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John Lee

Founder & CEO, SafeCast AI · 2 appearances on the record.

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founderexecutiveinvestor@JonLeePW ↗LinkedIn ↗copper.com ↗

Jon Lee is a technology entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of SafeCast AI. He previously co-founded ProsperWorks (now Copper CRM), as well as DNA Games, Bazaar Advertising Solutions, and DataJoy.

26statements → 19claims → 4claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 4.15/5average certainty → 1.73/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 26said about them ↓

3 supported 0 partly supported 1 contradicted 15 not checkable as stated how the 19 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

19 assertions · 1 opinion · 3 insights · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 19 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, and 15 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 John 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
Salesforce churns 3% to 9% of annual revenue, estimates John Lee
“Salesforce is churning anywhere from three to nine percent of the revenue a year on a twelve billion dollar business.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 17:50 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Zynga's ChefVille was the world's largest game by daily players in 2012
“And we built a game called chef bill. That was the largest game in the world by daily active players in 2012 and was the most successful game launch for the company that year.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 10:20 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
67% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

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 John Lee on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

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

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: ProsperWorks is the fastest-growing CRM in the world
“We are the fastest growing CRM company in the world at this moment.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 6:35 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
87% of ProsperWorks users engage with the product daily
“And I will tell you that the one thing that makes ProsperWorks very unique compared to all CRMs is that 87% of our licenses use ProsperWorks every day. Every day, including the weekend.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 15:02 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Supported
Salesforce churns 3% to 9% of annual revenue, estimates John Lee
“Salesforce is churning anywhere from three to nine percent of the revenue a year on a twelve billion dollar business.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 17:50 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Supported
Lee: ProsperWorks is the only CRM recommended by Google
“And, you know, to the point of the Google relationship, we are the only CRM that's actually recommended by Google.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 7:26 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Opinion
John Lee argues net churn matters far more than gross churn
“Yeah, I think that gross revenue is sort of less important. It always just depends on how you cut it, right? So if you remove infant churn and all of that kind of stuff, so we're not disclosing the gross churn at the moment, but I think the key is basically th…”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 12:30 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Salesforce implementations cost 1-3x the license fee, says John Lee
“Unlike Salesforce, you're paying One to three times your license fee. You're spending anywhere from one to six months basically implementing Salesforce for your organization.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 15:48 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Disclosure
Lee: Google Is an Investor in and Customer of ProsperWorks
“And Google's an investor. Google's a customer.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 6:16 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ProsperWorks claims a 26% compounded monthly revenue growth rate
“And I think that speaks to the fact that we've grown at a 26% compounded monthly growth rate.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 6:27 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ProsperWorks sees 116% to 117% net revenue expansion by month 13
“On a net basis, we are actually expanding. So on average every quote, every dollar that comes in, in month one, a month, 13 is about a buck 16 to about 12. Great. But we're seeing net expansion overall. And so that's what's contributing to our rapid growth and…”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 11:57 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Disclosure
Lee: ProsperWorks is not for sale to Amazon for a quick flip
“I, no. Not, I would not sell the Amazon. This is a massive market. I built this company to help bring prosperity to the world, to usher in the relationship era. And I've built and sold three companies in the past. To me, I'm not looking for another flip. I'm l…”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 19:06 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Insight
Lee: Ad arbitrage businesses are valued on EBITDA multiples, not revenue
“I think that it's valued primarily today on EBITDA, so operating income, because at the end of the day, you're paying for media, you're generating revenue, the product that you're ultimately building is profitability, right? You're building, that's the product…”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 5:58 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Ad arbitrage businesses trade at 8x to 15x annual EBITDA
“Anywhere between eight to 15, depending on the growth rate.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 6:23 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: DNA Games investors made a profit in Zynga acquisition
“No, investors definitely made money on the deal. I mean, I think they probably wanted to make more money on the deal.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 10:43 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Assertion Supported
Lee: Forrester Finds 47% of CRM Implementations Fail
“And the biggest problem is that 47%, according to Forrester, of CRM implementations ultimately lead to failure.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 12:40 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Insight
Lee: SaaS LTV-to-CAC converges to 3x-4x as companies scale
“What you find as companies mature is that you get diminishing marginal returns, which means that, you know, as you add more customers or your rate of new customer growth increases then the cost to acquire also increases as well. So we see convergence. Of LTV t…”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 17:47 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Insight
Lee: SaaS companies should expand sales teams while magic number exceeds 0.8
“You make sure your magic number is, you know, above 0.8. And if your magic number is above 0.8, then, you know, you keep expanding.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 18:34 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: ProsperWorks operates at negative net revenue churn
“Yeah, so on a net, I can't comment on our gross, but our net churn is actually negative.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 21:37 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Disclosure
ProsperWorks has raised $87 million in venture capital
“We have raised a total of eighty seven million in venture financing.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 6:25 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ProsperWorks has surpassed 10,000 paying customers
“We've over 10,000 paying customers.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 6:32 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: ProsperWorks ARPU exceeds $60 per seat monthly
“I'd say it's a little higher than it's a little higher than 60.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 9:18 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: ProsperWorks LTV/CAC exceeds 3x with 16-month CAC payback
“So LTV to CAC is greater than three. Our CAC payback is within 16 months.”
John Lee Nov 25, 2018 ▶ 10:06 1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars?
Assertion Not checkable as stated
John Lee built a $47M advertising business in two years without VC
“And we built a forty seven million dollar business basically in two years. We didn't raise any venture financing, so it was all personally funded out of credit cards and loans and all that kind of good stuff.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 4:52 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Assertion Contradicted
Zynga's ChefVille was the world's largest game by daily players in 2012
“And we built a game called chef bill. That was the largest game in the world by daily active players in 2012 and was the most successful game launch for the company that year.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 10:20 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ProsperWorks served over 40,000 paying customers as of 2016
“We serve over 40,000 customers.”
John Lee Aug 25, 2016 ▶ 14:35 EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already

Show 2statements(2 left)

The other half of the tape: John Lee's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 26 times in 10 episodes on Top Founders. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Nathan Latka 26

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00134258201620172018episodesmentions
048201620172018episodes it came up in
001.5438201620172018episodesmentions per episode
2018 22 mentions in 8 episodes 3 per episode
2016 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
1219 Will Prosperworks and it's 10,000 Paying Customers Win CRM Wars? Nov 25, 2018 12m
EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Alrea Aug 25, 2016 14m
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