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Jun 9, 2016 · 18m · top-founders

He Quit Google To Invent Smart Way to Recruit, Doing Around $50k/mo in Sales, EP 272: Troy Sultan

Troy Sultan · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Resource founder Troy Sultan joins host Nathan Latka to discuss how his experiences at Grooveshark and Google inspired an outbound recruiting platform generating $50,000 in monthly revenue.

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 47.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 2.0 Nathan pushing back 3.3
05100:0010:001:35–5:15 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Career Journey: Grooveshark Lawsuit to Google Insights Nathan inquires about Troy's early career at Grooveshark and Google. The dynamic is conversational and collaborative, with Troy recounting the $17 billion copyright lawsuit against Grooveshark and his deliberate strategy of learning corporate structure at Google.5:15–8:02 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Launching Resource and Founder Equity Allocation Nathan strongly challenges Troy's equal co-founder equity allocation, calling equal splits a lazy avoidance of tough conversations. Troy stands his ground and defends his approach by looking at complementary contribution over a four-year horizon.8:02–13:56 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Pricing, Traction, Churn Dynamics, and Growth Strategy Nathan presses Troy on revenue metrics, customer acquisition, and business viability given high potential churn. Troy reframes churn as a structural feature of project-based recruitment, while Nathan successfully triangulates Troy's estimated revenue to roughly $50k per month.13:56–17:36 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 HostGator Mid-Roll Sponsorship and Promotion This segment consists of a HostGator sponsor read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question sequence, maintaining a lighthearted and cooperative atmosphere.1:35–5:15 · Guest teaching 3/10 Career Journey: Grooveshark Lawsuit to Google Insights Nathan inquires about Troy's early career at Grooveshark and Google. The dynamic is conversational and collaborative, with Troy recounting the $17 billion copyright lawsuit against Grooveshark and his deliberate strategy of learning corporate structure at Google.5:15–8:02 · Guest teaching 4/10 Launching Resource and Founder Equity Allocation Nathan strongly challenges Troy's equal co-founder equity allocation, calling equal splits a lazy avoidance of tough conversations. Troy stands his ground and defends his approach by looking at complementary contribution over a four-year horizon.8:02–13:56 · Guest teaching 4/10 Pricing, Traction, Churn Dynamics, and Growth Strategy Nathan presses Troy on revenue metrics, customer acquisition, and business viability given high potential churn. Troy reframes churn as a structural feature of project-based recruitment, while Nathan successfully triangulates Troy's estimated revenue to roughly $50k per month.13:56–17:36 · Guest teaching 1/10 HostGator Mid-Roll Sponsorship and Promotion This segment consists of a HostGator sponsor read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question sequence, maintaining a lighthearted and cooperative atmosphere.1:35–5:15 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Career Journey: Grooveshark Lawsuit to Google Insights Nathan inquires about Troy's early career at Grooveshark and Google. The dynamic is conversational and collaborative, with Troy recounting the $17 billion copyright lawsuit against Grooveshark and his deliberate strategy of learning corporate structure at Google.5:15–8:02 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Launching Resource and Founder Equity Allocation Nathan strongly challenges Troy's equal co-founder equity allocation, calling equal splits a lazy avoidance of tough conversations. Troy stands his ground and defends his approach by looking at complementary contribution over a four-year horizon.8:02–13:56 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Pricing, Traction, Churn Dynamics, and Growth Strategy Nathan presses Troy on revenue metrics, customer acquisition, and business viability given high potential churn. Troy reframes churn as a structural feature of project-based recruitment, while Nathan successfully triangulates Troy's estimated revenue to roughly $50k per month.13:56–17:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 HostGator Mid-Roll Sponsorship and Promotion This segment consists of a HostGator sponsor read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question sequence, maintaining a lighthearted and cooperative atmosphere.1:35–5:15 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Career Journey: Grooveshark Lawsuit to Google Insights Nathan inquires about Troy's early career at Grooveshark and Google. The dynamic is conversational and collaborative, with Troy recounting the $17 billion copyright lawsuit against Grooveshark and his deliberate strategy of learning corporate structure at Google.5:15–8:02 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Launching Resource and Founder Equity Allocation Nathan strongly challenges Troy's equal co-founder equity allocation, calling equal splits a lazy avoidance of tough conversations. Troy stands his ground and defends his approach by looking at complementary contribution over a four-year horizon.8:02–13:56 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Pricing, Traction, Churn Dynamics, and Growth Strategy Nathan presses Troy on revenue metrics, customer acquisition, and business viability given high potential churn. Troy reframes churn as a structural feature of project-based recruitment, while Nathan successfully triangulates Troy's estimated revenue to roughly $50k per month.13:56–17:36 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 HostGator Mid-Roll Sponsorship and Promotion This segment consists of a HostGator sponsor read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question sequence, maintaining a lighthearted and cooperative atmosphere.

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

0:00 · Nathan 74.9% · guest 25.1%0:00 · Nathan 74.9% · guest 25.1%3:00 · Nathan 12.7% · guest 87.3%3:00 · Nathan 12.7% · guest 87.3%6:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%6:00 · Nathan 33.9% · guest 66.1%9:00 · Nathan 39.3% · guest 60.7%9:00 · Nathan 39.3% · guest 60.7%12:00 · Nathan 51.7% · guest 48.3%12:00 · Nathan 51.7% · guest 48.3%15:00 · Nathan 61.8% · guest 38.2%15:00 · Nathan 61.8% · guest 38.2%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 7:20 Troy defends equal equity allocation

Troy directly rejects Nathan's framing that equal co-founder equity is lazy, arguing that varying value contributions across technical and sales phases balance out over four years.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:02 Nathan attacks equal equity splits

Nathan explicitly rejects Troy's response about sharing equity equally, stating he hates that answer and labeling equal splits as a cowardly shortcut.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:32 Troy clarifies why SaaS churn doesn't apply

Troy educates Nathan on why traditional SaaS churn metrics are inaccurate for Resource, explaining that doing a good job naturally works them out of a contract until the next hiring wave.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:35 Nathan deduces $50k monthly revenue

Nathan synthesizes Troy's guarded answers regarding customer count and monthly contract pricing to pinpoint and extract confirmation of an estimated $50k monthly revenue.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Career Journey: Grooveshark Lawsuit to Google Insights 3311 Nathan inquires about Troy's early career at Grooveshark and Google. The dynamic is conversational and collaborative, with Troy recounting the $17 billion copyright lawsuit against Grooveshark and his deliberate strategy of learning corporate structure at Google.
Launching Resource and Founder Equity Allocation 5446 Nathan strongly challenges Troy's equal co-founder equity allocation, calling equal splits a lazy avoidance of tough conversations. Troy stands his ground and defends his approach by looking at complementary contribution over a four-year horizon.
Pricing, Traction, Churn Dynamics, and Growth Strategy 6425 Nathan presses Troy on revenue metrics, customer acquisition, and business viability given high potential churn. Troy reframes churn as a structural feature of project-based recruitment, while Nathan successfully triangulates Troy's estimated revenue to roughly $50k per month.
HostGator Mid-Roll Sponsorship and Promotion 2111 This segment consists of a HostGator sponsor read followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question sequence, maintaining a lighthearted and cooperative atmosphere.

Statements from this episode (8)

Assertion Supported
Sultan: Grooveshark imploded after being sued for $17 billion
“They actually imploded because we got sued for seventeen billion dollars.”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 2:07
Disclosure
Resource has raised only $125k in outside capital from 500 Startups
“We are so the only outside capital we've taken on is about a hundred and 125 K from the accelerator.”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 5:53
Opinion
Latka: Equal 50/50 founder equity splits are lazy cop-outs
“I think it's just like, sometimes I hear like two co-founders, they say, oh, we just split it fifty-fifty. And the first thing I hear is, oh, they're not tough enough to have the hard conversations about who's actually going to put in more energy. So they just…”
Nathan Latka Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 7:07
Insight
Sultan: Expecting unequal long-term value from co-founders is a red flag
“If you look at it over a four year period, where do we hope to all provide value? It should be more or less equal. Otherwise, I think that maybe there's a red flag in the co-founding team.”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 7:46
Disclosure
Sultan: Resource charges $5,000 to $8,500 monthly for recruiting service
“We charge between 5000 and let's say 8500 a month for our service.”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 8:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sultan: Resource generates tens of thousands per month in revenue
“We're doing tens of thousands in revenue per month operating with several customers.”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 8:34
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sultan: Resource has low double-digit customer count
“In the low Low double digits.”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 8:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sultan: Resource is currently operating profitably
“We're in the green. So we're operating profitably”
Troy Sultan Jun 9, 2016 ▶ 13:00
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