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Nov 1, 2017 · 24m · top-founders

830: SaaS: With $20m Raised, $10m+ ARR, He's For Enterprise Customer Management on Social Media

Josh March · 13m spoken Nathan Latka · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this interview, Conversocial founder and CEO Josh March speaks with Nathan Latka about scaling his social customer care SaaS platform past $10 million in ARR with $20 million in venture funding. March shares the mechanics of spinning out from an agency, mastering outbound enterprise sales, optimizing land-and-expand unit economics, and defending a focused product vision against all-in-one social suites.

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 37.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 1.7
05100:0010:0020:000:55–3:47 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Exclusive Access to SaaS Database on GetLatka Latka opens with a self-promo before introducing March and demonstrating solid historical SaaS context by immediately identifying the 2012 Facebook marketing developer ecosystem (Wildfire, Buddy Media, Involver). March confirms the parallels and describes his first exit.3:48–7:31 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Conversocial's Enterprise Contact Center Solution March details Conversocial's product function in enterprise contact centers and its capital background, including its 2011 spinout and $20M in venture funding. Latka clarifies the mechanics of the early equity rounds and initial bootstrapping.7:33–10:45 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Scaling Team to 100 and Management Evolution March reflects on the transition from a 5-person founding team to managing managers at nearly 100 employees. Latka probes contract distribution and pushes on customer concentration risk regarding their single $1M client.10:46–14:50 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Customer Care Focus vs. All-in-One Social Suites March articulates their competitive differentiation against all-in-one social suites like Sprinklr by focusing purely on customer care and enterprise contact centers. Latka drills into metrics, confirming over $10M ARR, 20% logo churn, and 120% net revenue retention.14:50–17:39 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Capital Efficiency, Investor Mindset, and Ad Spend Latka questions Conversocial's capital burn and ad spend, forcing March to provide an estimate ($50k/mo) on paid channels. March shares tactical sales anecdotes involving last-minute flights to secure enterprise clients.17:40–19:44 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Customer Acquisition Cost and Payback Targets March discusses his target CAC and 18-month payback windows before emphatically rejecting a hypothetical $100M acquisition by Sprinklr. He dismisses Sprinklr's product philosophy as antithetical to Conversocial's mission.19:45–24:04 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Break: Web Hosting with HostGator Following a HostGator sponsor read, the interview concludes with the rapid-fire Famous Five questions where March discusses books, management, Twitter, and cognitive bias.0:55–3:47 · Guest teaching 1/10 Exclusive Access to SaaS Database on GetLatka Latka opens with a self-promo before introducing March and demonstrating solid historical SaaS context by immediately identifying the 2012 Facebook marketing developer ecosystem (Wildfire, Buddy Media, Involver). March confirms the parallels and describes his first exit.3:48–7:31 · Guest teaching 2/10 Conversocial's Enterprise Contact Center Solution March details Conversocial's product function in enterprise contact centers and its capital background, including its 2011 spinout and $20M in venture funding. Latka clarifies the mechanics of the early equity rounds and initial bootstrapping.7:33–10:45 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scaling Team to 100 and Management Evolution March reflects on the transition from a 5-person founding team to managing managers at nearly 100 employees. Latka probes contract distribution and pushes on customer concentration risk regarding their single $1M client.10:46–14:50 · Guest teaching 3/10 Customer Care Focus vs. All-in-One Social Suites March articulates their competitive differentiation against all-in-one social suites like Sprinklr by focusing purely on customer care and enterprise contact centers. Latka drills into metrics, confirming over $10M ARR, 20% logo churn, and 120% net revenue retention.14:50–17:39 · Guest teaching 2/10 Capital Efficiency, Investor Mindset, and Ad Spend Latka questions Conversocial's capital burn and ad spend, forcing March to provide an estimate ($50k/mo) on paid channels. March shares tactical sales anecdotes involving last-minute flights to secure enterprise clients.17:40–19:44 · Guest teaching 3/10 Customer Acquisition Cost and Payback Targets March discusses his target CAC and 18-month payback windows before emphatically rejecting a hypothetical $100M acquisition by Sprinklr. He dismisses Sprinklr's product philosophy as antithetical to Conversocial's mission.19:45–24:04 · Guest teaching 1/10 Sponsor Break: Web Hosting with HostGator Following a HostGator sponsor read, the interview concludes with the rapid-fire Famous Five questions where March discusses books, management, Twitter, and cognitive bias.0:55–3:47 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Exclusive Access to SaaS Database on GetLatka Latka opens with a self-promo before introducing March and demonstrating solid historical SaaS context by immediately identifying the 2012 Facebook marketing developer ecosystem (Wildfire, Buddy Media, Involver). March confirms the parallels and describes his first exit.3:48–7:31 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Conversocial's Enterprise Contact Center Solution March details Conversocial's product function in enterprise contact centers and its capital background, including its 2011 spinout and $20M in venture funding. Latka clarifies the mechanics of the early equity rounds and initial bootstrapping.7:33–10:45 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Scaling Team to 100 and Management Evolution March reflects on the transition from a 5-person founding team to managing managers at nearly 100 employees. Latka probes contract distribution and pushes on customer concentration risk regarding their single $1M client.10:46–14:50 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Customer Care Focus vs. All-in-One Social Suites March articulates their competitive differentiation against all-in-one social suites like Sprinklr by focusing purely on customer care and enterprise contact centers. Latka drills into metrics, confirming over $10M ARR, 20% logo churn, and 120% net revenue retention.14:50–17:39 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Capital Efficiency, Investor Mindset, and Ad Spend Latka questions Conversocial's capital burn and ad spend, forcing March to provide an estimate ($50k/mo) on paid channels. March shares tactical sales anecdotes involving last-minute flights to secure enterprise clients.17:40–19:44 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Customer Acquisition Cost and Payback Targets March discusses his target CAC and 18-month payback windows before emphatically rejecting a hypothetical $100M acquisition by Sprinklr. He dismisses Sprinklr's product philosophy as antithetical to Conversocial's mission.19:45–24:04 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Sponsor Break: Web Hosting with HostGator Following a HostGator sponsor read, the interview concludes with the rapid-fire Famous Five questions where March discusses books, management, Twitter, and cognitive bias.0:55–3:47 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Exclusive Access to SaaS Database on GetLatka Latka opens with a self-promo before introducing March and demonstrating solid historical SaaS context by immediately identifying the 2012 Facebook marketing developer ecosystem (Wildfire, Buddy Media, Involver). March confirms the parallels and describes his first exit.3:48–7:31 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Conversocial's Enterprise Contact Center Solution March details Conversocial's product function in enterprise contact centers and its capital background, including its 2011 spinout and $20M in venture funding. Latka clarifies the mechanics of the early equity rounds and initial bootstrapping.7:33–10:45 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Scaling Team to 100 and Management Evolution March reflects on the transition from a 5-person founding team to managing managers at nearly 100 employees. Latka probes contract distribution and pushes on customer concentration risk regarding their single $1M client.10:46–14:50 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Customer Care Focus vs. All-in-One Social Suites March articulates their competitive differentiation against all-in-one social suites like Sprinklr by focusing purely on customer care and enterprise contact centers. Latka drills into metrics, confirming over $10M ARR, 20% logo churn, and 120% net revenue retention.14:50–17:39 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Capital Efficiency, Investor Mindset, and Ad Spend Latka questions Conversocial's capital burn and ad spend, forcing March to provide an estimate ($50k/mo) on paid channels. March shares tactical sales anecdotes involving last-minute flights to secure enterprise clients.17:40–19:44 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Customer Acquisition Cost and Payback Targets March discusses his target CAC and 18-month payback windows before emphatically rejecting a hypothetical $100M acquisition by Sprinklr. He dismisses Sprinklr's product philosophy as antithetical to Conversocial's mission.19:45–24:04 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Sponsor Break: Web Hosting with HostGator Following a HostGator sponsor read, the interview concludes with the rapid-fire Famous Five questions where March discusses books, management, Twitter, and cognitive bias.

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

0:00 · Nathan 84.9% · guest 15.1%0:00 · Nathan 84.9% · guest 15.1%3:00 · Nathan 19.2% · guest 80.8%3:00 · Nathan 19.2% · guest 80.8%6:00 · Nathan 18.6% · guest 81.4%6:00 · Nathan 18.6% · guest 81.4%9:00 · Nathan 27.3% · guest 72.7%9:00 · Nathan 27.3% · guest 72.7%12:00 · Nathan 37.6% · guest 62.4%12:00 · Nathan 37.6% · guest 62.4%15:00 · Nathan 32.2% · guest 67.8%15:00 · Nathan 32.2% · guest 67.8%18:00 · Nathan 52.1% · guest 47.9%18:00 · Nathan 52.1% · guest 47.9%21:00 · Nathan 16.6% · guest 83.4%21:00 · Nathan 16.6% · guest 83.4%24:00 · Nathan 86.5% · guest 13.5%24:00 · Nathan 86.5% · guest 13.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 18:42 March rejects Sprinklr buyout outright

March bluntly dismisses a hypothetical acquisition offer from competitor Sprinklr, stating he would never sell to them regardless of price due to fundamental disagreement with their product approach.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 15:54 Latka demands concrete paid marketing figure

When March tries to generalize about fluctuating marketing spend, Latka pushes back with specific brackets until March provides a clear $50k estimate.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:24 March explains contact center integration versus social tools

March educates Latka on why enterprise customer care cannot simply live in general marketing suites and requires dedicated workflow routing for hundreds of agents.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 2:38 Latka categorizes March's previous company and peers

Latka demonstrates deep domain context by immediately naming the exact cohort of 2012 Facebook developer platforms (Buddy Media, Wildfire, Involver) March competed against.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Exclusive Access to SaaS Database on GetLatka 5111 Latka opens with a self-promo before introducing March and demonstrating solid historical SaaS context by immediately identifying the 2012 Facebook marketing developer ecosystem (Wildfire, Buddy Media, Involver). March confirms the parallels and describes his first exit.
Conversocial's Enterprise Contact Center Solution 4211 March details Conversocial's product function in enterprise contact centers and its capital background, including its 2011 spinout and $20M in venture funding. Latka clarifies the mechanics of the early equity rounds and initial bootstrapping.
Scaling Team to 100 and Management Evolution 4212 March reflects on the transition from a 5-person founding team to managing managers at nearly 100 employees. Latka probes contract distribution and pushes on customer concentration risk regarding their single $1M client.
Customer Care Focus vs. All-in-One Social Suites 5322 March articulates their competitive differentiation against all-in-one social suites like Sprinklr by focusing purely on customer care and enterprise contact centers. Latka drills into metrics, confirming over $10M ARR, 20% logo churn, and 120% net revenue retention.
Capital Efficiency, Investor Mindset, and Ad Spend 4212 Latka questions Conversocial's capital burn and ad spend, forcing March to provide an estimate ($50k/mo) on paid channels. March shares tactical sales anecdotes involving last-minute flights to secure enterprise clients.
Customer Acquisition Cost and Payback Targets 4343 March discusses his target CAC and 18-month payback windows before emphatically rejecting a hypothetical $100M acquisition by Sprinklr. He dismisses Sprinklr's product philosophy as antithetical to Conversocial's mission.
Sponsor Break: Web Hosting with HostGator 2101 Following a HostGator sponsor read, the interview concludes with the rapid-fire Famous Five questions where March discusses books, management, Twitter, and cognitive bias.

Statements from this episode (13)

Disclosure
March: Conversocial has raised about $20M in venture funding
“We've raised about twenty million dollars of venture capital from a few different investors.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 5:03
Disclosure
Conversocial's parent agency invested $500K into the product before spin-out
“We probably invested like half a million dollars of essentially our own money before then, because the agency was fully bootstrapped.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 7:12
Disclosure
March: Conversocial has just under 100 employees and will likely cross 100 within a year
“Yeah, so we're a little bit under a hundred people. You know, potentially we'll, we'll, we'll probably cross over the hundred in the next 12 months.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 7:33
Disclosure
Conversocial's largest customer pays roughly $1M in annual contract value
“So our biggest customer is around a million dollars a year.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 9:34
Disclosure
Conversocial's enterprise contract tiers cluster at $250K, $100K, and $50K
“We have a lot of customers at the kind of, you know, two 50 K mark, and then like a load more customers at the hundred K mark. And it goes down to where we have like a big base of customers at the kind of 50 K mark.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 9:45
Assertion Not checkable as stated
March: Some Conversocial clients have 200 to 300 agents dedicated to social care
“Some of our customers do have that many customers, that many agents just doing customer service through Facebook and Twitter, like not even considering the rest of the contact center.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 11:33
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Conversocial serves approximately 250 enterprise clients
“About 250 clients.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 12:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Conversocial maintains a historical net revenue retention rate of roughly 120%
“So generally, generally historically are like net churn has been like a 120%.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 14:44
Insight
Casual 'in town' coffee invites convert better than formal sales pitches
“In a sales kind of relationship, you know, if you say like, Hey, I'd love to arrange a meeting, then like it becomes like a bigger formal thing where someone has to like, it's all men's like, well, do I really want to meet with like a potential vendor at this …”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 17:18
Disclosure
Conversocial spends $100K to $150K to acquire a $100K enterprise contract
“You know, we'll, we'll probably spend kind of a hundred to a 150,000.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 18:13
Opinion
March: Payback period under 18 months is appropriate for enterprise deals
“I mean, like I said, it fluctuates, but my kind of thinking around 18 months or under 18 months for the types of deals we do and the deal size is appropriate.”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 18:24
Opinion
March: Deep customer care creates more value than Sprinklr's all-in-one approach
“Yeah, I just, you know, fundamentally, they, like, they have this vision of, like, being a social all-in-one, and, like, fundamentally, our vision is going deep in customer care and actually becoming more of a customer care all-in-one, and that's what we think…”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 19:12
Opinion
March: Twitter has right turnaround ingredients and gets unfair press
“You know, it's really hard to know, but I think they're doing a lot of really right things, you know, because of the partnership we have with them. You know, I know a lot of people there who I think are, like, really committed and are doing really amazing thin…”
Josh March Nov 1, 2017 ▶ 22:01
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