StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Dec 7, 2017 · 28m · top-founders

866 SaaS: Sports Teams Use This $40m+ Company To Manage Communication

Dave DuPont · 15m spoken Nathan Latka · 9m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

TeamSnap CEO Dave DuPont discusses the SaaS platform's growth from a bootstrapped 2009 startup to approaching $50 million in annual recurring revenue. The interview explores TeamSnap's multi-tiered business model, freemium conversion mechanics, remote workforce management, and long-term ambition for an initial public offering.

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 38.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 6.0 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 2.2 Nathan pushing back 4.2
05100:0010:0020:000:49–5:12 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Dave DuPont and Athletic Background Nathan probes into the pricing mechanics across individual users, teams, and leagues. Dave patiently explains the pyramid structure, correcting Nathan's initial assumption that pricing was per seat rather than per team.5:12–7:48 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Founding in 2009, Bootstrap Era, and Venture Funding Nathan challenges Dave when he claims to have both bootstrapped and raised venture capital, insisting it has to be black or white. Dave counters cleanly by explaining the timeline of being quasi-bootstrapped before taking institutional capital.7:48–11:57 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Freemium Conversion Rates and Active vs Paying User Metrics Nathan performs rapid mental math to challenge Dave on revenue projections, mistakenly multiplying active users by monthly fees. Dave corrects Nathan on seasonality and the distinction between active and paying users in freemium, while Nathan corners him into estimating ~250k paying customers.11:58–15:41 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Customer Acquisition Channels and Land-and-Expand Growth Nathan presses on marketing spend efficiency and demands a concrete customer example. Dave shares their $500k monthly ad budget and walks through a real-world Marin County Little League horizontal and vertical expansion case study.15:41–20:49 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: The Top Inbox Acquisition Following an ad read for The Top Inbox, Nathan calculates implied churn rates from Dave's CAC and LTV metrics. Dave corrects the churn calculation by revealing distinct churn rates for team versus league accounts.20:49–24:35 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Revenue Targets, Competitor Landscape, and Long-Term Vision Nathan pressures Dave on ARR targets and tests his willingness to sell under a 10x ARR buyout scenario. Dave lists several corporate and private equity competitors while affirming his long-term plan to build an enduring standalone enterprise.0:49–5:12 · Guest teaching 4/10 Introducing Dave DuPont and Athletic Background Nathan probes into the pricing mechanics across individual users, teams, and leagues. Dave patiently explains the pyramid structure, correcting Nathan's initial assumption that pricing was per seat rather than per team.5:12–7:48 · Guest teaching 3/10 Founding in 2009, Bootstrap Era, and Venture Funding Nathan challenges Dave when he claims to have both bootstrapped and raised venture capital, insisting it has to be black or white. Dave counters cleanly by explaining the timeline of being quasi-bootstrapped before taking institutional capital.7:48–11:57 · Guest teaching 6/10 Freemium Conversion Rates and Active vs Paying User Metrics Nathan performs rapid mental math to challenge Dave on revenue projections, mistakenly multiplying active users by monthly fees. Dave corrects Nathan on seasonality and the distinction between active and paying users in freemium, while Nathan corners him into estimating ~250k paying customers.11:58–15:41 · Guest teaching 3/10 Customer Acquisition Channels and Land-and-Expand Growth Nathan presses on marketing spend efficiency and demands a concrete customer example. Dave shares their $500k monthly ad budget and walks through a real-world Marin County Little League horizontal and vertical expansion case study.15:41–20:49 · Guest teaching 3/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: The Top Inbox Acquisition Following an ad read for The Top Inbox, Nathan calculates implied churn rates from Dave's CAC and LTV metrics. Dave corrects the churn calculation by revealing distinct churn rates for team versus league accounts.20:49–24:35 · Guest teaching 2/10 Revenue Targets, Competitor Landscape, and Long-Term Vision Nathan pressures Dave on ARR targets and tests his willingness to sell under a 10x ARR buyout scenario. Dave lists several corporate and private equity competitors while affirming his long-term plan to build an enduring standalone enterprise.0:49–5:12 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Dave DuPont and Athletic Background Nathan probes into the pricing mechanics across individual users, teams, and leagues. Dave patiently explains the pyramid structure, correcting Nathan's initial assumption that pricing was per seat rather than per team.5:12–7:48 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Founding in 2009, Bootstrap Era, and Venture Funding Nathan challenges Dave when he claims to have both bootstrapped and raised venture capital, insisting it has to be black or white. Dave counters cleanly by explaining the timeline of being quasi-bootstrapped before taking institutional capital.7:48–11:57 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Freemium Conversion Rates and Active vs Paying User Metrics Nathan performs rapid mental math to challenge Dave on revenue projections, mistakenly multiplying active users by monthly fees. Dave corrects Nathan on seasonality and the distinction between active and paying users in freemium, while Nathan corners him into estimating ~250k paying customers.11:58–15:41 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Customer Acquisition Channels and Land-and-Expand Growth Nathan presses on marketing spend efficiency and demands a concrete customer example. Dave shares their $500k monthly ad budget and walks through a real-world Marin County Little League horizontal and vertical expansion case study.15:41–20:49 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: The Top Inbox Acquisition Following an ad read for The Top Inbox, Nathan calculates implied churn rates from Dave's CAC and LTV metrics. Dave corrects the churn calculation by revealing distinct churn rates for team versus league accounts.20:49–24:35 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Revenue Targets, Competitor Landscape, and Long-Term Vision Nathan pressures Dave on ARR targets and tests his willingness to sell under a 10x ARR buyout scenario. Dave lists several corporate and private equity competitors while affirming his long-term plan to build an enduring standalone enterprise.0:49–5:12 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Introducing Dave DuPont and Athletic Background Nathan probes into the pricing mechanics across individual users, teams, and leagues. Dave patiently explains the pyramid structure, correcting Nathan's initial assumption that pricing was per seat rather than per team.5:12–7:48 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Founding in 2009, Bootstrap Era, and Venture Funding Nathan challenges Dave when he claims to have both bootstrapped and raised venture capital, insisting it has to be black or white. Dave counters cleanly by explaining the timeline of being quasi-bootstrapped before taking institutional capital.7:48–11:57 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Freemium Conversion Rates and Active vs Paying User Metrics Nathan performs rapid mental math to challenge Dave on revenue projections, mistakenly multiplying active users by monthly fees. Dave corrects Nathan on seasonality and the distinction between active and paying users in freemium, while Nathan corners him into estimating ~250k paying customers.11:58–15:41 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Customer Acquisition Channels and Land-and-Expand Growth Nathan presses on marketing spend efficiency and demands a concrete customer example. Dave shares their $500k monthly ad budget and walks through a real-world Marin County Little League horizontal and vertical expansion case study.15:41–20:49 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: The Top Inbox Acquisition Following an ad read for The Top Inbox, Nathan calculates implied churn rates from Dave's CAC and LTV metrics. Dave corrects the churn calculation by revealing distinct churn rates for team versus league accounts.20:49–24:35 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Revenue Targets, Competitor Landscape, and Long-Term Vision Nathan pressures Dave on ARR targets and tests his willingness to sell under a 10x ARR buyout scenario. Dave lists several corporate and private equity competitors while affirming his long-term plan to build an enduring standalone enterprise.

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

0:00 · Nathan 60.6% · guest 39.4%0:00 · Nathan 60.6% · guest 39.4%3:00 · Nathan 27.3% · guest 72.7%3:00 · Nathan 27.3% · guest 72.7%6:00 · Nathan 49.8% · guest 50.2%6:00 · Nathan 49.8% · guest 50.2%9:00 · Nathan 40% · guest 60%9:00 · Nathan 40% · guest 60%12:00 · Nathan 18.4% · guest 81.6%12:00 · Nathan 18.4% · guest 81.6%15:00 · Nathan 55.4% · guest 44.6%15:00 · Nathan 55.4% · guest 44.6%18:00 · Nathan 28.6% · guest 71.4%18:00 · Nathan 28.6% · guest 71.4%21:00 · Nathan 17% · guest 83%21:00 · Nathan 17% · guest 83%24:00 · Nathan 35.5% · guest 64.5%24:00 · Nathan 35.5% · guest 64.5%27:00 · Nathan 68.6% · guest 31.4%27:00 · Nathan 68.6% · guest 31.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:52 Refusing Nathan's binary bootstrap framing

Dave pushes back against Nathan's claim that a company must be strictly bootstrapped or venture funded by explaining the evolutionary timeline of their capitalization.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:48 Nathan challenging the 150 million revenue figure

Nathan refuses to let the 1 million teams at $15/month metric pass, calculating an unrealistic $150M/month run rate and pressing Dave until the numbers make sense.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:34 Distinguishing active teams from paying teams

Dave points out an extra zero in Nathan's mental math and educates him on how seasonal inactivity and freemium tiers separate total active users from paid subscriptions.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 18:38 Nathan reverse-engineering churn from CAC and LTV

Nathan immediately performs back-of-the-napkin SaaS arithmetic to derive customer lifespan and logo churn percentages directly from Dave's reported CAC and payback metrics.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Dave DuPont and Athletic Background 5413 Nathan probes into the pricing mechanics across individual users, teams, and leagues. Dave patiently explains the pyramid structure, correcting Nathan's initial assumption that pricing was per seat rather than per team.
Founding in 2009, Bootstrap Era, and Venture Funding 6335 Nathan challenges Dave when he claims to have both bootstrapped and raised venture capital, insisting it has to be black or white. Dave counters cleanly by explaining the timeline of being quasi-bootstrapped before taking institutional capital.
Freemium Conversion Rates and Active vs Paying User Metrics 7647 Nathan performs rapid mental math to challenge Dave on revenue projections, mistakenly multiplying active users by monthly fees. Dave corrects Nathan on seasonality and the distinction between active and paying users in freemium, while Nathan corners him into estimating ~250k paying customers.
Customer Acquisition Channels and Land-and-Expand Growth 6324 Nathan presses on marketing spend efficiency and demands a concrete customer example. Dave shares their $500k monthly ad budget and walks through a real-world Marin County Little League horizontal and vertical expansion case study.
Mid-Roll Sponsorship: The Top Inbox Acquisition 6312 Following an ad read for The Top Inbox, Nathan calculates implied churn rates from Dave's CAC and LTV metrics. Dave corrects the churn calculation by revealing distinct churn rates for team versus league accounts.
Revenue Targets, Competitor Landscape, and Long-Term Vision 6224 Nathan pressures Dave on ARR targets and tests his willingness to sell under a 10x ARR buyout scenario. Dave lists several corporate and private equity competitors while affirming his long-term plan to build an enduring standalone enterprise.

Statements from this episode (17)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap's average organization customer pays nearly $2,000 per month
“And the average organization is paying us approaching 2000 bucks a month.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 3:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap's club segment is 40% of revenue, growing >100% YoY
“That part of our business is now that is clubs, leagues, and associations represent almost 40% of our overall business. So it's a, it's growing a hundred percent year over year, actually over a hundred percent as, and is an exciting part of our overall busines…”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 4:36
Insight
DuPont: The trough of a recession is the best time to start
“I would argue that the trough of a recession is the best time to get a company rolling.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 5:38
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap has grown revenue 70% to 100% every year
“We have grown. Between 70 and a hundred percent every year.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 6:23
Disclosure
DuPont: TeamSnap took no institutional venture capital until 2014
“We didn't take institutional capital until 2014.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 7:07
Disclosure
DuPont: Personally invested roughly $200,000 of his own money into TeamSnap
“I put in a couple 100,000.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 7:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap's average annual team subscription is roughly $80
“The average team per year, the average contract with the annual subscription is about 80 bucks.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 9:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap has approximately 250,000 active paying teams
“You're in the right range.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 11:28
Disclosure
DuPont: 30% of TeamSnap's new consumer customers come via referrals
“On the consumer side, people, we have about a 30%, 30% of our new customers come through, come to us through referrals.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 12:29
Disclosure
DuPont: TeamSnap spends roughly $500,000 per month on paid marketing
“We're spending about half a million a month.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 13:06
Disclosure
DuPont: TeamSnap's LTV:CAC ratio is approximately 3.5
“We especially look at LTV to CAC and that's about 3.5.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 13:20
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap's team-level CAC is $80 with a one-year payback
“Well, I mentioned that the payback is about a year's time. So we're paying on the order of 80 bucks.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 17:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap club and league tier has 2x better LTV:CAC
“The LTV to CAC is twice as good. The payback period is same over a magnitude about a year. The churn is lower”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 18:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap's annual logo churn is 15% for teams, 5% for leagues
“We end up with 15% churn on an annual basis at the team level and five percent churn at the club and league level.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 19:04
Insight
DuPont: Junior sales reps should work in bullpens before going remote
“We don't really care where people work, but we found that on the sales side, we benefit from putting junior sales reps together in a pool, bullpen kind of deal, so they all learn from each other, and they kind of compete and have a good camaraderie, and then a…”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 19:54
Prediction Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap will cross $50 million ARR in early 2018
“I think we will. Let me think through the numbers here. I think we'll break it at the beginning of next year.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 21:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DuPont: TeamSnap net burn equals discretionary marketing spend
“Our net burn is pretty close to our discretionary marketing.”
Dave DuPont Dec 7, 2017 ▶ 21:48
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more