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Nov 17, 2018 · 16m · top-founders

1211 Finally an easy way for teams to edit videos, creative, doing $40k in MRR

Nathan Latka · 7m spoken Nicholas Dorn · 6m 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, host Nathan Latka interviews Filestage co-founder Nicholas Dorn to explore how the SaaS platform scaled from $5,000 to $40,000 in monthly recurring revenue by streamlining creative review workflows and pivoting upmarket.

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 53.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.4 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 3.4
05100:0010:001:27–3:56 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Nicholas Dorn and Filestage's Value Proposition Nathan introduces Filestage and inquires into the company's pricing model and average revenue per user. Nicholas explains the collaboration tool and confirms average customer spending.3:56–7:18 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Company Origins, User Base Scale, and Revenue Growth Nathan calculates current MRR from customer volume and drills down on customer acquisition channels and fully loaded CAC calculations. Nicholas describes their cold email outreach and champagne referral program.7:19–9:51 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Capital Raising and Team Structure Nathan clarifies whether the company is truly bootstrapped, prompting Nicholas to disclose a 600k euro seed round and their team division across engineering and sales before a sponsor ad read.9:53–14:14 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Churn Analysis, Customer Retention, and Lifetime Value Nathan scrutinizes Nicholas on gross versus net churn definitions, challenges whether project-based workflows fit a SaaS subscription model, and pushes back when Nicholas contradicts his enterprise churn figures.14:14–15:28 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Headquarters Location and Remote Team Distribution Nicholas details his distributed international team before answering Nathan's standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire wrap-up questions.1:27–3:56 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Nicholas Dorn and Filestage's Value Proposition Nathan introduces Filestage and inquires into the company's pricing model and average revenue per user. Nicholas explains the collaboration tool and confirms average customer spending.3:56–7:18 · Guest teaching 2/10 Company Origins, User Base Scale, and Revenue Growth Nathan calculates current MRR from customer volume and drills down on customer acquisition channels and fully loaded CAC calculations. Nicholas describes their cold email outreach and champagne referral program.7:19–9:51 · Guest teaching 2/10 Capital Raising and Team Structure Nathan clarifies whether the company is truly bootstrapped, prompting Nicholas to disclose a 600k euro seed round and their team division across engineering and sales before a sponsor ad read.9:53–14:14 · Guest teaching 4/10 Churn Analysis, Customer Retention, and Lifetime Value Nathan scrutinizes Nicholas on gross versus net churn definitions, challenges whether project-based workflows fit a SaaS subscription model, and pushes back when Nicholas contradicts his enterprise churn figures.14:14–15:28 · Guest teaching 1/10 Headquarters Location and Remote Team Distribution Nicholas details his distributed international team before answering Nathan's standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire wrap-up questions.1:27–3:56 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Nicholas Dorn and Filestage's Value Proposition Nathan introduces Filestage and inquires into the company's pricing model and average revenue per user. Nicholas explains the collaboration tool and confirms average customer spending.3:56–7:18 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Company Origins, User Base Scale, and Revenue Growth Nathan calculates current MRR from customer volume and drills down on customer acquisition channels and fully loaded CAC calculations. Nicholas describes their cold email outreach and champagne referral program.7:19–9:51 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Capital Raising and Team Structure Nathan clarifies whether the company is truly bootstrapped, prompting Nicholas to disclose a 600k euro seed round and their team division across engineering and sales before a sponsor ad read.9:53–14:14 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Churn Analysis, Customer Retention, and Lifetime Value Nathan scrutinizes Nicholas on gross versus net churn definitions, challenges whether project-based workflows fit a SaaS subscription model, and pushes back when Nicholas contradicts his enterprise churn figures.14:14–15:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Headquarters Location and Remote Team Distribution Nicholas details his distributed international team before answering Nathan's standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire wrap-up questions.1:27–3:56 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Nicholas Dorn and Filestage's Value Proposition Nathan introduces Filestage and inquires into the company's pricing model and average revenue per user. Nicholas explains the collaboration tool and confirms average customer spending.3:56–7:18 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Company Origins, User Base Scale, and Revenue Growth Nathan calculates current MRR from customer volume and drills down on customer acquisition channels and fully loaded CAC calculations. Nicholas describes their cold email outreach and champagne referral program.7:19–9:51 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Capital Raising and Team Structure Nathan clarifies whether the company is truly bootstrapped, prompting Nicholas to disclose a 600k euro seed round and their team division across engineering and sales before a sponsor ad read.9:53–14:14 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Churn Analysis, Customer Retention, and Lifetime Value Nathan scrutinizes Nicholas on gross versus net churn definitions, challenges whether project-based workflows fit a SaaS subscription model, and pushes back when Nicholas contradicts his enterprise churn figures.14:14–15:28 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Headquarters Location and Remote Team Distribution Nicholas details his distributed international team before answering Nathan's standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire wrap-up questions.

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

0:00 · Nathan 69.7% · guest 30.3%0:00 · Nathan 69.7% · guest 30.3%3:00 · Nathan 30.7% · guest 69.3%3:00 · Nathan 30.7% · guest 69.3%6:00 · Nathan 54.7% · guest 45.3%6:00 · Nathan 54.7% · guest 45.3%9:00 · Nathan 61% · guest 39%9:00 · Nathan 61% · guest 39%12:00 · Nathan 43.4% · guest 56.6%12:00 · Nathan 43.4% · guest 56.6%15:00 · Nathan 72.1% · guest 27.9%15:00 · Nathan 72.1% · guest 27.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:25 Nicholas defending problem relevance against Nathan's critique

Nicholas resists Nathan's premise that customers churn after finishing projects by arguing that a product which runs out of utility simply fails to solve a core business problem.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:19 Nathan catching contradiction in enterprise churn figures

Nathan directly halts Nicholas when he claims enterprise clients never churn, reminding him that he had just stated an enterprise churn rate of 2 to 3 percent.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:11 Nicholas explaining project completion churn dynamics

Nicholas educates Nathan on user research findings showing half of their churned small accounts loved the tool but discontinued billing simply because their client projects ended.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:10 Nathan breaking down gross vs net churn calculations

Nathan walks Nicholas through the precise mathematical mechanics of gross retention versus net expansion revenue to clarify which metric Nicholas was reporting.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Nicholas Dorn and Filestage's Value Proposition 5212 Nathan introduces Filestage and inquires into the company's pricing model and average revenue per user. Nicholas explains the collaboration tool and confirms average customer spending.
Company Origins, User Base Scale, and Revenue Growth 7214 Nathan calculates current MRR from customer volume and drills down on customer acquisition channels and fully loaded CAC calculations. Nicholas describes their cold email outreach and champagne referral program.
Capital Raising and Team Structure 4212 Nathan clarifies whether the company is truly bootstrapped, prompting Nicholas to disclose a 600k euro seed round and their team division across engineering and sales before a sponsor ad read.
Churn Analysis, Customer Retention, and Lifetime Value 8438 Nathan scrutinizes Nicholas on gross versus net churn definitions, challenges whether project-based workflows fit a SaaS subscription model, and pushes back when Nicholas contradicts his enterprise churn figures.
Headquarters Location and Remote Team Distribution 3111 Nicholas details his distributed international team before answering Nathan's standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire wrap-up questions.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Nicholas Dorn says a typical Filestage agency client pays $100 monthly
“At the moment, like the typical smaller agency is paying around 100 dollars a month and the enterprise is paying more than its custom plans.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 3:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nicholas Dorn says Filestage has approximately 400 paying customer teams
“We have a customer base of around 400 paying customers. So teams.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 4:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nicholas Dorn says Filestage generated roughly $5,000 in MRR a year prior
“A year ago we were like, I don't know, making maybe 5000 MRRs.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 5:20
Disclosure
Filestage relies mainly on automated cold emails and customer referrals
“Main acquisition channels at the moment are really like cold mailing. So automatic cold mailings. And the other thing is like really like getting referrals from customers, really what works well for us.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 5:33
Disclosure
Nicholas Dorn says Filestage spends zero on external marketing and ads
“At the moment we have zero marketing spendings at external costs, so no Facebook, advertising, anything like that. So zero here, and then we have internal costs. And this is like, we have two, two full-time people doing marketing for us. And then it's me in sa…”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 6:27
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nicholas Dorn estimates Filestage's customer acquisition cost at 300 to 400 euros
“Last time I calculated it was around, I think, 304 hundred euros.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 7:04
Disclosure
Nicholas Dorn says Filestage raised $600,000 in seed funding
“600 K.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 7:41
Disclosure
Nicholas Dorn says Filestage employs approximately 11 full-time team members
“Around 11 people. Full time, and then a couple of other people, yeah.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 7:49
Disclosure
Filestage sees 6% to 7% monthly revenue churn on small accounts
“Six percent, seven percent, something like that.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 10:11
Disclosure
Filestage's monthly churn rate drops to 2.5% for larger client accounts
“And in this sector, we have like a churn rate of two percent to 2.5%, something like that.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 10:39
Disclosure
Nicholas Dorn says Filestage has experienced zero enterprise customer churn
“In enterprise, we never had any churn so far in, let's say in mid-market we had, yes, so agencies and so on, but these were then people that were like saying, okay, it doesn't fit with our customer base.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 13:25
Disclosure
Filestage's smaller accounts have an average LTV of $1,500 to $2,000
“So for the smaller ones, it's between 1502 thousand, something like that on average.”
Nicholas Dorn Nov 17, 2018 ▶ 14:02
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