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Dec 17, 2018 · 17m · top-founders

1241 His New Way to Prospect Just Passed $1m in ARR, $5.4m Raised

Greg Segall · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m 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, Nathan Latka interviews Greg Segall, founder and CEO of Alice, exploring how the company transitioned from a transactional gifting vendor into a high-margin B2B sales prospecting SaaS platform. Segall details how Alice scaled past $1 million in ARR, raised $5.4 million in equity funding, and built a 40-person global distributed workforce.

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 37.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.0 Guest teaching 4.3 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 4.5
05100:0010:002:09–4:28 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 SaaS Transition and Raising Five Million Dollars Latka checks in on Alice's pivot from transaction-based gifting to a pure SaaS platform. He quickly probes to clarify the exact amount raised across rounds when Segall mentions $5.4M versus $5.9M total.4:28–8:46 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Conversion Mechanics and Automated Calendar Integrations Segall reframes Latka's questions about direct mail redemption channels into funnel conversion realities (6% to 30%). Latka synthesizes the full funnel economics step-by-step for the audience.8:47–13:56 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 SaaS Pricing Tiers, Customer Counts, and Margin Differences When Latka multiplies 500 customers by the $1,000/mo minimum tier to suggest $500k MRR, he catches the inconsistency when Segall hedges. Latka pushes back with 'But I thought you said minimum was a thousand', forcing Segall to clarify that only 10% are pure SaaS subscribers while the rest are GMV-based.13:56–16:15 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Fundraising Strategy and Managing a Remote Global Team Segall describes his operator-led fundraising strategy and 8x MoM growth. Latka pushes back with reality-testing, noting high percentage growth is easy off a small revenue baseline.2:09–4:28 · Guest teaching 4/10 SaaS Transition and Raising Five Million Dollars Latka checks in on Alice's pivot from transaction-based gifting to a pure SaaS platform. He quickly probes to clarify the exact amount raised across rounds when Segall mentions $5.4M versus $5.9M total.4:28–8:46 · Guest teaching 5/10 Conversion Mechanics and Automated Calendar Integrations Segall reframes Latka's questions about direct mail redemption channels into funnel conversion realities (6% to 30%). Latka synthesizes the full funnel economics step-by-step for the audience.8:47–13:56 · Guest teaching 4/10 SaaS Pricing Tiers, Customer Counts, and Margin Differences When Latka multiplies 500 customers by the $1,000/mo minimum tier to suggest $500k MRR, he catches the inconsistency when Segall hedges. Latka pushes back with 'But I thought you said minimum was a thousand', forcing Segall to clarify that only 10% are pure SaaS subscribers while the rest are GMV-based.13:56–16:15 · Guest teaching 4/10 Fundraising Strategy and Managing a Remote Global Team Segall describes his operator-led fundraising strategy and 8x MoM growth. Latka pushes back with reality-testing, noting high percentage growth is easy off a small revenue baseline.2:09–4:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 SaaS Transition and Raising Five Million Dollars Latka checks in on Alice's pivot from transaction-based gifting to a pure SaaS platform. He quickly probes to clarify the exact amount raised across rounds when Segall mentions $5.4M versus $5.9M total.4:28–8:46 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Conversion Mechanics and Automated Calendar Integrations Segall reframes Latka's questions about direct mail redemption channels into funnel conversion realities (6% to 30%). Latka synthesizes the full funnel economics step-by-step for the audience.8:47–13:56 · Guest disagreement 3/10 SaaS Pricing Tiers, Customer Counts, and Margin Differences When Latka multiplies 500 customers by the $1,000/mo minimum tier to suggest $500k MRR, he catches the inconsistency when Segall hedges. Latka pushes back with 'But I thought you said minimum was a thousand', forcing Segall to clarify that only 10% are pure SaaS subscribers while the rest are GMV-based.13:56–16:15 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Fundraising Strategy and Managing a Remote Global Team Segall describes his operator-led fundraising strategy and 8x MoM growth. Latka pushes back with reality-testing, noting high percentage growth is easy off a small revenue baseline.2:09–4:28 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 SaaS Transition and Raising Five Million Dollars Latka checks in on Alice's pivot from transaction-based gifting to a pure SaaS platform. He quickly probes to clarify the exact amount raised across rounds when Segall mentions $5.4M versus $5.9M total.4:28–8:46 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Conversion Mechanics and Automated Calendar Integrations Segall reframes Latka's questions about direct mail redemption channels into funnel conversion realities (6% to 30%). Latka synthesizes the full funnel economics step-by-step for the audience.8:47–13:56 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 SaaS Pricing Tiers, Customer Counts, and Margin Differences When Latka multiplies 500 customers by the $1,000/mo minimum tier to suggest $500k MRR, he catches the inconsistency when Segall hedges. Latka pushes back with 'But I thought you said minimum was a thousand', forcing Segall to clarify that only 10% are pure SaaS subscribers while the rest are GMV-based.13:56–16:15 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Fundraising Strategy and Managing a Remote Global Team Segall describes his operator-led fundraising strategy and 8x MoM growth. Latka pushes back with reality-testing, noting high percentage growth is easy off a small revenue baseline.

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

0:00 · Nathan 74.1% · guest 25.9%0:00 · Nathan 74.1% · guest 25.9%3:00 · Nathan 29.7% · guest 70.3%3:00 · Nathan 29.7% · guest 70.3%6:00 · Nathan 21.2% · guest 78.8%6:00 · Nathan 21.2% · guest 78.8%9:00 · Nathan 33% · guest 67%9:00 · Nathan 33% · guest 67%12:00 · Nathan 17.2% · guest 82.8%12:00 · Nathan 17.2% · guest 82.8%15:00 · Nathan 53.7% · guest 46.3%15:00 · Nathan 53.7% · guest 46.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:57 Reframing conversion math

Segall politely rejects Latka's framing of split percentages across mail vs email, correcting the baseline to cold prospecting conversion rates.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 10:14 Calling out revenue math contradiction

Latka immediately calls out Segall's stated pricing tiers when the math does not align with total customer numbers, asserting 'But I thought you said minimum was a thousand.'

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:24 Segall clarifies GMV vs SaaS breakdown

Segall breaks down the internal customer distribution, educating Latka that only roughly 10% pay SaaS subscription fees while the majority use non-SaaS GMV transaction volume.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 15:27 Checking early-stage percentage growth metrics

Latka cuts through the headline 8x and 25-50% MoM growth metrics by pointing out that doubling off early six-figure baselines is standard and not yet representative of scale.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
SaaS Transition and Raising Five Million Dollars 5413 Latka checks in on Alice's pivot from transaction-based gifting to a pure SaaS platform. He quickly probes to clarify the exact amount raised across rounds when Segall mentions $5.4M versus $5.9M total.
Conversion Mechanics and Automated Calendar Integrations 6523 Segall reframes Latka's questions about direct mail redemption channels into funnel conversion realities (6% to 30%). Latka synthesizes the full funnel economics step-by-step for the audience.
SaaS Pricing Tiers, Customer Counts, and Margin Differences 7437 When Latka multiplies 500 customers by the $1,000/mo minimum tier to suggest $500k MRR, he catches the inconsistency when Segall hedges. Latka pushes back with 'But I thought you said minimum was a thousand', forcing Segall to clarify that only 10% are pure SaaS subscribers while the rest are GMV-based.
Fundraising Strategy and Managing a Remote Global Team 6415 Segall describes his operator-led fundraising strategy and 8x MoM growth. Latka pushes back with reality-testing, noting high percentage growth is easy off a small revenue baseline.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
The majority of Alyce revenue comes from SaaS subscriptions
“The whole company obviously still makes a lot of money off of the gifts itself and the transactions, but a majority of the money is coming in from SAS.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 2:13
Disclosure
Segall: Alyce has raised about $5.9M in total funding
“Altogether about 5.9.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 3:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alyce sees 6% to 30% gift acceptance rates for cold outbound prospecting
“When it's a cold prospect right now we can see anywhere between, let's say six is our lowest, you know, all the way up to what we just had, which is about 30% you know, acceptance rate. And then 50% of those will be by handwritten card or by the branded box an…”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 5:58
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alyce SaaS tiers range from $1,000 to over $10,000 a month
“Lowest will be a thousand bucks a month, and the most expensive is probably, you know, 10 K plus.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 8:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alyce serves between 500 and 600 active customers
“So we're probably in the five, 600 range right now of customers.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 9:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Roughly 10% of Alyce customers subscribe to the SaaS pricing model
“I'd say about 10% of them are SaaS customers right now.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 10:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alyce profit margins on GMV gifting are one-quarter of SaaS margins
“It's about a quarter of what we'll make on the SaaS side.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 11:25
Disclosure
Segall spent four to six weeks doing due diligence on 15 funds
“We had 15 investors that wanted to come into the round. So we were very lucky and I did a lot of due diligence, but almost between four to probably closer to six weeks doing due diligence on every one of the funds.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 13:59
What-if
Segall sacrificed $2M to $3M in valuation to pick operator investors
“Like we probably could eat out another two to three million dollars on valuation. But we decided not to and I decided to go with the investors for That I wanted based on, you know, what they thought, you know, in the stage that we are in the business”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 14:40
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alyce grew 8x year-over-year and up to 50% month-over-month during fundraise
“We had done like eight times, so we were in a really good position. We were growing, I think, at the time that we raised anywhere between 25 and 50% month-over-month growth.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 15:18
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Segall: Alyce has a team of 40 employees
“We're at 40 right now.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 16:00
Assertion Not checkable as stated
About 75% of Alyce's full-time staff works remotely
“Yeah, it's a very, very, I'd say, so it's about 75% of the team is remote right now, but they're full-time employees of ours.”
Greg Segall Dec 17, 2018 ▶ 16:09
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