Jun 9, 2016 · 19m · top-founders
EP 320: With a $150M War Chest, He Gives SaaS Businesses Friendly Loans
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 Lance Mysyrowicz, founder of Boost&Co, exploring how his $150 million fund provides non-dilutive growth debt and mezzanine financing to help high-growth SaaS founders scale without sacrificing equity.
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 48.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 4.3 Guest teaching 4.0 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 2.3
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:41 Lance defends market convention on transaction fees
Lance rejects Nathan's critique that upfront fees are irrational, explaining firmly that industry competitors dictate this pricing structure.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:28 Nathan challenges the logic of circular loan feesNathan repeatedly refuses to accept why a lender disburses a million dollars only to immediately claw back a percentage fee rather than net the principal upfront.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:05 Lance corrects Nathan on venture debt return distributionLance educates Nathan on why venture lending cannot rely on VC power laws since debt returns are capped and cannot achieve 100x payouts.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 10:54 Nathan pitches a granular SaaS underwriting profileNathan showcases strong SaaS fluency by pitching exact churn and net expansion metrics to test Lance's interest pricing model.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Contest Winner and Show Announcement | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Nathan introduces the show and establishes context by comparing Boost&Co to traditional VC and venture debt players like SVB and Square One. Lance clarifies that Boost&Co lends independently without requiring existing equity sponsors. | |
| Boost&Co's Capital Base and LP Backing | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Lance breaks down the fund structure and the three revenue streams on a loan: fees, interest, and warrants. Nathan demonstrates knowledge of startup financing by probing strike prices versus discount mechanics on convertible notes. | |
| Clarifying Deal Fees vs. Fund Management Fees | 5 | 6 | 3 | 6 | Nathan presses Lance on why funds charge upfront transaction fees that are simply netted out from the loan disbursement rather than just reducing the principal amount. Lance educates Nathan on fund-level economics versus LP management fees and standard industry pricing conventions. | |
| Interest Rates, Risk Profiling, and Amortization Schedules | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Nathan presents a concrete SaaS operational hypothetical using monthly net growth and churn metrics to ask how interest rates are priced. Lance walks through risk assessment and explains loan amortization schedules compared to residential mortgages. | |
| Debt Portfolio Strategy vs. Venture Capital Power Law | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | Nathan asks if debt investing follows the VC power law of outsized single winners. Lance corrects this fundamental assumption, explaining that because debt upside is capped, diversification and loss containment are paramount before defining mezzanine finance. | |
| HostGator Sponsor Promo and Contest Details | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Nathan runs through an ad read and conducts the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire in a collaborative, friendly closing exchange. |
Statements from this episode (10)
Boost&Co Lends Earlier and in Larger Amounts Than Traditional Banks
“Boost&Co funds early stage
High-tech companies through loans. So we lend money to these companies earlier in the development of these companies than the banks, or we lend them more money than the banks. And against that, we get a higher remuneration than the b…”
Boost&Co Offers Venture Debt Without Requiring Existing VC Backing
“We are similar pricing, but we are different because we do not rely on companies who have venture capital Already invested in, in, in their cap tables.”
Boost&Co Has Deployed Approximately $120M Across 25 Deals
“In my life probably a hundred, but at boost we're up to about 25 deals now and call it about a hundred and twenty million dollars.”
Boost&Co Invested $1.75M in Debt Financing Into SaaS Company IDIO
“We have put in one point two, five million pounds. So about one seventy five million dollars.”
Boost&Co Charges 1-2% Fees, 8-12% Interest, and 10-15% Warrants
“We make our money in three different ways. Fees, interest, and warrant. So fees is, let's say one to two percent of the amounts that we lend. Interest rate is anywhere between eight percent and 12% of the money capital outstanding on the loan and then the warr…”
Boost&Co Deal Origination Fees Flow Entirely Back to the Fund
“It goes back to the fund. I do not make, and I, personally, and Boost, personally, does not make anything on deals. It goes all to the funds.”
Boost&Co Waives Upfront Loan Fees in Exchange for Higher Interest Rates
“We're happy to waive the fee, but it'll have a impact on the interest rate. So the way we think about it is how much IRR or how much profits in general are we going to make on the loan? So if you want zero fees, I'm more than happy to waive it, but it'll be tr…”
Boost&Co Charges Higher Rates for Unproven SaaS Than Profitable Firms
“If you're a big company and you're profitable, I'm probably going to go single digits interest rates. If you're a young SaaS company with a very high growth rate and very low churn rate, that's exciting. But not as proven out, then I will go for a higher inter…”
Boost&Co Growth Loans Feature 6-12 Months Interest-Only Before Amortization
“It's very similar for us, so you may get an interest only period, so six to 12 months of interest only at the beginning, you service the interest, so 10 grand a month on a million bucks for six months, and then it starts you start paying interest and capital e…”
Venture Debt Requires Diversification Over Concentration Due to Capped Returns
“I would always prefer to do a smaller deal and have a small risk exposure to all the companies in my portfolio than to concentrate my portfolio into one or two investments. Because, I will never make a 10 X or a hundred X return on a loan.”