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Aug 17, 2016 · 21m · top-founders

EP 389: ConceptDrop Raises $1.1M, Helps You Get Creative Work Done Quick with Phil Alexander EP389

Nathan Latka · 10m spoken Phil Alexander · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews ConceptDrop CEO and founder Phil Alexander on how his automated creative marketplace scaled to a seven-figure annual run rate and secured $1.1 million in venture financing. Alexander details his closed marketplace unit economics, designer retention strategies, enterprise customer expansion, and the long-term mindset required of venture-backed founders.

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 54.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.2 Guest teaching 1.6 Guest disagreement 2.0 Nathan pushing back 4.4
05100:0010:0020:001:29–4:27 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 ConceptDrop Value Proposition and Marketplace Mechanics Nathan breaks down ConceptDrop's marketplace mechanics and take rate, asking whether pricing is net or gross for the creative talent.4:27–7:30 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Founding Roots and Raising a $1.1M Venture Round Nathan digs into the cap table and venture funding details, pressing Phil to disclose a valuation range after he initially avoids the question.7:30–13:05 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Freelancer Economics, Marketplace Utilization, and Revenue Metrics Phil dodges specific transaction and revenue totals, prompting Nathan to aggressively push back against vague metrics and demand concrete historical numbers.13:05–16:16 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Buyout Offer Assessment and Contact Information Nathan presents a hypothetical buyout scenario and calculates founder payout math versus investor return expectations.16:18–19:13 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five routine covering reading habits, Sundar Pichai, HubSpot usage, and lessons learned.1:29–4:27 · Guest teaching 2/10 ConceptDrop Value Proposition and Marketplace Mechanics Nathan breaks down ConceptDrop's marketplace mechanics and take rate, asking whether pricing is net or gross for the creative talent.4:27–7:30 · Guest teaching 1/10 Founding Roots and Raising a $1.1M Venture Round Nathan digs into the cap table and venture funding details, pressing Phil to disclose a valuation range after he initially avoids the question.7:30–13:05 · Guest teaching 2/10 Freelancer Economics, Marketplace Utilization, and Revenue Metrics Phil dodges specific transaction and revenue totals, prompting Nathan to aggressively push back against vague metrics and demand concrete historical numbers.13:05–16:16 · Guest teaching 2/10 Buyout Offer Assessment and Contact Information Nathan presents a hypothetical buyout scenario and calculates founder payout math versus investor return expectations.16:18–19:13 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five routine covering reading habits, Sundar Pichai, HubSpot usage, and lessons learned.1:29–4:27 · Guest disagreement 1/10 ConceptDrop Value Proposition and Marketplace Mechanics Nathan breaks down ConceptDrop's marketplace mechanics and take rate, asking whether pricing is net or gross for the creative talent.4:27–7:30 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Founding Roots and Raising a $1.1M Venture Round Nathan digs into the cap table and venture funding details, pressing Phil to disclose a valuation range after he initially avoids the question.7:30–13:05 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Freelancer Economics, Marketplace Utilization, and Revenue Metrics Phil dodges specific transaction and revenue totals, prompting Nathan to aggressively push back against vague metrics and demand concrete historical numbers.13:05–16:16 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Buyout Offer Assessment and Contact Information Nathan presents a hypothetical buyout scenario and calculates founder payout math versus investor return expectations.16:18–19:13 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five routine covering reading habits, Sundar Pichai, HubSpot usage, and lessons learned.1:29–4:27 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 ConceptDrop Value Proposition and Marketplace Mechanics Nathan breaks down ConceptDrop's marketplace mechanics and take rate, asking whether pricing is net or gross for the creative talent.4:27–7:30 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Founding Roots and Raising a $1.1M Venture Round Nathan digs into the cap table and venture funding details, pressing Phil to disclose a valuation range after he initially avoids the question.7:30–13:05 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Freelancer Economics, Marketplace Utilization, and Revenue Metrics Phil dodges specific transaction and revenue totals, prompting Nathan to aggressively push back against vague metrics and demand concrete historical numbers.13:05–16:16 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Buyout Offer Assessment and Contact Information Nathan presents a hypothetical buyout scenario and calculates founder payout math versus investor return expectations.16:18–19:13 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Standard Famous Five routine covering reading habits, Sundar Pichai, HubSpot usage, and lessons learned.

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

0:00 · Nathan 53.2% · guest 46.8%0:00 · Nathan 53.2% · guest 46.8%3:00 · Nathan 40.5% · guest 59.5%3:00 · Nathan 40.5% · guest 59.5%6:00 · Nathan 39.9% · guest 60.1%6:00 · Nathan 39.9% · guest 60.1%9:00 · Nathan 42.8% · guest 57.2%9:00 · Nathan 42.8% · guest 57.2%12:00 · Nathan 52.9% · guest 47.1%12:00 · Nathan 52.9% · guest 47.1%15:00 · Nathan 65.5% · guest 34.5%15:00 · Nathan 65.5% · guest 34.5%18:00 · Nathan 84.5% · guest 15.5%18:00 · Nathan 84.5% · guest 15.5%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:11 Phil holds ground against revealing specific revenue numbers

Phil firmly pushes back against Nathan's demands for raw project volume and specific dollar figures, stating he will not get into specifics.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:34 Nathan refuses vague growth claims

Nathan cuts through Phil's vague narrative about raising capital, asserting that many funded startups go bankrupt and insisting on hard operational metrics.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:22 Phil explains algorithmic matching vs bidding wars

Phil educates Nathan on ConceptDrop's fixed-rate model, correcting the assumption that freelancers bid against each other or set custom hourly rates.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:35 Nathan models monthly run rate milestones

Nathan immediately synthesizes Phil's monthly revenue jump into an annualized run-rate calculation, pinpointing the $1M milestone threshold.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
ConceptDrop Value Proposition and Marketplace Mechanics 5213 Nathan breaks down ConceptDrop's marketplace mechanics and take rate, asking whether pricing is net or gross for the creative talent.
Founding Roots and Raising a $1.1M Venture Round 6125 Nathan digs into the cap table and venture funding details, pressing Phil to disclose a valuation range after he initially avoids the question.
Freelancer Economics, Marketplace Utilization, and Revenue Metrics 7248 Phil dodges specific transaction and revenue totals, prompting Nathan to aggressively push back against vague metrics and demand concrete historical numbers.
Buyout Offer Assessment and Contact Information 5224 Nathan presents a hypothetical buyout scenario and calculates founder payout math versus investor return expectations.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 3112 Standard Famous Five routine covering reading habits, Sundar Pichai, HubSpot usage, and lessons learned.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alexander: ConceptDrop 8x'd monthly revenue in one year and raised $1.1M
“Well, I can tell you that we worked with over 300 companies and in one calendar year, year, year, we eight X star monthly revenue. We went from two employees to eight full time employees. And in the process, we recently closed out a 1.1 million dollar venture …”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 5:22
Disclosure
Alexander: ConceptDrop raised $250K convertible note before venture round
“We did do a convertible note. We had raised about a quarter million dollars on a convertible note prior to that round.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 5:47
Disclosure
Alexander: ConceptDrop raised $1.1M round at $5M to $7M pre-money valuation
“Five to seven.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 6:14
Assertion Supported
Alexander: Network Ventures led ConceptDrop's $1.1M seed round
“It's called network ventures. It was started by someone who was one of the early employees from the Pritzker group.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 7:24
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alexander: ConceptDrop operates with fewer than 100 vetted freelance suppliers
“So we actually are working with a pretty small group of suppliers less than 100.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 7:43
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alexander: ConceptDrop has a $500 AOV and pays freelancers 65%
“Our average, the average order value for us is about 500 dollars. So they're taking about 65% of that on average per project.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 8:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alexander: ConceptDrop 10xed monthly revenue in 2015 from $10K-$15K/month
“In back in early part of 2015, we hadn't launched a marketplace. We were, you know, doing, you know, not single digits in monthly revenue, but we were doing, you know, in the lower 10 to 15,000 per month, we basically 10 X that in a year.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 9:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alexander: ConceptDrop closed a six-figure enterprise deal with Fortune 100 client
“We've kind of gone from selling those individual projects to closing Six figure contract with a fortune 100 company.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 10:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Alexander: ConceptDrop customers typically repurchase in 60 to 90 days
“Because of the kind of the nature of what we're doing, we typically see people come back in like 60 to 90 days, but that's been a big focus for us.”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 11:04
Insight
Alexander: Raising a Serious Seed Round Raises the Stakes for Early Exits
“The second you raise a serious seed round, it kind of changed the stakes for what's acceptable to everyone. And like, I made a commitment to the investors to get to a certain point. And I think Yeah. You kind of got to assume when you have these, you know, p…”
Phil Alexander Aug 17, 2016 ▶ 13:59
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