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Oct 8, 2018 · 17m · top-founders

1171 New Founder Talks First 30 Days, $160k in Revenue, Next Steps

Guillaume Moubeche · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 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 Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Lemlist co-founder Guillaume Moubeche about bootstrapping a dynamic image cold email SaaS from Paris's Station F campus. Guillaume details how the startup generated over $130,000 through an early AppSumo campaign and outlines their strategic playbook for converting early promotional momentum into sustainable monthly recurring revenue.

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 42.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.4 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 2.6
05100:0010:002:24–6:37 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 SaaS Pricing and AppSumo Launch Metrics Nathan probes into the dangers of AppSumo lifetime deals and digs into the equity split and personal burn rate. Guillaume clarifies that many AppSumo buyers never log in due to FOMO, and explains how French state subventions cover his living costs.6:37–8:49 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Customer Acquisition and Generating Capterra Reviews Nathan inquires about early customer acquisition and review generation. Guillaume details their Capterra strategy and email conversion rates.8:52–12:05 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Break: Adderall Growth Marketing Platform Segment begins with an ad read followed by discussion of Product Hunt launch results and Guillaume explaining the Station F incubator ecosystem.12:05–14:40 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Bootstrapping Strategy and Co-Founder Origins Guillaume explains his choice to bootstrap rather than take VC money, and explains how he convinced experienced older technical co-founders to partner with him.14:41–16:45 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Prioritizing Direct User Feedback and Onboarding Nathan goes through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, wrapping up on a friendly and supportive note.2:24–6:37 · Guest teaching 3/10 SaaS Pricing and AppSumo Launch Metrics Nathan probes into the dangers of AppSumo lifetime deals and digs into the equity split and personal burn rate. Guillaume clarifies that many AppSumo buyers never log in due to FOMO, and explains how French state subventions cover his living costs.6:37–8:49 · Guest teaching 4/10 Customer Acquisition and Generating Capterra Reviews Nathan inquires about early customer acquisition and review generation. Guillaume details their Capterra strategy and email conversion rates.8:52–12:05 · Guest teaching 3/10 Sponsor Break: Adderall Growth Marketing Platform Segment begins with an ad read followed by discussion of Product Hunt launch results and Guillaume explaining the Station F incubator ecosystem.12:05–14:40 · Guest teaching 3/10 Bootstrapping Strategy and Co-Founder Origins Guillaume explains his choice to bootstrap rather than take VC money, and explains how he convinced experienced older technical co-founders to partner with him.14:41–16:45 · Guest teaching 1/10 Prioritizing Direct User Feedback and Onboarding Nathan goes through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, wrapping up on a friendly and supportive note.2:24–6:37 · Guest disagreement 1/10 SaaS Pricing and AppSumo Launch Metrics Nathan probes into the dangers of AppSumo lifetime deals and digs into the equity split and personal burn rate. Guillaume clarifies that many AppSumo buyers never log in due to FOMO, and explains how French state subventions cover his living costs.6:37–8:49 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Acquisition and Generating Capterra Reviews Nathan inquires about early customer acquisition and review generation. Guillaume details their Capterra strategy and email conversion rates.8:52–12:05 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Break: Adderall Growth Marketing Platform Segment begins with an ad read followed by discussion of Product Hunt launch results and Guillaume explaining the Station F incubator ecosystem.12:05–14:40 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Bootstrapping Strategy and Co-Founder Origins Guillaume explains his choice to bootstrap rather than take VC money, and explains how he convinced experienced older technical co-founders to partner with him.14:41–16:45 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Prioritizing Direct User Feedback and Onboarding Nathan goes through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, wrapping up on a friendly and supportive note.2:24–6:37 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 SaaS Pricing and AppSumo Launch Metrics Nathan probes into the dangers of AppSumo lifetime deals and digs into the equity split and personal burn rate. Guillaume clarifies that many AppSumo buyers never log in due to FOMO, and explains how French state subventions cover his living costs.6:37–8:49 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Customer Acquisition and Generating Capterra Reviews Nathan inquires about early customer acquisition and review generation. Guillaume details their Capterra strategy and email conversion rates.8:52–12:05 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Sponsor Break: Adderall Growth Marketing Platform Segment begins with an ad read followed by discussion of Product Hunt launch results and Guillaume explaining the Station F incubator ecosystem.12:05–14:40 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Bootstrapping Strategy and Co-Founder Origins Guillaume explains his choice to bootstrap rather than take VC money, and explains how he convinced experienced older technical co-founders to partner with him.14:41–16:45 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Prioritizing Direct User Feedback and Onboarding Nathan goes through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, wrapping up on a friendly and supportive note.

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

0:00 · Nathan 70.2% · guest 29.8%0:00 · Nathan 70.2% · guest 29.8%3:00 · Nathan 32% · guest 68%3:00 · Nathan 32% · guest 68%6:00 · Nathan 25.8% · guest 74.2%6:00 · Nathan 25.8% · guest 74.2%9:00 · Nathan 50.7% · guest 49.3%9:00 · Nathan 50.7% · guest 49.3%12:00 · Nathan 28.7% · guest 71.3%12:00 · Nathan 28.7% · guest 71.3%15:00 · Nathan 47.8% · guest 52.2%15:00 · Nathan 47.8% · guest 52.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:00 Rejecting conventional cold email advice

Guillaume directly pushes back against industry consensus that advises against putting images into cold outreach, asserting that proven data shows higher response rates.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:15 AppSumo lifetime support liability challenge

Nathan challenges the lifetime deal model of AppSumo, pressing Guillaume on how he plans to convert one-off buyers into recurring revenue without getting crushed by support costs.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:12 French state subventions for founders

Guillaume educates Nathan on France's state subsidy system that provides monthly stipends to early-stage entrepreneurs to cover living costs.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 3:15 Identifying the SaaS lifetime deal trap

Nathan demonstrates SaaS domain knowledge by outlining the specific operational risks and support debt associated with AppSumo promotions.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
SaaS Pricing and AppSumo Launch Metrics 5314 Nathan probes into the dangers of AppSumo lifetime deals and digs into the equity split and personal burn rate. Guillaume clarifies that many AppSumo buyers never log in due to FOMO, and explains how French state subventions cover his living costs.
Customer Acquisition and Generating Capterra Reviews 4413 Nathan inquires about early customer acquisition and review generation. Guillaume details their Capterra strategy and email conversion rates.
Sponsor Break: Adderall Growth Marketing Platform 2312 Segment begins with an ad read followed by discussion of Product Hunt launch results and Guillaume explaining the Station F incubator ecosystem.
Bootstrapping Strategy and Co-Founder Origins 4323 Guillaume explains his choice to bootstrap rather than take VC money, and explains how he convinced experienced older technical co-founders to partner with him.
Prioritizing Direct User Feedback and Onboarding 2111 Nathan goes through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, wrapping up on a friendly and supportive note.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Supported
Lemlist is first to add dynamic personalized images to cold emails
“So Lemlist is a software as a service. So it's the first Email automation platform that can generate personalized images directly into cold emails.”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 1:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lemlist has 4,000 users, including 3,000 paying AppSumo customers
“So we had more than 3000 customers paying on AppSumo, and we have total of 4000 users today.”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 2:58
Insight
Many AppSumo buyers act on FOMO and never use the product
“You have a great part that is buying stuff because of fear of missing out. So those people actually buy coupons, maybe login once, and would never use, actually, the product.”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 3:38
Disclosure
Lemlist co-founders split equity equally across tech and business
“We want, you know, to have equal share, be equally motivated during the, for the entire project. We all have different and complementary skills, so we think, like, all skills are equal. We need, you know, we need the tech part, we need the commercial and, like…”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 4:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
French state subsidies cover 450 of Moubeche's 500-euro monthly expenses
“I actually spend maybe, like, 500 euros per month, and the states is giving me, like, 450, so it's,”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 6:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Freshdesk achieved higher cold email reply rates using Lemlist personalized images
“We had, like, companies such as Freshdesk. Like who have been they have been, like, A-B testing, like images versus no images, and they realize that they got, like, higher reply rates whenever they were using, like, personalized images.”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 7:41
Disclosure
Lemlist targets competitor keywords on AdWords to acquire monthly subscribers
“So affiliates customer cold email and AdWords. We're going to try to steal like some competitors you know, like yeah.”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 11:33
Disclosure
Lemlist rejects VC funding to bootstrap and focus entirely on users
“We're not really looking for fundings, because that's not really our vision, and we like the way bootstrapping company works, because I believe we really focus on users, then, you know, we find, like, really market fit, and a channel of acquisition that works,…”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 12:30
Insight
Contrary to conventional wisdom, adding images to cold emails increases replies
“Like, people were saying for a long time, like, don't say images in your cold email, that's not good, that's not professional, that's not, it's not true, you know. Like, we've experienced it, it's working. As long as you be different, and you get the attention…”
Guillaume Moubeche Oct 8, 2018 ▶ 13:04
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