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Sep 6, 2018 · 18m · top-founders

1139 We're about to close $5m round for our sales document tool

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Tim Salmay · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs, host Nathan Latka interviews Tim Salmay, co-founder and CTO of sales document platform Tilki, exploring how the company scaled to $190,000 in monthly revenue, navigated unit economics across SMB and enterprise tiers, and structured a $5 million equity-and-debt round for European expansion.

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 51.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.7 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:000:00–3:18 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Executive Summary of Tilki's Growth Metrics Nathan introduces Tilki's historical metrics from their previous interview before bringing Tim on to explain the core value proposition and sales proposal intelligence.3:18–6:51 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Strategic Decisions Behind New Funding and European Expansion Nathan systematically checks current traction against December 2016 figures, comparing customer counts, ARPU expansion, and monthly revenue doubling.6:51–9:45 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Structuring the $5 Million Round with Bank Debt and Equity Tim explains the mechanics of French public bank financing through Bpifrance matching equity one-to-one with debt, while Nathan explores the structural breakdown.9:49–12:43 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Commercial Sponsorship: Monday.com Project Management Platform Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan examines the reported $160 CAC and rapidly calculates the payback period, questioning why they are not spending more aggressively.12:44–17:24 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Revenue Composition: Recurring Software vs. Professional Services Nathan presses on revenue quality to uncover that 25% of top-line revenue is professional services rather than pure SaaS, and Tim frankly asserts their financial exit goals.17:24–18:17 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Comprehensive Performance Recap Host monologue outro summarizing key business statistics, metrics, and round details.0:00–3:18 · Guest teaching 2/10 Executive Summary of Tilki's Growth Metrics Nathan introduces Tilki's historical metrics from their previous interview before bringing Tim on to explain the core value proposition and sales proposal intelligence.3:18–6:51 · Guest teaching 2/10 Strategic Decisions Behind New Funding and European Expansion Nathan systematically checks current traction against December 2016 figures, comparing customer counts, ARPU expansion, and monthly revenue doubling.6:51–9:45 · Guest teaching 4/10 Structuring the $5 Million Round with Bank Debt and Equity Tim explains the mechanics of French public bank financing through Bpifrance matching equity one-to-one with debt, while Nathan explores the structural breakdown.9:49–12:43 · Guest teaching 2/10 Commercial Sponsorship: Monday.com Project Management Platform Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan examines the reported $160 CAC and rapidly calculates the payback period, questioning why they are not spending more aggressively.12:44–17:24 · Guest teaching 3/10 Revenue Composition: Recurring Software vs. Professional Services Nathan presses on revenue quality to uncover that 25% of top-line revenue is professional services rather than pure SaaS, and Tim frankly asserts their financial exit goals.17:24–18:17 · Guest teaching 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Comprehensive Performance Recap Host monologue outro summarizing key business statistics, metrics, and round details.0:00–3:18 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Executive Summary of Tilki's Growth Metrics Nathan introduces Tilki's historical metrics from their previous interview before bringing Tim on to explain the core value proposition and sales proposal intelligence.3:18–6:51 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Strategic Decisions Behind New Funding and European Expansion Nathan systematically checks current traction against December 2016 figures, comparing customer counts, ARPU expansion, and monthly revenue doubling.6:51–9:45 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Structuring the $5 Million Round with Bank Debt and Equity Tim explains the mechanics of French public bank financing through Bpifrance matching equity one-to-one with debt, while Nathan explores the structural breakdown.9:49–12:43 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Commercial Sponsorship: Monday.com Project Management Platform Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan examines the reported $160 CAC and rapidly calculates the payback period, questioning why they are not spending more aggressively.12:44–17:24 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Revenue Composition: Recurring Software vs. Professional Services Nathan presses on revenue quality to uncover that 25% of top-line revenue is professional services rather than pure SaaS, and Tim frankly asserts their financial exit goals.17:24–18:17 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Comprehensive Performance Recap Host monologue outro summarizing key business statistics, metrics, and round details.0:00–3:18 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Executive Summary of Tilki's Growth Metrics Nathan introduces Tilki's historical metrics from their previous interview before bringing Tim on to explain the core value proposition and sales proposal intelligence.3:18–6:51 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Strategic Decisions Behind New Funding and European Expansion Nathan systematically checks current traction against December 2016 figures, comparing customer counts, ARPU expansion, and monthly revenue doubling.6:51–9:45 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Structuring the $5 Million Round with Bank Debt and Equity Tim explains the mechanics of French public bank financing through Bpifrance matching equity one-to-one with debt, while Nathan explores the structural breakdown.9:49–12:43 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Commercial Sponsorship: Monday.com Project Management Platform Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan examines the reported $160 CAC and rapidly calculates the payback period, questioning why they are not spending more aggressively.12:44–17:24 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Revenue Composition: Recurring Software vs. Professional Services Nathan presses on revenue quality to uncover that 25% of top-line revenue is professional services rather than pure SaaS, and Tim frankly asserts their financial exit goals.17:24–18:17 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Comprehensive Performance Recap Host monologue outro summarizing key business statistics, metrics, and round details.

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

0:00 · Nathan 69.4% · guest 30.6%0:00 · Nathan 69.4% · guest 30.6%3:00 · Nathan 34.7% · guest 65.3%3:00 · Nathan 34.7% · guest 65.3%6:00 · Nathan 29.9% · guest 70.1%6:00 · Nathan 29.9% · guest 70.1%9:00 · Nathan 61.6% · guest 38.4%9:00 · Nathan 61.6% · guest 38.4%12:00 · Nathan 50.8% · guest 49.2%12:00 · Nathan 50.8% · guest 49.2%15:00 · Nathan 58.8% · guest 41.2%15:00 · Nathan 58.8% · guest 41.2%18:00 · Nathan 94.4% · guest 5.6%18:00 · Nathan 94.4% · guest 5.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 16:24 Direct rejection of altruistic startup tropes

Tim rejects the standard founder PR narrative about changing the world, plainly stating that the enterprise is strictly meant to generate wealth for the founders and team.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:45 Challenging top-line recurring revenue composition

Nathan refuses to accept the $190k monthly figure as pure SaaS, forcing Tim to reveal that 25% of that figure consists of one-off professional services.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:21 Educating on European debt co-financing with public banks

Tim details the operational structure of raising venture debt through public state-backed institutions like Bpifrance to match private equity dollar-for-dollar.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:01 Instantaneous CAC payback computation and optimization push

Nathan immediately calculates the under-two-month payback period based on ARPU and CAC metrics, pressing the guest on why marketing acquisition isn't scaled faster.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Executive Summary of Tilki's Growth Metrics 4212 Nathan introduces Tilki's historical metrics from their previous interview before bringing Tim on to explain the core value proposition and sales proposal intelligence.
Strategic Decisions Behind New Funding and European Expansion 6213 Nathan systematically checks current traction against December 2016 figures, comparing customer counts, ARPU expansion, and monthly revenue doubling.
Structuring the $5 Million Round with Bank Debt and Equity 6412 Tim explains the mechanics of French public bank financing through Bpifrance matching equity one-to-one with debt, while Nathan explores the structural breakdown.
Commercial Sponsorship: Monday.com Project Management Platform 5213 Following the mid-roll ad read, Nathan examines the reported $160 CAC and rapidly calculates the payback period, questioning why they are not spending more aggressively.
Revenue Composition: Recurring Software vs. Professional Services 7325 Nathan presses on revenue quality to uncover that 25% of top-line revenue is professional services rather than pure SaaS, and Tim frankly asserts their financial exit goals.
Episode Conclusion and Comprehensive Performance Recap 0000 Host monologue outro summarizing key business statistics, metrics, and round details.

Statements from this episode (12)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Salmay: 60% of Sales Proposals Vanish Into a Black Hole
“We understood that 60% of all the proposal, the business proposal sent by salespeople just vanish in a black hole.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 2:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Salmay: France, Germany, and UK are Tilkee's top markets
“We could just secure the French markets and go very slow on the German and UK market. That's our top markets today.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 4:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tilkee Has Around 100 Enterprise-Sized Customers
“And we have, I would say, 100 and enterprise size companies.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 5:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tilkee Nearly Doubled Monthly Revenue to Roughly $190,000
“We almost double, not exactly. Okay. But in the last couple of months, we, yeah, we almost doubled that too.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 5:43
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tilkee Enterprise Sales Cycles Take at Least Six Months
“The point is the pain point for us, the challenge that the cycle is at least six months to be able to sign and to scale on a, on an enterprise size company.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 6:37
Disclosure
Tilkee Plans to Raise $5M Split Between Equity and Debt
“We will raise around it will be total, including debt, around five million.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 7:00
Insight
European Banks Typically Match Startup Equity 1:1 With Debt
“And in general, from the very beginning that's exactly how it works in, in France and I say even in Europe. So you have to raise one to get one in debt.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 8:18
Assertion Supported
Tilkee Employs Around 30 People in Lyon
“Yeah, we are around 30 now, still based in Lyon.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 8:35
Disclosure
Salmay: Tilkee has not lost any very large customer accounts
“Today we didn't lose any big, very large accounts.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 9:41
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Professional Services Comprise 25% of Tilkee's Monthly Revenue
“You can take out 25%.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 14:02
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Salmay: Tilkee Will Grow 5x in Two to Three Years
“Because we think that in Two or three years will be five times this figure.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 15:46
Disclosure
Tilkee Targets $50M Exit Rather Than Unicorn Status
“We, our goal is not to go for the billion. Our goal is to go for To a several I would say a 50.”
Tim Salmay Sep 6, 2018 ▶ 16:01
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