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Mar 13, 2017 · 20m · top-founders

EP 597: Nova.ai Passes 100 Customers, $2.2M Raised To Help SDR's Sell More Using AI with CEO Will Dinkel

Will Dinkel · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews Will Dinkel, CEO and co-founder of Nova.ai, exploring how the Y Combinator-backed startup raised $2.25 million, scaled past 100 enterprise customers, and reached an estimated $150,000 in monthly recurring revenue using AI to personalize sales outreach.

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 47.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 1.6 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.2
05100:0010:0020:004:20–7:41 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Origin Story, Co-Founder Background, and SF Team Latka explores Nova's founding story, team size in San Francisco, and fundraising. Latka shows familiarity with early-stage venture mechanics such as SAFEs and angel notes while the guest answers cooperatively.7:41–9:55 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Customer Traction, Upmarket Shift, and Daily Focus Latka probes customer counts and calculates estimated total users, pressing Dinkel on whether he tracks daily metrics. Dinkel explains he focuses primarily on team execution rather than obsessing over live metrics.9:56–12:06 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Unit Economics, Revenue Estimates, and Sales Pod Architecture Latka breaks down the monthly recurring revenue estimate and demonstrates domain knowledge by explaining AE-to-SDR ratios to the audience, while Dinkel reveals Nova's sales pod structure.12:06–14:54 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Customer Retention, Paid Ads Experiment, and Cold Outbound Latka questions Dinkel on churn and marketing spend. Dinkel explains their cold outbound process and outlines his 'judo strategy' against established competitors like Yesware.14:55–18:36 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Mid-Episode Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling Begins with Latka's sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the Famous Five rapid-fire questions, conducted in a lighthearted and friendly manner.4:20–7:41 · Guest teaching 1/10 Origin Story, Co-Founder Background, and SF Team Latka explores Nova's founding story, team size in San Francisco, and fundraising. Latka shows familiarity with early-stage venture mechanics such as SAFEs and angel notes while the guest answers cooperatively.7:41–9:55 · Guest teaching 2/10 Customer Traction, Upmarket Shift, and Daily Focus Latka probes customer counts and calculates estimated total users, pressing Dinkel on whether he tracks daily metrics. Dinkel explains he focuses primarily on team execution rather than obsessing over live metrics.9:56–12:06 · Guest teaching 2/10 Unit Economics, Revenue Estimates, and Sales Pod Architecture Latka breaks down the monthly recurring revenue estimate and demonstrates domain knowledge by explaining AE-to-SDR ratios to the audience, while Dinkel reveals Nova's sales pod structure.12:06–14:54 · Guest teaching 2/10 Customer Retention, Paid Ads Experiment, and Cold Outbound Latka questions Dinkel on churn and marketing spend. Dinkel explains their cold outbound process and outlines his 'judo strategy' against established competitors like Yesware.14:55–18:36 · Guest teaching 1/10 Mid-Episode Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling Begins with Latka's sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the Famous Five rapid-fire questions, conducted in a lighthearted and friendly manner.4:20–7:41 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Origin Story, Co-Founder Background, and SF Team Latka explores Nova's founding story, team size in San Francisco, and fundraising. Latka shows familiarity with early-stage venture mechanics such as SAFEs and angel notes while the guest answers cooperatively.7:41–9:55 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Traction, Upmarket Shift, and Daily Focus Latka probes customer counts and calculates estimated total users, pressing Dinkel on whether he tracks daily metrics. Dinkel explains he focuses primarily on team execution rather than obsessing over live metrics.9:56–12:06 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Unit Economics, Revenue Estimates, and Sales Pod Architecture Latka breaks down the monthly recurring revenue estimate and demonstrates domain knowledge by explaining AE-to-SDR ratios to the audience, while Dinkel reveals Nova's sales pod structure.12:06–14:54 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Customer Retention, Paid Ads Experiment, and Cold Outbound Latka questions Dinkel on churn and marketing spend. Dinkel explains their cold outbound process and outlines his 'judo strategy' against established competitors like Yesware.14:55–18:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Mid-Episode Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling Begins with Latka's sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the Famous Five rapid-fire questions, conducted in a lighthearted and friendly manner.4:20–7:41 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Origin Story, Co-Founder Background, and SF Team Latka explores Nova's founding story, team size in San Francisco, and fundraising. Latka shows familiarity with early-stage venture mechanics such as SAFEs and angel notes while the guest answers cooperatively.7:41–9:55 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Customer Traction, Upmarket Shift, and Daily Focus Latka probes customer counts and calculates estimated total users, pressing Dinkel on whether he tracks daily metrics. Dinkel explains he focuses primarily on team execution rather than obsessing over live metrics.9:56–12:06 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Unit Economics, Revenue Estimates, and Sales Pod Architecture Latka breaks down the monthly recurring revenue estimate and demonstrates domain knowledge by explaining AE-to-SDR ratios to the audience, while Dinkel reveals Nova's sales pod structure.12:06–14:54 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Customer Retention, Paid Ads Experiment, and Cold Outbound Latka questions Dinkel on churn and marketing spend. Dinkel explains their cold outbound process and outlines his 'judo strategy' against established competitors like Yesware.14:55–18:36 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Mid-Episode Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling Begins with Latka's sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the Famous Five rapid-fire questions, conducted in a lighthearted and friendly manner.

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

0:00 · Nathan 77.4% · guest 22.6%0:00 · Nathan 77.4% · guest 22.6%3:00 · Nathan 24.1% · guest 75.9%3:00 · Nathan 24.1% · guest 75.9%6:00 · Nathan 35.2% · guest 64.8%6:00 · Nathan 35.2% · guest 64.8%9:00 · Nathan 43.7% · guest 56.3%9:00 · Nathan 43.7% · guest 56.3%12:00 · Nathan 23.7% · guest 76.3%12:00 · Nathan 23.7% · guest 76.3%15:00 · Nathan 56.4% · guest 43.6%15:00 · Nathan 56.4% · guest 43.6%18:00 · Nathan 79.5% · guest 20.5%18:00 · Nathan 79.5% · guest 20.5%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:50 Dinkel dismisses standard competitor feature-matching

Dinkel firmly argues against falling into the trap of copying competitors' features, advocating instead for focusing strictly on core AI differentiation.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 10:13 Latka presses Dinkel to confirm $150k MRR

Latka refuses vague answers about revenue and calculates 1,000 seats at $150/month to pin down a $150,000 MRR figure.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:49 Dinkel details internal SDR output using Nova

Dinkel explains how their proprietary tool enables a single SDR to generate 20 to 30 appointments weekly for three AEs.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:26 Latka breaks down enterprise sales pod mechanics

Latka steps in to deliver an expert breakdown to listeners regarding how B2B SaaS companies structure SDR to AE ratios depending on marketing spend.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Origin Story, Co-Founder Background, and SF Team 5112 Latka explores Nova's founding story, team size in San Francisco, and fundraising. Latka shows familiarity with early-stage venture mechanics such as SAFEs and angel notes while the guest answers cooperatively.
Customer Traction, Upmarket Shift, and Daily Focus 5213 Latka probes customer counts and calculates estimated total users, pressing Dinkel on whether he tracks daily metrics. Dinkel explains he focuses primarily on team execution rather than obsessing over live metrics.
Unit Economics, Revenue Estimates, and Sales Pod Architecture 7213 Latka breaks down the monthly recurring revenue estimate and demonstrates domain knowledge by explaining AE-to-SDR ratios to the audience, while Dinkel reveals Nova's sales pod structure.
Customer Retention, Paid Ads Experiment, and Cold Outbound 5212 Latka questions Dinkel on churn and marketing spend. Dinkel explains their cold outbound process and outlines his 'judo strategy' against established competitors like Yesware.
Mid-Episode Sponsor Break: Acuity Scheduling 3111 Begins with Latka's sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the Famous Five rapid-fire questions, conducted in a lighthearted and friendly manner.

Statements from this episode (12)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nova.ai claims to increase sales lead conversion rates by 4x to 5x
“What we do is we just help people convert it about a four to five times higher rate than they are without our product.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 2:39
Disclosure
Nova.ai raised $2.25M in capital with backing from Salesforce Ventures
“So so we raised two and a quarter so far. Salesforce ventures is one of the investors among a few others.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 6:19
Disclosure
Nova.ai raised its entire $2.25M early funding exclusively via SAFEs
“In true YC fashion yeah, we do it all in safes.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 6:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nova.ai recently surpassed 100 enterprise software customers
“We just crossed a hundred customers.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 7:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nova.ai's new enterprise customer contracts average 15 to 20 seats
“And now we're coming in, we're looking at seat size deals of 15, 20 on average right now for our new deals.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 8:38
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Nova.ai charges a list price of $150 per sales rep per month
“So actually it's a 150 a month per rep.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 10:13
Disclosure
Nova.ai scales its sales team using pods of 3 AEs and 1 SDR
“So we scale our sales in, in classes of three AEs and SDR and a customer success rep.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 11:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
A top Nova.ai SDR books 20 to 30 sales appointments per week
“Yeah. So one of our SDRs who's cranking can do, you know, 20 to 30 appointments a week.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 11:56
Disclosure
Nova.ai spent zero on paid acquisition before experimenting with Facebook ads
“Just this morning I was setting up literally just prior to this interview, I was setting up our Facebook ads account and our marketing director, he's been all over me on this. He said, let's, you know, do just, you know, do a few thousand a month, you know, le…”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 12:48
Disclosure
Nova.ai SDRs rely entirely on cold outreach to VPs of Sales
“Exactly. Yeah. It's just direct. Yeah. They're just going out cold to, you know, VPs of sales at, you know, companies of, you know, a 150 plus employees.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 13:26
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Will Dinkel predicts a 3-to-6 year land grab in sales workflow software
“I think, you know, the next three, four, five, six years is going to be a bit of a land grab.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 14:04
Disclosure
Nova.ai CEO manages daily priorities and task backlogs primarily using Apple Notes
“Like, you know what I use most heavily is I just have my notes, my Apple notes, and every day I come in and I reprioritize my day and I reprioritize my week. And then I kind of groom the backlog for a couple of minutes too.”
Will Dinkel Mar 13, 2017 ▶ 17:21
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