Sam Cook

Founder and Director, The Borderlands Foundation · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutiveacademicother@SamuelPN ↗LinkedIn ↗theborderlandsfoundation.org ↗

A West Point graduate and former Army officer who taught Russian history, Cook transitioned into tech and media by launching James Cook Media and SaaS platform SanityDesk. Based in Ukraine, he subsequently established The Borderlands Foundation to document wartime history and support Ukrainian veterans.

10statements → 4claims → 0claims resolved → 3.7/5average certainty → 1.1/5average debate potential →

4 not checkable as stated how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

4 assertions · 6 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 0 are resolved, and 4 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 Sam argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

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 Sam Cook on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said10 Episodes1

Everything Sam Cook 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

Cook: SanityDesk closes 30% to 50% of 30-minute sales calls

“We're having about a 30 to 50% close rate of people we speak to, and it's a 30 minute call.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 10:29 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Cook: SanityDesk is generating $12.5k to $13k in MRR

“Yeah, I think we're at 12 and a half when you average it out between the 10 or so lower plan users and most of them on the two 99 plan. So yeah, 12 and a half, 30,000 MRR.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 4:19 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Disclosure

Cook: SanityDesk Raised $450K in Outside Funds Alongside $725K Agency Capital

“No, we've raised 450,000 in outside funds. The company bootstrapped the first 700,000 as an agency. The agency sold the IP in October of last year. The agency's got about 725,000 invested into the company. It has one of the angels that transferred the IP, and …”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 5:43 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Disclosure

Cook: SanityDesk Raised on a SAFE at a $4.5M Post-Money Valuation

“I think at a 4.5 million post money valuation on a safe, that's going to put it.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 6:11 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Disclosure

Cook: SanityDesk pays about $1,250 CAC on $299 monthly subscriptions

“Well, they pay a four 99 upfront onboarding fee. And then two 99 a month. We're paying right now about 12 50 to acquire customer.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 11:57 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Disclosure

Cook: SanityDesk avoids US ad market during election cycle

“And we're really not even touching the US market right now to the election spending.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 12:37 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Cook: SanityDesk has just over 50 paying customers

“We have just over 50 customers. I think we have about five subscriptions ending their trial today, tomorrow. So we'll be just crossing north of 50 customer mark right now.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 3:15 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Assertion Not checkable as stated

SanityDesk acquired its first customer in February 2020 following zero initial revenue

“A year ago, we had no, no revenue. We started selling in, I think we got our first customer end of February and, you know, March was really when we started selling in earnest.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 4:32 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Disclosure

Cook: SanityDesk Secured $400K from Angels and $50K via SBA Loan

“I think 4000 in angel money to be precise, plus about 50 from the government.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 7:55 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Disclosure

Cook: SanityDesk pays sales reps $1,000 base plus $150–$250 per signup

“He's on a base, a thousand dollar base plus 150 per new signup inbound leads, and then two 50 if he finds them himself.”

Sam Cook Oct 21, 2020 ▶ 8:47 SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
SanityDesk Gets Money From Founderpath, Hits $180k revenue Helping Digital Brands Scale	Oct 21, 2020	10m

Sam Cook

The record, in short

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

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