SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders
1643 How His Fathers Death Helped Him Grow $0 to $50k in MRR in 8 Months
23 Jan 2020
Chapter 1: How did the guest's father's death influence his career path?
took up a part of a board seat at his father's company after he sadly passed away and realized there was a need for kind of a board management system. Launched Exaboard back in 2017, scaling nicely, 60 customers paying about 800, 900 bucks a month. So 50 grand in monthly recurring revenue right now from zero just a year ago. Cashflow positive bootstrap, team of 17 between Guatemala and New York.
Too early to talk about economics, but they do have 0% churn right now as they continue to scale. Hello, everybody. My guest today is Andres Rodriguez. He is the founder of a company called Exaboard, also a recovering or sorry, Exaboard. He's a recovering lawyer. He's got degrees from the Universidad Francisco in Guatemala and Duke in the U.S., accredited to practice in Guatemala and New York.
He's an investorpreneur, which is obviously an investor and entrepreneur, co-founder at Nahal Ventures, Exaboard, Edu and Soy Fries, a dreamer Guatemalan born and living in New York. Andres, are you ready to take us to the top? Let's do it. All right. So let's focus on ExaBoard for this call. Tell us what the company does and how you make money. What's your revenue model? Excellent.
So ExaBoard is started as a board of directors management platform to run boards. And now it's stayed on that, but we also do more of management roles. So we sort of added features around managing the company from a C-level level. It's basically a subscription model.
a yearly yearly per client and that's it okay so what are people paying on average per year for this about ten thousand dollars a year okay got it and and when you say like some people have boards some people don't have boards so some people know the pain some people don't know the pain so i mean you know when i had a board obviously sometimes like it was just like getting the board deck out on time like making sure the follow-ups were done making sure the board agenda was smooth like things like this are these the kinds of things your software provides
Yeah, it provides that and more. So you have the basics sort of board stuff, sharing documents, votes, inviting guests, making sure everyone gets on time. We also have a hidden feature that checks whether board members actually read the documents and whether they're doing their work. If you pay them enough money, they might as well do their work.
And we also have follow up on tasks and creation of resolution. So it's a pretty broad management system for your whole sort of board, advisory boards and C-level. When did you launch the company? What year? So we did our beta in December last year and we officially launched around June this year. We're growing at around 25% a month. Okay. We haven't spent any money in ads yet.
What have you scaled to in terms of customers? So we have roughly 60 something customers now. You said six zero? Yeah, 60 or so. Well, 60 customers. And if the $10,000 ACV is a good average, that's about 800 bucks a month times 60. I mean, that puts you at about 50 grand a month right now in MRR. Is that right? Sorry, I lost the signal for a sec. Yeah.
What I was saying is you said, or you just said that you have about a $10,000 ACV on average, which is about 800 or 900 bucks a month. If I multiply that times 60 customers, it puts you at about 50 grand a month in revenue. Is that right? Yeah, more or less. That's great. And where were you a year ago?
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Chapter 2: What is Exaboard and how does it generate revenue?
A year ago, I was finishing up being involved in, at Nowell Ventures. No, no, no. Sorry. The revenue. So if you're 50, it's to get a growth rate. So 50 grand a month today, where were you a year ago? At zero. Okay, so you said you did beta though early last year. So none of those beta customers were paying? Not when we started.
We first did tests and they all became paying customers starting around February or March. So we did like a three-month test with them. So a couple of questions. So how did you first find all the beta customers? Our network in Latin America. So most of our clients are in Latin America. Okay. I am from America. My co-founder is also from Latin America. So we're all there and through our network.
Okay. And then how many, what percent of the people who beta had converted to paid? 50%. Okay. Five, zero or one, five, five, zero, five, zero. That's great. And, and the, uh, of the 50 that converted, what was like the number one feature they were using? What's the big activation metric that you've got to get people to get to? So they stick. It was actually more mental than actual features.
Um, it was, uh, understanding that they needed a change in how their boards run. So it was more philosophical than actual feature. The feature that's most used is sharing documents and tasks now, but when we started sharing documents. But it was the customers that actually used the platform stayed on as paying customers. The customers that didn't really use it didn't stay on as clients. Okay.
And why did you, so give me more of your kind of personal background here. Why switch into kind of running the company versus, you know, staying in and doing investing or doing all these other things you've been doing? So this company actually started from a personal issue. My dad got sick with cancer and then passed away a few years ago.
And I ended up as a young member in the board of directors of my family business in Guatemala, which is Consumer Electronics. And my co-founder's dad also passed away in an airplane crash a while ago. And he also ended up in his family business's board. So we were sort of the outcasts in boards, very young in how boards were managed in large companies. And we saw the problems moving forward.
We saw issues that we wanted solved. We talked with other CEOs and board members we knew. We went to a market, searched for options. There are obviously some options. We didn't see them as dynamic and they were overly expensive for normal companies. So that's how we kind of started. Our initial idea was let's just build it for ourselves. And then it's kind of evolved to what it is now.
Interesting. And you started really building that. That was just last year or 2016 when you did the beta. We started building, yeah. It took us about eight months to do the beta. So early 2017. So I understand your need and why you built this. But what was taking up most of your time before this? Was it just board meeting at the parent company? Yeah. Not really. I was a lawyer at some point.
So I actually quit law in March last year. So when I started building, I was still doing law. I was doing tech law basically. And okay. So you're way, you're way, you're way cooler now, right? This is like a much cooler thing to be doing. And I get to wear t-shirts. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: What features does Exaboard offer to its users?
How did you know when the right moment was to quit the, the lawyer stuff, right? And move full time into this. That's actually a hard question because I, I knew I didn't want to be a lawyer for a long time, but it was serving and I was making money. So, so it kind of helped, but so,
Some of our other investments started doing well and I guess it was just a leap of faith as to a lifestyle issue and it's worked out. How have you capitalized the business? Are you bootstrapped or have you raised? Yeah, no, we actually all are. When we invest, we invest and we start our own companies. We bootstrap all of them. We don't want to raise capital.
We want to keep our equity and we're not necessarily looking for an exit. If it comes great, but we want to build companies that are sustainable. So you have 100% ownership in the company? Between my co-founder, myself, and a tech partner, we have, my co-founder and I have 45 each, and the tech partner has 10.
Okay, Top Drive, many of you ask me all the time, how did I get my website up so fast, so quickly, and why is it doing so well? The answer is simple. I use postgator.com to keep the thing cranking along. They've got a 45-day money-back guarantee, which is great. I used their free website builder to get the site up because it's ideal for WordPress. It's just what I use.
They've got 4,500 templates and a free e-commerce plugin as well. And 24 seven support, which we love, right? We love that. I bug the hell out of them. They always get back to me. So I've got you 30% off along with $100 in free AdWords credit. To grab it, just go to HostGator.com forward slash Nathan. But you got to do it now. Again, HostGator.com forward slash Nathan. What's the total team size?
How many people? We're at 17 now, if I'm not mistaken. We were in the process of hiring someone else, so I'm not sure. Mostly tech, mostly tech, and the tech team is in Guatemala. Okay, so Guatemala, and where are the other locations? Where's everyone based? I'm in New York. Everyone else is in Guatemala. Okay, very good. Guatemala and New York. That's great.
Talk to me about something economics critical to any SaaS company, churn. What's your churn today, and how do you keep it low? Zero to date. Okay, so that means you're too cheap, right? Well, or we just started, right? Yeah, that's true. Sorry, your oldest paying customer has been paying for how many months? six or seven. So we can't zero, but I can't claim for any success for it yet. Yeah.
I mean, look, I've interviewed a couple of companies that serve boards and the challenge they all have, especially with, with, you know, companies where there's only maybe four board meetings a month or a year is they'll sign up for the board meeting, then cancel, then wait two months and sign up again for the next one. And I'm, I mean, you haven't had that pattern.
It doesn't sound like, so how have you given value to these folks when there's not actually a board meeting happening? So that's where we started to add features around tasks and follow up and going more into the management of the company. So whatever the board decides or the management decides, you have the task follow up and reporting. You can add documents, forums, discussions.
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Chapter 4: How did the guest acquire beta customers for Exaboard?
So we find the needs, and if the needs work, the software will work. So what are the big, I mean, how do you quickly figure out if it's a good fit? Obviously, you asked, do you have a board? How much money you've raised is probably a good indicator, right? What else? Well, most of our businesses are not startups or such, so they're more of what would be corporations here. large enterprises.
So we figure out what their pain points are. We also sort of have a cheat sheet as to who we're talking to, whether if it's a chairman, a CEO, a director, a manager, and based on who they are, what we tell them, and we sort of hear their story and then figure out. It's more of a case-by-case basis at this point.
Okay, so I guess my point is though, somebody though that is not a public company or has not raised capital is probably not a good fit because they're unlikely to have a board, correct? In the US, that's correct. In the rest of the world, that's incorrect. Okay, got it. And what percent of your 50 paying customers or 60 paying customers are US based? 3%. Okay, not a lot. Where are most of them?
Guatemala? Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Spain. Interesting. Is it too early for you to understand kind of like CAC and payback period yet? Do you know what you have to spend to get a new $10,000 customer? At this point, it's too early because most of it have been either through ourselves and our network or referrals from existing customers.
So we haven't spent any money in ads and all that, but we're exploring all avenues. So I guess too early. We have some, and we're starting a referral program, sort of an affiliate fee program with regional partners. And that seems to be a good business model. If that's the case, basically it's 25% of the first year and then a recurring 10%. So we... Yeah. Depends on how long the client's there.
It'll be about 7%. Are you guys cashflow positive to date? Yep. Oh, that's great. My biggest, my biggest concern was signing up with something like this. Like, especially if I was running a huge multi-billion dollar company, it would actually be security. Like if I'm uploading board decks and things like that, it's like a massive security issue.
How do you convince people you're secure considering you're only a year old? So basically, uh, we, we have clients that are banks. We've passed their internal securities. We have a third
party security provider that aside from our software is also checking on us we have certificates we go through ethical hackings all the time and our basically our cloud provider is is the best in the market as well so it depends on a client by client basis but we've gone through client security issues and no issues that's great are you any plans to raise capital
Not in the time being, hopefully never. Yeah, would you ever consider things that are non-dilutive like venture debt so you don't have to risk your own money? Well, I mean, If this explodes to a point where raising capital makes sense or doing something like that, sure. But our initial idea is to create a sustainable business unless we need to somehow explode. I was a lawyer.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did the guest face in transitioning from law to entrepreneurship?
Number one, what's your favorite business book? Right now, Behind the Cloud by Mark Benioff. Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying right now? Jeff Bezos. Number three, what's your favorite online tool? LinkedIn. Number four, how many hours of sleep do you get every night? Six-ish. That's good. And what's your situation? Married, single kids? Married and just got a puppy.
Oh, very good. All right. So married, no kids, but a puppy. And how old are you? I'm 32. 32. Last question. What do you wish your 20-year-old self knew? It all worked out. Guys, it will all work out. Coming from Andres again, took up a part of a board seat at his father's company after he sadly passed away and realized there was a need for kind of a board management system.
Launched Exaboard back in 2017, scaling nicely, 60 customers paying about 800, 900 bucks a month. So 50 grand in monthly recurring revenue right now from zero just a year ago. Cashflow positive bootstrap team of 17 between Guatemala and New York. Too early to talk about economics, but they do. have zero percent churn right now as they continue to scale andres thanks for taking us to the top