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Jul 21, 2019 · 17m · top-founders

1457 eLearning Company For Internal Teams in Kentucky Hits 1000 Customers, $600k MRR

Don Weobong · 8m 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

Nathan Latka interviews eLeap founder Don Weobong, exploring how the bootstrapped learning management software company reached $600,000 in monthly recurring revenue across 1,035 customers. The discussion highlights eLeap's 100% family ownership, its recovery from negative SEO penalties, and its pivot to a high-volume outbound cold-calling engine.

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 42% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 2.3
05100:0010:000:00–2:08 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital This is a solo introductory monologue and book promotion by the host before bringing on the guest. Because there is no interaction, all scores are zero.2:08–5:33 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Don Weobong and eLeap's Core Business Model Latka immediately calculates average contract values and probes for exact SaaS run rates versus combined revenue channels. Don provides the metrics cooperatively while Latka does quick mental math to derive the per-month ARPU.5:33–7:58 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Recovering from Malicious Negative SEO Attacks Don explains how a competitor attacked them with malicious backlinking and how they recovered from manual Google penalties. Latka asks curious, direct follow-up questions regarding the recovery agency and buyout of early angel investors.7:59–12:57 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Analyzing Monthly Churn, Product Reinvestment, and Expansion Revenue When Don initially conflates expansion revenue with reinvesting cash into product UI/UX, Latka directly interrupts to define SaaS expansion revenue strictly as cohort net expansion. Latka also drills down into the outbound sales unit economics and call volumes.12:57–15:30 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Onboarding Strategies, Churn Reduction, and Equity Dynamics Latka challenges the high 60% annual churn rate and asks why customers leave documentation behind, prompting Don to explain industry LMS churn dynamics and onboarding hurdles. Latka also jokes with Don about company equity splits between husband and wife.15:31–16:48 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly Famous Five rapid-fire closing segment where Don answers standard demographic and personal questions.0:00–2:08 · Guest teaching 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital This is a solo introductory monologue and book promotion by the host before bringing on the guest. Because there is no interaction, all scores are zero.2:08–5:33 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Don Weobong and eLeap's Core Business Model Latka immediately calculates average contract values and probes for exact SaaS run rates versus combined revenue channels. Don provides the metrics cooperatively while Latka does quick mental math to derive the per-month ARPU.5:33–7:58 · Guest teaching 4/10 Recovering from Malicious Negative SEO Attacks Don explains how a competitor attacked them with malicious backlinking and how they recovered from manual Google penalties. Latka asks curious, direct follow-up questions regarding the recovery agency and buyout of early angel investors.7:59–12:57 · Guest teaching 3/10 Analyzing Monthly Churn, Product Reinvestment, and Expansion Revenue When Don initially conflates expansion revenue with reinvesting cash into product UI/UX, Latka directly interrupts to define SaaS expansion revenue strictly as cohort net expansion. Latka also drills down into the outbound sales unit economics and call volumes.12:57–15:30 · Guest teaching 3/10 Onboarding Strategies, Churn Reduction, and Equity Dynamics Latka challenges the high 60% annual churn rate and asks why customers leave documentation behind, prompting Don to explain industry LMS churn dynamics and onboarding hurdles. Latka also jokes with Don about company equity splits between husband and wife.15:31–16:48 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly Famous Five rapid-fire closing segment where Don answers standard demographic and personal questions.0:00–2:08 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital This is a solo introductory monologue and book promotion by the host before bringing on the guest. Because there is no interaction, all scores are zero.2:08–5:33 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Don Weobong and eLeap's Core Business Model Latka immediately calculates average contract values and probes for exact SaaS run rates versus combined revenue channels. Don provides the metrics cooperatively while Latka does quick mental math to derive the per-month ARPU.5:33–7:58 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Recovering from Malicious Negative SEO Attacks Don explains how a competitor attacked them with malicious backlinking and how they recovered from manual Google penalties. Latka asks curious, direct follow-up questions regarding the recovery agency and buyout of early angel investors.7:59–12:57 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Analyzing Monthly Churn, Product Reinvestment, and Expansion Revenue When Don initially conflates expansion revenue with reinvesting cash into product UI/UX, Latka directly interrupts to define SaaS expansion revenue strictly as cohort net expansion. Latka also drills down into the outbound sales unit economics and call volumes.12:57–15:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Onboarding Strategies, Churn Reduction, and Equity Dynamics Latka challenges the high 60% annual churn rate and asks why customers leave documentation behind, prompting Don to explain industry LMS churn dynamics and onboarding hurdles. Latka also jokes with Don about company equity splits between husband and wife.15:31–16:48 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly Famous Five rapid-fire closing segment where Don answers standard demographic and personal questions.0:00–2:08 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital This is a solo introductory monologue and book promotion by the host before bringing on the guest. Because there is no interaction, all scores are zero.2:08–5:33 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Don Weobong and eLeap's Core Business Model Latka immediately calculates average contract values and probes for exact SaaS run rates versus combined revenue channels. Don provides the metrics cooperatively while Latka does quick mental math to derive the per-month ARPU.5:33–7:58 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Recovering from Malicious Negative SEO Attacks Don explains how a competitor attacked them with malicious backlinking and how they recovered from manual Google penalties. Latka asks curious, direct follow-up questions regarding the recovery agency and buyout of early angel investors.7:59–12:57 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Analyzing Monthly Churn, Product Reinvestment, and Expansion Revenue When Don initially conflates expansion revenue with reinvesting cash into product UI/UX, Latka directly interrupts to define SaaS expansion revenue strictly as cohort net expansion. Latka also drills down into the outbound sales unit economics and call volumes.12:57–15:30 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Onboarding Strategies, Churn Reduction, and Equity Dynamics Latka challenges the high 60% annual churn rate and asks why customers leave documentation behind, prompting Don to explain industry LMS churn dynamics and onboarding hurdles. Latka also jokes with Don about company equity splits between husband and wife.15:31–16:48 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly Famous Five rapid-fire closing segment where Don answers standard demographic and personal questions.

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

0:00 · Nathan 85% · guest 15%0:00 · Nathan 85% · guest 15%3:00 · Nathan 26.1% · guest 73.9%3:00 · Nathan 26.1% · guest 73.9%6:00 · Nathan 32.9% · guest 67.1%6:00 · Nathan 32.9% · guest 67.1%9:00 · Nathan 29.3% · guest 70.7%9:00 · Nathan 29.3% · guest 70.7%12:00 · Nathan 24.5% · guest 75.5%12:00 · Nathan 24.5% · guest 75.5%15:00 · Nathan 54.6% · guest 45.4%15:00 · Nathan 54.6% · guest 45.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:05 Revising the definition of expansion

Don resists the standard SaaS definition of expansion revenue by describing internal product rebuild cash reserves rather than net upsells.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:17 Latka re-explaining expansion revenue

Latka firmly interrupts Don's explanation about saving cash for product development to clarify that expansion revenue specifically means contract upsells upon renewal.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:36 Educating on negative SEO remediation

Don educates Latka and the audience on the vulnerability of manual Google penalties resulting from competitor black-hat link attacks and the lengthy cleanup process.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 4:27 Latka real-time run rate reconciliation

Latka breaks down Don's mixed revenue streams to isolate pure SaaS MRR at $600k and instantly calculates accurate average monthly customer value.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital 0000 This is a solo introductory monologue and book promotion by the host before bringing on the guest. Because there is no interaction, all scores are zero.
Introducing Don Weobong and eLeap's Core Business Model 6213 Latka immediately calculates average contract values and probes for exact SaaS run rates versus combined revenue channels. Don provides the metrics cooperatively while Latka does quick mental math to derive the per-month ARPU.
Recovering from Malicious Negative SEO Attacks 4412 Don explains how a competitor attacked them with malicious backlinking and how they recovered from manual Google penalties. Latka asks curious, direct follow-up questions regarding the recovery agency and buyout of early angel investors.
Analyzing Monthly Churn, Product Reinvestment, and Expansion Revenue 7325 When Don initially conflates expansion revenue with reinvesting cash into product UI/UX, Latka directly interrupts to define SaaS expansion revenue strictly as cohort net expansion. Latka also drills down into the outbound sales unit economics and call volumes.
Onboarding Strategies, Churn Reduction, and Equity Dynamics 5313 Latka challenges the high 60% annual churn rate and asks why customers leave documentation behind, prompting Don to explain industry LMS churn dynamics and onboarding hurdles. Latka also jokes with Don about company equity splits between husband and wife.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 2101 A standard, friendly Famous Five rapid-fire closing segment where Don answers standard demographic and personal questions.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
eLeap Customers Pay an Average of $1,000 Per Month
“On average, we have about a thousand per month. We start off at the low end of 25 employees, which is And then 25 dollars a month, but a sweet spot is, is about a thousand a month.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 3:40
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weobong: eLeap Has 1,035 Active Paying Corporate Customers
“We have right now actives a 1035 active companies.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 4:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weobong: eLeap Generates Around $600,000 Monthly SaaS Revenue
“Yes, the software. We do about. 600 or so a month.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 4:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weobong: eLeap Generated $400,000 to $500,000 Monthly a Year Ago
“I think a year ago we're at right about four, well, four or 500 a month.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 5:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Competitor Triggered Google Manual Penalty Against eLeap With Fake Backlinks
“Well, a competitor basically Sent a bunch of fake links to us and then turned around and reported us to Google. And so they looked at it and were like, well, you guys have a bunch of bad links, and so we're gonna manually demote your rankings.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 5:36
Disclosure
Weobong: eLeap raised less than $100k in initial investment
“Gosh, it was very little. It was less than a 100,000.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 7:30
Disclosure
Don Weobong and His Wife Retain 100% Ownership of eLeap
“My wife and I own a hundred percent.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 7:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weobong: eLeap has about 5% monthly revenue churn
“I think we're looking at about five percent.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 8:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weobong: eLeap's revenue expansion is under 2%
“On, on hold, I'll say it's less than two percent.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 9:46
Disclosure
Weobong: eLeap keeps CAC under 20% of first-year revenue
“We try to keep it less than 20% cost acquisition.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 10:00
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ten of eLeap's 15 Employees Are Dedicated to Outbound Sales
“10 of them doing outbound calls.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 11:15
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weobong: Upwards of 90% of people are unhappy with their LMS
“Traditionally it's upwards of 90% of people are not happy with their LMS.”
Don Weobong Jul 21, 2019 ▶ 13:25
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