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Jul 9, 2019 · 19m · top-founders

1445 Enterprise Teams Use Her to Scale Employee Engagement, $3.5m ARR, $10m Raised

Susan Hunt Stevens · 9m 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 Susan Hunt-Stevens, founder and CEO of WeSpire, discussing how her enterprise employee engagement platform reached $3.5 million in ARR with Fortune 500 clients. The conversation highlights WeSpire's key SaaS metrics, including 125% net revenue retention, an efficient six-month CAC payback, and strategic venture fundraising.

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 44.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.1 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:000:00–2:38 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Promoting How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional intro by Nathan discussing his book and summarizing the upcoming guest's metrics. Zero host-guest interaction.2:39–6:20 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Susan Hunt-Stevens on New York Times Background and Media Models Nathan asks about Susan's background at The New York Times, commenting on media business models. Susan clarifies the shift from ad revenue to digital subscriptions and enterprise engagement SaaS.6:20–9:11 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Enterprise Client Portfolio and Measurable Business Impact Susan outlines her Fortune 500 client base and the ROI of employee engagement programs. Nathan seeks details on market size and timeline.9:11–12:41 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Sales Unit Economics, CAC Efficiency, and Procurement Realities Nathan challenges Susan's CAC payback assumptions on larger enterprise accounts. Susan pushes back, explaining that procurement, legal, and InfoSec fixed overhead make acquisition costs nearly identical regardless of pilot employee count.12:41–15:51 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Expansion Revenue Drivers, Churn Metrics, and ARR Growth Nathan performs real-time ARR and retention math (calculating 31% expansion from 125% NRR and under 6% churn). Susan playfully acknowledges his quick math while maintaining privacy around absolute figures.15:51–18:25 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Geographic Footprint and Bridge Financing to Series B Susan details her bridge round/convertible note ahead of Series B, and Nathan translates this into strategic runway and valuation dynamics.18:26–19:13 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Episode Summary and Key Metrics Recap Host wraps up the interview with standard quickfire Famous Five questions followed by an outro monologue summarizing WeSpire's core statistics.0:00–2:38 · Guest teaching 0/10 Promoting How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional intro by Nathan discussing his book and summarizing the upcoming guest's metrics. Zero host-guest interaction.2:39–6:20 · Guest teaching 3/10 Susan Hunt-Stevens on New York Times Background and Media Models Nathan asks about Susan's background at The New York Times, commenting on media business models. Susan clarifies the shift from ad revenue to digital subscriptions and enterprise engagement SaaS.6:20–9:11 · Guest teaching 3/10 Enterprise Client Portfolio and Measurable Business Impact Susan outlines her Fortune 500 client base and the ROI of employee engagement programs. Nathan seeks details on market size and timeline.9:11–12:41 · Guest teaching 5/10 Sales Unit Economics, CAC Efficiency, and Procurement Realities Nathan challenges Susan's CAC payback assumptions on larger enterprise accounts. Susan pushes back, explaining that procurement, legal, and InfoSec fixed overhead make acquisition costs nearly identical regardless of pilot employee count.12:41–15:51 · Guest teaching 4/10 Expansion Revenue Drivers, Churn Metrics, and ARR Growth Nathan performs real-time ARR and retention math (calculating 31% expansion from 125% NRR and under 6% churn). Susan playfully acknowledges his quick math while maintaining privacy around absolute figures.15:51–18:25 · Guest teaching 2/10 Geographic Footprint and Bridge Financing to Series B Susan details her bridge round/convertible note ahead of Series B, and Nathan translates this into strategic runway and valuation dynamics.18:26–19:13 · Guest teaching 0/10 Episode Summary and Key Metrics Recap Host wraps up the interview with standard quickfire Famous Five questions followed by an outro monologue summarizing WeSpire's core statistics.0:00–2:38 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Promoting How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional intro by Nathan discussing his book and summarizing the upcoming guest's metrics. Zero host-guest interaction.2:39–6:20 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Susan Hunt-Stevens on New York Times Background and Media Models Nathan asks about Susan's background at The New York Times, commenting on media business models. Susan clarifies the shift from ad revenue to digital subscriptions and enterprise engagement SaaS.6:20–9:11 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Enterprise Client Portfolio and Measurable Business Impact Susan outlines her Fortune 500 client base and the ROI of employee engagement programs. Nathan seeks details on market size and timeline.9:11–12:41 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Sales Unit Economics, CAC Efficiency, and Procurement Realities Nathan challenges Susan's CAC payback assumptions on larger enterprise accounts. Susan pushes back, explaining that procurement, legal, and InfoSec fixed overhead make acquisition costs nearly identical regardless of pilot employee count.12:41–15:51 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Expansion Revenue Drivers, Churn Metrics, and ARR Growth Nathan performs real-time ARR and retention math (calculating 31% expansion from 125% NRR and under 6% churn). Susan playfully acknowledges his quick math while maintaining privacy around absolute figures.15:51–18:25 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Geographic Footprint and Bridge Financing to Series B Susan details her bridge round/convertible note ahead of Series B, and Nathan translates this into strategic runway and valuation dynamics.18:26–19:13 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Episode Summary and Key Metrics Recap Host wraps up the interview with standard quickfire Famous Five questions followed by an outro monologue summarizing WeSpire's core statistics.0:00–2:38 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Promoting How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional intro by Nathan discussing his book and summarizing the upcoming guest's metrics. Zero host-guest interaction.2:39–6:20 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Susan Hunt-Stevens on New York Times Background and Media Models Nathan asks about Susan's background at The New York Times, commenting on media business models. Susan clarifies the shift from ad revenue to digital subscriptions and enterprise engagement SaaS.6:20–9:11 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Enterprise Client Portfolio and Measurable Business Impact Susan outlines her Fortune 500 client base and the ROI of employee engagement programs. Nathan seeks details on market size and timeline.9:11–12:41 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Sales Unit Economics, CAC Efficiency, and Procurement Realities Nathan challenges Susan's CAC payback assumptions on larger enterprise accounts. Susan pushes back, explaining that procurement, legal, and InfoSec fixed overhead make acquisition costs nearly identical regardless of pilot employee count.12:41–15:51 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Expansion Revenue Drivers, Churn Metrics, and ARR Growth Nathan performs real-time ARR and retention math (calculating 31% expansion from 125% NRR and under 6% churn). Susan playfully acknowledges his quick math while maintaining privacy around absolute figures.15:51–18:25 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Geographic Footprint and Bridge Financing to Series B Susan details her bridge round/convertible note ahead of Series B, and Nathan translates this into strategic runway and valuation dynamics.18:26–19:13 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Episode Summary and Key Metrics Recap Host wraps up the interview with standard quickfire Famous Five questions followed by an outro monologue summarizing WeSpire's core statistics.

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

0:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%0:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%3:00 · Nathan 31.1% · guest 68.9%3:00 · Nathan 31.1% · guest 68.9%6:00 · Nathan 15.7% · guest 84.3%6:00 · Nathan 15.7% · guest 84.3%9:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%9:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%12:00 · Nathan 34.8% · guest 65.2%12:00 · Nathan 34.8% · guest 65.2%15:00 · Nathan 33.8% · guest 66.2%15:00 · Nathan 33.8% · guest 66.2%18:00 · Nathan 79.4% · guest 20.6%18:00 · Nathan 79.4% · guest 20.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:00 Reframing enterprise sales cost realities

Susan directly disputes Nathan's premise that larger enterprise deals inherently require higher acquisition spending, pointing out that InfoSec and legal overhead remain flat.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:55 Challenging customer acquisition payback ratios

Nathan interrupts to challenge Susan's payback timeline assumptions, arguing that bigger enterprise contracts typically scale CAC.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:05 Educating host on enterprise procurement fixed costs

Susan educates Nathan on why enterprise legal and InfoSec security reviews impose identical friction and cost whether licensing 10,000 or 100,000 seats.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:40 Deconstructing retention and run-rate figures

Nathan rapidly synthesizes customer count, ACV, and churn figures to deduce WeSpire's exact run rate and expansion percentages, winning praise from the guest.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Promoting How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital 0000 Solo promotional intro by Nathan discussing his book and summarizing the upcoming guest's metrics. Zero host-guest interaction.
Susan Hunt-Stevens on New York Times Background and Media Models 5312 Nathan asks about Susan's background at The New York Times, commenting on media business models. Susan clarifies the shift from ad revenue to digital subscriptions and enterprise engagement SaaS.
Enterprise Client Portfolio and Measurable Business Impact 4301 Susan outlines her Fortune 500 client base and the ROI of employee engagement programs. Nathan seeks details on market size and timeline.
Sales Unit Economics, CAC Efficiency, and Procurement Realities 7535 Nathan challenges Susan's CAC payback assumptions on larger enterprise accounts. Susan pushes back, explaining that procurement, legal, and InfoSec fixed overhead make acquisition costs nearly identical regardless of pilot employee count.
Expansion Revenue Drivers, Churn Metrics, and ARR Growth 7424 Nathan performs real-time ARR and retention math (calculating 31% expansion from 125% NRR and under 6% churn). Susan playfully acknowledges his quick math while maintaining privacy around absolute figures.
Geographic Footprint and Bridge Financing to Series B 6212 Susan details her bridge round/convertible note ahead of Series B, and Nathan translates this into strategic runway and valuation dynamics.
Episode Summary and Key Metrics Recap 0000 Host wraps up the interview with standard quickfire Famous Five questions followed by an outro monologue summarizing WeSpire's core statistics.

Statements from this episode (13)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire charges an average of $12 per employee annually
“So, on average on a per employee basis, it would be about 12 dollars per employee per year.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 5:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire serves 35 enterprise clients covering 1.5 million employees
“So we've got about 35 companies. They're almost all in the Fortune 500. They collectively have about 1.5 million employees around the world.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 5:28
Assertion Supported
Caesars, MGM, Unilever, and Cox Enterprises use WeSpire
“On our website, there's some customers who have been fabulous enough to provide testimonials, so it's customers like Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, Unilever you know, and Cox Enterprises and others who are using us.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 6:20
Assertion Supported
Gartner estimated worker engagement platform maturity at 5 to 10 years
“Two years ago, Gartner finally created a category at the end of 16 around what we do. They called it worker engagement platform. They put six companies in the space and they put it at the very, very beginning of the HCM hype cycle and said it's still five to 1…”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 7:53
Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire nearly doubled its customer acquisition cost efficiency since launch
“It's a little bit better now than first year ACV, but in the first year, you know, in the early days, it was like a, you know, a one, a CAC ratio of one. We've now gotten it much better. It's all, you know, we almost improved almost, you know, double the cap r…”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 9:19
Insight
Enterprise legal and InfoSec costs are fixed regardless of deal size
“It's pretty much the cost to acquire is pretty much the cost to acquire. And you know what? It's interesting in enterprise where we see the real expense. I mean, other than the commission expense, obviously that's variable, but where we see the cost is it is t…”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 10:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire implementation costs are virtually identical for 10k or 100k seats
“And then for us implementation is pretty similar between the two as well. Whether you're going to run these campaigns for 10,000 people run them for a 100,000 people, there's not a lot of variable cost in that.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 10:36
Disclosure
WeSpire customer success reps drive upsells without carrying sales quotas
“They are not quota carrying, but they you know are responsible for upsell.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 11:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire achieved a 125% net revenue retention rate year-to-date
“We're seeing this year so far, a 125% net positive, you know, grow it growth off our existing count count base.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 12:27
Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire gross revenue churn is under 6%
“So it's under six percent right now.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 12:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
WeSpire is growing revenue at slightly under 100% year-over-year
“So we're a little less than doubling right now.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 13:57
Assertion Supported
WeSpire raised a sub-$2M seed and $6M-plus Series A
“So, it was a little south of two million on the seed, and a little north of six on the A.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 16:36
Disclosure
WeSpire is raising a convertible note bridge to its Series B
“We're doing a convertible note right now. Basically that will become part of a formal B round when we go and raise a B round.”
Susan Hunt-Stevens Jul 9, 2019 ▶ 16:50
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