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Aug 31, 2016 · 16m · top-founders

EP 403: $650k Raised, Finland SaaS Copmany, 600 Customers with PromoRepublic.com

Max Pecherskyi · 7m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m 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 podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews PromoRepublic co-founder Max Pechersky to examine the SaaS startup's revenue growth, unit economics, fundraising structure, and strategic transition toward US freelance marketers.

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 45.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.3 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 3.3
05100:0010:003:13–7:04 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 PromoRepublic Product Overview and Content Engine Nathan drills down into the company's financial timeline, quickly noticing an inconsistency between monthly run rates and total annual revenue. Max clarifies the pivots and early low revenue base without friction.7:05–11:15 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Capital Structure and Finnish State Funding Nathan pushes back hard when Max claims 'great traction' despite only $10k in sales, prompting Max to defend his customer acquisition rate with specific customer numbers. Nathan also breaks down churn and CAC to calculate LTV metrics in real time.11:16–13:25 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Monetization Strategy and Contact Information Max briefly outlines plans for template sales similar to Canva, and Nathan transitions directly into sponsor ad reads.13:25–15:21 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Questions with Max Pechersky Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format. Nathan interrupts briefly to get exact book and founder details, but the mood is light and collaborative.3:13–7:04 · Guest teaching 3/10 PromoRepublic Product Overview and Content Engine Nathan drills down into the company's financial timeline, quickly noticing an inconsistency between monthly run rates and total annual revenue. Max clarifies the pivots and early low revenue base without friction.7:05–11:15 · Guest teaching 3/10 Capital Structure and Finnish State Funding Nathan pushes back hard when Max claims 'great traction' despite only $10k in sales, prompting Max to defend his customer acquisition rate with specific customer numbers. Nathan also breaks down churn and CAC to calculate LTV metrics in real time.11:16–13:25 · Guest teaching 1/10 Monetization Strategy and Contact Information Max briefly outlines plans for template sales similar to Canva, and Nathan transitions directly into sponsor ad reads.13:25–15:21 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Questions with Max Pechersky Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format. Nathan interrupts briefly to get exact book and founder details, but the mood is light and collaborative.3:13–7:04 · Guest disagreement 2/10 PromoRepublic Product Overview and Content Engine Nathan drills down into the company's financial timeline, quickly noticing an inconsistency between monthly run rates and total annual revenue. Max clarifies the pivots and early low revenue base without friction.7:05–11:15 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Capital Structure and Finnish State Funding Nathan pushes back hard when Max claims 'great traction' despite only $10k in sales, prompting Max to defend his customer acquisition rate with specific customer numbers. Nathan also breaks down churn and CAC to calculate LTV metrics in real time.11:16–13:25 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Monetization Strategy and Contact Information Max briefly outlines plans for template sales similar to Canva, and Nathan transitions directly into sponsor ad reads.13:25–15:21 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Questions with Max Pechersky Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format. Nathan interrupts briefly to get exact book and founder details, but the mood is light and collaborative.3:13–7:04 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 PromoRepublic Product Overview and Content Engine Nathan drills down into the company's financial timeline, quickly noticing an inconsistency between monthly run rates and total annual revenue. Max clarifies the pivots and early low revenue base without friction.7:05–11:15 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Capital Structure and Finnish State Funding Nathan pushes back hard when Max claims 'great traction' despite only $10k in sales, prompting Max to defend his customer acquisition rate with specific customer numbers. Nathan also breaks down churn and CAC to calculate LTV metrics in real time.11:16–13:25 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Monetization Strategy and Contact Information Max briefly outlines plans for template sales similar to Canva, and Nathan transitions directly into sponsor ad reads.13:25–15:21 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 The Famous Five Questions with Max Pechersky Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format. Nathan interrupts briefly to get exact book and founder details, but the mood is light and collaborative.

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

0:00 · Nathan 72.6% · guest 27.4%0:00 · Nathan 72.6% · guest 27.4%3:00 · Nathan 18.5% · guest 81.5%3:00 · Nathan 18.5% · guest 81.5%6:00 · Nathan 19.9% · guest 80.1%6:00 · Nathan 19.9% · guest 80.1%9:00 · Nathan 37% · guest 63%9:00 · Nathan 37% · guest 63%12:00 · Nathan 67.9% · guest 32.1%12:00 · Nathan 67.9% · guest 32.1%15:00 · Nathan 73% · guest 27%15:00 · Nathan 73% · guest 27%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:24 Max defends growth traction

Max counters Nathan's dismissive claim about small-number percentages by citing specific raw customer growth counts from 97 to 268.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 8:12 Nathan challenges traction claim

Nathan directly challenges Max's assertion of having great traction when the annual revenue was only ten thousand dollars.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:09 Finnish soft loan structure

Max explains the nuanced Finnish state funding mechanism combining convertible loans and grants that can convert based on performance.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:28 Nathan calculates LTV and margins live

Nathan uses the 8 percent churn rate and $10 ARPU to calculate average lifetime value of $125 against a $100 CAC live on air.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
PromoRepublic Product Overview and Content Engine 6324 Nathan drills down into the company's financial timeline, quickly noticing an inconsistency between monthly run rates and total annual revenue. Max clarifies the pivots and early low revenue base without friction.
Capital Structure and Finnish State Funding 7346 Nathan pushes back hard when Max claims 'great traction' despite only $10k in sales, prompting Max to defend his customer acquisition rate with specific customer numbers. Nathan also breaks down churn and CAC to calculate LTV metrics in real time.
Monetization Strategy and Contact Information 2101 Max briefly outlines plans for template sales similar to Canva, and Nathan transitions directly into sponsor ad reads.
The Famous Five Questions with Max Pechersky 2112 Standard rapid-fire Famous Five format. Nathan interrupts briefly to get exact book and founder details, but the mood is light and collaborative.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Max Pechersky personally invested 30,000 dollars into PromoRepublic
“I invested 30,000 dollars.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 2:58
Disclosure
Max Pechersky retained slightly over 30 percent equity in PromoRepublic
“So it's in the like above, like, slightly above 30%.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 3:05
Assertion Not checkable as stated
PromoRepublic made €30k non-recurring revenue in its first four months
“So the revenue within like first four months after launch was 30 K euro. And but those were not non-recurring revenues.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 4:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
PromoRepublic closed 2015 with €3,500 in monthly recurring revenue
“That was 10 K in total. So we closed the year 2015 with three and a half thousand euro recurring.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 5:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
PromoRepublic reaches roughly €6k MRR in mid-2016
“So now this is close to, ah, in recurring revenues. So now this is about six K.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 5:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
PromoRepublic counts 600 total paying customers across Europe and the US
“At the moment, 604 hundred from our like previous stage. Those are owners of small businesses in Europe. And we managed to onboard approximately 200 marketing freelancers from U.S.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 5:56
Disclosure
PromoRepublic has raised approximately €650k to €700k in total capital
“So, our last round was 500,000 euro. In total, it is now, like, approximately 657 hundred euro. For the whole period of our existence.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 6:51
Disclosure
PromoRepublic raised $500K via convertible loans and Finnish state co-investment
“It was partly on convertible capital loan, and the other part is capital from Finnish Finnish state fund that supports that supports the startups and co-invest together with private capital.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 7:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pechersky: PromoRepublic Experiences 8% Monthly Churn Rate
“Monthly churn, eight percent without working with this churn.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 8:43
Insight
Latka: 90% of SMBs Fail in Two Years, Driving High SaaS Churn
“Nine out of 10 small businesses fail in the first two years, so it makes churn extremely, extremely difficult in the SMB space, which is why usually typically people decide to move up market into mid-market or enterprise space.”
Nathan Latka Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 9:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pechersky: PromoRepublic's CAC Is Over $100 in US Versus $14 in Russia
“In U.S. It is slightly above 100 dollars. In in Russian speaking, internet, 14.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 9:55
Insight
Pechersky: Wasting time convincing people to like you is a major trap
“I think I would say that I should be also okay if someone does not like me. And I couldn't stand that in those years and lost too much time, like, persuading people they should like me.”
Max Pecherskyi Aug 31, 2016 ▶ 15:08
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