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Jack Welde

Founder and President, Smartling · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveoperator@jwelde ↗smartling.com ↗

In 2009, Welde co-founded Smartling, a cloud-based enterprise translation management and localization platform. Prior to Smartling, he was a combat-decorated U.S. Air Force pilot and co-founded Trio Development, which created personal information management software acquired by Apple.

15statements → 6claims → 1claims resolved → 3.67/5average certainty → 1.27/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →

1 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 5 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

6 assertions · 1 opinion · 2 insights · 6 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 5 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 Jack 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
Smartling has raised $63 million across four funding rounds
“We raised four rounds of capital. We've raised sixty three million dollars over this entire period.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 5:21 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth

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 Jack Welde on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

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

Insight
Welde: AI translation still requires humans for mission-critical business content
“There's definitely humans involved, and while, while AI and machine translation, you know, computer-generated translation, like something like Google Translate, you know, has gone, undergone some really incredible advances in the last year or so the translatio…”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 3:47 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Insight
Welde: Great SaaS companies achieve CAC payback within one year
“I think great SaaS companies, great, great SaaS companies are paying something back inside of a year. You know, acceptable SaaS companies are paying something back inside of between two to three years.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 14:02 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Disclosure
Welde: Smartling customer contracts range from $10,000 to over $1 million annually
“So our, you know, our customers pay us anywhere from, you know, 10,000 dollars a year, all the way up to, you know, a couple million dollars a year, million, million dollar plus a year.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 3:03 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Disclosure
Welde: Smartling works with 10,000 contracted translators globally
“Yeah, 10,000 contracted translators around the world.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 4:33 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Assertion Supported
Smartling has raised $63 million across four funding rounds
“We raised four rounds of capital. We've raised sixty three million dollars over this entire period.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 5:21 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Smartling raised a $4 million round after securing three early customers
“We got three customers. Then we went out to the marketplace and we're able to raise four million dollars.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 6:32 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Smartling raised its early round at a $6M to $10M valuation
“Well, I think by the time we finished it up, by the time we started the round, you know, I think we were in, you know, and we had by then about you know, seven to 10 customers paying us, you know, many, you know, tens of thousands of dollars on a, on an annual…”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 6:41 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Welde: Smartling is rapidly approaching about 500 enterprise customers
“We're at, you know, let's, let's call it rapidly approaching about 500 enterprise customers.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 7:51 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Disclosure
Welde: Smartling targets retaining 90% to 92% of revenue annually
“We expect that of our existing customer base, we hope that we will retain 90% to 92% of that revenue every year.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 9:13 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Disclosure
Most Smartling enterprise accounts range between $80,000 and $200,000 annually
“Most of our accounts are, you know, somewhere in the range of sort of, say, let's say, you know you know, in sort of the 80,000 dollar plus range, 80,000 to 200,000 dollar range”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 13:01 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Disclosure
Welde: Smartling's CAC payback period ranges from 18 to 24 months
“Look, we fluctuate like many companies, and we operate sometimes in sort of the You know, 18 month range and sometimes in about the 24 month range.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 14:12 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Welde reveals Smartling is way above $10 million in ARR
“We've already broken that. We're way above that.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 15:55 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Welde: Smartling grows at the lower end of 50% to 100% annually
“We're on the lower end of that.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 17:35 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Opinion
Jack Welde: Tim Cook is transforming Apple into a SaaS-style leasing model
“I actually really think that you know, I really think that Tim Cook is doing a really pretty incredible job at Apple. I think he had some big shoes to fill, and I think that he recognizes that the iPhone still has a lot of life left into it from a growth persp…”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 18:40 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth
Disclosure
Welde: Smartling has 200 full-time employees
“Oh, we've got 200 people full-time.”
Jack Welde Apr 22, 2018 ▶ 4:30 1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
1002 How He Makes $10m+ Speaking Every Language on Earth Apr 22, 2018 13m
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