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Oct 15, 2017 · 20m · top-founders

813: AdTech: Scoota Raised $10m, $5m in Revenues, Looking at US Expansion for Programmatic Ad Platform

James Booth · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m 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 Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews ad-tech entrepreneur James Booth to discuss the $30 million sale of Tango Zebra to Google/DoubleClick and the subsequent scaling of Scoota into a £5 million programmatic ad platform.

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

Nathan as informed peer 4.5 Guest teaching 1.3 Guest disagreement 0.2 Nathan pushing back 1.5
05100:0010:0020:001:49–5:08 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Guest Welcome and Background Overview Nathan verifies Booth's prior venture Tango Zebra and clarifies the sale valuation to DoubleClick/Google ($30 million vs $13 million). Booth cooperatively recounts the history and capital raised.5:08–7:08 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Founding Scoota and Early Capital Investment Nathan inquires about the transition from sabbatical to launching Scoota (originally Rockabox), asking about founder investment and total venture funding raised.7:09–9:21 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Scoota's Business Model, Pricing, and Gross Margins Booth outlines the split between self-serve (90% volume, £1.50 CPM, 85% gross margins) and managed service (10% volume, 20-25% take rate). Nathan demonstrates financial acumen by recognizing how gross margins and revenue recognition differ between the two models.9:22–12:52 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Team Structure, Global Campaigns, and US Expansion Booth discusses headcount, global expansion, and an early PR stunt involving mock-ups. Nathan adds expert commentary on using mock-up press validation as an efficient cost-structure development tool.12:52–16:13 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Customer Demographics and Historical Revenue Milestones Nathan presses Booth on precise customer counts, separating brand users from paying agency accounts, and attempts to reconcile Scoota's revenue numbers. Booth corrects Nathan's assumption about total spend through the platform.16:14–19:30 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Sponsor Segment: Acquisition of The Top Inbox The segment includes a sponsor pitch for The Top Inbox followed by rapid-fire Famous Five questions covering business habits and personal background.1:49–5:08 · Guest teaching 1/10 Guest Welcome and Background Overview Nathan verifies Booth's prior venture Tango Zebra and clarifies the sale valuation to DoubleClick/Google ($30 million vs $13 million). Booth cooperatively recounts the history and capital raised.5:08–7:08 · Guest teaching 1/10 Founding Scoota and Early Capital Investment Nathan inquires about the transition from sabbatical to launching Scoota (originally Rockabox), asking about founder investment and total venture funding raised.7:09–9:21 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scoota's Business Model, Pricing, and Gross Margins Booth outlines the split between self-serve (90% volume, £1.50 CPM, 85% gross margins) and managed service (10% volume, 20-25% take rate). Nathan demonstrates financial acumen by recognizing how gross margins and revenue recognition differ between the two models.9:22–12:52 · Guest teaching 1/10 Team Structure, Global Campaigns, and US Expansion Booth discusses headcount, global expansion, and an early PR stunt involving mock-ups. Nathan adds expert commentary on using mock-up press validation as an efficient cost-structure development tool.12:52–16:13 · Guest teaching 3/10 Customer Demographics and Historical Revenue Milestones Nathan presses Booth on precise customer counts, separating brand users from paying agency accounts, and attempts to reconcile Scoota's revenue numbers. Booth corrects Nathan's assumption about total spend through the platform.16:14–19:30 · Guest teaching 0/10 Sponsor Segment: Acquisition of The Top Inbox The segment includes a sponsor pitch for The Top Inbox followed by rapid-fire Famous Five questions covering business habits and personal background.1:49–5:08 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Guest Welcome and Background Overview Nathan verifies Booth's prior venture Tango Zebra and clarifies the sale valuation to DoubleClick/Google ($30 million vs $13 million). Booth cooperatively recounts the history and capital raised.5:08–7:08 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Founding Scoota and Early Capital Investment Nathan inquires about the transition from sabbatical to launching Scoota (originally Rockabox), asking about founder investment and total venture funding raised.7:09–9:21 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Scoota's Business Model, Pricing, and Gross Margins Booth outlines the split between self-serve (90% volume, £1.50 CPM, 85% gross margins) and managed service (10% volume, 20-25% take rate). Nathan demonstrates financial acumen by recognizing how gross margins and revenue recognition differ between the two models.9:22–12:52 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Team Structure, Global Campaigns, and US Expansion Booth discusses headcount, global expansion, and an early PR stunt involving mock-ups. Nathan adds expert commentary on using mock-up press validation as an efficient cost-structure development tool.12:52–16:13 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Demographics and Historical Revenue Milestones Nathan presses Booth on precise customer counts, separating brand users from paying agency accounts, and attempts to reconcile Scoota's revenue numbers. Booth corrects Nathan's assumption about total spend through the platform.16:14–19:30 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Sponsor Segment: Acquisition of The Top Inbox The segment includes a sponsor pitch for The Top Inbox followed by rapid-fire Famous Five questions covering business habits and personal background.1:49–5:08 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Guest Welcome and Background Overview Nathan verifies Booth's prior venture Tango Zebra and clarifies the sale valuation to DoubleClick/Google ($30 million vs $13 million). Booth cooperatively recounts the history and capital raised.5:08–7:08 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Founding Scoota and Early Capital Investment Nathan inquires about the transition from sabbatical to launching Scoota (originally Rockabox), asking about founder investment and total venture funding raised.7:09–9:21 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Scoota's Business Model, Pricing, and Gross Margins Booth outlines the split between self-serve (90% volume, £1.50 CPM, 85% gross margins) and managed service (10% volume, 20-25% take rate). Nathan demonstrates financial acumen by recognizing how gross margins and revenue recognition differ between the two models.9:22–12:52 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Team Structure, Global Campaigns, and US Expansion Booth discusses headcount, global expansion, and an early PR stunt involving mock-ups. Nathan adds expert commentary on using mock-up press validation as an efficient cost-structure development tool.12:52–16:13 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Customer Demographics and Historical Revenue Milestones Nathan presses Booth on precise customer counts, separating brand users from paying agency accounts, and attempts to reconcile Scoota's revenue numbers. Booth corrects Nathan's assumption about total spend through the platform.16:14–19:30 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Sponsor Segment: Acquisition of The Top Inbox The segment includes a sponsor pitch for The Top Inbox followed by rapid-fire Famous Five questions covering business habits and personal background.

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

0:00 · Nathan 82.3% · guest 17.7%0:00 · Nathan 82.3% · guest 17.7%3:00 · Nathan 15.6% · guest 84.4%3:00 · Nathan 15.6% · guest 84.4%6:00 · Nathan 15% · guest 85%6:00 · Nathan 15% · guest 85%9:00 · Nathan 24.7% · guest 75.3%9:00 · Nathan 24.7% · guest 75.3%12:00 · Nathan 20.3% · guest 79.7%12:00 · Nathan 20.3% · guest 79.7%15:00 · Nathan 61.7% · guest 38.3%15:00 · Nathan 61.7% · guest 38.3%18:00 · Nathan 47.2% · guest 52.8%18:00 · Nathan 47.2% · guest 52.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:16 Reframing brand counts versus paying clients

Booth pushes back against Nathan's customer count buckets, insisting that hundreds of brands use the platform while clarifying that actual paying agency accounts are only around 20 to 40.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:12 Demanding exact customer numbers

Nathan refuses broad generalizations about industry relationships and repeatedly presses Booth to state whether paying clients are in the tens, hundreds, or thousands.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 16:00 Correcting revenue calculation assumptions

Booth gently corrects Nathan's revenue math by explaining that the £10 million figure represented total platform media spend across both managed and self-serve tiers, rather than pure managed service revenue.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:43 Synthesizing lean development efficiency

Nathan demonstrates operational expertise by breaking down why testing mockups in the press creates development cost efficiencies before building production software.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Guest Welcome and Background Overview 4101 Nathan verifies Booth's prior venture Tango Zebra and clarifies the sale valuation to DoubleClick/Google ($30 million vs $13 million). Booth cooperatively recounts the history and capital raised.
Founding Scoota and Early Capital Investment 3101 Nathan inquires about the transition from sabbatical to launching Scoota (originally Rockabox), asking about founder investment and total venture funding raised.
Scoota's Business Model, Pricing, and Gross Margins 6202 Booth outlines the split between self-serve (90% volume, £1.50 CPM, 85% gross margins) and managed service (10% volume, 20-25% take rate). Nathan demonstrates financial acumen by recognizing how gross margins and revenue recognition differ between the two models.
Team Structure, Global Campaigns, and US Expansion 6100 Booth discusses headcount, global expansion, and an early PR stunt involving mock-ups. Nathan adds expert commentary on using mock-up press validation as an efficient cost-structure development tool.
Customer Demographics and Historical Revenue Milestones 6314 Nathan presses Booth on precise customer counts, separating brand users from paying agency accounts, and attempts to reconcile Scoota's revenue numbers. Booth corrects Nathan's assumption about total spend through the platform.
Sponsor Segment: Acquisition of The Top Inbox 2001 The segment includes a sponsor pitch for The Top Inbox followed by rapid-fire Famous Five questions covering business habits and personal background.

Statements from this episode (14)

Disclosure
Booth: Tango Zebra raised $1.6M before being acquired
“We raised one point in total, 1.6 million.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 4:23
Disclosure
Booth: Tango Zebra was acquired for $30M USD
“It was thirty million US.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 4:49
Disclosure
Booth: I personally invested a few hundred thousand pounds into Scoota
“In real terms, a few 100,000, but actually in, you know, loss of income, because I didn't pay myself anything for a long time, and, you know and all the other stuff. It's substantially more than that.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 6:52
Assertion Supported
Booth: Scoota has raised about £12M to date
“Today, we've raised about twelve million pounds.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 7:07
Disclosure
Booth: 90% of Scoota's platform activity is self-serve
“90% of what we do is what we refer to as self-serve. So our technology is activated by third parties themselves. And for that we charge A low cost per thousand fee.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 7:30
Disclosure
Booth: Scoota charges a 20% to 25% take rate on managed campaigns
“And then 10% of our activity is what we refer to as managed service. Where we're activating the campaigns for and behalf of the clients, and for that we take a percentage of media, which is typically around the 20, 25%”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 8:02
Disclosure
Booth: Scoota generates an 80% to 85% gross margin on self-serve
“The self-serve is very high margin because, you know, we're not concerned with media. The media is all dealt with by the clients. So that's an 80, 85% gross margin.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 8:36
Disclosure
Booth: Self-serve accounts for roughly two-thirds of Scoota's revenue
“So, I would say self-service typically is about two-thirds.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 9:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Booth: Tango Zebra faked client mock-ups for early trade press traction
“We had a situation in, I think it's probably late 1909 or early 2000 where we were trying to raise some profile, and we couldn't raise any profile, and I ended up having a conversation with somebody who was a journalist and I let slip a load of stuff that was …”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 10:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Booth: Scoota has roughly 20 to 40 direct paying agency accounts
“Oh, it's probably in the 20 or 30. You know, maybe, maybe 40, but it's a, you know, it's a much, much smaller number because each of those agency clients have a, you know, they have a”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 13:34
Disclosure
Booth: Scoota targets £5M in self-serve revenue for 2017
“So, you know, and then, but because we've shifted dramatically to self-serve, our goal for self-serve is five million. Whether or not we get there this year, we don't know, but .”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 14:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Booth: Scoota generated £3.5M in self-serve revenue in 2016
“We did three and a half million.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 14:50
Disclosure
Booth: Scoota forecasts profitability for current quarter in 2017
“Whether or not we get to where we want to revenue eyes, that's, you know, we'll, we'll see, but we should actually, we know we're forecasting profitability for this quarter, which for us is a good mark.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 15:29
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Booth: Scoota processed ~£10M in total media spend in 2016
“So the way it works was we had about ten million pounds put through the platforming technical media spend. Some of that was managed service and some of it was self-serve.”
James Booth Oct 15, 2017 ▶ 16:01
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