How Revastaff Hit $300K Revenue in 2022 With 2,000 Customers and a $300K Pre-Seed Round (Interview with CEO OJ Lopez)

Introduction and Background

Nathan Latka

00:00Hey, folks. My guest my next speaker is Filipino by birth, an architect by training, a gamer by heart, and a family man by commitment, does a lot of public speaking and also humanitarian by choice. Studied architecture and is now building revastaff.com, real estate visuals that sell. OJ, you ready to take us to the top?

OJ Lopez

00:17>> Yes, sir. Let's do it.

Nathan Latka

00:19Alright.

OJ Lopez

00:20>> Thank you for having me, Nathan.

Nathan Latka

00:21You are welcome.

OJ Lopez

00:22>> Yes.

Product Evolution and Pivot to Real Estate Agents

Nathan Latka

00:23So I had you on about a year and a half ago. You had about 20 customers doing is charging $75 per month on average. And talk to me a little bit about the the product back then. I don't know if it's the same as it was today, but tell me what you're working on now today. What's the product look like?

OJ Lopez

00:36>> Well, the the the core product is still the same. We were still very much into real estate, but before we were we're servicing a lot of of of real estate photographers. But we pivoted and and went and go after the real estate agents themselves. So because we we were we we were made aware that only 30% of real estate agents actually use photographers. And you know, 70% of that actually just shoot their own photos and and

What Revastaff Does: Post-Production Services

OJ Lopez

01:07>> for for your audience to know we are actually doing post production work for a lot of these real estate visuals from your photo editing, video editing, floor plans, you know, 3D, CGI, things of that nature. And

Nathan Latka

01:21So, OJ, are you a marketplace today than are you a SaaS company?

OJ Lopez

01:25>> Well, well, a little bit of both. We were still we were still serving photographers, but it's kind of pivoted up to to going after real SaaS use case for for these realtors, going after the realtors to to spend

01:45>> in our platform rather than going through a photographer and and and take shots of the properties and things like that.

Marketplace vs. SaaS Model

Nathan Latka

01:51So, OJ, just to be clear, you you real real estate folks, realtors can pay Revastaff to do all of the photo editing and everything for their new unit themselves. You used to, though, connect them to photographer and then relied on them to manage the photographer. Now you just do all the work internally yourself. Is that right?

OJ Lopez

02:13>> Yeah. That's right. We we still do the real estate photographers as I've mentioned earlier. Only about 30% of of realtors actually use professional photographers. So those there's a big chunk of realtors that doesn't use real professional real estate photographers. So they take others, their their visuals, their phone photos, and things like that. And then and and so right now, they would be able just to upload that directly to our platform. And we're building a SaaS model

02:43>> with that starting with with $20 a month and using our platform

Nathan Latka

02:48How many realtors are paying $20 a month?

OJ Lopez

02:52>> Our right right now, very few because we we still are doing

Nathan Latka

02:57Like like how few? Under under 10? Under five?

Customer Count and Pay-As-You-Go Model

OJ Lopez

03:00>> No. We we we have about 2,000 realtors that are paying us. It's not that consistent. Hence, we want them to subscribe to because right now, it's it's a pay per service. So, they are in a pay pay as you go model but we have 2,000 of them doing pay as you go. Some of them spend $100, some of them spend $10. Right? So in hands

Nathan Latka

03:22thousand of them though paid you last month, at least a dollar?

OJ Lopez

03:26>> Last year. Last year. For for for one year, from 20 this year, there's about 2,000 of them who have gone through the platform and paid us something.

Nathan Latka

03:37Oh, what's going on there, YouTube? Good to see you guys. Now imagine this, you love watching these interviews with SaaS founders. But imagine if we took all of the valuation data out from over 2,807 interviews I've done manually, saves you a lot of time. Well, we've done this. We've built it into the beautiful interface inside of Founderpath. Check this out. I'll show you how you can access this in a second. But you log in, you connect

04:01your Stripe account, you see your valuation real time, you can see what it changed over the past eighty eight days and even set goals for valuation this year. Now the secret evaluation is there's many different ways to value a SaaS business. So the reason you're gonna see three or four different valuations inside of your Founderpath dashboard, this is all free by the way, is because depending on who's doing the buying of your SaaS company, you're gonna

04:25get a different valuation. A VC is gonna pay a different valuation, Private equity firm is different. If you're gonna do a minority sale, that's different. And if you sell the whole business, that's a different valuation. You can see all those when I hover over here, right? So the teal is what a VC would pay. Yellow is what private equity And red is if you sold the whole thing outright. Now what's cool about this is this is

04:47not built off random data. Again, you guys hear these interviews on YouTube. All these datas are built from real time valuation data points founder share with us on the show. So traction 1,200,000 seed round 3.7 raise. They sold 22% of their business. Go in here and filter by the event. Maybe you only wanna see companies that have sold the whole business. Well, here are a bunch that have been acquired the valuation and the multiple. Maybe you're

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05:34if you wanna check this tool out, if you wanna jump in and sign up, you can check it out for free to get your valuation at this link. This link, founderpath.com/products/valuations. Or if you go to founderpath.com and hover over products, click on get your valuation here, and go ahead and sign up to give it a whirl. Again, all that valuation data live right inside the platform. I hope to see you there. Alright. Let's jump back into

06:01the interview. And and how much do they pay you on average?

OJ Lopez

06:05>> On average, they they pay

06:10>> unrepurring because we have we have realtors that pay us, like, a $100 a month.

Nathan Latka

06:16OJ, But we have to simplify this or we're gonna lose the audience. I'm just I'm just trying to get a sense of how many customers are gonna pay you something this year, and what's your gonna be your total revenue this year?

OJ Lopez

06:28>> Alright. So for this year, we're gonna hit about 300 k of revenue. Again, I can't I can't I can't average out because it fluctuates. Right?

Nathan Latka

06:37That's fine.

06:38So 300 just stick with 300,000 in revenue from how many customers? 2,000?

OJ Lopez

06:43>> Yeah. Around 2,000 customers.

Nathan Latka

06:45Okay. And and and how many have already paid you to date? How many of the 2,000? What percent?

2022 Revenue Target: $300K

OJ Lopez

06:50>> Everybody. You have paid at least, you know, at least $5.

Nathan Latka

06:55Okay. Well, then So I just so just OJ, just to repeat this back to you. I said, how much are gonna do this year? And you said 300,000 in revenue from 2,000 customers. My then natural question was, well, there's still two months left in the year. So how many more customers are gonna pay over the next two months? And you just said none. They've all already paid you.

OJ Lopez

07:12>> Right. Right. Right. So we have about about 2,000 customers that's already paying through the platform. Or ordered through the platform rather.

Nathan Latka

07:20How many are going to order over the next two months?

OJ Lopez

07:24>> It's it's really hard to say because it's gonna be winter. Right? So so a lot of them probably won't order in the next two months because it's gonna be wintertime. Yeah.

Nathan Latka

07:35Got it. Alright. I won't push that further. So $300,000 this year, and that's up from how much last year?

OJ Lopez

07:43>> We we we did almost 200 last year.

Nathan Latka

07:45Okay. So 180,000 last year, 300,000 this year. It's there's there's what I'm hearing you in your voice and sort of your body language is, there's not a lot of predictability around this because they take photos one month and they don't take any the next month. Right? So that makes it really hard for you to hire and build a business because there's no predictability or consistency. Right? So how many full time employees do you have today?

Team Size and Freelancer Network

OJ Lopez

08:07>> Full time, we have about, five employees full time, and, the freelancers that work for us would would would be about 30 freelancers.

Nathan Latka

08:17Okay. And and you mentioned did I think last time we spoke, you said you were raising a pre seed round, but you hadn't closed it. Did you end up closing that last year?

Pre-Seed Round: $300K Raised

OJ Lopez

08:26>> Yeah. We actually just raised this year, and and we we raised our our pre seed this year.

Nathan Latka

08:35How much did you raise?

OJ Lopez

08:37>> 300.

Nathan Latka

08:39Okay. So 300,000 pre seed. And was that on a note?

OJ Lopez

08:43>> Yes. That's right. It's it's a convertible note.

Nathan Latka

08:47Got it. So most pre seed notes these days have a cap of, like, you know, 2 or 3,000,000 today. Is that what your cap was?

OJ Lopez

08:53>> That's right. Yeah. Around that.

Nathan Latka

08:54Okay.

08:55Okay. So 2,000,000 cap. And why do you need the money? Why is this an expensive business to build?

Why the Money Was Raised and Web3 Ambitions

OJ Lopez

09:01>> Yeah. Basically, we will be building towards the SaaS model. And, well, we have actually investors that are very interested in us helping to build a Web3 model, which is we have the capability with our 3D artist to do like metaverse stuff. Right? So so the environments and things like that. So they're looking into that as well. And and there's a lot of a lot of side projects going on and not just in real estate

09:30>> and they're looking into other verticals as well. As long as it's about visualization, photos, videos, 3D, CGI that our artist, here in the other side of the world can do. That's something that we are actually looking forward to to doing.

Nathan Latka

09:44But there how many of the five employees are engineers?

OJ Lopez

09:50>> Just two. Just two engineers and then two account managers handling sales and things like that.

Nathan Latka

09:58And how many freelancers have, like, photograph editors have you used over the past year to to do all the work of editing?

10:08OJ?

OJ Lopez

10:11>> Hello, though.

Nathan Latka

10:12Yep. OJ, we can hear you fine.

10:21OJ there?

10:27Guys, as OJ is reconnecting here, again, this is one of those models not a lot of predictability, but has 2,000 customers that have paid at least a dollar this year, potentially built an opportunity here to build a SaaS company, but he's gotta get more engineering resources. Two engineers is not enough to build an MVP here. So so let's see if we can ask him more questions about that if he reconnects. OJ, you there?

10:50Alright. OJ, you good?

OJ Lopez

10:53>> Yep. Yep. Did I lose you there?

Nathan Latka

10:55So my question is my question was I mean, obviously, you're trying to pivot more into a SaaS model, but it's hard to do that with two engineers, and it's really hard to build software that can edit photos. Right? What's the I don't understand what the software opportunity is here.

OJ Lopez

11:09>> Yeah. So so so so basically, it's it's still very outsourcing related. So, you know, people that has jobs there in The US, they would usually outsource to us. Hence, the the platform is a very basic ordering platform. Right?

Nathan Latka

11:24Oh, got it. So it's not software to edit photos. It's software to manage contractors.

11:27To get those 2,000 realtor.

OJ Lopez

11:33>> Exactly. Yes. That's right.

Nathan Latka

11:35That makes a lot of sense. Okay. And I cut you off. What were you saying?

SaaS Transition Plan and Investor Pitch

OJ Lopez

11:39>> Yeah. So so the the the model right now is to convert the users that we have to use the platform as their their centralized workflow management tool. That means that they would you know pay us $20 a month just for the privilege to use the software whether to hire editors, or even use the, the, the software as a, a media storage. So instead of, of, of, paying, you know, all these, storage, they would just be able

12:11>> to store all their media files in our platform, and then as an add on, they could actually outsource that to the network of artists that we have. So that's gonna be the play moving forward. Hence, it would be more predictable and and that's our our pitch to our investors. That's that's what what we're gonna be working on in in building that model.

Nathan Latka

12:31Understood. How much capital are you burning per month right now?

Burn Rate and Profitability

OJ Lopez

12:36>> Not so much. Not so much. Probably about 20 k a month.

Nathan Latka

12:39Okay. Does that make you nervous? You've only raised a 100 k, which means you have, you know, ten months of runway, eleven months of runway.

OJ Lopez

12:45>> Yeah. Well well, we we are actually also revenue generating. So the the 20 k burn is actually just building up that platform and and

Nathan Latka

12:53Sorry. When I say burn, I mean, net burn, not not all your expenses. What what what how much is your bank going down every month?

OJ Lopez

13:04>> Well, it's not really going down because we're actually generating revenue.

Nathan Latka

13:09Okay. There's plenty of companies that generate revenue but are not profitable, so their bank goes down. Right? So what do you mean you're what do you mean I'm asking you, are you profitable or not? Not if you're generating revenue.

OJ Lopez

13:19>> No. No. No. No. We're we're we're at zero. We're at zero. So every month, we're not burning, and, we're not profitable.

Nathan Latka

13:25Okay. Got it. So do your pre seed investors that just give you 300 k say, OJ, spend faster. We just gave you this money. You're not investing it.

OJ Lopez

13:32>> That's right. So so they they're actually investing, so that we would be able to build that platform, that that SaaS model.

Nathan Latka

13:39OJ, you just said you're breakeven, which means the 300 k you just got on the pre seed round is now sitting in your bank doing nothing. How are you not getting pressure from those investors saying, OJ, burn money. Invest the 300 k we just gave you.

Pre-Seed Capital Still in the Bank

OJ Lopez

13:50>> Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's why we were we're actually we just recently raised. That's why we haven't burned anything yet.

Nathan Latka

13:57So the 300 k is still in the bank?

OJ Lopez

13:59>> That's right. That's right.

Famous Five Rapid Fire

Nathan Latka

14:00Alright. Well, we're rooting for you. We hope you use it to grow. In the meantime, now let's wrap up with the famous five. Number one, what's your favorite business book?

OJ Lopez

14:08>> Still E-Myth.

14:10>> Alright.

Nathan Latka

14:11Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying?

OJ Lopez

14:14>> Michael Saylor right now.

Nathan Latka

14:16Number three, what's your favorite online tool for building Revastaff?

OJ Lopez

14:22>> Recently, HubSpot has been very helpful.

Nathan Latka

14:24Number four, how many hours of sleep do get every night?

OJ Lopez

14:27>> Eight hours.

Nathan Latka

14:28Alright. And situation, married, single, kids?

OJ Lopez

14:32>> Married, two kids.

Nathan Latka

14:33And 36 today?

OJ Lopez

14:35>> Yes. That's right.

Nathan Latka

14:36Alright. Last question. Something you wish you knew when you were 20.

OJ Lopez

14:41>> Just I wish I would have quit school sooner.

Nathan Latka

14:46Guys, Revastaff was launched in 2018. They're helping real estate agents get their photos edited faster, quicker, and more efficiently. Over 2,000 agents have paid them at least a dollar over the past year. They'll do 300,000 in revenue this year, up from 200,000 last year. Just closed a 300,000 seed round at a 2,000,000 cap. All the money is still in the bank as OJ decides where to reinvest it. Team of five today, gonna double down on software

Closing Summary and Outro

Nathan Latka

15:05moving forward. OJ, thanks for taking us to the top.

OJ Lopez

15:08>> Thanks, Nathan. Appreciate it.

Nathan Latka

15:11One 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

15:36Central. Additionally, remember these recorded founder interviews go live. We release them here on YouTube every day at 2PM 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, a big

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16:20up 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 and 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.

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