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Feb 24, 2019 · 20m · top-founders

1310 After GoDaddy Acquisition, He Built Support Version of Intercom, Now $1.5m in ARR, 100% yoy growth

Lou Wang · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs, host Nathan Latka interviews Reamaze founder Lou Wang to explore how the multi-channel customer support platform scaled to $1.5 million in ARR with 100 percent year-over-year growth. Wang shares key operational insights on maintaining capital efficiency, managing a remote team, and applying lessons learned from his previous startup acquisition by GoDaddy.

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 40.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.3 Guest teaching 1.5 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 3.7
05100:0010:0020:000:00–4:41 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Executive Preview and Reamaze Key Metrics Breakdown Latka immediately frames the competitive landscape against Front, Intercom, and Zendesk, drilling into the pricing tier split between the 20-dollar and 40-dollar plans.4:42–7:22 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Founding Timeline, GoDaddy Acquisition, and Equity Distribution Latka digs into the details of the GoDaddy exit and pushes on the co-founder cap table equity split, prompting Lou to explain why ownership was not an even three-way division.7:23–10:19 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Customer Base Scale, Early Funding, and Remote Team Strategy Latka extrapolates seat count ranges from logo metrics and presses Lou on how his initial seed investors felt when he shelved the startup to work at GoDaddy.10:20–13:46 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Revenue Growth, Unit Economics, Churn, and CAC Metrics Latka performs live revenue calculations based on average seat counts and immediately challenges Lou when Lou incorrectly states CAC is higher than LTV given a 1.7 percent churn rate.13:47–17:56 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Scaling Ambitions, Acquisition Philosophy, and Potential Fundraising Latka cites recent market mega-rounds by Drift and Front to challenge Lou on whether he would take a 7x buyout, framing specific VC fundraising valuation targets.17:56–19:53 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Latka pushes back with proprietary show dataset statistics when Lou assumes having children makes his founder demographic rare.0:00–4:41 · Guest teaching 2/10 Executive Preview and Reamaze Key Metrics Breakdown Latka immediately frames the competitive landscape against Front, Intercom, and Zendesk, drilling into the pricing tier split between the 20-dollar and 40-dollar plans.4:42–7:22 · Guest teaching 2/10 Founding Timeline, GoDaddy Acquisition, and Equity Distribution Latka digs into the details of the GoDaddy exit and pushes on the co-founder cap table equity split, prompting Lou to explain why ownership was not an even three-way division.7:23–10:19 · Guest teaching 1/10 Customer Base Scale, Early Funding, and Remote Team Strategy Latka extrapolates seat count ranges from logo metrics and presses Lou on how his initial seed investors felt when he shelved the startup to work at GoDaddy.10:20–13:46 · Guest teaching 1/10 Revenue Growth, Unit Economics, Churn, and CAC Metrics Latka performs live revenue calculations based on average seat counts and immediately challenges Lou when Lou incorrectly states CAC is higher than LTV given a 1.7 percent churn rate.13:47–17:56 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scaling Ambitions, Acquisition Philosophy, and Potential Fundraising Latka cites recent market mega-rounds by Drift and Front to challenge Lou on whether he would take a 7x buyout, framing specific VC fundraising valuation targets.17:56–19:53 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Latka pushes back with proprietary show dataset statistics when Lou assumes having children makes his founder demographic rare.0:00–4:41 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Executive Preview and Reamaze Key Metrics Breakdown Latka immediately frames the competitive landscape against Front, Intercom, and Zendesk, drilling into the pricing tier split between the 20-dollar and 40-dollar plans.4:42–7:22 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founding Timeline, GoDaddy Acquisition, and Equity Distribution Latka digs into the details of the GoDaddy exit and pushes on the co-founder cap table equity split, prompting Lou to explain why ownership was not an even three-way division.7:23–10:19 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Base Scale, Early Funding, and Remote Team Strategy Latka extrapolates seat count ranges from logo metrics and presses Lou on how his initial seed investors felt when he shelved the startup to work at GoDaddy.10:20–13:46 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Revenue Growth, Unit Economics, Churn, and CAC Metrics Latka performs live revenue calculations based on average seat counts and immediately challenges Lou when Lou incorrectly states CAC is higher than LTV given a 1.7 percent churn rate.13:47–17:56 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Scaling Ambitions, Acquisition Philosophy, and Potential Fundraising Latka cites recent market mega-rounds by Drift and Front to challenge Lou on whether he would take a 7x buyout, framing specific VC fundraising valuation targets.17:56–19:53 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Latka pushes back with proprietary show dataset statistics when Lou assumes having children makes his founder demographic rare.0:00–4:41 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Executive Preview and Reamaze Key Metrics Breakdown Latka immediately frames the competitive landscape against Front, Intercom, and Zendesk, drilling into the pricing tier split between the 20-dollar and 40-dollar plans.4:42–7:22 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Founding Timeline, GoDaddy Acquisition, and Equity Distribution Latka digs into the details of the GoDaddy exit and pushes on the co-founder cap table equity split, prompting Lou to explain why ownership was not an even three-way division.7:23–10:19 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Customer Base Scale, Early Funding, and Remote Team Strategy Latka extrapolates seat count ranges from logo metrics and presses Lou on how his initial seed investors felt when he shelved the startup to work at GoDaddy.10:20–13:46 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Revenue Growth, Unit Economics, Churn, and CAC Metrics Latka performs live revenue calculations based on average seat counts and immediately challenges Lou when Lou incorrectly states CAC is higher than LTV given a 1.7 percent churn rate.13:47–17:56 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Scaling Ambitions, Acquisition Philosophy, and Potential Fundraising Latka cites recent market mega-rounds by Drift and Front to challenge Lou on whether he would take a 7x buyout, framing specific VC fundraising valuation targets.17:56–19:53 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Latka pushes back with proprietary show dataset statistics when Lou assumes having children makes his founder demographic rare.

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

0:00 · Nathan 62.2% · guest 37.8%0:00 · Nathan 62.2% · guest 37.8%3:00 · Nathan 18.7% · guest 81.3%3:00 · Nathan 18.7% · guest 81.3%6:00 · Nathan 32.9% · guest 67.1%6:00 · Nathan 32.9% · guest 67.1%9:00 · Nathan 38.6% · guest 61.4%9:00 · Nathan 38.6% · guest 61.4%12:00 · Nathan 36.5% · guest 63.5%12:00 · Nathan 36.5% · guest 63.5%15:00 · Nathan 34.6% · guest 65.4%15:00 · Nathan 34.6% · guest 65.4%18:00 · Nathan 61.6% · guest 38.4%18:00 · Nathan 61.6% · guest 38.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 15:09 Lou rejects simple acquisition multiples

Lou resists Latka's premise that founders should automatically take a high revenue multiple, emphasizing acquirer fit and team integration over raw valuation.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:00 Pushing back on contradictory unit economics

Latka directly halts Lou's narrative to challenge the mathematical inconsistency of CAC exceeding LTV given a 1.7 percent monthly churn rate.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:50 Lou explains uneven cap table distribution logic

Lou educates Latka on why co-founder equity is rarely split evenly from day one, detailing the impact of prior uncompensated software development.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:05 Latka catches LTV and payback confusion

Latka uses live mental math on lifetime value (50-60 months) to catch Lou confusing overall LTV with month-one upfront payback economics.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Executive Preview and Reamaze Key Metrics Breakdown 6212 Latka immediately frames the competitive landscape against Front, Intercom, and Zendesk, drilling into the pricing tier split between the 20-dollar and 40-dollar plans.
Founding Timeline, GoDaddy Acquisition, and Equity Distribution 5214 Latka digs into the details of the GoDaddy exit and pushes on the co-founder cap table equity split, prompting Lou to explain why ownership was not an even three-way division.
Customer Base Scale, Early Funding, and Remote Team Strategy 6114 Latka extrapolates seat count ranges from logo metrics and presses Lou on how his initial seed investors felt when he shelved the startup to work at GoDaddy.
Revenue Growth, Unit Economics, Churn, and CAC Metrics 8125 Latka performs live revenue calculations based on average seat counts and immediately challenges Lou when Lou incorrectly states CAC is higher than LTV given a 1.7 percent churn rate.
Scaling Ambitions, Acquisition Philosophy, and Potential Fundraising 7224 Latka cites recent market mega-rounds by Drift and Front to challenge Lou on whether he would take a 7x buyout, framing specific VC fundraising valuation targets.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 6113 During the Famous Five, Latka pushes back with proprietary show dataset statistics when Lou assumes having children makes his founder demographic rare.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Wang: Reamaze pricing splits roughly 50/50 between $20 and $40 tiers
“So we have two plans that we sort of publicly list pricing for. And one is on a 20 dollar per seat and the other one is 40 dollars per seat. We have about a fifty-fifty roughly distribution of that.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 2:45
Opinion
Lou Wang: GoDaddy is among the world's largest SaaS companies
“GoDaddy is an interesting company cause they're also in some ways one of the largest SaaS companies in the world. So, you know, people typically think of them as a domains registration and website hosting company. They also have a portfolio of SaaS apps”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 5:15
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Reamaze serves just under 1,200 business customers
“So we have over a thousand customers. So last I checked, it was right under 12 1200, sorry. And that's businesses.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 7:28
Disclosure
Wang: Reamaze raised $500,000 in early funding
“We raised capital at 500 K. Okay, what, why, and when was that?”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 8:14
Disclosure
Wang: Reamaze operates with a remote team of 15
“The team size is at 15 and that includes, so we have a remote culture here.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 9:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Reamaze ARR more than doubled year-over-year from under $500K in 2017
“So for example in 2017, I think we were under 500 K A R R and we're over that. So we've more than doubled in since the last year.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 10:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Reamaze monthly logo churn is approximately 1.7%
“So our churn, last I looked, I think we're at under two percent. I think it was like 1.7% and that's customer churn.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 11:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Reamaze CAC is about $200 per account
“I think it's about 200 dollars per customer. Per account.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 13:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wang: Reamaze customer acquisition payback period is about three months
“It's about three months, I believe.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 13:28
Disclosure
Latka: Walking away from early Heyo buyout offer was a major mistake
“One of the biggest mistakes I made at my first company, Heyo, is when everyone else was raising huge rounds, and I thought it was very frothy. I had a large acquisition offer on the table, and I walked away from it, and then sold for way less than that four ye…”
Nathan Latka Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 14:32
Disclosure
Wang: Reamaze would target roughly 10x ARR valuation in a funding round
“It's going to be sort of a, maybe 10 X The ARR, you know, that's in other terms, obviously when you're raising capital, other terms do matter as well, but that's sort of a rough ballpark of what you kind of would expect.”
Lou Wang Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 16:35
Assertion Open · timeframe Feb 2019
Latka: 79% of Interviewed Founders Are Married With Kids
“Actually, I can give you the exact data. 79% are married with at least one kid.”
Nathan Latka Feb 24, 2019 ▶ 18:58
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