StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Oct 22, 2017 · 19m · top-founders

820: How to Bankrupt a $4m/yr Business then Relaunch as SaaS

Mateo Munoz · 11m 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

Mateo Munoz, COO of Doozra Group, joins Nathan Latka to detail how his company rebounded from a 2015 insolvency and a three million dollar cash burn to successfully relaunch as a recurring enterprise SaaS business.

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 36.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 3.3 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:001:48–7:15 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Doozra's Founding, 2015 Insolvency, and Debt Restructuring Nathan drills into the corporate structure, debt mechanics, and tax loss carryforwards, expressing strong opinions on using losses strategically. Mateo provides detailed corporate history on the UK/US insolvency transition and restructuring without friction.7:16–13:05 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Global Team Distribution and Series B Fundraising Strategy Nathan probes aggressively on why Mateo wasn't fired and presses hard for valuation targets on the Series B round. Mateo resists disclosing specific valuation figures, prompting Nathan to reframe the question around stage benchmarks and multiples.13:05–15:58 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 SaaS Platform Packaging, Pricing Model, and Unit Economics Mateo breaks down the new $2,500/month SaaS packaging model versus traditional single-event licensing. Nathan validates the math and economics, confirming how service revenue currently subsidizes software development.15:58–18:41 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Commercial Break: TheTopInbox Acquisition and Founder Case Study The segment starts with Nathan's solo ad read for TheTopInbox and transitions into the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions with standard, agreeable responses.1:48–7:15 · Guest teaching 5/10 Doozra's Founding, 2015 Insolvency, and Debt Restructuring Nathan drills into the corporate structure, debt mechanics, and tax loss carryforwards, expressing strong opinions on using losses strategically. Mateo provides detailed corporate history on the UK/US insolvency transition and restructuring without friction.7:16–13:05 · Guest teaching 3/10 Global Team Distribution and Series B Fundraising Strategy Nathan probes aggressively on why Mateo wasn't fired and presses hard for valuation targets on the Series B round. Mateo resists disclosing specific valuation figures, prompting Nathan to reframe the question around stage benchmarks and multiples.13:05–15:58 · Guest teaching 4/10 SaaS Platform Packaging, Pricing Model, and Unit Economics Mateo breaks down the new $2,500/month SaaS packaging model versus traditional single-event licensing. Nathan validates the math and economics, confirming how service revenue currently subsidizes software development.15:58–18:41 · Guest teaching 1/10 Commercial Break: TheTopInbox Acquisition and Founder Case Study The segment starts with Nathan's solo ad read for TheTopInbox and transitions into the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions with standard, agreeable responses.1:48–7:15 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Doozra's Founding, 2015 Insolvency, and Debt Restructuring Nathan drills into the corporate structure, debt mechanics, and tax loss carryforwards, expressing strong opinions on using losses strategically. Mateo provides detailed corporate history on the UK/US insolvency transition and restructuring without friction.7:16–13:05 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Global Team Distribution and Series B Fundraising Strategy Nathan probes aggressively on why Mateo wasn't fired and presses hard for valuation targets on the Series B round. Mateo resists disclosing specific valuation figures, prompting Nathan to reframe the question around stage benchmarks and multiples.13:05–15:58 · Guest disagreement 1/10 SaaS Platform Packaging, Pricing Model, and Unit Economics Mateo breaks down the new $2,500/month SaaS packaging model versus traditional single-event licensing. Nathan validates the math and economics, confirming how service revenue currently subsidizes software development.15:58–18:41 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Commercial Break: TheTopInbox Acquisition and Founder Case Study The segment starts with Nathan's solo ad read for TheTopInbox and transitions into the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions with standard, agreeable responses.1:48–7:15 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Doozra's Founding, 2015 Insolvency, and Debt Restructuring Nathan drills into the corporate structure, debt mechanics, and tax loss carryforwards, expressing strong opinions on using losses strategically. Mateo provides detailed corporate history on the UK/US insolvency transition and restructuring without friction.7:16–13:05 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Global Team Distribution and Series B Fundraising Strategy Nathan probes aggressively on why Mateo wasn't fired and presses hard for valuation targets on the Series B round. Mateo resists disclosing specific valuation figures, prompting Nathan to reframe the question around stage benchmarks and multiples.13:05–15:58 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 SaaS Platform Packaging, Pricing Model, and Unit Economics Mateo breaks down the new $2,500/month SaaS packaging model versus traditional single-event licensing. Nathan validates the math and economics, confirming how service revenue currently subsidizes software development.15:58–18:41 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Commercial Break: TheTopInbox Acquisition and Founder Case Study The segment starts with Nathan's solo ad read for TheTopInbox and transitions into the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions with standard, agreeable responses.

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

0:00 · Nathan 77.5% · guest 22.5%0:00 · Nathan 77.5% · guest 22.5%3:00 · Nathan 17.4% · guest 82.6%3:00 · Nathan 17.4% · guest 82.6%6:00 · Nathan 18.9% · guest 81.1%6:00 · Nathan 18.9% · guest 81.1%9:00 · Nathan 28.5% · guest 71.5%9:00 · Nathan 28.5% · guest 71.5%12:00 · Nathan 9.5% · guest 90.5%12:00 · Nathan 9.5% · guest 90.5%15:00 · Nathan 58.1% · guest 41.9%15:00 · Nathan 58.1% · guest 41.9%18:00 · Nathan 58% · guest 42%18:00 · Nathan 58% · guest 42%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:51 Mateo sets boundary around valuation numbers

Mateo politely refuses to answer Nathan's direct valuation questions, stating he is not allowed to divulge those details.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 11:02 Nathan reframes valuation question after deflection

After Mateo refuses to give valuation numbers, Nathan pushes back by reframing the question into hypothetical dilution targets and ARR multiples.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:45 Mateo details legacy on-prem event model

Mateo educates Nathan on the legacy setup involving physical on-prem servers, iPad fleets, and high burn rates before transitioning to SaaS.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 5:46 Nathan probes tax losses and debt structures

Nathan demonstrates financial savvy by identifying venture debt instruments versus traditional banking and endorsing the tax loss carryforward strategy.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Doozra's Founding, 2015 Insolvency, and Debt Restructuring 6513 Nathan drills into the corporate structure, debt mechanics, and tax loss carryforwards, expressing strong opinions on using losses strategically. Mateo provides detailed corporate history on the UK/US insolvency transition and restructuring without friction.
Global Team Distribution and Series B Fundraising Strategy 6335 Nathan probes aggressively on why Mateo wasn't fired and presses hard for valuation targets on the Series B round. Mateo resists disclosing specific valuation figures, prompting Nathan to reframe the question around stage benchmarks and multiples.
SaaS Platform Packaging, Pricing Model, and Unit Economics 6412 Mateo breaks down the new $2,500/month SaaS packaging model versus traditional single-event licensing. Nathan validates the math and economics, confirming how service revenue currently subsidizes software development.
Commercial Break: TheTopInbox Acquisition and Founder Case Study 1100 The segment starts with Nathan's solo ad read for TheTopInbox and transitions into the standard Famous Five rapid-fire closing questions with standard, agreeable responses.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Munoz: Doozra Burned ~$3M From 2012 to 2015
“What happened is we got a little bit of the model wrong and had some mismanagement in the old the old C-suite that's no longer here. So we burnt through all the capital. So I want to say probably around three, three mil. Until 2015.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 3:17
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Munoz: Doozra Did Over £2M in 2016 Post-Insolvency
“So at that height, I would say we were probably doing about four million as just a full service event technology coming out of that first year. So in 2016, last year we did just over two million pounds worth of business last year coming out of it.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 6:39
Disclosure
Munoz: Doozra Headcount Dropped From ~80 to ~30
“So right now we're about 30, where we're at the height, we're probably about 80.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 7:11
Disclosure
Doozra Seeks $6.5M Series B to Accelerate Sales Growth
“So we're looking right now at doing about 6.5, so about five million pounds. 6.5 US is what we're looking to use to kind of just accelerate that sales process.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 9:28
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Doozra Paces for 100% Revenue Growth in 2017 After Hitting $2M by July
“So, so as of July, we were about at two already, so we're looking at about a hundred percent growth going into this year.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 10:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Munoz: Doozra Is Operating With Positive Profit Before Taxes
“Yeah, we definitely are. So we sit with a positive PBT currently. So that does, so that is a profit before taxes.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 11:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Doozra Invested Roughly $400K to Completely Rebuild Its Product
“So we've sunk probably about roughly about 400,000 dollars into this new product that we're releasing. So it was a complete rebuild off of the old APIs, off the old technology.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 12:30
Disclosure
Munoz: Doozra Prices SaaS Product at $2,500 Monthly for Five Users
“So we took that, and then we rolled it up into the SaaS product and said, let's go 2500 a month for this initial round where we're bringing it out there, which covers one admin and five users.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 13:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Munoz: Doozra Has About 10 Customers Paying $2,500 Monthly for SaaS
“We have about 10, 10 paying that with a handful of single event licenses still going on.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 14:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Munoz: Doozra's Customer Acquisition Cost Is Roughly $3,500
“So we're probably around 3500, I would say, per customer. I did a little bit of this knowing this question might be coming. So, so we're about 35, but that, that's again with the traditional.”
Mateo Munoz Oct 22, 2017 ▶ 15:11
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