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Mar 5, 2016 · 17m · top-founders

They hit $100k/mo in revenue in 2015, now raising $2.5m round of funding with Eran Eyal episode 188

Eran Eyal · 9m 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, host Nathan Latka interviews Springleap founder and CEO Eran Eyal to discuss marketplace unit economics, scaling to peak monthly revenues of $100,000, migrating toward enterprise SaaS subscriptions, and raising a $2.5 million Series Seed round.

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 39% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 4.2
05100:0010:000:28–4:10 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Contest Winner Announcement and Next Episode Preview Nathan introduces Eran Eyal and immediately inspects Springleap's pricing structure. He pushes Eran to clarify whether the quoted expert rates compound per hour or stand as fixed hourly blocks.4:12–6:28 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Financial Performance and Enterprise SaaS Evolution When Eran attempts to withhold revenue numbers citing private company status, Nathan firmly pushes back and forces him to disclose metrics, extracting the $20k to $100k monthly trajectory before comparing it to prior guest business models.6:29–11:11 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Monetizing White Papers and B2B Lead Conversion Strategy Nathan interrupts Eran's monologue on marketing assets to challenge an apparent contradiction regarding whether to give lead magnets away for free or charge for them, prompting Eran to explain enterprise procurement psychology.11:12–13:22 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Series Seed Fundraising, Traction, and Valuation Mechanics Nathan shows strong venture finance literacy, immediately drilling into whether the round is a note or priced equity, demanding exact definitions of platform engagement, and instantly calculating the post-money valuation.13:22–17:12 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Guest Contact Information and Webinar Announcements Nathan conducts mid-episode promotional plugs for his webinar and runs through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire in a lighthearted, standard format.0:28–4:10 · Guest teaching 2/10 Contest Winner Announcement and Next Episode Preview Nathan introduces Eran Eyal and immediately inspects Springleap's pricing structure. He pushes Eran to clarify whether the quoted expert rates compound per hour or stand as fixed hourly blocks.4:12–6:28 · Guest teaching 3/10 Financial Performance and Enterprise SaaS Evolution When Eran attempts to withhold revenue numbers citing private company status, Nathan firmly pushes back and forces him to disclose metrics, extracting the $20k to $100k monthly trajectory before comparing it to prior guest business models.6:29–11:11 · Guest teaching 4/10 Monetizing White Papers and B2B Lead Conversion Strategy Nathan interrupts Eran's monologue on marketing assets to challenge an apparent contradiction regarding whether to give lead magnets away for free or charge for them, prompting Eran to explain enterprise procurement psychology.11:12–13:22 · Guest teaching 2/10 Series Seed Fundraising, Traction, and Valuation Mechanics Nathan shows strong venture finance literacy, immediately drilling into whether the round is a note or priced equity, demanding exact definitions of platform engagement, and instantly calculating the post-money valuation.13:22–17:12 · Guest teaching 1/10 Guest Contact Information and Webinar Announcements Nathan conducts mid-episode promotional plugs for his webinar and runs through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire in a lighthearted, standard format.0:28–4:10 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Contest Winner Announcement and Next Episode Preview Nathan introduces Eran Eyal and immediately inspects Springleap's pricing structure. He pushes Eran to clarify whether the quoted expert rates compound per hour or stand as fixed hourly blocks.4:12–6:28 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Financial Performance and Enterprise SaaS Evolution When Eran attempts to withhold revenue numbers citing private company status, Nathan firmly pushes back and forces him to disclose metrics, extracting the $20k to $100k monthly trajectory before comparing it to prior guest business models.6:29–11:11 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Monetizing White Papers and B2B Lead Conversion Strategy Nathan interrupts Eran's monologue on marketing assets to challenge an apparent contradiction regarding whether to give lead magnets away for free or charge for them, prompting Eran to explain enterprise procurement psychology.11:12–13:22 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Series Seed Fundraising, Traction, and Valuation Mechanics Nathan shows strong venture finance literacy, immediately drilling into whether the round is a note or priced equity, demanding exact definitions of platform engagement, and instantly calculating the post-money valuation.13:22–17:12 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Guest Contact Information and Webinar Announcements Nathan conducts mid-episode promotional plugs for his webinar and runs through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire in a lighthearted, standard format.0:28–4:10 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Contest Winner Announcement and Next Episode Preview Nathan introduces Eran Eyal and immediately inspects Springleap's pricing structure. He pushes Eran to clarify whether the quoted expert rates compound per hour or stand as fixed hourly blocks.4:12–6:28 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Financial Performance and Enterprise SaaS Evolution When Eran attempts to withhold revenue numbers citing private company status, Nathan firmly pushes back and forces him to disclose metrics, extracting the $20k to $100k monthly trajectory before comparing it to prior guest business models.6:29–11:11 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Monetizing White Papers and B2B Lead Conversion Strategy Nathan interrupts Eran's monologue on marketing assets to challenge an apparent contradiction regarding whether to give lead magnets away for free or charge for them, prompting Eran to explain enterprise procurement psychology.11:12–13:22 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Series Seed Fundraising, Traction, and Valuation Mechanics Nathan shows strong venture finance literacy, immediately drilling into whether the round is a note or priced equity, demanding exact definitions of platform engagement, and instantly calculating the post-money valuation.13:22–17:12 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Guest Contact Information and Webinar Announcements Nathan conducts mid-episode promotional plugs for his webinar and runs through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire in a lighthearted, standard format.

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

0:00 · Nathan 68.3% · guest 31.7%0:00 · Nathan 68.3% · guest 31.7%3:00 · Nathan 20.4% · guest 79.6%3:00 · Nathan 20.4% · guest 79.6%6:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%6:00 · Nathan 18.3% · guest 81.7%9:00 · Nathan 15.9% · guest 84.1%9:00 · Nathan 15.9% · guest 84.1%12:00 · Nathan 55.7% · guest 44.3%12:00 · Nathan 55.7% · guest 44.3%15:00 · Nathan 59.7% · guest 40.3%15:00 · Nathan 59.7% · guest 40.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 4:16 Refusing revenue disclosure

Eran puts up a defensive barrier, asserting that Springleap is private and will definitely not disclose top-line revenue figures on the show.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 4:24 Host demanding financial metrics

Nathan directly rejects Eran's refusal to share revenue, telling him that guests always share metrics and demanding an indicative range.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:59 Monetizing lead magnets to bypass procurement

Eran educates Nathan on why charging a nominal fee for white papers creates psychological commitment and slips past corporate procurement easier than free lead magnets.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:40 Deconstructing fundraising mechanics

Nathan immediately drills Eran on whether the seed round is a convertible note or priced equity, instantly computing the $10.5M post-money valuation without hesitation.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Contest Winner Announcement and Next Episode Preview 4213 Nathan introduces Eran Eyal and immediately inspects Springleap's pricing structure. He pushes Eran to clarify whether the quoted expert rates compound per hour or stand as fixed hourly blocks.
Financial Performance and Enterprise SaaS Evolution 6336 When Eran attempts to withhold revenue numbers citing private company status, Nathan firmly pushes back and forces him to disclose metrics, extracting the $20k to $100k monthly trajectory before comparing it to prior guest business models.
Monetizing White Papers and B2B Lead Conversion Strategy 5425 Nathan interrupts Eran's monologue on marketing assets to challenge an apparent contradiction regarding whether to give lead magnets away for free or charge for them, prompting Eran to explain enterprise procurement psychology.
Series Seed Fundraising, Traction, and Valuation Mechanics 7225 Nathan shows strong venture finance literacy, immediately drilling into whether the round is a note or priced equity, demanding exact definitions of platform engagement, and instantly calculating the post-money valuation.
Guest Contact Information and Webinar Announcements 3112 Nathan conducts mid-episode promotional plugs for his webinar and runs through the rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire in a lighthearted, standard format.

Statements from this episode (11)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eyal: Springleap has a marketplace of 180,000 advertising agency experts
“We have a marketplace of 180,000 advertising agency experts for the world's best insights and copy testing.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 2:06
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eyal: Springleap is 10 to 30 times faster than traditional market research firms
“And we're around, we're literally around between 10 to 30 times faster than any of the big market research companies in the world.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 2:48
Disclosure
Eyal: Springleap charges $50 to $150 hourly per expert plus markup
“We charge 50 to a 150 dollars per experts per task per hour, and then we put a markup on top of that.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 3:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eyal: Springleap hit monthly revenue highs of about $100k in 2015
“In January, we made about 20,000 dollars. And last year we started hitting highs of about a 100,000 dollars a month.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 4:41
Insight
Eyal: Expert marketplace SaaS models make their real money on usage
“And generally those kind of SaaS models in the expert marketplace world generally range from, let's say, you start at a thousand dollars per, you know, per company, per city per month, and then you pay for the use of the experts. So your thousand dollars to 10…”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 5:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eyal: Springleap turned its white paper into a profitable SaaS product
“We actually turned it into a self-service platform, into a little SaaS platform, and people are now paying to use it every single month. We thought it'd be a loss leader and it's actually now a profitable product.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 7:30
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eyal: Sony signed a 12-month contract for 100 Springleap seats
“And we found that suddenly we had clients signing up for, like Sony, signing up for 12 months for, on a hundred seats.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 7:45
Insight
Eyal: Charging small fees for lead magnets opens enterprise procurement doors
“So my lesson I had out of all of this is that don't be scared to charge, even if it's a little bit of money for it, because you have, first of all, retained revenue recurring revenue that's going to be happening for 12 months, and secondly, you got through the…”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 10:49
Disclosure
Eyal: Springleap is raising a $2.5M priced Series Seed round
“We're busy raising 2.5 million dollars in a seed round.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 11:23
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eyal: Springleap has paid 5,000 contributors, 1,500 multiple times
“5000 people have been paid. 1500 being paid more than once.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 12:06
Disclosure
Eyal: Springleap set an $8M pre-money valuation for seed round
“We've already set our valuation at eight million dollars.”
Eran Eyal Mar 5, 2016 ▶ 13:00
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