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Jun 30, 2019 · 20m · top-founders

1436 How He Used Partnerships To Grow 10x YoY to $6m in ARR

Zee Aganovic · 10m 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

In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Zee Aganovic, CEO of High Conversion, exploring how the company scaled 10x year-over-year to $6M ARR through strategic ecosystem partnerships, disciplined capital deployment, and traffic-based SaaS pricing.

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 39.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.2 Guest teaching 1.7 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 3.5
05100:0010:0020:000:01–2:02 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional monologue where Latka highlights listener reviews for his book and previews the episode's key SaaS metrics.2:03–5:17 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast Show Intro Latka presses Aganovic to pin down an exact average contract value between their legacy enterprise tier and newer mid-market tier.5:17–7:57 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Company Origins, Founding History, and Fundraising Strategy Latka investigates fundraising mechanics, probing whether renegotiating term sheets across incremental rounds created unnecessary legal overhead.7:58–11:48 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Partnership-Driven Distribution and 10x Revenue Growth Latka filters through total platform users to isolate full-paying accounts, multiplying the metrics to derive a $500k monthly run rate despite private company confidentiality.11:50–15:25 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Team Structure, Payback Periods, and Customer Acquisition Economics Latka corrects Aganovic's definition of customer acquisition costs versus trial costs and challenges whether targeting immediate payback indicates underpricing.15:25–19:10 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Revenue Retention Dynamics and Expansion Upselling Latka verifies annual revenue churn and net expansion figures before running through the standard Famous Five closing questions.0:01–2:02 · Guest teaching 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional monologue where Latka highlights listener reviews for his book and previews the episode's key SaaS metrics.2:03–5:17 · Guest teaching 2/10 The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast Show Intro Latka presses Aganovic to pin down an exact average contract value between their legacy enterprise tier and newer mid-market tier.5:17–7:57 · Guest teaching 2/10 Company Origins, Founding History, and Fundraising Strategy Latka investigates fundraising mechanics, probing whether renegotiating term sheets across incremental rounds created unnecessary legal overhead.7:58–11:48 · Guest teaching 2/10 Partnership-Driven Distribution and 10x Revenue Growth Latka filters through total platform users to isolate full-paying accounts, multiplying the metrics to derive a $500k monthly run rate despite private company confidentiality.11:50–15:25 · Guest teaching 3/10 Team Structure, Payback Periods, and Customer Acquisition Economics Latka corrects Aganovic's definition of customer acquisition costs versus trial costs and challenges whether targeting immediate payback indicates underpricing.15:25–19:10 · Guest teaching 1/10 Revenue Retention Dynamics and Expansion Upselling Latka verifies annual revenue churn and net expansion figures before running through the standard Famous Five closing questions.0:01–2:02 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional monologue where Latka highlights listener reviews for his book and previews the episode's key SaaS metrics.2:03–5:17 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast Show Intro Latka presses Aganovic to pin down an exact average contract value between their legacy enterprise tier and newer mid-market tier.5:17–7:57 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Company Origins, Founding History, and Fundraising Strategy Latka investigates fundraising mechanics, probing whether renegotiating term sheets across incremental rounds created unnecessary legal overhead.7:58–11:48 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Partnership-Driven Distribution and 10x Revenue Growth Latka filters through total platform users to isolate full-paying accounts, multiplying the metrics to derive a $500k monthly run rate despite private company confidentiality.11:50–15:25 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Team Structure, Payback Periods, and Customer Acquisition Economics Latka corrects Aganovic's definition of customer acquisition costs versus trial costs and challenges whether targeting immediate payback indicates underpricing.15:25–19:10 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Revenue Retention Dynamics and Expansion Upselling Latka verifies annual revenue churn and net expansion figures before running through the standard Famous Five closing questions.0:01–2:02 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Book Promotion: How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital Solo promotional monologue where Latka highlights listener reviews for his book and previews the episode's key SaaS metrics.2:03–5:17 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast Show Intro Latka presses Aganovic to pin down an exact average contract value between their legacy enterprise tier and newer mid-market tier.5:17–7:57 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Company Origins, Founding History, and Fundraising Strategy Latka investigates fundraising mechanics, probing whether renegotiating term sheets across incremental rounds created unnecessary legal overhead.7:58–11:48 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Partnership-Driven Distribution and 10x Revenue Growth Latka filters through total platform users to isolate full-paying accounts, multiplying the metrics to derive a $500k monthly run rate despite private company confidentiality.11:50–15:25 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Team Structure, Payback Periods, and Customer Acquisition Economics Latka corrects Aganovic's definition of customer acquisition costs versus trial costs and challenges whether targeting immediate payback indicates underpricing.15:25–19:10 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Revenue Retention Dynamics and Expansion Upselling Latka verifies annual revenue churn and net expansion figures before running through the standard Famous Five closing questions.

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 18.2% · guest 81.8%3:00 · Nathan 18.2% · guest 81.8%6:00 · Nathan 20.3% · guest 79.7%6:00 · Nathan 20.3% · guest 79.7%9:00 · Nathan 29.6% · guest 70.4%9:00 · Nathan 29.6% · guest 70.4%12:00 · Nathan 28.9% · guest 71.1%12:00 · Nathan 28.9% · guest 71.1%15:00 · Nathan 24.6% · guest 75.4%15:00 · Nathan 24.6% · guest 75.4%18:00 · Nathan 60.4% · guest 39.6%18:00 · Nathan 60.4% · guest 39.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:36 Defending Immediate Payback Strategy

Aganovic firmly rejects Latka's assertion that seeking an immediate payback period indicates underpricing, arguing that rapid proof of value creates natural market pull.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:46 Correcting Definition of Customer Acquisition

Latka refuses Aganovic's qualification of CAC based on conversion rates, bluntly pointing out that unconverted leads represent trial acquisition costs, not customer CAC.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:03 Explaining Subsidized Ecosystem Partnerships

Aganovic details how partnering with platform providers like Magento to subsidize initial onboarding replaces traditional marketing spend with direct product demonstration.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:51 Multiplying Data Points to Expose MRR

Latka takes Aganovic's disclosed ACV and paying customer volume to publicly calculate their exact monthly recurring revenue despite the guest's hesitation to disclose financials.
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 Solo promotional monologue where Latka highlights listener reviews for his book and previews the episode's key SaaS metrics.
The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast Show Intro 5213 Latka presses Aganovic to pin down an exact average contract value between their legacy enterprise tier and newer mid-market tier.
Company Origins, Founding History, and Fundraising Strategy 6214 Latka investigates fundraising mechanics, probing whether renegotiating term sheets across incremental rounds created unnecessary legal overhead.
Partnership-Driven Distribution and 10x Revenue Growth 7225 Latka filters through total platform users to isolate full-paying accounts, multiplying the metrics to derive a $500k monthly run rate despite private company confidentiality.
Team Structure, Payback Periods, and Customer Acquisition Economics 8337 Latka corrects Aganovic's definition of customer acquisition costs versus trial costs and challenges whether targeting immediate payback indicates underpricing.
Revenue Retention Dynamics and Expansion Upselling 5112 Latka verifies annual revenue churn and net expansion figures before running through the standard Famous Five closing questions.

Statements from this episode (13)

Disclosure
High Conversion prices SaaS subscriptions based on website traffic volume
“Our revenue model is based on SaaS subscription that our clients are paying, and the rates are proportional to number of visits that that site has.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 3:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
High Conversion's average customer pays $5,000 monthly
“Right now we closer to 5000. Our average client is generating 5000 dollars.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 4:48
Disclosure
High Conversion plans to introduce pricing tiers below $1,000 monthly
“Our goal is actually to go down to a sub thousand dollar level, but we will do that in stages before scale and expand the business.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 4:54
Assertion Supported
High Conversion's founding team previously sold startups to Microsoft and Ricoh
“The same team that built this company has built Several other startup companies and you know, those companies were acquired by majors like Microsoft, Rico Corporation.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 5:24
Disclosure
High Conversion has raised roughly $10 million to date
“Up to now, I think it's roughly ten million dollars.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 6:17
Insight
Raising too much capital early is as dangerous as undercapitalization
“If you raise too much money too soon, that's equally dangerous as not having enough money to execute.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 6:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
High Conversion has 100 full-price customers and 500 in pipeline stages
“The full customer base is over 600 companies that are at different stages at this moment, at different stages of the sales cycle where full price is, let's say something closer to a hundred customers.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 9:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
High Conversion grew revenue 10x year-over-year from roughly $50,000 monthly
“We were probably one 10th of that.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 10:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
High Conversion employs 26 people, including four in sales
“So we have a, let's say 26 employees and the sales team is four people.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 11:57
Disclosure
High Conversion aims for immediate customer acquisition cost payback
“Our goal is to have basically an immediate payback from customers.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 14:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
High Conversion experiences roughly 10% annual revenue churn
“Yeah, so we closely track that churn, and we are within margins of other SaaS companies, like, 10% churn.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 15:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Traffic-based pricing enables High Conversion's upsells to exceed revenue churn
“Yes. Our accounts are growing because our pricing is based or proportional to number of visits that that site has.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 16:16
Insight
Small data, not big data, unlocks huge market opportunities
“Everybody's so crazy about big data and that people are ignoring the details associated with the human psychology and how people react. And that small data usually is the pathway to some huge market opportunities.”
Zee Aganovic Jun 30, 2019 ▶ 16:41
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