Founder Interview
How MyAlice Hit $14K MRR and 60 Customers in 2021 (Interview with CEO Shuvo Rahman)
- Interview Date
- December 15, 2021
- Interviewee
- Shuvo RahmanFounder and CEO
Company Metrics at Interview Time
MRR (Dec 2021)
$14,000
Paying Customers (2021)
60
Seed Funding Raised
$500,000
Team Size (2021)
35
ARPU (monthly, Dec 2021)
$200
Historical Snapshot
These numbers were reported by Shuvo Rahman during his interview with Nathan Latka in December 2021 and are a historical snapshot, not current figures. See MyAlice’s current numbers.
Key Takeaways
- 01MyAlice was doing about $14,000 MRR across 60 paying customers when this interview was recorded in December 2021, roughly a $168K annual run rate
- 02Average revenue per customer was $200 per month
- 03The company raised a $500,000 seed round in April 2021
- 04The $500,000 seed round was priced at a $2M pre-money valuation, $2.5M post-money
- 0535 total team members, with 11 engineers based in Bangladesh
- 06Subscription pricing starts at $15 per month, with $50 and $300 tiers above it and custom pricing for enterprise
- 07Resale partners in 9 countries take a 20 to 30% cut of the sales they bring in, costing MyAlice about $2,000 per month against $14,000 MRR
- 08MyAlice customers saw roughly 30% of their support queries automated and sales increases of 20 to 40%
- 09Shuvo Rahman retains 65% equity; angels hold 15%; seed investors hold 20%
- 10The company had $300,000 cash in the bank at interview time
- 11No marketing spend had occurred yet; paid campaigns were planned for January 2022
Company Metrics at Time of Interview
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| MRR (Dec 2021) | $14,000 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Annualized Revenue (Dec 2021 run rate) | $168K | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Paying Customers (2021) | 60 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| ARPU (monthly, Dec 2021) | $200 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Seed Round Raised (2021) | $500,000 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Post-Money Valuation (2021 seed) | $2.5M | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Cash in Bank (2021) | $300,000 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Team Size (2021) | 35 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Engineers (2021) | 11 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Inside Sales Reps (2021) | 5 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Starting Subscription Price (2021) | $15 per month | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Affiliate Payout Rate (2021) | 20 to 30% | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Monthly Affiliate Expense (2021) | $2,000 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Founder Equity (2021) | 65% | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Angel Equity (2021) | 15% | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Seed Investor Equity (2021) | 20% | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Partner Countries (2021) | 9 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
| Year Founded | 2020 | Founder interview, Dec 2021 |
Growth Breakdown
Revenue
By December 2021 MyAlice was at roughly $14,000 MRR, about a $168K annual run rate, across around 60 paying customers averaging $200 per month each, with subscription tiers starting at $15 per month. A year earlier the company was a different product: a conversational AI chatbot sold mostly to enterprises, which it moved away from after raising in April.
Customers
MyAlice's core go-to-market was a 5-person inside sales team plus resale partners in 9 countries, with no paid advertising spent to date. Most customers were in the APAC region; of partner-sourced sales, the Myanmar partner accounted for about 40% and the Philippines partner close to 25%, with the rest spread across Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, and Dubai.
Team
The team grew to 35 people following the seed round, with 11 engineers and 6 product staff based in Bangladesh, 5 inside sales reps targeting Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, and the remainder in marketing and support roles.
Funding
MyAlice closed a $500,000 seed round in April 2021, selling 20% of the company. At the time of the interview, $300,000 remained in the bank, earmarked primarily for marketing campaigns planned to launch in January 2022.
Growth Strategy
Value-Added Reseller Partner Network
MyAlice built a partner network across 9 countries whose resellers handle local sales in exchange for a 20% to 30% commission on the sales they bring in. At interview time the Myanmar partner accounted for about 40% of partner-sourced sales and the Philippines partner close to 25%.
Inside Sales Team
A 5-person inside sales team targeted e-commerce merchants across Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, focusing on prospects that fit the company's ideal customer profile.
Product-Led Expansion via Marketplaces
MyAlice planned to launch on AppSumo and Product Hunt in January 2022 to build early adopter traction and brand recognition in North America, alongside campaigns targeting Shopify and WooCommerce marketplaces.
Zero Paid Marketing Until Product-Market Fit
Shuvo Rahman deliberately avoided paid advertising until the company could demonstrate clear value delivery. He cited automating roughly 30% of his customers' support queries and lifting those customers' sales by 20% to 40% as evidence the product had reached a stage where marketing investment was justified.
Best Quotes
“So it's a SaaS solution, first of all. So it's it's a software that's available online. You can subscribe and start using it. So what it does basically it integrates for e commerce, it integrates all of your channels like the sales channels, like messenger, Instagram, Viber all into one single place and then it helps you to automate and also your agents can handle the conversations and convert it to sales.”
“So we have our subscription starting from $15 per month and there is that layer of $50 and $300 and for enterprises it can go up. For the time being, we have around $14,000 MRR and we have around 60 paying customers. So on an average, they're seeing around $200 from each customers.”
“So a year ago we weren't there honestly speaking. So we started back in 2020 first of all, but we pivoted a lot. So we started with sort of a conversational AI chatbot and then gradually in this year, in April, we raised our seed round of $500,000 after that we focused only on the e commerce side and started building a SaaS product.”
“Like for our e commerce customers who are using MyAlice, we have been helping them by automating almost 30% of their queries, which is actually saving their time and cost. And also most of the cases we are increasing their sales in between 20 to 40%.”
“We have 35 people in the team right now.”
What Happened Next
This interview captures MyAlice in December 2021, eight months after the company closed its $500,000 seed round in April 2021 and with its first paid marketing spend still ahead of it: Shuvo Rahman planned to start in January 2022 with AppSumo and Product Hunt launches. The figures here are what he reported at that point in time and should not be taken as current. Visit the MyAlice company profile on GetLatka for the latest available data on revenue, customers, and funding.
View MyAlice’s current profile and metricsFull Transcript
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction to MyAlice and Shuvo Rahman
- 0:18What MyAlice Does: SaaS for E-Commerce Conversations
- 0:56Pricing Tiers, MRR, and Customer Count
- 1:20Company History, Pivot, and Seed Round
- 2:33Equity Structure and Angel Investors
- 3:24Customer Outcomes: Automation and Sales Lift
- 3:56Team Size and Structure
- 4:39Partner Network Across 9 Countries
- 5:27Affiliate Payouts and Partner Revenue Share
- 6:12Go-to-Market: No Paid Ads, Inside Sales Focus
- 6:50AppSumo and Product Hunt Launch Plans
- 8:43Famous Five: Books, Tools, and Personal Life
Introduction to MyAlice and Shuvo Rahman
Nathan Latka
00:00Hey, folks. My guest today is Shuvo Rahman, the Founder and CEO of Alice Labs. It's the company behind myalice.ai. They're helping you increase sales through conversations. Shuvo, you ready to take us to the top?
Shuvo Rahman
00:11>> Yep. Pretty much. So first off,
Nathan Latka
00:14us, is this software or is this a consulting firm?
What MyAlice Does: SaaS for E-Commerce Conversations
Shuvo Rahman
00:18>> So it's a SaaS solution, first of all. So it's it's a software that's available online. You can subscribe and start using it. So what it does basically it integrates for e commerce, it integrates all of your channels like the sales channels, like messenger, Instagram, Viber all into one single place and then it helps you to automate and also your agents can handle the conversations and convert it to sales. So it also connects with ecommerce like Shopify
00:48>> ecommerce so that you can streamline all your operation in one single place. So what are people paying
Nathan Latka
00:53per month on average to use the technology?
Pricing Tiers, MRR, and Customer Count
Shuvo Rahman
00:56>> So we have our subscription starting from $15 per month and there is that layer of $50 and $300 and for enterprises it can go up. For the time being, we have around $14,000 MRR and we have around 60 paying customers. So on an average, they're seeing around $200 from each customers.
Nathan Latka
01:16And if you're doing $14,000 a month today, what were you doing exactly a year ago?
Company History, Pivot, and Seed Round
Shuvo Rahman
01:20>> So a year ago we weren't there honestly speaking. So we started back in 2020 first of all, but we pivoted a lot. So we started with sort of a conversational AI chatbot and then gradually in this year, in April, we raised our seed round of $500,000 after that we focused only on the e commerce side and started building a SaaS product. Before that, it was sort of a software that only the enterprise was using mostly
01:53>> for the chatbots. But now we have more focus towards the e commerce Shopify e commerce is shown so that they can easily connect all their channels and restart automations and help desk as well.
Nathan Latka
02:05And Shuvo, did you found this company yourself? Did you have a 100% at the beginning equity?
Shuvo Rahman
02:11>> I have a few angels from the very beginning. So I started back my career in software engineering and then moved into business. We have four partners in a software company and later on I moved more towards Alice. So my partners backed up a little, so they have some sort of angel investment, but I have the majority of share in the company.
Equity Structure and Angel Investors
Nathan Latka
02:33So I'm sort of all about equity wise?
Shuvo Rahman
02:36>> 65%.
02:37>> Okay. 65.
Nathan Latka
02:38And how much do the angels have?
Shuvo Rahman
02:40>> Angels have 15% and the rest basically gone in our seed round.
Nathan Latka
02:45So you sold 20% in your seed round?
Shuvo Rahman
02:47>> Yep. Yep. Yep.
Nathan Latka
02:48Okay. This makes a lot of sense. So so $500,000 seed round at what was that? A $2,000,000 valuation? Pre money?
Shuvo Rahman
02:55>> Yeah. 2,000,000 pre money, 2.5 post.
Nathan Latka
02:57Yep. Yep. Okay. That makes sense. Where'd you invest the money?
Shuvo Rahman
03:01>> So mostly we initially invested our money in to make sure that we can work with our GTMs. So a little bit in the product building, little bit building the GTM strategies. So far, we haven't spent a single dime in marketing but that's what we are going to do from January because we are mostly after the product market fit we are trying to see if we can provide the values and we now in a stage where we
Customer Outcomes: Automation and Sales Lift
Shuvo Rahman
03:24>> can more or less confidently see that we are providing that value Like for our e commerce customers who are using MyAlice, we have been helping them by automating almost 30% of their queries, which is actually saving their time and cost. And also most of the cases we are increasing their sales in between 20 to 40%. So this is through the automations and this is through the increasing efficiency and all the data that we provide them of
03:50>> their customers.
Nathan Latka
03:51Yep. And you've done this. You've executed well, 60 customers to date. How many people are on your team today?
Team Size and Structure
Shuvo Rahman
03:56>> We have 35 people in the team right now.
Nathan Latka
03:5835? How are you paying 35 people with 14,000 a
Shuvo Rahman
04:01>> month So of
04:03>> company is based out of Bangladesh, so the labor cost in Bangladesh is pretty low. All my engineering team are based out of there. We have around 17 product people right now and the rest of the 17 are sort of new hire after the raising. So they are mostly focusing on building the support team, building the inside sales team and now mostly the marketing team. As you can understand engineers? Engineers are 11.
Nathan Latka
04:31How many?
Shuvo Rahman
04:32>> 11. 11 engineers.
Nathan Latka
04:34And and what are the rest of folks doing?
Partner Network Across 9 Countries
Shuvo Rahman
04:39>> So six people in the product team, product meaning the product manager, QA, UI, UX and five people in the inside sales team who basically are now targeting different countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East and trying to onboard people who fall into our ICP. One of our core GTMs is mostly to work with partners. We have partner managers, we have partners in nine countries right now who actually resell our product into those countries. And the
05:10>> rest of the people are mostly marketing people. So a few of them are part timers, pretty young people, but they are now working on mostly the designs, productions. Mean, want to also educate the people.
Affiliate Payouts and Partner Revenue Share
Nathan Latka
05:27A partner brings in a $200 a month customer, how much do you pay back to the partner?
Shuvo Rahman
05:31>> 20 to 30% depending on their total sales.
Nathan Latka
05:35Okay. So 40 to $50 a month is going back to the partner if if you got the Okay. Customer from So of the 14,000 in MRR you're making today, how much do have to pay out per month to partners?
Shuvo Rahman
05:46>> Around $2,000 because all of them are not from partners. Yeah.
Nathan Latka
05:50Okay. Got it. Okay. So that's not too high. That's sort of your affiliate cut. And which partners are selling the most?
Shuvo Rahman
05:57>> So we have a partner in Myanmar that's totaling 40%. We have now another partner in Philippines that's almost closing to 25% of the old partner sales. And I think rest are distributed in Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Dubai as well.
Go-to-Market: No Paid Ads, Inside Sales Focus
Nathan Latka
06:12Very cool. And talk to me about how you're getting these new customers, right? So you're paying 20% out to these folks, the people that come direct, are you doing paid ads or no?
Shuvo Rahman
06:20>> No, we haven't spent nothing in ads so far. As I've said, our core GTM was focused on building the inside sales team and the partners till now. But as we are now eyeing more towards the product market fit, so starting from January, we're investing in the marketing. So we have around almost $300,000 in our pocket right now and we are going to invest most of them in the marketing starting from January. We'll be launching in AppSumo,
06:44>> we'll be launching in Product Hunt and a few other campaigns for Shopify marketplaces and WooCommerce marketplaces as well.
AppSumo and Product Hunt Launch Plans
Nathan Latka
06:50Got it. 300 ks in the bank today. Very good. And then, I mean, you mentioned AppSumo, you know, how do you why would you launch an AppSumo and sell lifetime plans? It reduces your ability to drive true recurring revenue.
Shuvo Rahman
07:05>> Yeah. So we wanted to make sure that we have the initial tractions, first of all. And secondly, we have the amount of trust as well as you can understand, majority of our customers now from the APAC region and we also want to target the North America region. So AppSumo gives us a platform where we can onboard the initial level of customers and at least get the feedbacks out of them and help them on board and also
07:29>> take the name MyAlice out there. So money is actually not our core goal in case of AppSumo, but mostly trust and also the traction that we can build from this campaign.
Nathan Latka
07:41Yeah, but why would you want to put your product in front of discount shoppers effectively, which is what AppSumo users are? Enterprises that are going to pay you $10, $20, $30 a month in four years are not hanging out on AppSumo today.
Shuvo Rahman
07:54>> So even if Ltd is basically limited by monthly active users, so it's not like you can use it as you want. So if your MAU grows, then you will have to pay extra as well.
Nathan Latka
08:07Well, I mean, AppSumo will push you to give away a ton to their users to get a deal done. And usually, it's a lifetime plan that's pretty feature rich. So how do you plan to enter that negotiation?
Shuvo Rahman
08:19>> So honestly speaking, our goal was to make sure we got the early adopters from around the world and we also get the impression. So I think AppSumo helps us to do that. Of course, there are pros and cons. I mean, we are giving away the LTDs, but in return, we are we we want to get some advisers and some customers throughout the world whom we can at least, play around and see how our product goes with
Famous Five: Books, Tools, and Personal Life
Nathan Latka
08:43>> them.
08:43Alright. Well, we'll see how it works on that note. Let's wrap up with the famous five. Number one, favorite business book.
Shuvo Rahman
08:49>> Yep. I would say Shoe Dog from Phil Knight.
Nathan Latka
08:52Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying?
Shuvo Rahman
08:57>> Not CEO, but let's say CTO Dharmesh Shah from HubSpot.
Nathan Latka
09:01Number three, what's your favorite online tool for building the business?
Shuvo Rahman
09:06>> I use Amplitude and metaphys a lot to understand how much value I'm providing and also the track shows. And of course, a little bit biased, but we also provide our support with MyAlice.
Nathan Latka
09:17Number four, how many hours of sleep are you getting every night?
Shuvo Rahman
09:20>> Six.
Nathan Latka
09:21And what's your situation? Married, single, kids?
Shuvo Rahman
09:23>> Kids.
Nathan Latka
09:25How many?
Shuvo Rahman
09:26>> I have a kid.
Nathan Latka
09:28Okay. One kid. And are you single or married?
Shuvo Rahman
09:31>> Married. I'm married.
Nathan Latka
09:32Okay. Married, one kid, and how old are you?
Shuvo Rahman
09:35>> I am 28. Got married pretty early.
Nathan Latka
09:37Last question. What's something you wish knew when you were 20?
Shuvo Rahman
09:41>> Sorry?
Nathan Latka
09:42Something you wish you knew when you were 20.
Shuvo Rahman
09:45>> I think I wanted to work for companies like Google, Microsoft, as I am from the software engineer background. But I think I believe I'm I'm what I'm doing right now, I'm pretty satisfied with that.
Nathan Latka
09:59So it's not about something that you would change. It's just something you wish you knew when you were 20.
Shuvo Rahman
10:03>> Oh, I wish I knew. I think I would wanted to know more about the technology verticals. I mean, I'm from Bangladesh and we here are a little bit far behind when you think about the North American culture. Mean, in there, people are thinking about metaverse, NFT and in here, people are not getting most of their advantages they get.
Nathan Latka
10:25Guys, MyAlice is customer service help desk for store owners. They had no revenue a year ago, now doing $14,000 a month in revenue. Their go to market is mainly through nine channel partners. They pay kickback of 20% there, so they're arbitraging CAC, which is great. 60 customers today paying about $200 per month. Shuvo as a Founder still owns about 65% of the business. Angels have 15, and he sold in his $500,000 seed round 20% of the
10:46business at a $2,500,000 valuation. His team mainly based in Bangladesh, 35 total, 11 engineers, six sales reps. They look to continue to expand. Shuvo, thank you for taking us to the top.
Shuvo Rahman
10:57>> Thank you, Latka. I'm I'm pretty pleased to be here.
Nathan Latka
11:01One 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 one
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