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Jan 21, 2018 · 15m · top-founders

911 SaaS: Instapage passes $10m+ ARR Competing with Optimizely, Unbounce

Tyson Quick · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Instapage founder and CEO Tyson Quick to discuss how the company scaled past $10 million in ARR with strong capital efficiency, proven unit economics, and an expanding enterprise strategy.

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 39.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.6 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 3.0
05100:0010:000:49–5:35 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Introducing Tyson Quick and Instapage's Core Value Proposition Nathan asks foundational questions about Instapage's business model and origin story. Tyson explains the gap between ad tech and martech and details how a failed previous startup led to the pivot into landing page optimization.5:35–7:39 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Scaling Past $10M ARR, Global Team, and Growth Run Rate Nathan performs rapid mental math to calculate MRR and run rate from customer count and ARPU. When Tyson gives a vague answer on historical growth, Nathan reverse-engineers the past ARR from the 100% year-over-year growth rate.7:39–11:19 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Unit Economics, Paid Acquisition Strategy, and Competitive Landscape Nathan quickly computes the customer acquisition payback period to under four months based on Tyson's LTV and CAC metrics. Tyson shares an aggressive early growth tactic of bidding on competitor brand search terms.11:22–13:59 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Sponsor Segment: Website Analytics with Hotjar Following an ad break, Nathan questions Tyson on whether he would take a hypothetical $40M buyout offer. When Tyson immediately dismisses it, Nathan prods him about turning down a 4x ARR multiple before Tyson explains their enterprise expansion plans.13:59–15:19 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire questions, pushing back slightly when Tyson tries to offer aspirational answers on sleep hours and mainstream figures for CEOs to follow.0:49–5:35 · Guest teaching 3/10 Introducing Tyson Quick and Instapage's Core Value Proposition Nathan asks foundational questions about Instapage's business model and origin story. Tyson explains the gap between ad tech and martech and details how a failed previous startup led to the pivot into landing page optimization.5:35–7:39 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scaling Past $10M ARR, Global Team, and Growth Run Rate Nathan performs rapid mental math to calculate MRR and run rate from customer count and ARPU. When Tyson gives a vague answer on historical growth, Nathan reverse-engineers the past ARR from the 100% year-over-year growth rate.7:39–11:19 · Guest teaching 3/10 Unit Economics, Paid Acquisition Strategy, and Competitive Landscape Nathan quickly computes the customer acquisition payback period to under four months based on Tyson's LTV and CAC metrics. Tyson shares an aggressive early growth tactic of bidding on competitor brand search terms.11:22–13:59 · Guest teaching 2/10 Sponsor Segment: Website Analytics with Hotjar Following an ad break, Nathan questions Tyson on whether he would take a hypothetical $40M buyout offer. When Tyson immediately dismisses it, Nathan prods him about turning down a 4x ARR multiple before Tyson explains their enterprise expansion plans.13:59–15:19 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire questions, pushing back slightly when Tyson tries to offer aspirational answers on sleep hours and mainstream figures for CEOs to follow.0:49–5:35 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Tyson Quick and Instapage's Core Value Proposition Nathan asks foundational questions about Instapage's business model and origin story. Tyson explains the gap between ad tech and martech and details how a failed previous startup led to the pivot into landing page optimization.5:35–7:39 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Scaling Past $10M ARR, Global Team, and Growth Run Rate Nathan performs rapid mental math to calculate MRR and run rate from customer count and ARPU. When Tyson gives a vague answer on historical growth, Nathan reverse-engineers the past ARR from the 100% year-over-year growth rate.7:39–11:19 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Unit Economics, Paid Acquisition Strategy, and Competitive Landscape Nathan quickly computes the customer acquisition payback period to under four months based on Tyson's LTV and CAC metrics. Tyson shares an aggressive early growth tactic of bidding on competitor brand search terms.11:22–13:59 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Sponsor Segment: Website Analytics with Hotjar Following an ad break, Nathan questions Tyson on whether he would take a hypothetical $40M buyout offer. When Tyson immediately dismisses it, Nathan prods him about turning down a 4x ARR multiple before Tyson explains their enterprise expansion plans.13:59–15:19 · Guest disagreement 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire questions, pushing back slightly when Tyson tries to offer aspirational answers on sleep hours and mainstream figures for CEOs to follow.0:49–5:35 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Tyson Quick and Instapage's Core Value Proposition Nathan asks foundational questions about Instapage's business model and origin story. Tyson explains the gap between ad tech and martech and details how a failed previous startup led to the pivot into landing page optimization.5:35–7:39 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Scaling Past $10M ARR, Global Team, and Growth Run Rate Nathan performs rapid mental math to calculate MRR and run rate from customer count and ARPU. When Tyson gives a vague answer on historical growth, Nathan reverse-engineers the past ARR from the 100% year-over-year growth rate.7:39–11:19 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Unit Economics, Paid Acquisition Strategy, and Competitive Landscape Nathan quickly computes the customer acquisition payback period to under four months based on Tyson's LTV and CAC metrics. Tyson shares an aggressive early growth tactic of bidding on competitor brand search terms.11:22–13:59 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Sponsor Segment: Website Analytics with Hotjar Following an ad break, Nathan questions Tyson on whether he would take a hypothetical $40M buyout offer. When Tyson immediately dismisses it, Nathan prods him about turning down a 4x ARR multiple before Tyson explains their enterprise expansion plans.13:59–15:19 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire questions, pushing back slightly when Tyson tries to offer aspirational answers on sleep hours and mainstream figures for CEOs to follow.

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

0:00 · Nathan 49.2% · guest 50.8%0:00 · Nathan 49.2% · guest 50.8%3:00 · Nathan 7.1% · guest 92.9%3:00 · Nathan 7.1% · guest 92.9%6:00 · Nathan 40.3% · guest 59.7%6:00 · Nathan 40.3% · guest 59.7%9:00 · Nathan 41.4% · guest 58.6%9:00 · Nathan 41.4% · guest 58.6%12:00 · Nathan 48.7% · guest 51.3%12:00 · Nathan 48.7% · guest 51.3%15:00 · Nathan 81.4% · guest 18.6%15:00 · Nathan 81.4% · guest 18.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:46 Dismissing buyout valuation

Tyson flatly rejects Nathan's hypothetical $40M buyout offer with 'Not a chance' and notes they have turned down venture offers at far higher multiples.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 12:48 Challenging the refusal to sell

Nathan ribs Tyson for turning down a 4x ARR multiple, calling it typical San Francisco founder behavior.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:30 Explaining the conversion tech gap

Tyson breaks down the economics of digital ad spend and why generic landing pages waste 95% of paid traffic budgets.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:14 Real-time payback period breakdown

Nathan instantly synthesizes Tyson's CAC, LTV, and monthly ARPU into an exact sub-four-month payback period.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Tyson Quick and Instapage's Core Value Proposition 4312 Nathan asks foundational questions about Instapage's business model and origin story. Tyson explains the gap between ad tech and martech and details how a failed previous startup led to the pivot into landing page optimization.
Scaling Past $10M ARR, Global Team, and Growth Run Rate 6224 Nathan performs rapid mental math to calculate MRR and run rate from customer count and ARPU. When Tyson gives a vague answer on historical growth, Nathan reverse-engineers the past ARR from the 100% year-over-year growth rate.
Unit Economics, Paid Acquisition Strategy, and Competitive Landscape 6312 Nathan quickly computes the customer acquisition payback period to under four months based on Tyson's LTV and CAC metrics. Tyson shares an aggressive early growth tactic of bidding on competitor brand search terms.
Sponsor Segment: Website Analytics with Hotjar 5234 Following an ad break, Nathan questions Tyson on whether he would take a hypothetical $40M buyout offer. When Tyson immediately dismisses it, Nathan prods him about turning down a 4x ARR multiple before Tyson explains their enterprise expansion plans.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 2123 Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire questions, pushing back slightly when Tyson tries to offer aspirational answers on sleep hours and mainstream figures for CEOs to follow.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Instapage's revenue is 98% self-serve SaaS
“However, that's still, you know, an annual subscription, but the vast majority of our business today, 98% actually is all self-serve SaaS and we're building on an enterprise component now.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 2:13
Disclosure
Instapage ARPU is just over $100 per month
“Right now the average customer per month pays us just over a hundred dollars.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 2:30
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Predecessor pivoted to Instapage with just $75K left in bank
“It was a 600,000 dollar seed round. We pivoted with only about 75,000 in the bank.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 4:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instapage reached over $10M ARR deploying only $2M
“That said, we have raised, including this, the seed round about three and a half million dollars, and we've deployed only about two million dollars of that to grow the company to, you know, over ten million, well over ten million dollars.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 5:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instapage has approximately 16,000 paying customers
“So right now we're just about 16,000 customers and growing.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 6:09
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Quick projected Instapage would hit $20M ARR in 2019
“That will probably come at some point next year.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 6:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instapage grew over 100% YoY for three consecutive years
“What I will say is we are growing well over a hundred percent year over year for the past three years.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 6:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instapage LTV is $1,200 overall, $10,000+ for enterprise
“It's over, it's about 1200 dollars Per customer. If we look at all 16,000, but if we look at, you know, the enterprise segment, that's in 10,000 plus range.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 8:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instapage converts roughly one-third of ad visitors into signups
“We're able to turn about one third of every visitor from our ad campaigns into a signup.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 8:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instapage spends up to $2M annually on PPC advertising
“Per year we're spending about a million and a half to two million dollars in, in PPC advertising.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 8:51
Disclosure
Instapage scaled past $1M ARR by bidding on competitor search terms
“We took a pretty aggressive strategy by, you know, targeting our competitors and saying like, you know, don't try X competitor until you've tried Instapage. But we, what we had in mind is like, of course, this wasn't going to be a long-term strategy for us, bu…”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 9:29
Disclosure
Instapage turned down multiple VC offers above 4x ARR
“Yeah, I mean, the company already, we've turned out a bunch of VC offers, you know, and higher valuation multiples than that.”
Tyson Quick Jan 21, 2018 ▶ 12:55
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