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Mar 18, 2017 · 22m · top-founders

EP 602: Findo Raises $7M, Passes 80k Users, 700 Pay $10 to Use AI to Find Their Files Quickly with CEO Gary Fowler

Gary Fowler · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 9m 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," host Nathan Latka interviews Gary Fowler, co-founder and CEO of Findo, exploring the AI search assistant's $7 million staged funding, spin-out from ABBYY, SaaS conversion metrics, and distribution partnership with Foxit.

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 46.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.4 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 2.3 Nathan pushing back 4.1
05100:0010:0020:000:27–3:55 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Weekly Community Giveaway Winner Announcement Nathan introduces the show, reads sponsor ads, and then asks Gary to define Findo's product and monetization model. Gary explains the personal cloud concept and subscription tiers ($4.99 and $9.99), with Nathan standardizing it to an average monthly ARPU of roughly $10.3:55–6:39 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Company Spin-Out from ABBYY, IP Valuation, and Seed Funding Nathan probes how the spin-out from ABBYY was negotiated, specifically asking how conflict of interest was handled when Gary's co-founder was the founder of ABBYY. Gary clarifies they commissioned an independent valuation and bought the IP for hundreds of thousands of dollars using seed proceeds.6:39–8:46 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Financing Structure and Strategic Distribution Deal with Foxit Nathan pushes back against the label 'Seed 2' instead of calling it a Series A, drilling into the round sizes and demanding to know whether rounds were priced equity or debt instruments. Gary explains the split between the initial $3M and the subsequent $4M priced equity round.8:46–11:18 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Fowler's Accelerator Track Record with GVA LaunchGurus When Gary claims to have run the most successful accelerator in Russia (GVA LaunchGurus), Nathan presses him to quantify that metric. Nathan also clarifies the fund structure, distinguishing their $1M operating capital from the $10M investment vehicle.11:19–14:44 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Relocating to Silicon Valley and Distributed Engineering Strategy Gary provides numbers of 80,000 registered users and 700-800 paying users. Nathan miscalculates this as a 10% conversion rate, and Gary corrects him immediately, pointing out that 700 out of 80,000 is under 1%.14:44–17:05 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 User Churn Patterns, Personal Cloud Complexity, and AI Capabilities Nathan presses on monthly churn numbers, and when Gary suggests customers leave and return as a novel behavior, Nathan counters with Constant Contact's historical precedent of seasonal subscription reactivation before acquisition. Gary then pivots into product scale and AI capabilities.17:05–20:16 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Paid Customer Acquisition and Early Marketing Spend Nathan asks for paid marketing spend to get 80k users, and Gary initially declines to reveal exact numbers. Nathan brackets the figure with upper and lower bounds until Gary admits spending slightly over $100k, followed by the Famous Five questions.20:16–21:51 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Executive Summary of Findo and Episode Wrap-Up Nathan synthesizes all the extracted business data into a tight summary ($7M raised, 80k users, 700 paying, $7k MRR, ~5% churn, $100k CAC spend, 26 staff) and closes out the episode with affiliate sponsor promos.0:27–3:55 · Guest teaching 2/10 Weekly Community Giveaway Winner Announcement Nathan introduces the show, reads sponsor ads, and then asks Gary to define Findo's product and monetization model. Gary explains the personal cloud concept and subscription tiers ($4.99 and $9.99), with Nathan standardizing it to an average monthly ARPU of roughly $10.3:55–6:39 · Guest teaching 2/10 Company Spin-Out from ABBYY, IP Valuation, and Seed Funding Nathan probes how the spin-out from ABBYY was negotiated, specifically asking how conflict of interest was handled when Gary's co-founder was the founder of ABBYY. Gary clarifies they commissioned an independent valuation and bought the IP for hundreds of thousands of dollars using seed proceeds.6:39–8:46 · Guest teaching 3/10 Financing Structure and Strategic Distribution Deal with Foxit Nathan pushes back against the label 'Seed 2' instead of calling it a Series A, drilling into the round sizes and demanding to know whether rounds were priced equity or debt instruments. Gary explains the split between the initial $3M and the subsequent $4M priced equity round.8:46–11:18 · Guest teaching 2/10 Fowler's Accelerator Track Record with GVA LaunchGurus When Gary claims to have run the most successful accelerator in Russia (GVA LaunchGurus), Nathan presses him to quantify that metric. Nathan also clarifies the fund structure, distinguishing their $1M operating capital from the $10M investment vehicle.11:19–14:44 · Guest teaching 6/10 Relocating to Silicon Valley and Distributed Engineering Strategy Gary provides numbers of 80,000 registered users and 700-800 paying users. Nathan miscalculates this as a 10% conversion rate, and Gary corrects him immediately, pointing out that 700 out of 80,000 is under 1%.14:44–17:05 · Guest teaching 3/10 User Churn Patterns, Personal Cloud Complexity, and AI Capabilities Nathan presses on monthly churn numbers, and when Gary suggests customers leave and return as a novel behavior, Nathan counters with Constant Contact's historical precedent of seasonal subscription reactivation before acquisition. Gary then pivots into product scale and AI capabilities.17:05–20:16 · Guest teaching 1/10 Paid Customer Acquisition and Early Marketing Spend Nathan asks for paid marketing spend to get 80k users, and Gary initially declines to reveal exact numbers. Nathan brackets the figure with upper and lower bounds until Gary admits spending slightly over $100k, followed by the Famous Five questions.20:16–21:51 · Guest teaching 0/10 Executive Summary of Findo and Episode Wrap-Up Nathan synthesizes all the extracted business data into a tight summary ($7M raised, 80k users, 700 paying, $7k MRR, ~5% churn, $100k CAC spend, 26 staff) and closes out the episode with affiliate sponsor promos.0:27–3:55 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Weekly Community Giveaway Winner Announcement Nathan introduces the show, reads sponsor ads, and then asks Gary to define Findo's product and monetization model. Gary explains the personal cloud concept and subscription tiers ($4.99 and $9.99), with Nathan standardizing it to an average monthly ARPU of roughly $10.3:55–6:39 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Company Spin-Out from ABBYY, IP Valuation, and Seed Funding Nathan probes how the spin-out from ABBYY was negotiated, specifically asking how conflict of interest was handled when Gary's co-founder was the founder of ABBYY. Gary clarifies they commissioned an independent valuation and bought the IP for hundreds of thousands of dollars using seed proceeds.6:39–8:46 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Financing Structure and Strategic Distribution Deal with Foxit Nathan pushes back against the label 'Seed 2' instead of calling it a Series A, drilling into the round sizes and demanding to know whether rounds were priced equity or debt instruments. Gary explains the split between the initial $3M and the subsequent $4M priced equity round.8:46–11:18 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Fowler's Accelerator Track Record with GVA LaunchGurus When Gary claims to have run the most successful accelerator in Russia (GVA LaunchGurus), Nathan presses him to quantify that metric. Nathan also clarifies the fund structure, distinguishing their $1M operating capital from the $10M investment vehicle.11:19–14:44 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Relocating to Silicon Valley and Distributed Engineering Strategy Gary provides numbers of 80,000 registered users and 700-800 paying users. Nathan miscalculates this as a 10% conversion rate, and Gary corrects him immediately, pointing out that 700 out of 80,000 is under 1%.14:44–17:05 · Guest disagreement 2/10 User Churn Patterns, Personal Cloud Complexity, and AI Capabilities Nathan presses on monthly churn numbers, and when Gary suggests customers leave and return as a novel behavior, Nathan counters with Constant Contact's historical precedent of seasonal subscription reactivation before acquisition. Gary then pivots into product scale and AI capabilities.17:05–20:16 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Paid Customer Acquisition and Early Marketing Spend Nathan asks for paid marketing spend to get 80k users, and Gary initially declines to reveal exact numbers. Nathan brackets the figure with upper and lower bounds until Gary admits spending slightly over $100k, followed by the Famous Five questions.20:16–21:51 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Executive Summary of Findo and Episode Wrap-Up Nathan synthesizes all the extracted business data into a tight summary ($7M raised, 80k users, 700 paying, $7k MRR, ~5% churn, $100k CAC spend, 26 staff) and closes out the episode with affiliate sponsor promos.0:27–3:55 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Weekly Community Giveaway Winner Announcement Nathan introduces the show, reads sponsor ads, and then asks Gary to define Findo's product and monetization model. Gary explains the personal cloud concept and subscription tiers ($4.99 and $9.99), with Nathan standardizing it to an average monthly ARPU of roughly $10.3:55–6:39 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Company Spin-Out from ABBYY, IP Valuation, and Seed Funding Nathan probes how the spin-out from ABBYY was negotiated, specifically asking how conflict of interest was handled when Gary's co-founder was the founder of ABBYY. Gary clarifies they commissioned an independent valuation and bought the IP for hundreds of thousands of dollars using seed proceeds.6:39–8:46 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Financing Structure and Strategic Distribution Deal with Foxit Nathan pushes back against the label 'Seed 2' instead of calling it a Series A, drilling into the round sizes and demanding to know whether rounds were priced equity or debt instruments. Gary explains the split between the initial $3M and the subsequent $4M priced equity round.8:46–11:18 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Fowler's Accelerator Track Record with GVA LaunchGurus When Gary claims to have run the most successful accelerator in Russia (GVA LaunchGurus), Nathan presses him to quantify that metric. Nathan also clarifies the fund structure, distinguishing their $1M operating capital from the $10M investment vehicle.11:19–14:44 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Relocating to Silicon Valley and Distributed Engineering Strategy Gary provides numbers of 80,000 registered users and 700-800 paying users. Nathan miscalculates this as a 10% conversion rate, and Gary corrects him immediately, pointing out that 700 out of 80,000 is under 1%.14:44–17:05 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 User Churn Patterns, Personal Cloud Complexity, and AI Capabilities Nathan presses on monthly churn numbers, and when Gary suggests customers leave and return as a novel behavior, Nathan counters with Constant Contact's historical precedent of seasonal subscription reactivation before acquisition. Gary then pivots into product scale and AI capabilities.17:05–20:16 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Paid Customer Acquisition and Early Marketing Spend Nathan asks for paid marketing spend to get 80k users, and Gary initially declines to reveal exact numbers. Nathan brackets the figure with upper and lower bounds until Gary admits spending slightly over $100k, followed by the Famous Five questions.20:16–21:51 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Executive Summary of Findo and Episode Wrap-Up Nathan synthesizes all the extracted business data into a tight summary ($7M raised, 80k users, 700 paying, $7k MRR, ~5% churn, $100k CAC spend, 26 staff) and closes out the episode with affiliate sponsor promos.

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

0:00 · Nathan 68.5% · guest 31.5%0:00 · Nathan 68.5% · guest 31.5%3:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%3:00 · Nathan 26.8% · guest 73.2%6:00 · Nathan 36.9% · guest 63.1%6:00 · Nathan 36.9% · guest 63.1%9:00 · Nathan 30.9% · guest 69.1%9:00 · Nathan 30.9% · guest 69.1%12:00 · Nathan 32.1% · guest 67.9%12:00 · Nathan 32.1% · guest 67.9%15:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%15:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%18:00 · Nathan 76% · guest 24%18:00 · Nathan 76% · guest 24%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:38 Gary bluntly corrects Nathan's conversion math

When Nathan claims 700 paying users out of 80,000 registered is almost a 10% conversion rate, Gary interrupts and rejects the math, pointing out it is actually only 1%.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 17:20 Nathan brackets marketing spend after Gary's refusal

When Gary attempts to dodge sharing paid customer acquisition spend, Nathan refuses to let it slide, using rapid multiple-choice brackets until Gary admits spending just over $100,000.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:38 Gary corrects the host's basic metric arithmetic

Nathan mistakes the registered user base as 7,000 and calculates a 10% conversion, forcing Gary to educate him on the real numbers and correct his math on air.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 15:26 Nathan counters with Constant Contact's SaaS churn dynamic

When Gary describes users canceling and resubscribing as an unheard-of phenomenon, Nathan immediately cites Constant Contact's identical seasonal churn struggles prior to their acquisition by EIG.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Weekly Community Giveaway Winner Announcement 3212 Nathan introduces the show, reads sponsor ads, and then asks Gary to define Findo's product and monetization model. Gary explains the personal cloud concept and subscription tiers ($4.99 and $9.99), with Nathan standardizing it to an average monthly ARPU of roughly $10.
Company Spin-Out from ABBYY, IP Valuation, and Seed Funding 6225 Nathan probes how the spin-out from ABBYY was negotiated, specifically asking how conflict of interest was handled when Gary's co-founder was the founder of ABBYY. Gary clarifies they commissioned an independent valuation and bought the IP for hundreds of thousands of dollars using seed proceeds.
Financing Structure and Strategic Distribution Deal with Foxit 6336 Nathan pushes back against the label 'Seed 2' instead of calling it a Series A, drilling into the round sizes and demanding to know whether rounds were priced equity or debt instruments. Gary explains the split between the initial $3M and the subsequent $4M priced equity round.
Fowler's Accelerator Track Record with GVA LaunchGurus 5225 When Gary claims to have run the most successful accelerator in Russia (GVA LaunchGurus), Nathan presses him to quantify that metric. Nathan also clarifies the fund structure, distinguishing their $1M operating capital from the $10M investment vehicle.
Relocating to Silicon Valley and Distributed Engineering Strategy 4643 Gary provides numbers of 80,000 registered users and 700-800 paying users. Nathan miscalculates this as a 10% conversion rate, and Gary corrects him immediately, pointing out that 700 out of 80,000 is under 1%.
User Churn Patterns, Personal Cloud Complexity, and AI Capabilities 7325 Nathan presses on monthly churn numbers, and when Gary suggests customers leave and return as a novel behavior, Nathan counters with Constant Contact's historical precedent of seasonal subscription reactivation before acquisition. Gary then pivots into product scale and AI capabilities.
Paid Customer Acquisition and Early Marketing Spend 6147 Nathan asks for paid marketing spend to get 80k users, and Gary initially declines to reveal exact numbers. Nathan brackets the figure with upper and lower bounds until Gary admits spending slightly over $100k, followed by the Famous Five questions.
Executive Summary of Findo and Episode Wrap-Up 6000 Nathan synthesizes all the extracted business data into a tight summary ($7M raised, 80k users, 700 paying, $7k MRR, ~5% churn, $100k CAC spend, 26 staff) and closes out the episode with affiliate sponsor promos.

Statements from this episode (13)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: Average Person Manages 300,000 Digital Items Across Cloud Services
“The average person has about 300,000 items. Well, the internet, the number of websites in 1996 was only 257,000, and that number is doubling every year.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 2:21
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: Findo's Average Paying Customer Pays $9.99 Per Month
“The average customer pays us per month is nine 99.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 3:48
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: Findo Bought Its IP From ABBYY For Hundreds Of Thousands
“It was hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 6:07
Assertion Supported
Fowler: Findo has raised $7M in total capital to date
“Seven million dollars.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 6:37
Disclosure
Fowler: Flint Capital and Foxit backed Findo's Seed 2 round
“Our C two round was with a group called Flint capital. And we also as part of our C two, we had the competitor of Adobe box that actually was one of the major contributors to the part of our C two.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 6:48
Assertion Contradicted
Fowler: Foxit Distribution Will Put Findo In 6.5M PDF Readers Monthly
“Every PDF reader that Foxit, which is the competitor of Adobe, has, will be including a Finder within it. So that could be up to six and a half million a month.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 7:06
Disclosure
Fowler: Findo Branded $4M Round As 'Seed 2' To Limit Expectations
“The first part of the investment, the first three million dollars, we understood that that was you know, looked more like a seed round. And the second part of it, we just didn't want that much money. So we were caught, we were, you know, between a series A and…”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 7:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: Findo's total team size is 26
“26.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 12:00
Disclosure
Fowler: Findo Has 700 To 800 Paying Customers As Of Early 2017
“We've got so in terms of the paying, it's a small percent seven, 800 right now. In, in that range.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 13:19
Disclosure
Fowler: Findo Reaches Almost 80,000 Registered Users
“No, I said we have, ah, ah, almost 80,000.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 13:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: Findo's monthly customer churn is between 5% and 10%
“It's anywhere between you know, five and 10, but then this thing that's really interesting is that people come back, right?”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 15:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: 12% Of People Spend 15 Minutes Daily Finding Files
“12% of the population at one point in time Takes every 24 hours, 12% of the population has a problem. It takes more than 15 minutes to find something.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 16:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fowler: Findo Spent Roughly $100,000 On Paid Acquisition For Early Users
“Yeah, it's a little over a 100,000 dollars, so it actually wasn't that much.”
Gary Fowler Mar 18, 2017 ▶ 17:37
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