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Aug 7, 2017 · 18m · top-founders

744: Companies Pay Her $10-100k to Text Customers Funny Messages

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Jess Lee · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews Bite Size founder Jess Lee to examine how her lean, profitable startup scaled from $200 to over $300,000 in revenue by delivering high-converting, TCPA-compliant conversational SMS marketing campaigns for major enterprise brands.

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 52.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.2 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.6 Nathan pushing back 3.6
05100:0010:001:13–3:30 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Rebranding to Bite Size and Conversational Texting Concept Nathan asks foundational questions to understand Bite Size's conversational texting model. Jess explains how they use movie characters to drive ticketing via Fandango links. Nathan challenges the practicality by asking how customer phone databases are built without spamming.3:30–8:37 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 FCC Compliance and Manual Texting Workflow Nathan intensely pushes Jess on the legality of unsolicited texting under FCC regulations, consumer annoyance, and unit economics. Jess explains manual texting compliance under the TCPA and breaks down her 25-cent pricing versus data and Twilio costs while Nathan presses hard for specific margins.8:37–12:41 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Funding, Team Composition, and Market Niches Nathan presses Jess for exact monthly revenue figures when she hesitates, estimating her monthly burn and profit based on team size. They also discuss political campaign dynamics where Nathan highlights how taking partisan sides affects customer acquisition.12:41–16:02 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Growth Trajectory, Historical Revenue, and Future Strategy Nathan walks through Bite Size's historical revenue progression from $250 in 2013 to $300k in 2016 before shifting into mid-roll sponsor reads for GetLatka and The Top Inbox.16:02–18:17 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Questions with Jess Lee Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire. Jess shares insights on entrepreneurial mindset and overcomes challenges, followed by Nathan's outro summary.1:13–3:30 · Guest teaching 3/10 Rebranding to Bite Size and Conversational Texting Concept Nathan asks foundational questions to understand Bite Size's conversational texting model. Jess explains how they use movie characters to drive ticketing via Fandango links. Nathan challenges the practicality by asking how customer phone databases are built without spamming.3:30–8:37 · Guest teaching 4/10 FCC Compliance and Manual Texting Workflow Nathan intensely pushes Jess on the legality of unsolicited texting under FCC regulations, consumer annoyance, and unit economics. Jess explains manual texting compliance under the TCPA and breaks down her 25-cent pricing versus data and Twilio costs while Nathan presses hard for specific margins.8:37–12:41 · Guest teaching 2/10 Funding, Team Composition, and Market Niches Nathan presses Jess for exact monthly revenue figures when she hesitates, estimating her monthly burn and profit based on team size. They also discuss political campaign dynamics where Nathan highlights how taking partisan sides affects customer acquisition.12:41–16:02 · Guest teaching 1/10 Growth Trajectory, Historical Revenue, and Future Strategy Nathan walks through Bite Size's historical revenue progression from $250 in 2013 to $300k in 2016 before shifting into mid-roll sponsor reads for GetLatka and The Top Inbox.16:02–18:17 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Questions with Jess Lee Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire. Jess shares insights on entrepreneurial mindset and overcomes challenges, followed by Nathan's outro summary.1:13–3:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Rebranding to Bite Size and Conversational Texting Concept Nathan asks foundational questions to understand Bite Size's conversational texting model. Jess explains how they use movie characters to drive ticketing via Fandango links. Nathan challenges the practicality by asking how customer phone databases are built without spamming.3:30–8:37 · Guest disagreement 3/10 FCC Compliance and Manual Texting Workflow Nathan intensely pushes Jess on the legality of unsolicited texting under FCC regulations, consumer annoyance, and unit economics. Jess explains manual texting compliance under the TCPA and breaks down her 25-cent pricing versus data and Twilio costs while Nathan presses hard for specific margins.8:37–12:41 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Funding, Team Composition, and Market Niches Nathan presses Jess for exact monthly revenue figures when she hesitates, estimating her monthly burn and profit based on team size. They also discuss political campaign dynamics where Nathan highlights how taking partisan sides affects customer acquisition.12:41–16:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Growth Trajectory, Historical Revenue, and Future Strategy Nathan walks through Bite Size's historical revenue progression from $250 in 2013 to $300k in 2016 before shifting into mid-roll sponsor reads for GetLatka and The Top Inbox.16:02–18:17 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Questions with Jess Lee Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire. Jess shares insights on entrepreneurial mindset and overcomes challenges, followed by Nathan's outro summary.1:13–3:30 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Rebranding to Bite Size and Conversational Texting Concept Nathan asks foundational questions to understand Bite Size's conversational texting model. Jess explains how they use movie characters to drive ticketing via Fandango links. Nathan challenges the practicality by asking how customer phone databases are built without spamming.3:30–8:37 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 FCC Compliance and Manual Texting Workflow Nathan intensely pushes Jess on the legality of unsolicited texting under FCC regulations, consumer annoyance, and unit economics. Jess explains manual texting compliance under the TCPA and breaks down her 25-cent pricing versus data and Twilio costs while Nathan presses hard for specific margins.8:37–12:41 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Funding, Team Composition, and Market Niches Nathan presses Jess for exact monthly revenue figures when she hesitates, estimating her monthly burn and profit based on team size. They also discuss political campaign dynamics where Nathan highlights how taking partisan sides affects customer acquisition.12:41–16:02 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Growth Trajectory, Historical Revenue, and Future Strategy Nathan walks through Bite Size's historical revenue progression from $250 in 2013 to $300k in 2016 before shifting into mid-roll sponsor reads for GetLatka and The Top Inbox.16:02–18:17 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Questions with Jess Lee Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire. Jess shares insights on entrepreneurial mindset and overcomes challenges, followed by Nathan's outro summary.

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

0:00 · Nathan 69.1% · guest 30.9%0:00 · Nathan 69.1% · guest 30.9%3:00 · Nathan 24.5% · guest 75.5%3:00 · Nathan 24.5% · guest 75.5%6:00 · Nathan 37.2% · guest 62.8%6:00 · Nathan 37.2% · guest 62.8%9:00 · Nathan 45.9% · guest 54.1%9:00 · Nathan 45.9% · guest 54.1%12:00 · Nathan 65.2% · guest 34.8%12:00 · Nathan 65.2% · guest 34.8%15:00 · Nathan 70.1% · guest 29.9%15:00 · Nathan 70.1% · guest 29.9%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:33 Jess pushes back against aggressive grilling

When Nathan intensely breaks down her unit margins, Jess pushes back saying, 'you're asking hard questions,' resisting Nathan's intrusive line of questioning.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:29 Nathan insists on getting the real monthly revenue

Nathan refuses to let Jess dodge revealing exact revenue figures, calling out her hesitation and demanding the real number.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:32 Jess explains TCPA and manual texting legality

Jess educates Nathan on TCPA compliance under FCC rules, detailing why manual human intervention keeps their mass text platform legal.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:04 Nathan explains political market dynamics

Nathan demonstrates domain knowledge of political campaigns, explaining how single-party specialization can create strong market share advantages.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Rebranding to Bite Size and Conversational Texting Concept 4312 Nathan asks foundational questions to understand Bite Size's conversational texting model. Jess explains how they use movie characters to drive ticketing via Fandango links. Nathan challenges the practicality by asking how customer phone databases are built without spamming.
FCC Compliance and Manual Texting Workflow 6437 Nathan intensely pushes Jess on the legality of unsolicited texting under FCC regulations, consumer annoyance, and unit economics. Jess explains manual texting compliance under the TCPA and breaks down her 25-cent pricing versus data and Twilio costs while Nathan presses hard for specific margins.
Funding, Team Composition, and Market Niches 6226 Nathan presses Jess for exact monthly revenue figures when she hesitates, estimating her monthly burn and profit based on team size. They also discuss political campaign dynamics where Nathan highlights how taking partisan sides affects customer acquisition.
Growth Trajectory, Historical Revenue, and Future Strategy 3112 Nathan walks through Bite Size's historical revenue progression from $250 in 2013 to $300k in 2016 before shifting into mid-roll sponsor reads for GetLatka and The Top Inbox.
The Famous Five Questions with Jess Lee 2111 Nathan conducts the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire. Jess shares insights on entrepreneurial mindset and overcomes challenges, followed by Nathan's outro summary.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Supported
Lee: TCPA prohibits algorithmic number generation and automated texts
“Under the FCC, there's a law called Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and with that, you can't randomly generate numbers with algorithms. Or send texts without human intervention.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 3:37
Disclosure
Lee: Bite Size requires human intervention for every outbound marketing text
“What we do is we help clients send those texts with human intervention, many, many human interventions, so that they are all touched by human before it's sent out.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 3:54
Disclosure
Lee: Bite Size charges 25 cents per text message
“We charge 25 cent per text, which is significantly Higher than if you were just sending a mass text.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 5:41
Disclosure
Lee: Phone data costs Bite Size up to 16 cents per text
“Data can be, you know, anywhere up to 16 cents.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 6:42
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Bite Size SMS campaigns average a 6% reply rate
“So a good median percentage that you can gauge is six percent, which if you compare it to social media, it's a lot higher or any ads, Google ads, it's like more than 10 times higher.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 7:23
Disclosure
Lee: Bite Size ran over 140 campaigns in six months
“We've helped over a 140 campaigns over the last six months.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 8:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Bite Size is currently profitable and not raising outside capital
“No more after that because we're profitable currently.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 8:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Bite Size charges between $10,000 and $100,000 per campaign
“So really so I need to go back, but to give you a good idea, each campaign is 10 K to a hundred K.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 10:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Bite Size generated just $250 in revenue in 2013
“Like, 250 dollars.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 13:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Bite Size made $300,000 in 2016 from pilot campaigns
“In 2016, we got about 300 K from six months of pilots.”
Jess Lee Aug 7, 2017 ▶ 13:15
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