,000 in monthly gross transaction volume across the United States and Brazil with a 10% take rate.

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

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 1.7 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 3.3
05100:0010:0020:000:30–4:16 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Company Background, Team, and Client Base Latka immediately calculates average revenue per client ($300k across 20 clients = $15k) and pushes back when Kopp claims average campaigns are $25k to $30k. He also live-tests her tool on his own handle.4:19–7:11 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Business Model and Commission Economics Latka drills into pass-through spend versus gross margin, clarifying that Kopp operates on a ~10% take rate and thus takes home around $30k to $35k per month.7:11–10:31 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Bootstrapping, Business Model Pivot, and Retention Kopp recounts pivoting from an unpaid marketplace to an agency model; Latka pushes for clarity on whether the reported 10% churn is revenue churn or logo churn.10:36–13:57 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Sponsor Break: Volusion E-Commerce Platform Following the sponsor read, Latka draws comparisons to other ad tech businesses that inflate GMV figures, before probing into her sales team structure and lead conversion rates.13:57–16:29 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Case Study: BMW Influencer Campaign in Brazil When Kopp hesitates to name a client, Latka redirects her to a disclosed brand (BMW) and spells out the celebrity influencer's name while attempting to live-audit the profile.16:29–20:58 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Influencer Strategies for Tech Companies and Audience Targeting Kopp explains how tech companies can utilize micro-influencers. In the Famous Five, Latka gently fact-checks Kopp regarding the timing of Yahoo's Alibaba investment under Marissa Mayer.0:30–4:16 · Guest teaching 2/10 Company Background, Team, and Client Base Latka immediately calculates average revenue per client ($300k across 20 clients = $15k) and pushes back when Kopp claims average campaigns are $25k to $30k. He also live-tests her tool on his own handle.4:19–7:11 · Guest teaching 1/10 Business Model and Commission Economics Latka drills into pass-through spend versus gross margin, clarifying that Kopp operates on a ~10% take rate and thus takes home around $30k to $35k per month.7:11–10:31 · Guest teaching 2/10 Bootstrapping, Business Model Pivot, and Retention Kopp recounts pivoting from an unpaid marketplace to an agency model; Latka pushes for clarity on whether the reported 10% churn is revenue churn or logo churn.10:36–13:57 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Break: Volusion E-Commerce Platform Following the sponsor read, Latka draws comparisons to other ad tech businesses that inflate GMV figures, before probing into her sales team structure and lead conversion rates.13:57–16:29 · Guest teaching 2/10 Case Study: BMW Influencer Campaign in Brazil When Kopp hesitates to name a client, Latka redirects her to a disclosed brand (BMW) and spells out the celebrity influencer's name while attempting to live-audit the profile.16:29–20:58 · Guest teaching 2/10 Influencer Strategies for Tech Companies and Audience Targeting Kopp explains how tech companies can utilize micro-influencers. In the Famous Five, Latka gently fact-checks Kopp regarding the timing of Yahoo's Alibaba investment under Marissa Mayer.0:30–4:16 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Company Background, Team, and Client Base Latka immediately calculates average revenue per client ($300k across 20 clients = $15k) and pushes back when Kopp claims average campaigns are $25k to $30k. He also live-tests her tool on his own handle.4:19–7:11 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Business Model and Commission Economics Latka drills into pass-through spend versus gross margin, clarifying that Kopp operates on a ~10% take rate and thus takes home around $30k to $35k per month.7:11–10:31 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Bootstrapping, Business Model Pivot, and Retention Kopp recounts pivoting from an unpaid marketplace to an agency model; Latka pushes for clarity on whether the reported 10% churn is revenue churn or logo churn.10:36–13:57 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Break: Volusion E-Commerce Platform Following the sponsor read, Latka draws comparisons to other ad tech businesses that inflate GMV figures, before probing into her sales team structure and lead conversion rates.13:57–16:29 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Case Study: BMW Influencer Campaign in Brazil When Kopp hesitates to name a client, Latka redirects her to a disclosed brand (BMW) and spells out the celebrity influencer's name while attempting to live-audit the profile.16:29–20:58 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Influencer Strategies for Tech Companies and Audience Targeting Kopp explains how tech companies can utilize micro-influencers. In the Famous Five, Latka gently fact-checks Kopp regarding the timing of Yahoo's Alibaba investment under Marissa Mayer.0:30–4:16 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Company Background, Team, and Client Base Latka immediately calculates average revenue per client ($300k across 20 clients = $15k) and pushes back when Kopp claims average campaigns are $25k to $30k. He also live-tests her tool on his own handle.4:19–7:11 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Business Model and Commission Economics Latka drills into pass-through spend versus gross margin, clarifying that Kopp operates on a ~10% take rate and thus takes home around $30k to $35k per month.7:11–10:31 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Bootstrapping, Business Model Pivot, and Retention Kopp recounts pivoting from an unpaid marketplace to an agency model; Latka pushes for clarity on whether the reported 10% churn is revenue churn or logo churn.10:36–13:57 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Sponsor Break: Volusion E-Commerce Platform Following the sponsor read, Latka draws comparisons to other ad tech businesses that inflate GMV figures, before probing into her sales team structure and lead conversion rates.13:57–16:29 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Case Study: BMW Influencer Campaign in Brazil When Kopp hesitates to name a client, Latka redirects her to a disclosed brand (BMW) and spells out the celebrity influencer's name while attempting to live-audit the profile.16:29–20:58 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Influencer Strategies for Tech Companies and Audience Targeting Kopp explains how tech companies can utilize micro-influencers. In the Famous Five, Latka gently fact-checks Kopp regarding the timing of Yahoo's Alibaba investment under Marissa Mayer.

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

0:00 · Nathan 42.1% · guest 57.9%0:00 · Nathan 42.1% · guest 57.9%3:00 · Nathan 39.6% · guest 60.4%3:00 · Nathan 39.6% · guest 60.4%6:00 · Nathan 28.2% · guest 71.8%6:00 · Nathan 28.2% · guest 71.8%9:00 · Nathan 59.5% · guest 40.5%9:00 · Nathan 59.5% · guest 40.5%12:00 · Nathan 38% · guest 62%12:00 · Nathan 38% · guest 62%15:00 · Nathan 30.7% · guest 69.3%15:00 · Nathan 30.7% · guest 69.3%18:00 · Nathan 24.8% · guest 75.2%18:00 · Nathan 24.8% · guest 75.2%21:00 · Nathan 77.2% · guest 22.8%21:00 · Nathan 77.2% · guest 22.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:36 Reluctance to disclose client details

Kopp briefly pushes back on disclosing the brand behind a current campaign before Latka prompts her to focus on an authorized case study.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:15 Mathematical discrepancy challenge

Latka refuses to let a mathematical mismatch slide, pointing out that 20 clients generating $300k implies $15k per client rather than the $25k-$30k stated.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:41 Explaining celebrity valuation multipliers

Kopp explains why Latka's automated profile valuation underestimates his earning potential due to unmodeled celebrity and linear media factors.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 19:40 Fact-checking Yahoo's Alibaba stake

Latka politely demonstrates his market knowledge by correcting Kopp's claim that Marissa Mayer was responsible for acquiring Yahoo's stake in Alibaba.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Company Background, Team, and Client Base 5214 Latka immediately calculates average revenue per client ($300k across 20 clients = $15k) and pushes back when Kopp claims average campaigns are $25k to $30k. He also live-tests her tool on his own handle.
Business Model and Commission Economics 6114 Latka drills into pass-through spend versus gross margin, clarifying that Kopp operates on a ~10% take rate and thus takes home around $30k to $35k per month.
Bootstrapping, Business Model Pivot, and Retention 5213 Kopp recounts pivoting from an unpaid marketplace to an agency model; Latka pushes for clarity on whether the reported 10% churn is revenue churn or logo churn.
Sponsor Break: Volusion E-Commerce Platform 5113 Following the sponsor read, Latka draws comparisons to other ad tech businesses that inflate GMV figures, before probing into her sales team structure and lead conversion rates.
Case Study: BMW Influencer Campaign in Brazil 4224 When Kopp hesitates to name a client, Latka redirects her to a disclosed brand (BMW) and spells out the celebrity influencer's name while attempting to live-audit the profile.
Influencer Strategies for Tech Companies and Audience Targeting 5212 Kopp explains how tech companies can utilize micro-influencers. In the Famous Five, Latka gently fact-checks Kopp regarding the timing of Yahoo's Alibaba investment under Marissa Mayer.

Statements from this episode (13)

Disclosure
Incast grew monthly revenue from $3,000 to a couple hundred thousand
“We started in, in, in, in, with a revenue of over 3000 dollars a month. We're generating a couple 100,000 now, so.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 1:06
Disclosure
Incast manages 20 active client companies monthly
“We do have active 20 companies that we work on a monthly basis.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 1:24
Disclosure
Incast marketing campaigns range from $25,000 to $1 million
“Campaign ranges from 25 thousand to, right now, a million.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 2:07
Disclosure
Incast requires minimum 3% engagement rate for influencers on brand campaigns
“We try not to present any influencers to our clients below three percent engagement”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 3:49
Disclosure
Incast takes a 10% commission from influencers on marketing campaigns
“So our margin is 10% that we take from the bottom down. So to explain, like if the influencer comes to us with a budget of 10,000 US dollars for post, we will pass that cost to our clients. So it's not more expensive to our clients to work with us. And we'll t…”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 6:01
Disclosure
Incast is entirely bootstrapped without outside capital
“I am bootstrapped.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 8:59
Insight
Influencer marketing campaigns under $5,000 fail due to lack of reach
“Budget less than 5000 dollars. It's really hard to measure results because influencers posts are really expensive nowadays. So and then on those clients are the ones that, you know, it tends like to be much harder to quantify return. Work with the influencers,…”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 9:31
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Incast is on track to close the year at $1 million revenue
“So we went from beginning of the year of 500,000 revenue. Right now we're going to close a million.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 10:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
80% of Incast clients come from referrals and past contacts
“If I can pull out of all of our clients, 80% of them were referrals Or acquaintances or people that we, you know, did business in the past.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 13:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Incast converts 20% of inbound leads into paying agency clients
“We have a 20% conversion on every lead capture that we get.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 13:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Incast ran a BMW motorcycle launch campaign in Brazil for $15,000
“They were launching a new motorcycle in Brazil and they wanted a top tier celebrity influencer and they have a tiny, tiny little budget. Like I think 15,000 at the time, and they wanted like two years exclusive, ah, image usage. A lot of those items are, you k…”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 14:50
Opinion
Kopp: Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer did a great job
“I'm inspired by I don't know Yahoo, Melissa Mayer, everybody criticized her and her, I think her decision-making. I think she did great when she, you know, took a chance and took Yahoo from being like email provider to e-commerce platform buying Alibaba.”
Vera Kopp Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 19:07
Assertion Supported
Latka: Yahoo invested in Alibaba before Marissa Mayer became CEO
“By the way, the Alibaba investment was before I believe she joined Yahoo, but that did turn out nicely during her tenure, and I do think she's extremely talented.”
Nathan Latka Oct 14, 2019 ▶ 19:42
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