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Dec 21, 2017 · 17m · top-founders

880 SaaS: Why Is This Engineer Competing in Highly Competitive Space?

Natwar Maheshwari · 10m 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 Around.io founder Natwar Maheshwari, who discusses bootstrapping a niche social media automation SaaS to $100,000 ARR while competing against industry giants through transparent positioning and high-touch customer support.

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 36.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 2.6 Nathan pushing back 4.0
05100:0010:001:13–3:31 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Natwar Maheshwari and Around.io Core Metrics Nathan quickly computes the ARPU and ARR metrics based on customer numbers and probes into the competitive landscape. Natwar is cooperative, sharing ARR numbers and competitor benchmarks like Buffer's revenue.3:31–8:55 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Reducing Churn by Aligning Customer Expectations Nathan probes Natwar on his churn benchmarks and digs deeply into personal finances and living costs around the DC area. Natwar educates Nathan on how removing automated cancellation and setting realistic expectations lowered his churn from 10% to 3.5%.8:56–13:22 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Sponsor Break: Acquisition of The Top Inbox Nathan directly challenges the viability of the company, calling the social media automation space commoditized and naming competitors with revenue figures. Natwar pushes back against Nathan's skepticism, arguing that customer service is a true differentiator and the market pie is large enough.13:22–16:14 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Fundraising Perspectives, Marketing Channels, and SEO Strategy Nathan pushes on ad acquisition ROI and tests Natwar's SEO rankings live during the interview. Natwar clarifies how the Shopify app ecosystem generates subscription revenue and details their long-tail content strategy.16:15–17:47 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five and Final Metrics Summary Standard Famous Five wrap-up with quick, agreeable answers and a concise metrics recap from Nathan.1:13–3:31 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Natwar Maheshwari and Around.io Core Metrics Nathan quickly computes the ARPU and ARR metrics based on customer numbers and probes into the competitive landscape. Natwar is cooperative, sharing ARR numbers and competitor benchmarks like Buffer's revenue.3:31–8:55 · Guest teaching 3/10 Reducing Churn by Aligning Customer Expectations Nathan probes Natwar on his churn benchmarks and digs deeply into personal finances and living costs around the DC area. Natwar educates Nathan on how removing automated cancellation and setting realistic expectations lowered his churn from 10% to 3.5%.8:56–13:22 · Guest teaching 3/10 Sponsor Break: Acquisition of The Top Inbox Nathan directly challenges the viability of the company, calling the social media automation space commoditized and naming competitors with revenue figures. Natwar pushes back against Nathan's skepticism, arguing that customer service is a true differentiator and the market pie is large enough.13:22–16:14 · Guest teaching 4/10 Fundraising Perspectives, Marketing Channels, and SEO Strategy Nathan pushes on ad acquisition ROI and tests Natwar's SEO rankings live during the interview. Natwar clarifies how the Shopify app ecosystem generates subscription revenue and details their long-tail content strategy.16:15–17:47 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five and Final Metrics Summary Standard Famous Five wrap-up with quick, agreeable answers and a concise metrics recap from Nathan.1:13–3:31 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Introducing Natwar Maheshwari and Around.io Core Metrics Nathan quickly computes the ARPU and ARR metrics based on customer numbers and probes into the competitive landscape. Natwar is cooperative, sharing ARR numbers and competitor benchmarks like Buffer's revenue.3:31–8:55 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Reducing Churn by Aligning Customer Expectations Nathan probes Natwar on his churn benchmarks and digs deeply into personal finances and living costs around the DC area. Natwar educates Nathan on how removing automated cancellation and setting realistic expectations lowered his churn from 10% to 3.5%.8:56–13:22 · Guest disagreement 5/10 Sponsor Break: Acquisition of The Top Inbox Nathan directly challenges the viability of the company, calling the social media automation space commoditized and naming competitors with revenue figures. Natwar pushes back against Nathan's skepticism, arguing that customer service is a true differentiator and the market pie is large enough.13:22–16:14 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Fundraising Perspectives, Marketing Channels, and SEO Strategy Nathan pushes on ad acquisition ROI and tests Natwar's SEO rankings live during the interview. Natwar clarifies how the Shopify app ecosystem generates subscription revenue and details their long-tail content strategy.16:15–17:47 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five and Final Metrics Summary Standard Famous Five wrap-up with quick, agreeable answers and a concise metrics recap from Nathan.1:13–3:31 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Natwar Maheshwari and Around.io Core Metrics Nathan quickly computes the ARPU and ARR metrics based on customer numbers and probes into the competitive landscape. Natwar is cooperative, sharing ARR numbers and competitor benchmarks like Buffer's revenue.3:31–8:55 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Reducing Churn by Aligning Customer Expectations Nathan probes Natwar on his churn benchmarks and digs deeply into personal finances and living costs around the DC area. Natwar educates Nathan on how removing automated cancellation and setting realistic expectations lowered his churn from 10% to 3.5%.8:56–13:22 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Sponsor Break: Acquisition of The Top Inbox Nathan directly challenges the viability of the company, calling the social media automation space commoditized and naming competitors with revenue figures. Natwar pushes back against Nathan's skepticism, arguing that customer service is a true differentiator and the market pie is large enough.13:22–16:14 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Fundraising Perspectives, Marketing Channels, and SEO Strategy Nathan pushes on ad acquisition ROI and tests Natwar's SEO rankings live during the interview. Natwar clarifies how the Shopify app ecosystem generates subscription revenue and details their long-tail content strategy.16:15–17:47 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five and Final Metrics Summary Standard Famous Five wrap-up with quick, agreeable answers and a concise metrics recap from Nathan.

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

0:00 · Nathan 57.1% · guest 42.9%0:00 · Nathan 57.1% · guest 42.9%3:00 · Nathan 15.2% · guest 84.8%3:00 · Nathan 15.2% · guest 84.8%6:00 · Nathan 22.6% · guest 77.4%6:00 · Nathan 22.6% · guest 77.4%9:00 · Nathan 54.3% · guest 45.7%9:00 · Nathan 54.3% · guest 45.7%12:00 · Nathan 30.2% · guest 69.8%12:00 · Nathan 30.2% · guest 69.8%15:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%15:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:45 Refusing Nathan's commoditization claim

Natwar explicitly rejects Nathan's assertion that every competitor provides good customer service and defends his market share opportunity.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 11:02 Challenging the premise of competing in the niche

Nathan bluntly questions how Around.io can win when competitors offer the exact same product at lower prices.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:58 Unintuitive churn reduction strategy

Natwar explains how removing self-serve cancellation and aligning expectations that the tool saves time rather than boosts sales drastically slashed churn.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:30 Listing competitor ARR metrics

Nathan rattles off specific competitor names and their financial traction like MeetEdgar doing $400-500k monthly to emphasize the steep competition.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Natwar Maheshwari and Around.io Core Metrics 5223 Nathan quickly computes the ARPU and ARR metrics based on customer numbers and probes into the competitive landscape. Natwar is cooperative, sharing ARR numbers and competitor benchmarks like Buffer's revenue.
Reducing Churn by Aligning Customer Expectations 5324 Nathan probes Natwar on his churn benchmarks and digs deeply into personal finances and living costs around the DC area. Natwar educates Nathan on how removing automated cancellation and setting realistic expectations lowered his churn from 10% to 3.5%.
Sponsor Break: Acquisition of The Top Inbox 7357 Nathan directly challenges the viability of the company, calling the social media automation space commoditized and naming competitors with revenue figures. Natwar pushes back against Nathan's skepticism, arguing that customer service is a true differentiator and the market pie is large enough.
Fundraising Perspectives, Marketing Channels, and SEO Strategy 5435 Nathan pushes on ad acquisition ROI and tests Natwar's SEO rankings live during the interview. Natwar clarifies how the Shopify app ecosystem generates subscription revenue and details their long-tail content strategy.
The Famous Five and Final Metrics Summary 3111 Standard Famous Five wrap-up with quick, agreeable answers and a concise metrics recap from Nathan.

Statements from this episode (12)

Assertion Supported
Maheshwari: Buffer recently crossed $15M in ARR
“Buffer just crossed, like, 15 mil recently.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 2:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Maheshwari: Over 500 tools worldwide offer social media automation
“My research says there are more than 500 tools in the world right now, Who are doing something in social media automation.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 2:24
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Around.io monthly gross logo churn is between 3.5% and 4%
“Gross logo churn is around three point, Five percent right now 3.5 and four.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 3:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Around.io previously suffered from 9% to 10% monthly logo churn
“I have been to like nine percent and 10% lower churn, and that was not a good place.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 3:52
Disclosure
Maheshwari: Around.io took eight months to reach 30 customers at $20 pricing
“It took us, like eight months to get to 30 customers, and at that time, we priced the tool twice as All the, so the buffer was 10 dollars at the time, and we were pricing it at 20 dollars, just because you want to build something for a niche, and we wanted to …”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 5:21
Disclosure
Around.io founder Natwar Maheshwari currently takes zero salary
“I do not pay myself right now. I was paying myself last year, and then I realized if I want to grow this, I really have to take myself Stuff out.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 6:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Maheshwari: Around.io generates over $7,500 in MRR
“We were doing like 5005 1200 MRR at the time. We are doing a little more than 7500 right now.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 10:21
Disclosure
Maheshwari: Founder personally manages 95% of Around.io's customer support
“I still handle like 95% of the customer service right now because it's very, very, very important for us to make sure our customers Understand that we take this shit very, very, very seriously.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 11:31
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Latka: MeetEdgar generates $400,000 to $500,000 monthly revenue
“Then you have the smaller ones like Edgar, but not really that small anymore. They're 405 hundred grand a month in revenue.”
Nathan Latka Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 13:08
Disclosure
Maheshwari: Slow growth over three years makes raising VC nearly impossible
“I would not consider it at the moment because we are at a place that it's very, very, it's going to be very tough, right? If I go to an investor right now and say I've been alive for more than three and a half years, and now I would raise funds, they're going …”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 13:25
Assertion Supported
Around.io charges $30 monthly on Shopify with a 20% platform fee
“We have a app on Shopify platform. So it's like 30 dollars a month. So people, when people use our app, that's what they pay us. I mean, of course, Shopify keeps that cut off 20%, but we get the rest.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 14:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Maheshwari: Around.io is 100% remote with its entire team in India
“So a hundred percent virtual meaning a lot of them are in India. Actually all of them are in India at the moment because I was there.”
Natwar Maheshwari Dec 21, 2017 ▶ 14:51
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