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Jan 30, 2016 · 17m · top-founders

Genius Way to Stop Selling Your Time For Money with Allison Schaaf of Prepdish.com

Nathan Latka · 9m spoken Allison Schaaf · 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 Allison Schaaf, founder of PrepDish.com, detailing how she transitioned from an hourly personal chef service to a digital meal-planning subscription generating ten thousand dollars in monthly recurring revenue through targeted marketing and influencer partnerships.

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 57.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.6 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.6 Nathan pushing back 2.4
05100:0010:001:00–7:18 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Introducing Allison Schaaf and Pivoting to Scalable Meal Planning Nathan repeatedly presses Allison on SaaS-style unit metrics and monthly churn percentages. Allison cooperatively explains her seasonal fluctuations but politely declines to guess specific churn figures she does not have on hand.7:19–10:40 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Annual Upsell Sequences and Paid Facebook Advertising Performance Nathan probes into the conversion rates and ad spend performance on Facebook campaigns. Allison is open about testing paid traffic and upfront trials, though she admits needing her spreadsheet for precise CAC and trial volume figures.10:40–13:46 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 High-ROI Influencer Partnerships and Audience Surveying Strategies Allison breaks down her highly lucrative influencer strategy, detailing how spending $1,500 yielded $25,000 in two days and explaining her audience surveying process. Nathan enthusiastically validates and amplifies her marketing framework.13:46–17:29 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Revenue Milestone Review, Social Handles, and Sponsor Mid-Roll Nathan calculates the overall monthly revenue milestone of approximately $10,000 per month and transitions into a lighthearted Famous Five questionnaire with Allison.17:30–17:51 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Episode Conclusion, Monday Cash Giveaway, and SeamlessDocs Teaser A brief solo outro monologue by Nathan promoting the weekly cash giveaway and previewing the next episode.1:00–7:18 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Allison Schaaf and Pivoting to Scalable Meal Planning Nathan repeatedly presses Allison on SaaS-style unit metrics and monthly churn percentages. Allison cooperatively explains her seasonal fluctuations but politely declines to guess specific churn figures she does not have on hand.7:19–10:40 · Guest teaching 1/10 Annual Upsell Sequences and Paid Facebook Advertising Performance Nathan probes into the conversion rates and ad spend performance on Facebook campaigns. Allison is open about testing paid traffic and upfront trials, though she admits needing her spreadsheet for precise CAC and trial volume figures.10:40–13:46 · Guest teaching 6/10 High-ROI Influencer Partnerships and Audience Surveying Strategies Allison breaks down her highly lucrative influencer strategy, detailing how spending $1,500 yielded $25,000 in two days and explaining her audience surveying process. Nathan enthusiastically validates and amplifies her marketing framework.13:46–17:29 · Guest teaching 1/10 Revenue Milestone Review, Social Handles, and Sponsor Mid-Roll Nathan calculates the overall monthly revenue milestone of approximately $10,000 per month and transitions into a lighthearted Famous Five questionnaire with Allison.17:30–17:51 · Guest teaching 0/10 Episode Conclusion, Monday Cash Giveaway, and SeamlessDocs Teaser A brief solo outro monologue by Nathan promoting the weekly cash giveaway and previewing the next episode.1:00–7:18 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Introducing Allison Schaaf and Pivoting to Scalable Meal Planning Nathan repeatedly presses Allison on SaaS-style unit metrics and monthly churn percentages. Allison cooperatively explains her seasonal fluctuations but politely declines to guess specific churn figures she does not have on hand.7:19–10:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Annual Upsell Sequences and Paid Facebook Advertising Performance Nathan probes into the conversion rates and ad spend performance on Facebook campaigns. Allison is open about testing paid traffic and upfront trials, though she admits needing her spreadsheet for precise CAC and trial volume figures.10:40–13:46 · Guest disagreement 0/10 High-ROI Influencer Partnerships and Audience Surveying Strategies Allison breaks down her highly lucrative influencer strategy, detailing how spending $1,500 yielded $25,000 in two days and explaining her audience surveying process. Nathan enthusiastically validates and amplifies her marketing framework.13:46–17:29 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Revenue Milestone Review, Social Handles, and Sponsor Mid-Roll Nathan calculates the overall monthly revenue milestone of approximately $10,000 per month and transitions into a lighthearted Famous Five questionnaire with Allison.17:30–17:51 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Episode Conclusion, Monday Cash Giveaway, and SeamlessDocs Teaser A brief solo outro monologue by Nathan promoting the weekly cash giveaway and previewing the next episode.1:00–7:18 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Introducing Allison Schaaf and Pivoting to Scalable Meal Planning Nathan repeatedly presses Allison on SaaS-style unit metrics and monthly churn percentages. Allison cooperatively explains her seasonal fluctuations but politely declines to guess specific churn figures she does not have on hand.7:19–10:40 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Annual Upsell Sequences and Paid Facebook Advertising Performance Nathan probes into the conversion rates and ad spend performance on Facebook campaigns. Allison is open about testing paid traffic and upfront trials, though she admits needing her spreadsheet for precise CAC and trial volume figures.10:40–13:46 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 High-ROI Influencer Partnerships and Audience Surveying Strategies Allison breaks down her highly lucrative influencer strategy, detailing how spending $1,500 yielded $25,000 in two days and explaining her audience surveying process. Nathan enthusiastically validates and amplifies her marketing framework.13:46–17:29 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Revenue Milestone Review, Social Handles, and Sponsor Mid-Roll Nathan calculates the overall monthly revenue milestone of approximately $10,000 per month and transitions into a lighthearted Famous Five questionnaire with Allison.17:30–17:51 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Episode Conclusion, Monday Cash Giveaway, and SeamlessDocs Teaser A brief solo outro monologue by Nathan promoting the weekly cash giveaway and previewing the next episode.

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

0:00 · Nathan 68.5% · guest 31.5%0:00 · Nathan 68.5% · guest 31.5%3:00 · Nathan 45.8% · guest 54.2%3:00 · Nathan 45.8% · guest 54.2%6:00 · Nathan 55.2% · guest 44.8%6:00 · Nathan 55.2% · guest 44.8%9:00 · Nathan 41.7% · guest 58.3%9:00 · Nathan 41.7% · guest 58.3%12:00 · Nathan 53.6% · guest 46.4%12:00 · Nathan 53.6% · guest 46.4%15:00 · Nathan 80.4% · guest 19.6%15:00 · Nathan 80.4% · guest 19.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 6:54 Allison refuses to guess unverified churn metrics

Allison sets a clear boundary when Nathan repeatedly prompts for an estimated churn percentage, firmly stating she will not fabricate numbers she does not know.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:43 Nathan refuses vague seasonal answers on retention

Nathan refuses Allison's generalized description of seasonal swings and insists on standard SaaS cohort math to evaluate customer retention over a 12-month period.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:31 Allison details high-leverage influencer unit economics

Allison educates Nathan on why massive health influencers charge disproportionately low fees relative to their reach, generating $25,000 in revenue from a single $1,500 newsletter spend.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:06 Nathan models typical printable churn benchmarks

Nathan showcases his industry knowledge by modeling churn dynamics for digital PDF businesses, explaining how standard 20% monthly drops impact creator sustainability.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Allison Schaaf and Pivoting to Scalable Meal Planning 6226 Nathan repeatedly presses Allison on SaaS-style unit metrics and monthly churn percentages. Allison cooperatively explains her seasonal fluctuations but politely declines to guess specific churn figures she does not have on hand.
Annual Upsell Sequences and Paid Facebook Advertising Performance 5114 Nathan probes into the conversion rates and ad spend performance on Facebook campaigns. Allison is open about testing paid traffic and upfront trials, though she admits needing her spreadsheet for precise CAC and trial volume figures.
High-ROI Influencer Partnerships and Audience Surveying Strategies 4601 Allison breaks down her highly lucrative influencer strategy, detailing how spending $1,500 yielded $25,000 in two days and explaining her audience surveying process. Nathan enthusiastically validates and amplifies her marketing framework.
Revenue Milestone Review, Social Handles, and Sponsor Mid-Roll 3101 Nathan calculates the overall monthly revenue milestone of approximately $10,000 per month and transitions into a lighthearted Famous Five questionnaire with Allison.
Episode Conclusion, Monday Cash Giveaway, and SeamlessDocs Teaser 0000 A brief solo outro monologue by Nathan promoting the weekly cash giveaway and previewing the next episode.

Statements from this episode (10)

Insight
Schaaf scaled her personal chef service by digitizing prep workflows
“I realized in order to, that just wasn't a scalable business, so I took the same process I was using in that company And turned it into an online business by using that same process. So with the meal plans, it's a grocery list and then instructions for spendin…”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 2:22
Disclosure
Schaaf: Prep Dish offers $14/month and $99/year subscription plans
“It's a monthly subscription of 14 dollars a month or a yearly subscription, which is 99 dollars for the year.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 3:03
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schaaf: Prep Dish has roughly 1,100 paying subscribers
“So as of right now, I have about 1100.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 3:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schaaf: Prep Dish customer base is 60% annual, 40% monthly
“I think it's 60 on annual, 40 on monthly.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 3:47
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schaaf: Prep Dish retains 50% of free trial users after 3 months
“Like if I do a free trial of those people, three months later, it's like 50% that are still with me, but that's when you're doing a free trial. If it's a paid trial, it's a little better retention.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 5:34
Disclosure
Schaaf spent roughly $5,000 monthly on Facebook ads for PrepDish
“So I did them from May to August and was spending, I think, 5000 a month. Maybe like 20,000.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 8:41
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schaaf: 50% of PrepDish cold Facebook free trial leads retained
“So with the free trial, after a month, 50% stick with it, 50% would drop off. And that was a cold Facebook lead.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 9:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schaaf: Average Prep Dish monthly subscriber yields about $43
“So the numbers I'm tracking are things like you know, how much the average monthly subscriber yields like 43 dollars.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 10:49
Insight
Schaaf: Large Email Lists Deliver Better Marketing ROI Than Micro-Influencers
“Finding those people that have email lists of like several 100,000 is much better than finding someone with an email of 5000 to 10,000.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 12:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schaaf: $1,500 '100 Days of Real Food' email drove $25k in sales
“So I worked with a hundred days of real food. I did a, an email and I paid 1500 dollars. I made 25 grand in two days.”
Allison Schaaf Jan 30, 2016 ▶ 12:32
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