What-if
Pollaro would wait much longer to raise funding if starting over
“Well, I think, you know, if I were to do it all over again, I might take a different path. I would certainly wait much longer to raise money.”
Assertion Supported
Pollaro: MindBody bought Booker to expand into appointment-based salon and spa verticals
“Well, I think actually Booker came with a company that does a little bit of what we do called Frederick. But really they were looking to expand their capabilities on the appointment side. So MindBody does a lot in class-based fitness, but they didn't have a ve…”
Disclosure
Pollaro: Venga pays no kickbacks to Mindbody or OpenTable reps
“We don't, we would actually like to, but you know, the way our agreement works, you know mind, body, open table, they don't want us paying their reps you know, to sell our product.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Mindbody and OpenTable clients churn less when using Venga
“They actually make those referrals because it's in their best interest to because once one of their clients is using our product, they're actually stickier and less likely to churn than if they weren't.”
Insight
Pollaro: Raising another $5M-$10M resets a company's required exit to $100M+
“If I were to go out and raise money now, you know, I would be sort of resetting the goalposts for what it would mean to be a successful exit, right? You know you can do some quick math and figure out roughly where our valuation is now. And if we were to raise,…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga serves about 2,000 locations
“We're about 2000 locations.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga generates about $300K in MRR
“We're doing about 300,000 in monthly recurring revenue.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga has negative net churn on a revenue basis
“Yeah, we actually have on a revenue basis, we have negative net churn.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga spends 60 to 75 cents per dollar of new ARR
“Right now we spend typically probably about 60 to 75 cents for every dollar in ARR that we acquire.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga has been profitable and cash-flow positive for the past year
“No, we, we've been cashflow positive and profitable for the last year.”
Disclosure
Pollaro: Venga would likely look to revenue-based financing for future funding
“And then we thought about like a revenue back revenue based loans. We've considered that. And so that would probably be the first place we go for funding at this point.”
Disclosure
Pollaro: Venga charges $200 to $300 monthly per location
“Between two and 300 dollars per month per location. So if you're a restaurant group and you've got 10 locations, you're paying, you know, 2500 bucks a month.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga operates across 150 to 200 brands
“Probably between a 152 hundred brands.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga is growing at roughly 35% annually
“We're growing about 35% a year.”
Disclosure
Pollaro: Venga took three years and multiple pivots to find product-market fit
“So we actually launched in 2011 with a product that's slightly different from what we do now. Like most companies, you know, we pivoted a couple times along the way. We realized within probably six months that our first product wasn't gonna work, and we pivote…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pollaro: Venga employs a team of 21 people
“21.”
Assertion Partly supported
Pollaro: Venga raised a convertible note, $1M Series A, and $1.5M bridge
“So our first round was a convertible note. We then did a million dollar series A, and then we did a bridge round million and a half after that that now since converted to equity. So now everything's in equity.”
