David Hassel

CEO & Co-Founder, 15Five · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutivehost@dhassell ↗LinkedIn ↗15five.com ↗

David Hassell co-founded 15Five in 2011, developing a continuous performance management and employee engagement software platform. He also co-created the "Best-Self Management" methodology and was named by Forbes as "The Most Connected Man You Don't Know in Silicon Valley".

16statements → 13claims → 4claims resolved → 50%fully supported → 3.81/5average certainty → 1/5average debate potential →

2 supported 0 partly supported 2 contradicted 9 not checkable as stated how the 13 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

13 assertions · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 13 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, and 9 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how David argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

15Five charges $7 to $14 per seat monthly on average

“Anywhere between seven and 14 bucks a month.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 5:11 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted

15Five has raised only $3.7 million in total capital to date

“Relative to our competition, we've raised a very small amount of capital, raised about 3.7 million to date.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 6:44 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of David Hassel on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said16 Episodes1

Everything David Hassel said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Supported

15Five charges $7 to $14 per seat monthly on average

“Anywhere between seven and 14 bucks a month.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 5:11 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five has over 1,500 active customers

“We've got a little over 1500 customers.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 6:16 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five funds its ongoing hiring spree entirely from revenue

“Currently it's all funded by revenue.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 6:36 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Contradicted

15Five has raised only $3.7 million in total capital to date

“Relative to our competition, we've raised a very small amount of capital, raised about 3.7 million to date.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 6:44 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Supported

15Five's direct competitors have raised between $40 million and $100 million

“We have, you know, some of our, you know, kind of head tech competitors have raised between 40 and a hundred million dollars.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 6:51 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five is currently nearing $10 million in annual recurring revenue

“W I would say near eight figures at the moment.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 7:31 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five operates at a highly efficient 5:1 to 6:1 LTV:CAC ratio

“I think right now our CAC to LTV anyway, which would, you know, would be a good measure of that is probably a five or six to one.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 8:47 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five maintains a customer acquisition payback period under 12 months

“I would say today we're below 12 months.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 9:16 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Disclosure

Hassel: 15Five likely needs to raise additional capital in near term

“What I think it probably makes sense to raise additional capital in the near term.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 9:43 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five maintains a 120% to 130% annual net revenue retention rate

“Yeah. A hundred and like, you know, a 120%, a 130%.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 10:57 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Disclosure

15Five drives growth through content and word-of-mouth rather than paid ads

“Our most effective distribution channels have been content marketing and word of mouth. And that's why we've been able to build a very capital efficient business. We actually haven't spent a lot on paid acquisition.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 11:47 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five's mid-market sales segment is growing over 100% year-over-year

“We've grown we've grown the business probably about 75, 80% across the board. The, what we call our mid-market business, the sales business has grown north of a hundred percent year over year.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 14:08 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Hassel: 15Five sales-driven accounts pay 10x self-service accounts

“So, so our sales driven accounts roughly pay 10 X what the self-service accounts pay.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 17:14 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Contradicted

15Five reached near $10 million ARR without raising a formal Series A

“We've never done a formal series A.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 18:12 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Disclosure

15Five expects to grow headcount to 120 within a year

“We were 50 people last month will be 65 next month and, you know, a 120 by this time next year.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 6:25 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Assertion Not checkable as stated

15Five's main competitors are Reflektive, Lattice, and Betterworks

“I'd say the three most, the three companies we bump into most often are a company called Reflective, another company called Lattice, and a third called Betterworks.”

David Hassel May 31, 2019 ▶ 7:00 1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
1406 How Continuous Improvement Platform 15Five Hit $10m ARR using Land and Expand	May 31, 2019	11m

David Hassel

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

Their most notable contradicted claim

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

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