StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Jul 29, 2019 · 16m · top-founders

1465 She Helps Teams Plan Social Media Content, $3.5k in MRR

Nathan Latka · 7m spoken Xenia Muntean · 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 Plannable co-founder Xenia Muntean to examine how her social media collaboration platform reached $3,500 in monthly recurring revenue with an ultra-lean operational burn rate in Romania.

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 52.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 2.8 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 2.8
05100:0010:000:00–2:28 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Nathan Latka Book Promotion and Bestseller Announcement Solo host intro and book promotion. As a monologue, all interactive dynamic scores are set to zero.2:28–4:58 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Introducing Xenia Muntean and Plannable's Core Offering Nathan breaks down Plannable's metrics, separating one-time AppSumo buyers from core monthly subscribers to calculate real MRR.4:58–7:12 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Evaluating AppSumo Lifetime Deals and Briefcase Revenue Nathan presses on the validity of AppSumo Briefcase revenue and questions unit economics, while Xenia clarifies how activation limits allow for monthly payouts.7:16–10:59 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Sponsor Break: Pantheon WebOps Platform After an ad break, Nathan questions how five team members survive on a seven thousand dollar monthly burn, and Xenia explains Eastern European living costs.10:59–14:05 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Addressing Churn, Competitors, and Instagram API Bottlenecks Nathan questions why Plannable competes with Later.com instead of merging, prompting Xenia to firmly distinguish their enterprise workflow niche from single-user scheduling.14:06–15:34 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire questions to close out the show with cooperative, lighthearted responses.0:00–2:28 · Guest teaching 0/10 Nathan Latka Book Promotion and Bestseller Announcement Solo host intro and book promotion. As a monologue, all interactive dynamic scores are set to zero.2:28–4:58 · Guest teaching 1/10 Introducing Xenia Muntean and Plannable's Core Offering Nathan breaks down Plannable's metrics, separating one-time AppSumo buyers from core monthly subscribers to calculate real MRR.4:58–7:12 · Guest teaching 4/10 Evaluating AppSumo Lifetime Deals and Briefcase Revenue Nathan presses on the validity of AppSumo Briefcase revenue and questions unit economics, while Xenia clarifies how activation limits allow for monthly payouts.7:16–10:59 · Guest teaching 3/10 Sponsor Break: Pantheon WebOps Platform After an ad break, Nathan questions how five team members survive on a seven thousand dollar monthly burn, and Xenia explains Eastern European living costs.10:59–14:05 · Guest teaching 4/10 Addressing Churn, Competitors, and Instagram API Bottlenecks Nathan questions why Plannable competes with Later.com instead of merging, prompting Xenia to firmly distinguish their enterprise workflow niche from single-user scheduling.14:06–15:34 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire questions to close out the show with cooperative, lighthearted responses.0:00–2:28 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Nathan Latka Book Promotion and Bestseller Announcement Solo host intro and book promotion. As a monologue, all interactive dynamic scores are set to zero.2:28–4:58 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Xenia Muntean and Plannable's Core Offering Nathan breaks down Plannable's metrics, separating one-time AppSumo buyers from core monthly subscribers to calculate real MRR.4:58–7:12 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Evaluating AppSumo Lifetime Deals and Briefcase Revenue Nathan presses on the validity of AppSumo Briefcase revenue and questions unit economics, while Xenia clarifies how activation limits allow for monthly payouts.7:16–10:59 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Sponsor Break: Pantheon WebOps Platform After an ad break, Nathan questions how five team members survive on a seven thousand dollar monthly burn, and Xenia explains Eastern European living costs.10:59–14:05 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Addressing Churn, Competitors, and Instagram API Bottlenecks Nathan questions why Plannable competes with Later.com instead of merging, prompting Xenia to firmly distinguish their enterprise workflow niche from single-user scheduling.14:06–15:34 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire questions to close out the show with cooperative, lighthearted responses.0:00–2:28 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Nathan Latka Book Promotion and Bestseller Announcement Solo host intro and book promotion. As a monologue, all interactive dynamic scores are set to zero.2:28–4:58 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Xenia Muntean and Plannable's Core Offering Nathan breaks down Plannable's metrics, separating one-time AppSumo buyers from core monthly subscribers to calculate real MRR.4:58–7:12 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Evaluating AppSumo Lifetime Deals and Briefcase Revenue Nathan presses on the validity of AppSumo Briefcase revenue and questions unit economics, while Xenia clarifies how activation limits allow for monthly payouts.7:16–10:59 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Sponsor Break: Pantheon WebOps Platform After an ad break, Nathan questions how five team members survive on a seven thousand dollar monthly burn, and Xenia explains Eastern European living costs.10:59–14:05 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Addressing Churn, Competitors, and Instagram API Bottlenecks Nathan questions why Plannable competes with Later.com instead of merging, prompting Xenia to firmly distinguish their enterprise workflow niche from single-user scheduling.14:06–15:34 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard rapid-fire questions to close out the show with cooperative, lighthearted responses.

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

0:00 · Nathan 97.4% · guest 2.6%0:00 · Nathan 97.4% · guest 2.6%3:00 · Nathan 26.6% · guest 73.4%3:00 · Nathan 26.6% · guest 73.4%6:00 · Nathan 60% · guest 40%6:00 · Nathan 60% · guest 40%9:00 · Nathan 39.7% · guest 60.3%9:00 · Nathan 39.7% · guest 60.3%12:00 · Nathan 27.4% · guest 72.6%12:00 · Nathan 27.4% · guest 72.6%15:00 · Nathan 72.6% · guest 27.4%15:00 · Nathan 72.6% · guest 27.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:58 Differentiating from direct competitors

Xenia firmly rejects Nathan's suggestion to give up and join competitor Later.com, clearly defining Plannable's distinct focus on agency collaboration over basic scheduling.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:27 Dismissing lifetime deal recurring claims

Nathan directly challenges Xenia's framing of AppSumo as recurring revenue, insisting that lifetime software deals cannot be treated as real MRR.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:07 Explaining Briefcase economics

When Nathan claims AppSumo cannot afford ten-dollar monthly partner payouts on a fifty-dollar plan, Xenia corrects him by explaining that activation limits keep the model viable.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 4:44 Stripping lifetime users out of MRR

Nathan demonstrates SaaS financial expertise by immediately separating the 3,000 AppSumo users from the 70 true recurring subscribers to determine the real monthly run rate of $3,500.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Nathan Latka Book Promotion and Bestseller Announcement 0000 Solo host intro and book promotion. As a monologue, all interactive dynamic scores are set to zero.
Introducing Xenia Muntean and Plannable's Core Offering 4112 Nathan breaks down Plannable's metrics, separating one-time AppSumo buyers from core monthly subscribers to calculate real MRR.
Evaluating AppSumo Lifetime Deals and Briefcase Revenue 5435 Nathan presses on the validity of AppSumo Briefcase revenue and questions unit economics, while Xenia clarifies how activation limits allow for monthly payouts.
Sponsor Break: Pantheon WebOps Platform 3324 After an ad break, Nathan questions how five team members survive on a seven thousand dollar monthly burn, and Xenia explains Eastern European living costs.
Addressing Churn, Competitors, and Instagram API Bottlenecks 4445 Nathan questions why Plannable competes with Later.com instead of merging, prompting Xenia to firmly distinguish their enterprise workflow niche from single-user scheduling.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 1111 Standard rapid-fire questions to close out the show with cooperative, lighthearted responses.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Muntean: Plannable Counts BMW, Virgin Mobile, and Wendy's as Clients
“We are helping brands such as BMW, Virgin Mobile, and Wendy's simplify their content production workflows.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 3:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Muntean: Plannable Customers Pay an Average of Around $50 Monthly
“So the, it starts at 49. So the average is around 50 dollars per, per account.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 3:37
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Muntean: Plannable has 70 recurring customers and 3,000 from AppSumo
“So we currently have around 70 customers, and we also did an amazing launch on AppSumo, and we have around 3000 customers from the AppSumo launch.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 4:34
Disclosure
Muntean: Plannable kept around $40K of $120K+ AppSumo gross sales
“So from AppSumo, I think we sold more than 120 K and, you know, the AppSumo take a large portion of that. And I think we kept around four 40 K”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 5:07
Assertion Supported
Muntean: Plannable has raised around $140,000 in total capital
“Around 140,”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 9:24
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Muntean: Plannable burns under $7,000 monthly for a five-person team
“So I guess we're under seven K for four or five people around. That's our monthly burn burn rate, which is pretty incredible.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 9:43
Disclosure
Muntean: Plannable has lost about 10 customers total since founding
“I think in total, we lost about 10 customers since, since we began.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 11:07
Disclosure
Muntean: Instagram scheduling API is Plannable's biggest bottleneck hands down
“With Instagram scheduling, that's our biggest roadblock. That's our biggest bottleneck, hands down.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 11:27
Opinion
Muntean: Plannable does not compete with Later, focusing on team workflows instead
“So I don't see us competing with later. Later are doing something for individual marketers. We're doing it for teams. Our focus is not scheduling. Our focus is mostly collaboration and helping people manage their workflows.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 11:58
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Muntean: Promotional launch expanded Plannable's MRR beyond one-time cash injection
“We launched the product in October, and then it painfully grew very slowly, and then once we launched on Epsilon, we had all the social media buzz after the launch. It kind of grew our MRR as well, not just the one-time cash injection.”
Xenia Muntean Jul 29, 2019 ▶ 13:51
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