StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Dec 16, 2018 · 15m · top-founders

1240 Everlance Passes $150k in MRR, Saves 30,000 Customers Big Time Tax Dollars

Alex Marlantes · 8m 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

Nathan Latka interviews Everlance CEO Alex Marlantes on scaling an automated mileage and expense tracking app to $150,000 in MRR and 30,000 paying subscribers. Marlantes details Everlance's gamified 'Tinder for taxes' onboarding, freemium SaaS economics, seed funding strategy, and enterprise expansion into B2B team management.

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 5.3 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:001:28–4:56 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Introducing Alex Marlantes and Everlance Core Value Proposition Nathan asks straightforward exploratory questions about Everlance's value proposition and user onboarding. Alex explains how market competitors educate users and details the core 'Tinder for taxes' swiping mechanism in a collaborative tone.4:57–8:52 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 SaaS Monetization Strategy and Financial Data System of Record Nathan drills down on the SaaS unit economics, initially miscalculating MRR at $250k assuming monthly pricing before Alex clarifies that most users prepay $60 annually ($150k MRR). Nathan quickly adjusts his math and digs into net monthly churn.8:53–12:08 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Acquisition Payback Economics and B2B Team Expansion Nathan challenges Alex on why Everlance raised venture capital right away instead of bootstrapping with sweat equity. Alex transparently explains the capital requirements needed to bridge the upfront cash gap of a freemium model.12:08–14:45 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Nathan displays strong market knowledge by referencing Intuit's Brad Smith acquiring TSheets for 10x ARR after Alex mentions studying Brad Smith. The segment finishes amicably.1:28–4:56 · Guest teaching 3/10 Introducing Alex Marlantes and Everlance Core Value Proposition Nathan asks straightforward exploratory questions about Everlance's value proposition and user onboarding. Alex explains how market competitors educate users and details the core 'Tinder for taxes' swiping mechanism in a collaborative tone.4:57–8:52 · Guest teaching 4/10 SaaS Monetization Strategy and Financial Data System of Record Nathan drills down on the SaaS unit economics, initially miscalculating MRR at $250k assuming monthly pricing before Alex clarifies that most users prepay $60 annually ($150k MRR). Nathan quickly adjusts his math and digs into net monthly churn.8:53–12:08 · Guest teaching 3/10 Acquisition Payback Economics and B2B Team Expansion Nathan challenges Alex on why Everlance raised venture capital right away instead of bootstrapping with sweat equity. Alex transparently explains the capital requirements needed to bridge the upfront cash gap of a freemium model.12:08–14:45 · Guest teaching 2/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Nathan displays strong market knowledge by referencing Intuit's Brad Smith acquiring TSheets for 10x ARR after Alex mentions studying Brad Smith. The segment finishes amicably.1:28–4:56 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Alex Marlantes and Everlance Core Value Proposition Nathan asks straightforward exploratory questions about Everlance's value proposition and user onboarding. Alex explains how market competitors educate users and details the core 'Tinder for taxes' swiping mechanism in a collaborative tone.4:57–8:52 · Guest disagreement 1/10 SaaS Monetization Strategy and Financial Data System of Record Nathan drills down on the SaaS unit economics, initially miscalculating MRR at $250k assuming monthly pricing before Alex clarifies that most users prepay $60 annually ($150k MRR). Nathan quickly adjusts his math and digs into net monthly churn.8:53–12:08 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Acquisition Payback Economics and B2B Team Expansion Nathan challenges Alex on why Everlance raised venture capital right away instead of bootstrapping with sweat equity. Alex transparently explains the capital requirements needed to bridge the upfront cash gap of a freemium model.12:08–14:45 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Nathan displays strong market knowledge by referencing Intuit's Brad Smith acquiring TSheets for 10x ARR after Alex mentions studying Brad Smith. The segment finishes amicably.1:28–4:56 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Alex Marlantes and Everlance Core Value Proposition Nathan asks straightforward exploratory questions about Everlance's value proposition and user onboarding. Alex explains how market competitors educate users and details the core 'Tinder for taxes' swiping mechanism in a collaborative tone.4:57–8:52 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 SaaS Monetization Strategy and Financial Data System of Record Nathan drills down on the SaaS unit economics, initially miscalculating MRR at $250k assuming monthly pricing before Alex clarifies that most users prepay $60 annually ($150k MRR). Nathan quickly adjusts his math and digs into net monthly churn.8:53–12:08 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Acquisition Payback Economics and B2B Team Expansion Nathan challenges Alex on why Everlance raised venture capital right away instead of bootstrapping with sweat equity. Alex transparently explains the capital requirements needed to bridge the upfront cash gap of a freemium model.12:08–14:45 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions During the Famous Five, Nathan displays strong market knowledge by referencing Intuit's Brad Smith acquiring TSheets for 10x ARR after Alex mentions studying Brad Smith. The segment finishes amicably.

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

0:00 · Nathan 71.7% · guest 28.3%0:00 · Nathan 71.7% · guest 28.3%3:00 · Nathan 12.3% · guest 87.7%3:00 · Nathan 12.3% · guest 87.7%6:00 · Nathan 38.6% · guest 61.4%6:00 · Nathan 38.6% · guest 61.4%9:00 · Nathan 19% · guest 81%9:00 · Nathan 19% · guest 81%12:00 · Nathan 50.4% · guest 49.6%12:00 · Nathan 50.4% · guest 49.6%15:00 · Nathan 99.2% · guest 0.8%15:00 · Nathan 99.2% · guest 0.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:05 Defending early seed fundraising decision

Alex politely counters Nathan's suggestion that they could have built the app purely with sweat equity by citing the heavy cash gap inherent in freemium SaaS.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 11:00 Challenging the need for outside capital

Nathan directly questions Alex's decision to raise venture backing early on rather than bootstrapping a lightweight software product.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:24 Clarifying annual discounting and revenue pull-forward

Alex corrects Nathan's $250k MRR assumption by explaining that the vast majority of their 30k subscribers select the $60 annual plan rather than $8 per month.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 13:31 Analyzing Intuit's app store strategy and TSheets buyout

Nathan showcases detailed SaaS industry knowledge by detailing Brad Smith's 10x ARR buyout of TSheets and assessing Everlance's potential positioning against Intuit.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Alex Marlantes and Everlance Core Value Proposition 4312 Nathan asks straightforward exploratory questions about Everlance's value proposition and user onboarding. Alex explains how market competitors educate users and details the core 'Tinder for taxes' swiping mechanism in a collaborative tone.
SaaS Monetization Strategy and Financial Data System of Record 6413 Nathan drills down on the SaaS unit economics, initially miscalculating MRR at $250k assuming monthly pricing before Alex clarifies that most users prepay $60 annually ($150k MRR). Nathan quickly adjusts his math and digs into net monthly churn.
Acquisition Payback Economics and B2B Team Expansion 5324 Nathan challenges Alex on why Everlance raised venture capital right away instead of bootstrapping with sweat equity. Alex transparently explains the capital requirements needed to bridge the upfront cash gap of a freemium model.
Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 6211 During the Famous Five, Nathan displays strong market knowledge by referencing Intuit's Brad Smith acquiring TSheets for 10x ARR after Alex mentions studying Brad Smith. The segment finishes amicably.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Supported
Marlantes Notes 1,000 Tracked Business Miles Yields $540 Tax Deduction
“Every thousand miles you track is worth up to, you know, 540 dollars as a deduction, and so for a lot of folks, mileage could be sort of the most valuable source of their business write-offs, and they just don't pay attention to it”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 2:59
Disclosure
Everlance Captures Competitor Leads by Winning App Store Comparisons
“What we really sort of pride ourselves on is having the best rated app. And so a lot of times people will go to the app store and compare. And so, you know, when someone's educated, like, oh, I should do something like this. Well, they'll do is they'll take al…”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 4:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Everlance Reaches 30,000 Paid Subscribers Out of 400,000 Registered Users
“So I think the last numbers we've sort of released is a little over 400,000 registered users. And then you have that sort of long funnel. A lot of folks continue to use that for free. It was of course churn. And we have a little over the last numbers we report…”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 7:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Everlance Tripled Paid Subscribers From 10,000 to 30,000 in One Year
“Growth has been great. So I think around this time last year, we were just past 10,000 paid subs.”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 7:47
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Everlance Experiences 2% Monthly Net Churn on Paid Subscriptions
“On, on paid, paid subs because a lot of it's sort of annualized, you know, a lot of that churn will happen on month 12 slash month 13, but typically we see, including that, around two percent monthly churn.”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 8:14
Disclosure
Everlance Targets Two-Month CAC Payback on $60 Annual Subscriptions
“The general philosophy is we never want to pay for a user that, you know, has, you know, ideally we can get sort of like a two month payback period because of, you know, they'll do that annual subscription and pay us 60 dollars, but we never want to see anythi…”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 9:10
Assertion Supported
Everlance Raised Under $3 Million to Reach 30,000 Paid Subscribers
“In total, we've raised a little less than three million.”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 10:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Everlance Reached 30,000 Paid Subscribers With Just 15 Employees
“There are 15 of us.”
Alex Marlantes Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 11:59
Assertion Supported
Intuit Acquired TSheets for Almost 10x ARR at $30M Run Rate
“He positioned TSheets number one in the Intuit app Change many years ago, grew basically to thirty million in ARR, and then recently Brad took him out, basically paid him almost 10 X ARR to acquire the company.”
Nathan Latka Dec 16, 2018 ▶ 13:36
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more