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Jun 30, 2017 · 18m · top-founders

706: This 31 Year Old Raised $1.3M To Help You Be More Efficient

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Vinay Patankar · 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,' Nathan Latka interviews Vinay Patankar, CEO of Process Street, to explore how the SaaS workflow platform scaled from a 2013 side project to $80,000 MRR through organic SEO and disciplined funnel optimization.

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 54.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 2.8 Guest disagreement 2.5 Nathan pushing back 5.3
05100:0010:001:21–3:55 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Process Street Value Proposition and Pricing Model When Vinay hesitates to share revenue figures by stating they do not publish average customer spend, Nathan immediately pushes back to demand high-level pricing ranges. Vinay concedes and provides the four-figure annual range ($2k-$5k per year).3:55–9:10 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Founding Background, Team Expansion, and Seed Funding Nathan asserts that technological differentiation in workflow software is overrated and asks how Process Street beats incumbents and agile tools. Vinay reframes the market opportunity around displacing legacy tools like SharePoint rather than needing a winner-take-all victory, while Nathan rapidly computes payback metrics on their $150 SEO CAC.9:10–13:39 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Sales Funnel Focus, Expansion Revenue, and Series A Goals Nathan interrogates Vinay on net expansion figures and catches an ambiguity in how monthly expansion is calculated across cohorts. Nathan then models out Vinay's current MRR range ($70k-$80k) using customer counts and ACV data.13:39–16:46 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling The segment includes a sponsor mid-roll followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Nathan casually corrects Vinay on Ben Horowitz's book title and cites previous guest metrics.1:21–3:55 · Guest teaching 3/10 Process Street Value Proposition and Pricing Model When Vinay hesitates to share revenue figures by stating they do not publish average customer spend, Nathan immediately pushes back to demand high-level pricing ranges. Vinay concedes and provides the four-figure annual range ($2k-$5k per year).3:55–9:10 · Guest teaching 4/10 Founding Background, Team Expansion, and Seed Funding Nathan asserts that technological differentiation in workflow software is overrated and asks how Process Street beats incumbents and agile tools. Vinay reframes the market opportunity around displacing legacy tools like SharePoint rather than needing a winner-take-all victory, while Nathan rapidly computes payback metrics on their $150 SEO CAC.9:10–13:39 · Guest teaching 3/10 Sales Funnel Focus, Expansion Revenue, and Series A Goals Nathan interrogates Vinay on net expansion figures and catches an ambiguity in how monthly expansion is calculated across cohorts. Nathan then models out Vinay's current MRR range ($70k-$80k) using customer counts and ACV data.13:39–16:46 · Guest teaching 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling The segment includes a sponsor mid-roll followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Nathan casually corrects Vinay on Ben Horowitz's book title and cites previous guest metrics.1:21–3:55 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Process Street Value Proposition and Pricing Model When Vinay hesitates to share revenue figures by stating they do not publish average customer spend, Nathan immediately pushes back to demand high-level pricing ranges. Vinay concedes and provides the four-figure annual range ($2k-$5k per year).3:55–9:10 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Founding Background, Team Expansion, and Seed Funding Nathan asserts that technological differentiation in workflow software is overrated and asks how Process Street beats incumbents and agile tools. Vinay reframes the market opportunity around displacing legacy tools like SharePoint rather than needing a winner-take-all victory, while Nathan rapidly computes payback metrics on their $150 SEO CAC.9:10–13:39 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Sales Funnel Focus, Expansion Revenue, and Series A Goals Nathan interrogates Vinay on net expansion figures and catches an ambiguity in how monthly expansion is calculated across cohorts. Nathan then models out Vinay's current MRR range ($70k-$80k) using customer counts and ACV data.13:39–16:46 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling The segment includes a sponsor mid-roll followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Nathan casually corrects Vinay on Ben Horowitz's book title and cites previous guest metrics.1:21–3:55 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Process Street Value Proposition and Pricing Model When Vinay hesitates to share revenue figures by stating they do not publish average customer spend, Nathan immediately pushes back to demand high-level pricing ranges. Vinay concedes and provides the four-figure annual range ($2k-$5k per year).3:55–9:10 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Founding Background, Team Expansion, and Seed Funding Nathan asserts that technological differentiation in workflow software is overrated and asks how Process Street beats incumbents and agile tools. Vinay reframes the market opportunity around displacing legacy tools like SharePoint rather than needing a winner-take-all victory, while Nathan rapidly computes payback metrics on their $150 SEO CAC.9:10–13:39 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Sales Funnel Focus, Expansion Revenue, and Series A Goals Nathan interrogates Vinay on net expansion figures and catches an ambiguity in how monthly expansion is calculated across cohorts. Nathan then models out Vinay's current MRR range ($70k-$80k) using customer counts and ACV data.13:39–16:46 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Mid-Roll Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling The segment includes a sponsor mid-roll followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Nathan casually corrects Vinay on Ben Horowitz's book title and cites previous guest metrics.

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

0:00 · Nathan 50.4% · guest 49.6%0:00 · Nathan 50.4% · guest 49.6%3:00 · Nathan 48.7% · guest 51.3%3:00 · Nathan 48.7% · guest 51.3%6:00 · Nathan 18.9% · guest 81.1%6:00 · Nathan 18.9% · guest 81.1%9:00 · Nathan 40.8% · guest 59.2%9:00 · Nathan 40.8% · guest 59.2%12:00 · Nathan 83.9% · guest 16.1%12:00 · Nathan 83.9% · guest 16.1%15:00 · Nathan 74.3% · guest 25.7%15:00 · Nathan 74.3% · guest 25.7%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:39 Vinay counters winner-take-all market premise

Vinay politely rejects Nathan's framing that he needs to beat out competitors like Trello or Smartsheet, pointing out the vast $13.5B legacy enterprise market.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 2:53 Nathan refuses pricing deflection

When Vinay says they do not publish average customer spend, Nathan immediately cuts in to demand an average range rather than letting the question slide.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:41 Vinay outlines market split between legacy and emerging SMBs

Vinay educates the host on the composition of the workflow management market, highlighting the massive 300+ incumbent enterprise base versus SMBs transitioning off Excel.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:28 Nathan calculates MRR on the fly

Nathan triangulates Vinay's customer count and average contract values to deduce and pin down his exact monthly revenue run rate of $70k-$80k.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Process Street Value Proposition and Pricing Model 5337 When Vinay hesitates to share revenue figures by stating they do not publish average customer spend, Nathan immediately pushes back to demand high-level pricing ranges. Vinay concedes and provides the four-figure annual range ($2k-$5k per year).
Founding Background, Team Expansion, and Seed Funding 7446 Nathan asserts that technological differentiation in workflow software is overrated and asks how Process Street beats incumbents and agile tools. Vinay reframes the market opportunity around displacing legacy tools like SharePoint rather than needing a winner-take-all victory, while Nathan rapidly computes payback metrics on their $150 SEO CAC.
Sales Funnel Focus, Expansion Revenue, and Series A Goals 7326 Nathan interrogates Vinay on net expansion figures and catches an ambiguity in how monthly expansion is calculated across cohorts. Nathan then models out Vinay's current MRR range ($70k-$80k) using customer counts and ACV data.
Mid-Roll Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling 4112 The segment includes a sponsor mid-roll followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, where Nathan casually corrects Vinay on Ben Horowitz's book title and cites previous guest metrics.

Statements from this episode (12)

Assertion Supported
Patankar: Process Street charges $15 per user monthly
“You can see our pricing on the website, which is currently 15 dollars user a month.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 3:08
Disclosure
Patankar: Process Street offers two-year contracts for upfront cash
“We even do two year contracts as well on some of the bigger deals just to get that cash up front.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 3:47
Assertion Partly supported
Patankar: AngelPad invested $55K for 6% equity in Process Street
“I believe angel pad has changed it many times over their cohorts, but when we did, it was like, Six for 55. So six percent for 55 K. Yep.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 4:52
Insight
Latka: Workflow software winners will be determined by distribution, not technology
“I think the person that's going to win this space is the ones that are better at distribution.”
Nathan Latka Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 5:10
Assertion Supported
Patankar: Enterprise workflow market is $13.5B, led by SharePoint
“You need to basically take that market, which is like a giant 13.5 billion dollar market share points, the biggest product in that market.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 6:11
Disclosure
Patankar: Blog hits 200,000 monthly visits on flat marketing spend
“So now our blog probably gets around 200,000 visits a month. You know, and that's grown Kind of doubled each year and the spend is pretty much being the same throughout that whole time.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 7:51
Disclosure
Patankar: Process Street acquires customers for ~$150 via SEO
“It's about a 150 dollars right now.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 8:35
Disclosure
Patankar: Process Street average contract is $2,000 with a $150 minimum
“That's our average, average deal size, but our minimum is, is a one seat user, which is a 150 bucks.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 8:52
Disclosure
Patankar: Process Street prioritizing conversion infrastructure before top-of-funnel marketing spend
“So we're kind of, we're investing deeper in the funnel versus investing at the top of the funnel because until our whole sales infrastructure is, is really strong, we don't want to continue pouring money in, in, in, in the top of the funnel.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 9:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Patankar: Expansion revenue is 20% to 30% of Process Street's monthly new revenue
“For us, it's about, depending on the month, it's between 20 and 30%.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 10:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Patankar: Process Street has between 500 and 1,000 paying customer accounts
“We're between 500 and a thousand.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 12:29
Disclosure
Patankar: Process Street targets 2018 Series A at $1.5M-$2.5M ARR
“So we want to raise an a round say kind of Q on Q two next year. And the typical range for that is, you know, 1.5 to 2.5 ARR. Kind of for a rounds at the moment. So that's kind of the range of our target.”
Vinay Patankar Jun 30, 2017 ▶ 13:04
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