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Nov 29, 2017 · 19m · top-founders

858 SaaS: College Business Plan Turned $4m Biz, "We Just Raised $6m"

Tom Coburn · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 8m 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, host Nathan Latka interviews Jebbit co-founder and CEO Tom Coburn to explore how the declared data platform evolved from a college business competition concept into an enterprise SaaS business generating over $400,000 in MRR with $10 million in funding.

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 45.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.6 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 3.6
05100:0010:004:00–6:49 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Mobile User Experience and Consumer Engagement Metrics Nathan directly challenges Tom's completion metrics, bluntly stating he hates pop-up surveys and refuses to believe a 60% start rate. Tom pushes back by explaining the mechanics of declared data experiences versus traditional intrusive pop-ups.6:50–9:12 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Founding History, Venture Capital, and Early Hustle A friendly biographical segment where Nathan prompts Tom on fundraising milestones, company origins at Boston College, and early hustle stories involving fake IDs for client meetings.9:13–14:12 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Enterprise Pricing Evolution and ROI Demonstration Nathan drills into unit economics including net churn, customer acquisition costs, and paid channel performance. Tom provides detailed breakdowns of moving upmarket to larger enterprise contracts and intentional churn of lower-tier accounts.14:12–16:32 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Composition, Software Margins, and Stretch ARR Targets Nathan scrutinizes the math behind Jebit's run rate and customer counts, pressing Tom on reconciling the stated average contract size against current ARR targets.16:32–18:47 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Acuity Scheduling Efficiency Nathan delivers a promotional ad read for Acuity Scheduling before transitioning into standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions to wrap up the interview.4:00–6:49 · Guest teaching 5/10 Mobile User Experience and Consumer Engagement Metrics Nathan directly challenges Tom's completion metrics, bluntly stating he hates pop-up surveys and refuses to believe a 60% start rate. Tom pushes back by explaining the mechanics of declared data experiences versus traditional intrusive pop-ups.6:50–9:12 · Guest teaching 2/10 Founding History, Venture Capital, and Early Hustle A friendly biographical segment where Nathan prompts Tom on fundraising milestones, company origins at Boston College, and early hustle stories involving fake IDs for client meetings.9:13–14:12 · Guest teaching 4/10 Enterprise Pricing Evolution and ROI Demonstration Nathan drills into unit economics including net churn, customer acquisition costs, and paid channel performance. Tom provides detailed breakdowns of moving upmarket to larger enterprise contracts and intentional churn of lower-tier accounts.14:12–16:32 · Guest teaching 3/10 Team Composition, Software Margins, and Stretch ARR Targets Nathan scrutinizes the math behind Jebit's run rate and customer counts, pressing Tom on reconciling the stated average contract size against current ARR targets.16:32–18:47 · Guest teaching 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Acuity Scheduling Efficiency Nathan delivers a promotional ad read for Acuity Scheduling before transitioning into standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions to wrap up the interview.4:00–6:49 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Mobile User Experience and Consumer Engagement Metrics Nathan directly challenges Tom's completion metrics, bluntly stating he hates pop-up surveys and refuses to believe a 60% start rate. Tom pushes back by explaining the mechanics of declared data experiences versus traditional intrusive pop-ups.6:50–9:12 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Founding History, Venture Capital, and Early Hustle A friendly biographical segment where Nathan prompts Tom on fundraising milestones, company origins at Boston College, and early hustle stories involving fake IDs for client meetings.9:13–14:12 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Enterprise Pricing Evolution and ROI Demonstration Nathan drills into unit economics including net churn, customer acquisition costs, and paid channel performance. Tom provides detailed breakdowns of moving upmarket to larger enterprise contracts and intentional churn of lower-tier accounts.14:12–16:32 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Team Composition, Software Margins, and Stretch ARR Targets Nathan scrutinizes the math behind Jebit's run rate and customer counts, pressing Tom on reconciling the stated average contract size against current ARR targets.16:32–18:47 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Acuity Scheduling Efficiency Nathan delivers a promotional ad read for Acuity Scheduling before transitioning into standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions to wrap up the interview.4:00–6:49 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Mobile User Experience and Consumer Engagement Metrics Nathan directly challenges Tom's completion metrics, bluntly stating he hates pop-up surveys and refuses to believe a 60% start rate. Tom pushes back by explaining the mechanics of declared data experiences versus traditional intrusive pop-ups.6:50–9:12 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Founding History, Venture Capital, and Early Hustle A friendly biographical segment where Nathan prompts Tom on fundraising milestones, company origins at Boston College, and early hustle stories involving fake IDs for client meetings.9:13–14:12 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Enterprise Pricing Evolution and ROI Demonstration Nathan drills into unit economics including net churn, customer acquisition costs, and paid channel performance. Tom provides detailed breakdowns of moving upmarket to larger enterprise contracts and intentional churn of lower-tier accounts.14:12–16:32 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Team Composition, Software Margins, and Stretch ARR Targets Nathan scrutinizes the math behind Jebit's run rate and customer counts, pressing Tom on reconciling the stated average contract size against current ARR targets.16:32–18:47 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor: Acuity Scheduling Efficiency Nathan delivers a promotional ad read for Acuity Scheduling before transitioning into standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions to wrap up the interview.

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

0:00 · Nathan 78.8% · guest 21.2%0:00 · Nathan 78.8% · guest 21.2%3:00 · Nathan 14.8% · guest 85.2%3:00 · Nathan 14.8% · guest 85.2%6:00 · Nathan 23.8% · guest 76.2%6:00 · Nathan 23.8% · guest 76.2%9:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%9:00 · Nathan 28.4% · guest 71.6%12:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%12:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%15:00 · Nathan 76.5% · guest 23.5%15:00 · Nathan 76.5% · guest 23.5%18:00 · Nathan 80.2% · guest 19.8%18:00 · Nathan 80.2% · guest 19.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:42 Tom counters survey skepticism

Tom refuses Nathan's dismissive characterization of his product as annoying surveys, systematically outlining why the mobile user experience creates genuine consumer value.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:18 Nathan challenges 60% engagement claim

Nathan openly calls out Tom's selective metrics and flatly says 'No, I don't believe you' when given a 60% start rate.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:42 Explaining declared data UX

Tom educates Nathan on how native declared data experiences replace cluttered 50-product mobile landing pages with streamlined 4-question quizzes.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 15:46 Nathan catches revenue math discrepancy

Nathan immediately catches that multiplying 50 customers by $3,000 monthly does not add up to Tom's claimed revenue run rate, forcing Tom to clarify that ARPU has significantly increased.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Mobile User Experience and Consumer Engagement Metrics 5546 Nathan directly challenges Tom's completion metrics, bluntly stating he hates pop-up surveys and refuses to believe a 60% start rate. Tom pushes back by explaining the mechanics of declared data experiences versus traditional intrusive pop-ups.
Founding History, Venture Capital, and Early Hustle 4212 A friendly biographical segment where Nathan prompts Tom on fundraising milestones, company origins at Boston College, and early hustle stories involving fake IDs for client meetings.
Enterprise Pricing Evolution and ROI Demonstration 6424 Nathan drills into unit economics including net churn, customer acquisition costs, and paid channel performance. Tom provides detailed breakdowns of moving upmarket to larger enterprise contracts and intentional churn of lower-tier accounts.
Team Composition, Software Margins, and Stretch ARR Targets 6325 Nathan scrutinizes the math behind Jebit's run rate and customer counts, pressing Tom on reconciling the stated average contract size against current ARR targets.
Mid-Roll Sponsor: Acuity Scheduling Efficiency 2101 Nathan delivers a promotional ad read for Acuity Scheduling before transitioning into standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions to wrap up the interview.

Statements from this episode (11)

Insight
Coburn: Enterprise customer data is often inaccurate from third-party sourcing
“A lot of the data they have is either inaccurate outdated or potentially just irrelevant. Which has to do with really the way they have built their customer databases, which is often from piping in a lot of different third party data sources, behavioral data, …”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 2:38
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coburn: 95% of consumers who start a Jebbit experience finish it
“What we are really good at by this point, having been doing this for about five years is that 95% of people that start one of these will go all the way through.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 5:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coburn: About 60% of consumers start Jebbit interactive experiences
“On average about 60%.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 5:37
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coburn: Jebbit's average customer pays $3,000 to $4,000 per month
“Average per month's around three or 4000 dollars.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 7:00
Assertion Supported
Coburn: Jebbit closed a $6.8M round after two seed rounds
“We did a convertible note to start and then we did a seed round in 2013. We did another seed round in 2015 and then we just closed a 6.8 million a couple weeks ago.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 7:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coburn: Jebbit is closing contracts worth $20K to $30K per month
“We're starting to book more deals in the like 20 to 30 K a month range.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 9:35
Disclosure
Coburn: Jebbit's annual logo churn was just under 20%
“So last year we lost just under 20% of logos annually which part of which was some of our own decision making, which I can get into in a second.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 11:16
Disclosure
Coburn: Jebbit generated approximately -10% net revenue churn
“About -10%.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 11:38
Disclosure
Coburn: Jebbit's fully loaded CAC is between $10,000 and $15,000
“Yeah, we're in, like, the 10 to 15 K range, and that's all in, that includes all salaries that are focused on getting new customers, marketing spend, etc.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 12:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coburn: Jebbit operates at 85% to 90% software gross margins
“Yep, correct. No, no, no weird costs.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 14:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coburn: Jebbit is just about to cross $5M ARR
“No, we're just about to get there.”
Tom Coburn Nov 29, 2017 ▶ 16:07
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