How DataBuddy Is Building a Pre-Revenue Data Extraction Tool for Financial Controllers in 2021 (Interview with Co-Founder Carola Canavesio)

Host Introduction and Company Overview

Nathan Latka

00:00Hello, everyone. My guest today is Carola Canavesio. She is the founder, co founder of a company called DataBuddy and they're growing fast. One of the things that they're focused on is really helping folks on the machine learning side of business. They founded the company in 2020. Before that, she was born in a family of entrepreneurs, started young selling ads for her local yearbook, and then spent twelve years in Johnson and Johnson at sales, marketing, sales management

00:26before moving to the software business for a machine learning startup. Again, started DataBuddy with our co founder in August 2020. Carola, are you ready to take us to the top?

Carola Canavesio

00:36Yes, let's go for it.

What DataBuddy Does

Nathan Latka

00:37Alright, so what does the product do?

Carola Canavesio

00:39Yeah, so it helps business and financial controllers minimize the time they spend gathering data for their reports.

Machine Learning and Data Sources

Nathan Latka

00:48Okay. And there's a machine learning element component to this, I assume?

Carola Canavesio

00:51At the moment, no. At the moment, the machine learning could be an aspect feature that we add in the future. I think the machine learning was more in my past that the machine learning software used to sell. But now it's around searching and filtering and extracting data from multiple data sources.

ERP Integrations and API Strategy

Nathan Latka

01:08And what sorts of data sources are you relying on mostly?

Carola Canavesio

01:11So, you know, our customers need data from their ERPs. They need local file data. They might need data from APIs. It could be, you know, it could be Forex data. It could be weather data. It just depends on the sector.

Nathan Latka

01:25Okay. But where... I mean, are they attaching these data sources to your platform via an API? What APIs have you built out?

Carola Canavesio

01:33No. So so you would... That's right. We connect... That's something that we could do or they can actually do it themselves. Of course, every API would have to be built specifically for that industry, and then at a certain point, you just have the API ready to be connected.

01:46But, you know, in terms of connecting to the ERP, it's pretty simple. You have a few keys, you know, keys and passwords that you need

01:52to connect, and that's it.

Nathan Latka

01:53Which ERP? I guess

01:55what I'm asking is when you look at your current user base, which ERP, right, are you mostly getting... Pulling data from?

Carola Canavesio

02:01Yeah. At the moment, you know, we are talking to customers. We're probably gonna have the next couple of... A pilot customers dropping in the next couple of weeks and months. It does not matter, Nathan. So it could be a SAP HANA. It could be Oracle. It doesn't matter.

02:17So it's for any ERP.

Nathan Latka

02:19Okay. Doesn't it matter though? I mean, you have limited development resources and all of them have different APIs you have to build API integrations for, so it does matter because you have to prioritize your API road map.

Carola Canavesio

02:28Yeah. I think I think it will actually depend on the customers we have, you know. So if the... If if if... It depends on the order of the customers, I think. It doesn't really... So whoever is the first, second, third, fourth, you know, customer, then we will develop with them initially. So it will be a slow development in terms of...

02:45We need to have a base of ERPs ERPs initially. That will probably take a while, but once you have that base, then it's very easy to roll out to all our customers.

Interviewing Controllers Through LinkedIn and the Incubator

Nathan Latka

02:53So you're in this beautiful moment where you're pre revenue. You've got some folks that you're learning from. No one's paying yet. What are you... Right. Talk to about how you built your waitlist and what you're learning from your waitlist.

Carola Canavesio

03:02Yeah. So we found that this particular group is actually very happy to talk to us. So I've interviewed personally about 60 controllers so far, and it's been a combination of connections through the incubator we're in, as well as directly connecting with them on LinkedIn and then calling them. And they've been extremely generous with their time, and it's been very reassuring because the problem that we see comes up 100% of the time.

Nathan Latka

03:31So on LinkedIn, you're figuring out who to reach out to, you're searching for the word, the job title controller, what niche, what space, how do you narrow down?

Carola Canavesio

03:38Doesn't matter.

Nathan Latka

03:39Okay, so just the word controller.

Carola Canavesio

03:41Yeah, and then the titles vary, so it could be... You usually you usually find that group controllers and senior controllers have

03:50have authority to kind of, you know, decide to look for a solution and also might have a greater overview of the back end. And that way, you know, they they understand the issue that we're discussing.

MVP Progress and Development Timeline

Nathan Latka

04:03Now have you guys written any code for the product yet? And if so, what year did you write that first line of code?

Carola Canavesio

04:07Yeah. Yeah. So my cofounder is about 70% of the MVP... Finished, if you can ever say anything is finished, but he's 70% of the way there.

Nathan Latka

04:18And and so you launched... He started writing code last year or this year?

Carola Canavesio

04:22So probably around December.

Nathan Latka

04:25Okay. Got it. So so coding in sort of 2020, 70% of the...

Carola Canavesio

04:29And and... Well, it was really December. So almost 2021. Yeah.

Surviving Pre-Revenue: Savings and Full-Time Commitment

Nathan Latka

04:34Yeah. Fair, fair. And so how are... You know, you guys have gone five months here with no revenue. This is the crossing the chasm moment for an entrepreneur. You sort of quit safety, you jump into your own thing, and the big question is how do you pay your bills during these sorts of months where you're ramping up? How are you managing that as a founder?

Carola Canavesio

04:51No. No. We're just using our savings at the moment. We are both doing this full time. So,

05:00yeah, it's tricky times, but we're very committed. We believe that there is a need, and we think that we are hopefully on the cusp of signing up the first few final customers.

Norway's Furlough Program and the Decision to Start

Nathan Latka

05:12How did you get yourself mentally in a spot five, six months ago to quit whatever you're doing and go to this full time? In other words, were you like, okay, I have X months of savings saved in the bank or how did you do the risk mitigation?

Carola Canavesio

05:23Yeah, I think it's a very good question. And I think that... So we were almost pushed in a situation in the sense that I wasn't... I've been on furlough since April. I live in a country where they're very, very generous with the with the furlough.

Nathan Latka

05:39Which country are you in?

Carola Canavesio

05:40Norway.

Nathan Latka

05:41Okay.

Carola Canavesio

05:42Yeah. And I think that put me in a situation where I wasn't in a rush to look for anything else because I really like the company I was working for, but I was also always interested in starting my own thing. And then my co founder had just finished an incubator and had decided not to join any of the groups, and therefore, at that time, we were both looking for the next thing to do. And so, I

06:08think it was, you know, I wish I could say that it was enforced, but it was probably a combination of factors put together that the right, you know, just was the right moment.

Nathan Latka

06:18And so how does furlough work? Once you're furloughed, the government in Norway still pays you money every month and you're sort of living off that plus your savings? Yeah. I wonder if there's gonna be a pattern post COVID. I wonder if there's gonna be a lot of people in your shoes that got laid off. They have got revenue coming from the government for unemployment or furloughing. And so they say, you know what? Let's launch your own

06:35business.

Carola Canavesio

06:37I think so. There's definitely been a spike of startups in the last period, and I know this because the government gives small grants for startups in Norway, and they had to change their policies because they just couldn't cope with the inflow of applications last year.

06:58There's also a

06:58very big focus here because it's an oil country, so there was a big focus on oil and gas, and of course they're trying to get the population to look at other sectors to grow.

Planned Pricing Model

Nathan Latka

07:11Yep. Yep. Now, do you anticipate charging when you do start asking for money for this? How do you think you'll structure it?

Carola Canavesio

07:18Yeah. So I think I really like pricing, and I think that there's a lot of...

Nathan Latka

07:24We all like pricing.

07:25We all like money.

Carola Canavesio

07:26No. I know. I said... No. As in I like I like the idea of having an innovative way of pricing. Sorry. That's what I meant. Know?

Nathan Latka

07:26I see.

Carola Canavesio

07:26And I and I think and I think

07:35initially, I think maybe at the very beginning, you have to go pretty standard, you go for per seat, per amount of connections, maybe for the amount of data that you extract.

07:50I see a kind of a per user, about $150 per month for the super, super user, and then maybe something like 20 to $30 for the normal user. But as I said, I think I think this will be evolved in the next six months as soon as we can test the market.

Customer Goals and Charging Timeline

Nathan Latka

08:09Now I'm recording this in April. If I have you on in a couple months in December 2021, how many customers do you hope to have by then?

Carola Canavesio

08:17You know, so when we... If you'd asked me this question in December 2020, I would have said it would be great to have three pilot customers and then kind of launch properly, having really done really good q and a with those pilot customers in Q4. With the interest we've seen so far, I'm kind of almost hoping 12, you know?

Nathan Latka

08:4112 customers, a $150 a month, so maybe $2.03,

08:44$4.

Carola Canavesio

08:44The reality is I think that we will not be able to charge the first few pilot customers for the first few months because then they will really help us develop the product. So I think that starting to charge will be probably happening in Q4 realistically. So I think that you want to start from probably Q4 up to Q4, the year after, to understand how much the turnover is per year.

Bootstrapped Commitment and Charging Philosophy

Nathan Latka

09:05Most founders I've interviewed who are pre revenue, the thing that determines when they wanna start making money is usually has nothing to do with the business and has everything to do with their personal situation. How long can they go not making money from the business? So my prediction for you is as long as you and your co founder feel comfortable because you have furlough revenue and you're not playing a crunch of your savings, you're not going

09:30to have the courage to really be aggressive with forcing people to start paying. You're going to let your early folks keep going along for free for a long period of time. So my question to you is how long can you comfortably go along making no money from the business?

Carola Canavesio

09:42No. I think my co founder is like yesterday. He would say...

Nathan Latka

09:45Yeah.

Carola Canavesio

09:46And and I think, you know, and I I am in the same position. I also think that you need to... You need... It's only fair to charge for a product, you know. I I think that... Of course, there's freemium, but I'm trying to say is once that initial period is passed, I think it's it's... I think our product could deliver a significant value to to our customers. So I think...

10:09No. I I think we we will have this discussion when we start out with the idea that if after a few months, we will start charging.

Famous Five: Books, Tools, and Personal Life

Nathan Latka

10:15Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Well, I'm rooting for you now. You guys are bootstrapped. Right? Nothing

Carola Canavesio

10:15Correct.

Nathan Latka

10:15I love that. Again, using the furlough, using our savings, I love that. Two of you guys on the team today, hoping to get first paying customers here, hopefully this year. We will see what happens, Carola. In the meantime, let's wrap up here with the famous five. Number one, what's your favorite business book?

Carola Canavesio

10:37I think it's Fortune Favors the Bold, It Never Dies. It's always a good one.

Nathan Latka

10:42Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying?

Carola Canavesio

10:46I think there's just

10:49too many. I follow a lot of podcasts, I can't quite choose one.

Nathan Latka

10:55Number three, what's your favorite online tool for building the business?

Carola Canavesio

11:00Start with very simple things. I found Canva amazing. It's very easy to do things, then Justinmind to design our MVP, yeah, and Sales Navigator.

Nathan Latka

11:11Number four, how many hours of sleep do you get every night?

Carola Canavesio

11:11I

11:16don't know. Good good night, eight hours. A bad night, three.

Nathan Latka

11:19And what's your situation, Carola? Married, single, kids?

Carola Canavesio

11:22Kids. Three kids.

Nathan Latka

11:24Three kid... Okay. Married with three kids. And can I ask how old you are?

Carola Canavesio

11:2440.

Nathan Latka

11:2440. Last question. What's something you wish you knew when you were 20?

Carola Canavesio

11:36Trust the process. Trust the process. You might need... You need that experience.

Nathan Latka

11:41She lives in Norway, was furloughed last year and not a furlough plus her savings, even the confidence to find a co founder and jump into databuddy.tech, her new business she's building which helps you automate your ERP data and really get access to it, really unlock that data. They've got some pilot folks right now hoping to have their first paying customers at the end of the year, this year here in 2021. Have bootstrapped to date. Carola, we're

12:05rooting for you. Thanks for taking us to the top.

Carola Canavesio

12:06Thank you so much.

Nathan Latka

12:09One more thing before you go. We have a brand new show every Thursday at 1PM central. It's called Shark Tank for SaaS. We call it deal or bust. One founder comes on, three hungry buyers, they try and do a deal live and the founder shares back end dashboards, their expenses, their revenue, ARPU, CAC, LTV, you name it, they share it. And the buyers try and make a deal live. It is fun to watch every Thursday, 1PM

12:33central. Additionally, remember these recorded founder interviews go live. We release them here on YouTube every day at two p. M. Central. To make sure you don't miss any of that, make sure you click the subscribe button below here on YouTube, the big red button, and then click the little bell notification to make sure you get notifications when we do go live. I wouldn't want you to miss breaking news in the SaaS world, whether it's an acquisition,

12:54a big fundraise, a big sale, a big profitability statement or something else. I don't want you to miss it. Additionally, if you wanna take this conversation deeper and further, we have by far the largest private Slack community for B2B SaaS founders. You wanna get in there. We've probably talked about your tool if you're running a company or your firm if you're investing. You can go in there and quickly search and see what people are saying. Sign

13:15up for that at nathanlatka.com/slack. In the meantime, I'm hanging out with you here on YouTube. I'll be in the comments for the next thirty minutes. Feel free to let me know what you thought about this episode. If you enjoyed it, click the thumbs up. We get a lot of haters that are mad at how aggressive I am on these shows, but I do it so that we can all learn. We have to counter those people. We

13:34gotta push them away. Click the thumbs up below to counter them and know that I appreciate your guys' support. Alright. I'll be in the comments. See you.