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Dec 16, 2016 · 22m · top-founders

EP 510: HubDoc Hits $132k MRR, 1200 Customers, $2M Raised to Help You Accountants Manage Their Documents with CEO Yoseph West

Yusuf West · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 9m spoken
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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 Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Yusuf West, Head of Growth at HubDoc, detailing how the document automation platform scaled to $132,000 in monthly recurring revenue with net negative churn across 1,100 accounting firm partners.

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 45.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.2 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 2.7
05100:0010:0020:000:28–5:24 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Subscription Promotion Nathan probes into Yusuf's prior startup exit, directly asking whether it was a soft landing and inquiring into the mechanics of their convertible note and angel funding.5:24–8:52 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 HubDoc's Value Proposition and Web-Scraping Automation Nathan questions the founding timeline based on conflicting information found on LinkedIn, prompting Yusuf to explain the pivot from B2C to B2B.8:52–11:52 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Pricing Strategy, User Base, and Monthly Recurring Revenue Nathan attempts to calculate monthly recurring revenue on the fly by multiplying ARPU with total end-users, requiring Yusuf to correct his math to account for agency accounts versus client seats.11:53–14:04 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Unit Economics: CAC, Lifetime Value, and Net Negative Churn Nathan quickly computes gross churn from average customer lifespan and breaks down the exact mechanics of net negative revenue churn for the audience.14:05–17:09 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Team Expansion, Australian Market, and Toronto Funding The conversation is collaborative as Yusuf explains the strategic advantage of expanding to the mature cloud accounting market in Australia and raising capital in Toronto.17:11–20:49 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Host Monologue: Building The Top Inbox for Public Offering Following an ad monologue about his own venture, Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions with standard guest participation.0:28–5:24 · Guest teaching 1/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Subscription Promotion Nathan probes into Yusuf's prior startup exit, directly asking whether it was a soft landing and inquiring into the mechanics of their convertible note and angel funding.5:24–8:52 · Guest teaching 2/10 HubDoc's Value Proposition and Web-Scraping Automation Nathan questions the founding timeline based on conflicting information found on LinkedIn, prompting Yusuf to explain the pivot from B2C to B2B.8:52–11:52 · Guest teaching 4/10 Pricing Strategy, User Base, and Monthly Recurring Revenue Nathan attempts to calculate monthly recurring revenue on the fly by multiplying ARPU with total end-users, requiring Yusuf to correct his math to account for agency accounts versus client seats.11:53–14:04 · Guest teaching 2/10 Unit Economics: CAC, Lifetime Value, and Net Negative Churn Nathan quickly computes gross churn from average customer lifespan and breaks down the exact mechanics of net negative revenue churn for the audience.14:05–17:09 · Guest teaching 2/10 Team Expansion, Australian Market, and Toronto Funding The conversation is collaborative as Yusuf explains the strategic advantage of expanding to the mature cloud accounting market in Australia and raising capital in Toronto.17:11–20:49 · Guest teaching 1/10 Host Monologue: Building The Top Inbox for Public Offering Following an ad monologue about his own venture, Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions with standard guest participation.0:28–5:24 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Subscription Promotion Nathan probes into Yusuf's prior startup exit, directly asking whether it was a soft landing and inquiring into the mechanics of their convertible note and angel funding.5:24–8:52 · Guest disagreement 1/10 HubDoc's Value Proposition and Web-Scraping Automation Nathan questions the founding timeline based on conflicting information found on LinkedIn, prompting Yusuf to explain the pivot from B2C to B2B.8:52–11:52 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Pricing Strategy, User Base, and Monthly Recurring Revenue Nathan attempts to calculate monthly recurring revenue on the fly by multiplying ARPU with total end-users, requiring Yusuf to correct his math to account for agency accounts versus client seats.11:53–14:04 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Unit Economics: CAC, Lifetime Value, and Net Negative Churn Nathan quickly computes gross churn from average customer lifespan and breaks down the exact mechanics of net negative revenue churn for the audience.14:05–17:09 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Team Expansion, Australian Market, and Toronto Funding The conversation is collaborative as Yusuf explains the strategic advantage of expanding to the mature cloud accounting market in Australia and raising capital in Toronto.17:11–20:49 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Host Monologue: Building The Top Inbox for Public Offering Following an ad monologue about his own venture, Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions with standard guest participation.0:28–5:24 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Subscription Promotion Nathan probes into Yusuf's prior startup exit, directly asking whether it was a soft landing and inquiring into the mechanics of their convertible note and angel funding.5:24–8:52 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 HubDoc's Value Proposition and Web-Scraping Automation Nathan questions the founding timeline based on conflicting information found on LinkedIn, prompting Yusuf to explain the pivot from B2C to B2B.8:52–11:52 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Pricing Strategy, User Base, and Monthly Recurring Revenue Nathan attempts to calculate monthly recurring revenue on the fly by multiplying ARPU with total end-users, requiring Yusuf to correct his math to account for agency accounts versus client seats.11:53–14:04 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Unit Economics: CAC, Lifetime Value, and Net Negative Churn Nathan quickly computes gross churn from average customer lifespan and breaks down the exact mechanics of net negative revenue churn for the audience.14:05–17:09 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Team Expansion, Australian Market, and Toronto Funding The conversation is collaborative as Yusuf explains the strategic advantage of expanding to the mature cloud accounting market in Australia and raising capital in Toronto.17:11–20:49 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Host Monologue: Building The Top Inbox for Public Offering Following an ad monologue about his own venture, Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions with standard guest participation.

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

0:00 · Nathan 74.5% · guest 25.5%0:00 · Nathan 74.5% · guest 25.5%3:00 · Nathan 16% · guest 84%3:00 · Nathan 16% · guest 84%6:00 · Nathan 11.3% · guest 88.7%6:00 · Nathan 11.3% · guest 88.7%9:00 · Nathan 46.5% · guest 53.5%9:00 · Nathan 46.5% · guest 53.5%12:00 · Nathan 44% · guest 56%12:00 · Nathan 44% · guest 56%15:00 · Nathan 40.2% · guest 59.8%15:00 · Nathan 40.2% · guest 59.8%18:00 · Nathan 57.2% · guest 42.8%18:00 · Nathan 57.2% · guest 42.8%21:00 · Nathan 99.1% · guest 0.9%21:00 · Nathan 99.1% · guest 0.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:24 Yusuf reframes the customer metric calculation

Yusuf firmly steps in to correct Nathan's assumption that all 7,500 users pay the full unit rate directly.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:09 Nathan presses on exit quality

Nathan cuts through PR framing to ask if the acquisition was genuinely a lucrative exit or merely a soft landing.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:24 Yusuf educates Nathan on accounting channel economics

Yusuf points out Nathan's multiplication error, clarifying that revenue comes from 1,100 paying accountant accounts rather than the individual small business clients.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:46 Nathan demonstrates SaaS metric mastery

Nathan showcases deep SaaS industry expertise by explaining the exact definitions and mechanics of net negative revenue churn to the audience.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Weekly Contest Winner and Subscription Promotion 4114 Nathan probes into Yusuf's prior startup exit, directly asking whether it was a soft landing and inquiring into the mechanics of their convertible note and angel funding.
HubDoc's Value Proposition and Web-Scraping Automation 3213 Nathan questions the founding timeline based on conflicting information found on LinkedIn, prompting Yusuf to explain the pivot from B2C to B2B.
Pricing Strategy, User Base, and Monthly Recurring Revenue 6424 Nathan attempts to calculate monthly recurring revenue on the fly by multiplying ARPU with total end-users, requiring Yusuf to correct his math to account for agency accounts versus client seats.
Unit Economics: CAC, Lifetime Value, and Net Negative Churn 7212 Nathan quickly computes gross churn from average customer lifespan and breaks down the exact mechanics of net negative revenue churn for the audience.
Team Expansion, Australian Market, and Toronto Funding 3212 The conversation is collaborative as Yusuf explains the strategic advantage of expanding to the mature cloud accounting market in Australia and raising capital in Toronto.
Host Monologue: Building The Top Inbox for Public Offering 2101 Following an ad monologue about his own venture, Nathan runs through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questions with standard guest participation.

Statements from this episode (16)

Disclosure
West calls Vuru's sale to Wave Accounting a soft landing
“I would say, you know, soft landing.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 3:13
Insight
West: Cloud software cut small business bookkeeping costs by two-thirds
“So I would say today, based on like just purely cloud software, the cost to deliver that, that set of books is now a third of what it used to be.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 6:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
West: HubDoc built over 700 web scrapers to fetch source documents
“So, so effectively we built over 700 web scrapers that go out and log in on your behalf and go and get your Verizon bill for instance.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 7:03
Disclosure
West: HubDoc plans to scale to 7,000 scrapers in five years
“And so, you know, we're taking that number from 700 to 7000 over the next five years.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 7:16
Assertion Not checkable as stated
West: HubDoc maintains an NPS in the 80s
“And we have an NPS in the eighties, right?”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 8:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc reaches 7,500 paying small business customers
“So we're at 7500 small businesses that pay us every month.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 8:56
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc counts over 1,000 accountant partners driving 6,500 to 7,000 businesses
“So we're at like call it a thousand plus accountant bookkeepers who are paying us today. And then, you know, I would say that 6500 to 700 or 6500 to 7000 small businesses come from the, that channel and the rest are just kind of direct small businesses that we…”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 9:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc added over half its business in four to five months
“We've added Over half our business in the last, you know, four or five months.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 10:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc acquires accountant and bookkeeper customers for about $350 each
“So everything we've done apart from like paid conferences and stuff like that has primarily been inbound. So our cost of acquisition is pretty low on, on an accountant bookkeeper. So it's about 350 dollars.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 12:00
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc accountant customers retain for an average of 32 months
“Approximately 32 months.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 12:16
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc maintains net negative revenue churn in nearly every month
“We've seen that pretty much in every month since it has started charging people.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 13:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
HubDoc estimates accounting firm customer LTV at roughly $3,000
“So, so what I would say is, you know, our LTV is like it's still early days. So I would say it's about three grand roughly.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 13:40
Assertion Not checkable as stated
West: Australia's cloud accounting market is 3 to 5 years ahead of the US
“But the Australian market is about three to five years ahead of the American market. Cloud accounting.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 14:24
Disclosure
West: HubDoc raised a couple million dollars from a strategic investor
“We've raised a couple million bucks from a strategic.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 14:39
Opinion
West: Consumer tech startups need to be in Silicon Valley
“Like if you're running a consumer product, you need to be in the Valley. You need to be in the U S”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 15:01
Prediction Not checkable as stated
HubDoc Targets Growth from 1,000 to 5,000 Bookkeepers in 2017
“If we go from like a thousand account bookkeepers to 5000, right? Like, that's amazing.”
Yusuf West Dec 16, 2016 ▶ 15:58
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