StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Nov 17, 2017 · 19m · top-founders

846: SaaS: $50m Raised, $12m+ ARR To Incentivize Reviews and Influencers

Mark Organ · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m 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 Eloqua founder and Influitive CEO Mark Organ, exploring how Influitive raised $50 million to scale an advocate marketing platform beyond $10 million in ARR while transitioning toward sustainable profitability. Organ breaks down his entrepreneurial journey, venture capital dynamics, lean sales team management, and unit economics in the competitive B2B SaaS landscape.

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

Nathan as informed peer 4.4 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 2.2 Nathan pushing back 3.8
05100:0010:001:39–4:07 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Mark Organ's Background and the Eloqua Exit Nathan aggressively digs into why Mark departed Eloqua before its IPO and acquisition, asking if the board forced him out. Mark calmly explains the era before founder-CEOs were standard and notes he exited with a good financial return.4:07–7:16 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Influitive's Advocate Marketing Platform and Revenue Milestones Mark outlines Influitive's product offering, average ACV ($50k), and customer count (270). Nathan quickly performs the run-rate math to verify that annual recurring revenue sits above $10M.7:17–10:41 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Fundraising Strategy, Growth Rates, and Path to Profitability Nathan teases Mark for raising $50M from VCs after being replaced by them at Eloqua, and pushes for historical ARR metrics. Mark resists revealing exact revenue figures, asking if it is really important before offering a 50% year-over-year baseline.10:41–15:43 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Sales Organization Structure and Quota Attainment Trends Mark educates Nathan on declining sales quota attainment trends and shifting marketing software competition. When Nathan asks for fully loaded CAC, Mark is slightly taken aback by the granular questioning before detailing their $40k CAC and LTV metrics.15:44–18:29 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Announcement: TheTopInbox.com Acquisition Nathan delivers a mid-roll acquisition pitch for TheTopInbox before running through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, which Mark answers smoothly.1:39–4:07 · Guest teaching 3/10 Mark Organ's Background and the Eloqua Exit Nathan aggressively digs into why Mark departed Eloqua before its IPO and acquisition, asking if the board forced him out. Mark calmly explains the era before founder-CEOs were standard and notes he exited with a good financial return.4:07–7:16 · Guest teaching 1/10 Influitive's Advocate Marketing Platform and Revenue Milestones Mark outlines Influitive's product offering, average ACV ($50k), and customer count (270). Nathan quickly performs the run-rate math to verify that annual recurring revenue sits above $10M.7:17–10:41 · Guest teaching 3/10 Fundraising Strategy, Growth Rates, and Path to Profitability Nathan teases Mark for raising $50M from VCs after being replaced by them at Eloqua, and pushes for historical ARR metrics. Mark resists revealing exact revenue figures, asking if it is really important before offering a 50% year-over-year baseline.10:41–15:43 · Guest teaching 5/10 Sales Organization Structure and Quota Attainment Trends Mark educates Nathan on declining sales quota attainment trends and shifting marketing software competition. When Nathan asks for fully loaded CAC, Mark is slightly taken aback by the granular questioning before detailing their $40k CAC and LTV metrics.15:44–18:29 · Guest teaching 0/10 Sponsor Announcement: TheTopInbox.com Acquisition Nathan delivers a mid-roll acquisition pitch for TheTopInbox before running through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, which Mark answers smoothly.1:39–4:07 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Mark Organ's Background and the Eloqua Exit Nathan aggressively digs into why Mark departed Eloqua before its IPO and acquisition, asking if the board forced him out. Mark calmly explains the era before founder-CEOs were standard and notes he exited with a good financial return.4:07–7:16 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Influitive's Advocate Marketing Platform and Revenue Milestones Mark outlines Influitive's product offering, average ACV ($50k), and customer count (270). Nathan quickly performs the run-rate math to verify that annual recurring revenue sits above $10M.7:17–10:41 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Fundraising Strategy, Growth Rates, and Path to Profitability Nathan teases Mark for raising $50M from VCs after being replaced by them at Eloqua, and pushes for historical ARR metrics. Mark resists revealing exact revenue figures, asking if it is really important before offering a 50% year-over-year baseline.10:41–15:43 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Sales Organization Structure and Quota Attainment Trends Mark educates Nathan on declining sales quota attainment trends and shifting marketing software competition. When Nathan asks for fully loaded CAC, Mark is slightly taken aback by the granular questioning before detailing their $40k CAC and LTV metrics.15:44–18:29 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Announcement: TheTopInbox.com Acquisition Nathan delivers a mid-roll acquisition pitch for TheTopInbox before running through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, which Mark answers smoothly.1:39–4:07 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Mark Organ's Background and the Eloqua Exit Nathan aggressively digs into why Mark departed Eloqua before its IPO and acquisition, asking if the board forced him out. Mark calmly explains the era before founder-CEOs were standard and notes he exited with a good financial return.4:07–7:16 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Influitive's Advocate Marketing Platform and Revenue Milestones Mark outlines Influitive's product offering, average ACV ($50k), and customer count (270). Nathan quickly performs the run-rate math to verify that annual recurring revenue sits above $10M.7:17–10:41 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Fundraising Strategy, Growth Rates, and Path to Profitability Nathan teases Mark for raising $50M from VCs after being replaced by them at Eloqua, and pushes for historical ARR metrics. Mark resists revealing exact revenue figures, asking if it is really important before offering a 50% year-over-year baseline.10:41–15:43 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Sales Organization Structure and Quota Attainment Trends Mark educates Nathan on declining sales quota attainment trends and shifting marketing software competition. When Nathan asks for fully loaded CAC, Mark is slightly taken aback by the granular questioning before detailing their $40k CAC and LTV metrics.15:44–18:29 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Sponsor Announcement: TheTopInbox.com Acquisition Nathan delivers a mid-roll acquisition pitch for TheTopInbox before running through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, which Mark answers smoothly.

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

0:00 · Nathan 80% · guest 20%0:00 · Nathan 80% · guest 20%3:00 · Nathan 15.7% · guest 84.3%3:00 · Nathan 15.7% · guest 84.3%6:00 · Nathan 21.2% · guest 78.8%6:00 · Nathan 21.2% · guest 78.8%9:00 · Nathan 24.5% · guest 75.5%9:00 · Nathan 24.5% · guest 75.5%12:00 · Nathan 21.6% · guest 78.4%12:00 · Nathan 21.6% · guest 78.4%15:00 · Nathan 59.9% · guest 40.1%15:00 · Nathan 59.9% · guest 40.1%18:00 · Nathan 70.6% · guest 29.4%18:00 · Nathan 70.6% · guest 29.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:44 Mark questions the relevance of historical ARR disclosure

Mark pushes back on Nathan's demand for precise past ARR numbers by asking if that is really important, challenging the necessity of sharing sensitive financial details.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:38 Nathan refuses polite framing of founder exit

Nathan interrupts Mark's polite departure summary to demand the real story, directly asking if the board forced him out.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:36 Mark breaks down quota attainment trends across SaaS

Mark cites research from Jim Dickey to educate Nathan on why average quota attainment dropped from 75% to 52% due to salary inflation and unrealistic quotas.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:39 Nathan calculates monthly and annual run rates on the fly

Nathan instantly converts Mark's stated $50k ACV across 270 customers into a $1.1M monthly revenue run rate to confirm Mark's north of ten million claim.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Mark Organ's Background and the Eloqua Exit 4325 Nathan aggressively digs into why Mark departed Eloqua before its IPO and acquisition, asking if the board forced him out. Mark calmly explains the era before founder-CEOs were standard and notes he exited with a good financial return.
Influitive's Advocate Marketing Platform and Revenue Milestones 5112 Mark outlines Influitive's product offering, average ACV ($50k), and customer count (270). Nathan quickly performs the run-rate math to verify that annual recurring revenue sits above $10M.
Fundraising Strategy, Growth Rates, and Path to Profitability 5346 Nathan teases Mark for raising $50M from VCs after being replaced by them at Eloqua, and pushes for historical ARR metrics. Mark resists revealing exact revenue figures, asking if it is really important before offering a 50% year-over-year baseline.
Sales Organization Structure and Quota Attainment Trends 6535 Mark educates Nathan on declining sales quota attainment trends and shifting marketing software competition. When Nathan asks for fully loaded CAC, Mark is slightly taken aback by the granular questioning before detailing their $40k CAC and LTV metrics.
Sponsor Announcement: TheTopInbox.com Acquisition 2011 Nathan delivers a mid-roll acquisition pitch for TheTopInbox before running through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, which Mark answers smoothly.

Statements from this episode (14)

Assertion Partly supported
Organ left Eloqua at $20M in sales and under 65 employees
“No, I left earlier so I got the company to around twenty million sales, under 65 people, and you know, and then another CEO actually took over for me, and it was the person who took it public, so you know, it's, which is interesting.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 2:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Influitive customers pay an average of $50,000 annually
“Yeah, so on average, we get about 50,000 dollars a year from our customers, and there's quite a range there.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 5:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Organ: Influitive has about 270 customers
“There's about 270 customers.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 6:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Organ: Influitive ARR is north of $10 million
“We don't disclose revenue, but it's north of ten million.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 6:30
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Organ predicts Influitive will reach $100 million ARR within five years
“I think it would be four to five years.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 6:51
Disclosure
Organ: Influitive raised about $50 million
“There's, I raised about fifty million dollars.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 7:22
Disclosure
Organ: Influitive averaged over 50% YoY revenue growth
“We've been averaging more than 50%.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 10:03
Insight
Organ: Revenue growth gets noticeably harder north of $10M ARR
“North of ten million, the growth has definitely gotten harder.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 10:13
Disclosure
Influitive has 125 employees but only eight are sales closers
“So we have a 125 people and we have eight that are in sales. So it's pretty small, eight that are closers. Then we have a bunch of SDRs, BDRs, open deals, but eight closers.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 11:07
Assertion Partly supported
Average sales quota attainment plummeted from 75% to 52% by 2017
“The average quota attainment rate from his and Jim, Jim I have to try to remember the name of his group there, but he basically, Jim, Jim studies sales forces and their effectiveness. And it's about 52% in 2017. So versus, you know, being 75% a decade ago.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 11:39
Insight
Raising quotas to offset salary inflation drives out top sales reps
“There's inflation, there's salary inflation in the market companies are responding by increasing quotas and it's just not possible. It's not possible for sales reps to hit their, hit those numbers, and I think that sets up I think that sets up, you know some, …”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 12:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Organ: Influitive's CAC is about $40,000
“Our CAC is about 40,000 bucks.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 13:27
Insight
CMOs buy 12 SaaS tools expecting to cut half within a year
“There are a lot of CMOs out there that'll just, you know, they have an experimental budget and they're going to buy like 12 SaaS things. And then they're, they know they're going to cut at least 50% of them after a year. So you've got to make sure that you are…”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 14:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
The marketing software landscape exploded from 20 companies to roughly 5,000
“When I was running Eloqua, there was probably like maybe 20 marketing software companies in the entire world at that point, like that were at all sort of relevant compared to us. And we've gone from 20 to, like, 5000.”
Mark Organ Nov 17, 2017 ▶ 15:29
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