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Jan 25, 2017 · 17m · top-founders

EP 550: Attentive Raises $150K in Portugal to Solve Sales Problem with CEO Daniel Araujo

Daniel Araujo · 8m 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, host Nathan Latka interviews Daniel Araujo, CEO of Attentive.us, exploring how the Portuguese startup raised $150,000 to build an autonomous competitive intelligence SaaS platform. Araujo details early revenue metrics, CRM integrations, founder equity splits, and strategies for expanding into the United States market.

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 47.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.2 Guest teaching 1.3 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:000:54–3:40 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Host Promotion of The Top Inbox Email Productivity Tool Nathan introduces the guest and digs into the pricing structure, asking for clarity when Daniel mentions integration setup fees versus recurring monthly spend.3:40–6:17 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Competitive Differentiation and Technical Integration Strategy Nathan compares the product to existing market players like Crunchbase and Mattermark, prompting Daniel to explain Attentive's workflow integration and automated alerts.6:18–11:38 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Early Traction, Initial Revenue, and Head of Growth Hire Nathan presses for concrete revenue numbers and calculates the exact ARR and implied valuation multiple against the company's convertible note cap.11:38–13:58 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 US Expansion Strategy, Accelerator Targets, and Series A Goals Nathan strongly questions the feasibility of raising a $3M round on only $10k in monthly recurring revenue, highlighting the aggressive valuation gap.14:00–16:29 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Host Promotion: The Top Inbox Growth and Commercial Ambitions Segment features host promotional monologues followed by standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire background questions.16:29–16:53 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Attentive Key Metrics Summary Host monologue summarizing the guest's metrics and closing with sponsor announcements.0:54–3:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Host Promotion of The Top Inbox Email Productivity Tool Nathan introduces the guest and digs into the pricing structure, asking for clarity when Daniel mentions integration setup fees versus recurring monthly spend.3:40–6:17 · Guest teaching 3/10 Competitive Differentiation and Technical Integration Strategy Nathan compares the product to existing market players like Crunchbase and Mattermark, prompting Daniel to explain Attentive's workflow integration and automated alerts.6:18–11:38 · Guest teaching 1/10 Early Traction, Initial Revenue, and Head of Growth Hire Nathan presses for concrete revenue numbers and calculates the exact ARR and implied valuation multiple against the company's convertible note cap.11:38–13:58 · Guest teaching 2/10 US Expansion Strategy, Accelerator Targets, and Series A Goals Nathan strongly questions the feasibility of raising a $3M round on only $10k in monthly recurring revenue, highlighting the aggressive valuation gap.14:00–16:29 · Guest teaching 0/10 Host Promotion: The Top Inbox Growth and Commercial Ambitions Segment features host promotional monologues followed by standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire background questions.16:29–16:53 · Guest teaching 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Attentive Key Metrics Summary Host monologue summarizing the guest's metrics and closing with sponsor announcements.0:54–3:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Host Promotion of The Top Inbox Email Productivity Tool Nathan introduces the guest and digs into the pricing structure, asking for clarity when Daniel mentions integration setup fees versus recurring monthly spend.3:40–6:17 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Competitive Differentiation and Technical Integration Strategy Nathan compares the product to existing market players like Crunchbase and Mattermark, prompting Daniel to explain Attentive's workflow integration and automated alerts.6:18–11:38 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Early Traction, Initial Revenue, and Head of Growth Hire Nathan presses for concrete revenue numbers and calculates the exact ARR and implied valuation multiple against the company's convertible note cap.11:38–13:58 · Guest disagreement 2/10 US Expansion Strategy, Accelerator Targets, and Series A Goals Nathan strongly questions the feasibility of raising a $3M round on only $10k in monthly recurring revenue, highlighting the aggressive valuation gap.14:00–16:29 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Host Promotion: The Top Inbox Growth and Commercial Ambitions Segment features host promotional monologues followed by standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire background questions.16:29–16:53 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Attentive Key Metrics Summary Host monologue summarizing the guest's metrics and closing with sponsor announcements.0:54–3:40 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Host Promotion of The Top Inbox Email Productivity Tool Nathan introduces the guest and digs into the pricing structure, asking for clarity when Daniel mentions integration setup fees versus recurring monthly spend.3:40–6:17 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Competitive Differentiation and Technical Integration Strategy Nathan compares the product to existing market players like Crunchbase and Mattermark, prompting Daniel to explain Attentive's workflow integration and automated alerts.6:18–11:38 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Early Traction, Initial Revenue, and Head of Growth Hire Nathan presses for concrete revenue numbers and calculates the exact ARR and implied valuation multiple against the company's convertible note cap.11:38–13:58 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 US Expansion Strategy, Accelerator Targets, and Series A Goals Nathan strongly questions the feasibility of raising a $3M round on only $10k in monthly recurring revenue, highlighting the aggressive valuation gap.14:00–16:29 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Host Promotion: The Top Inbox Growth and Commercial Ambitions Segment features host promotional monologues followed by standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire background questions.16:29–16:53 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Episode Conclusion and Attentive Key Metrics Summary Host monologue summarizing the guest's metrics and closing with sponsor announcements.

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

0:00 · Nathan 74.7% · guest 25.3%0:00 · Nathan 74.7% · guest 25.3%3:00 · Nathan 22.9% · guest 77.1%3:00 · Nathan 22.9% · guest 77.1%6:00 · Nathan 25.1% · guest 74.9%6:00 · Nathan 25.1% · guest 74.9%9:00 · Nathan 29.3% · guest 70.7%9:00 · Nathan 29.3% · guest 70.7%12:00 · Nathan 50.6% · guest 49.4%12:00 · Nathan 50.6% · guest 49.4%15:00 · Nathan 82.7% · guest 17.3%15:00 · Nathan 82.7% · guest 17.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:44 Guest defends US move despite high expense

Daniel pushes back against Nathan's skeptical question about moving headquarters to the expensive US market, insisting it is essential to win enterprise deals.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:32 Host questions $3M raise on $10k MRR

Nathan directly challenges the founder's plan to raise a $3M Series A when annualized revenue is projected to be only $120k.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:52 Guest differentiates automated alerts from passive databases

Daniel educates Nathan on why Attentive isn't just another database like Crunchbase, explaining its deep CRM integration and proactive Slack triggers.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:41 Host calculates extreme revenue multiple

Nathan instantly converts 3 customers at $400 MRR to $14k ARR and demonstrates financial expertise by highlighting that the $1M-$2M valuation cap was a pure team bet.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Host Promotion of The Top Inbox Email Productivity Tool 5213 Nathan introduces the guest and digs into the pricing structure, asking for clarity when Daniel mentions integration setup fees versus recurring monthly spend.
Competitive Differentiation and Technical Integration Strategy 5312 Nathan compares the product to existing market players like Crunchbase and Mattermark, prompting Daniel to explain Attentive's workflow integration and automated alerts.
Early Traction, Initial Revenue, and Head of Growth Hire 7114 Nathan presses for concrete revenue numbers and calculates the exact ARR and implied valuation multiple against the company's convertible note cap.
US Expansion Strategy, Accelerator Targets, and Series A Goals 7226 Nathan strongly questions the feasibility of raising a $3M round on only $10k in monthly recurring revenue, highlighting the aggressive valuation gap.
Host Promotion: The Top Inbox Growth and Commercial Ambitions 1000 Segment features host promotional monologues followed by standard 'Famous Five' rapid-fire background questions.
Episode Conclusion and Attentive Key Metrics Summary 0000 Host monologue summarizing the guest's metrics and closing with sponsor announcements.

Statements from this episode (10)

Disclosure
Attentive's average customer pays $300 to $400 per month
“Actually, the average is going to be higher than that because of the integrations. That would be around like four, 403 hundred dollars a month.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 3:05
Disclosure
Attentive charges $1K to $2K setup fees for custom integrations
“So yeah, the setup fee would be on the low thousands. So maybe it could go for like 1002 thousand for the setup fee. And then it's 400 a month after that.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 3:25
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Attentive has three paying customers for its API
“So we got so we got three customers at this point, just paying us through the API.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 6:32
Disclosure
Attentive has raised roughly $150,000 in total capital
“We've raised roughly a 150,000 dollars.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 8:02
Disclosure
Caixa Capital led Attentive's first $100,000 venture round
“So the first investment we got was a hundred K from the biggest VC here from Portugal, which is it's called caixa capital.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 8:12
Disclosure
Attentive raised a $30K advisor round including a Talkdesk co-founder
“We did something we call an advisor round, which is only for the remaining bits. That's about 25, 30 K. In USD which was people that have been helping us for months, and we got some Techstars alumni, we got people from the competitive intelligence industry, al…”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 8:23
Disclosure
Attentive's first convertible notes had a $1M to $2M valuation cap
“It was pretty straightforward because of the convertible notes. It has the, it had a cap of about a million. It was between a 1,000,002 million.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 9:28
Disclosure
Attentive raised its first venture round with zero clients and zero revenue
“In the really initial phases, when they got investment, we didn't have a single client. We just had the API that was working. We had a few conversations with potential partners and a few customers at the time but there was no revenue at all.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 10:06
Disclosure
Attentive targets $5K to $10K MRR before raising its next round
“We, I think for next round, what we're going to be focused on is have an MRR of about five to five to 10 K.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 12:10
Disclosure
Attentive plans to raise approximately $3M in its next funding round
“I think it's going to be around three million. So it's going to be around those lines, maybe less, maybe a bit more. It depends.”
Daniel Araujo Jan 25, 2017 ▶ 13:25
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