Founder Interview
How Rosterfy Reached 130 Customers and Projected $3.2M in 2021 Revenue (Interview with Co-Founder Shannan Gove)
- Interview Date
- September 16, 2021
- Interviewee
- Shannan GoveCo-Founder
Company Metrics at Interview Time
Total Revenue (2021, projected)
$3.2M
SaaS ARR (2021, projected)
$2M
Customers (2021)
130
Monthly Retention (2021)
97%
Team Size (2021)
23
Historical Snapshot
These numbers were reported by Shannan Gove during the interview recorded in September 2021 and are a historical snapshot, not current figures. Several are full-year estimates given in September rather than booked results. Rosterfy is Melbourne-based: the 2019 round was raised in Australian dollars (A$2M at an A$7.5M valuation) and the US dollar amounts shown are Shannan's own conversions on the tape. See Rosterfy’s current numbers.
Key Takeaways
- 01Rosterfy projected $3.2M in total 2021 revenue, of which $2M was SaaS ARR and $1.2M was enterprise services contracts
- 02Revenue grew from $2.1M in 2020 to a projected $3.2M in 2021 despite COVID headwinds
- 03The company served 130 customers at interview time, up from over 100 the prior year
- 04Retention ran at about 97% month on month at the time of the interview
- 05Rosterfy was founded in 2015 and raised $1.6M USD on a $6M USD valuation in 2019
- 06Rosterfy was about to open a new round, with Shannan looking to raise $5M by the end of 2021; he declined to name a valuation, framing it as 10 to 15 times recurring revenue
- 07Team grew to 23 people, significantly bolstered in the six to nine months prior to the interview
- 08Three co-founders retained 78% equity after the 2019 raise, with a 10% ESOP pool in place
- 09Key enterprise clients included FIFA, UEFA, Commonwealth Games, and the City of London
Company Metrics at Time of Interview
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue (2021, projected) | $3.2M | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Total Revenue (2020) | $2.1M | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| SaaS ARR (2021, projected) | $2M | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Services Revenue (2021, projected) | $1.2M | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| SaaS ARR (2020) | $1M | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Monthly Retention (2021) | 97% | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Customers (2021) | 130 | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Team Size (2021) | 23 | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Total Funding Raised | $1.6M USD (A$2M) | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Valuation at 2019 Raise | $6M USD (A$7.5M) | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Year Founded | 2015 | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| Founder and Co-Founder Equity (2021) | 78% | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
| ESOP Pool (2021) | 10% | Founder interview, Sep 2021 |
Growth Breakdown
Revenue
Rosterfy grew total revenue from $2.1M in 2020 to a projected $3.2M for 2021 despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19. Of that projected total, $2M was SaaS ARR and $1.2M came from enterprise services contracts supporting large programs such as the Commonwealth Games, FIFA, and UEFA.
Customers
The company reached 130 customers at interview time, up from over 100 the prior year. Shannan Gove noted the growth skewed toward larger enterprise clients rather than smaller accounts, partly as a result of COVID shifting their go-to-market focus.
Team
Rosterfy grew its team to 23 people by September 2021, a significant increase over the prior six to nine months. The team included engineers, a six-person sales team, dedicated project staff for enterprise contracts, a global account management team, and finance and leadership.
Funding
Rosterfy raised A$2M at an A$7.5M valuation in late 2019, about US$1.6M at roughly US$6M by Shannan Gove's own conversion on the tape, and operated bootstrapped until that point. At interview time the company was a week away from opening a new round, looking to raise $5M by year end. Shannan said 10 to 15 times recurring revenue would be a good mark, and noted that a few people had mentioned a number above $30M.
Growth Strategy
LinkedIn and Google Advertising
Rosterfy invested in LinkedIn and Google advertising as part of a broader marketing push in 2021, targeting mid-market customers who were less likely to come through direct sales relationships.
Organic SEO
A meaningful portion of the $250K 2021 marketing budget went to an SEO agency to build organic search visibility, with Shannan describing this as laying groundwork for stronger growth in the following year.
Direct Enterprise Sales and Relationships
For larger clients, Rosterfy relied on direct sales efforts and relationship-building. Shannan credited hustle, networks, and personal relationships as the primary driver of growth to date, particularly for flagship accounts like FIFA, UEFA, and the City of London.
Dedicated Project Support for Enterprise Contracts
Rosterfy assigned dedicated project leads to major enterprise programs, which both deepened client relationships and generated the $1.2M services revenue line alongside the SaaS ARR.
Expanding into Contingent Workforce Management
Shannan described a strategic move from the volunteer and mass workforce space into the broader contingent workforce market, which he characterized as a significantly larger addressable market and the primary rationale for the 2021 fundraise.
Best Quotes
“Yeah, question. So we ended up around the 2.1, you're right. We're probably closer to 1 ish ARR. And so we ended up for this year, for 2021, we'll probably end up around 3.2 with 2 mil ARR. So we've managed to weather the storm as best we can and grow quite significantly. So it has been a challenge, but we've managed to get through well.”
“Yeah, we work on some significant enterprise contracts that require a lot of support from our team and also some technical support as well. So dedicated project leads on projects like the Commonwealth Games or some work with FIFA and UEFA as well.”
“We've got where we are today from hustle and grind and good relationships and networks. So we really have in the last six months bolstered our marketing efforts to increase our visibility out there.”
“We're around 23 now. So significantly bolstered our team in the last six to nine months. Certainly probably not what we were expecting at the start of this year with COVID and how it's lingered on in particular this year and especially where we are in Asia Pacific. But 23 now.”
“Staff is so important to us and we want them to be as part of the journey as what we are. And so we decided to set it up then. And I guess the advice or the thought was, it's probably easier to do it then compared to later down the line where people may have to sell shares to create it.”
What Happened Next
This interview captures Rosterfy at a specific moment in September 2021, when Shannan Gove projected around $3.2M in total revenue for the year and the company was days away from opening a new fundraising round. The figures here reflect what he reported on tape, several of them as full-year estimates, and should be read as a historical snapshot. For current revenue, customer count, team size, and funding status, visit the live Rosterfy company profile on GetLatka.
View Rosterfy’s current profile and metricsFull Transcript
Chapters
- 0:00Introduction and Company Overview
- 0:182020 and 2021 Revenue, and COVID Impact
- 0:59Enterprise Contracts and Key Clients
- 1:17What Rosterfy Does
- 2:04Customer Count and Growth
- 2:23Retention and Churn
- 3:082019 Raise and Valuation
- 3:54The New $5M Raise and What It Funds
- 6:09Cap Table and Ownership
- 6:38ESOP Pool and Employee Incentives
- 7:37Team Size and Structure
- 8:38Marketing Spend and How Rosterfy Wins Customers
- 9:24Marketing Channels: SEO, LinkedIn, Google
Introduction and Company Overview
Nathan Latka
00:00Hey, folks. My guest today is Shannan Gove. He is the co founder of rosterfy. They exist to connect communities to events and causes they're passionate about solving complex contingent workforce management problems for the largest organizations in the world, from the Super Bowl to the City of London to the British Heart Foundation and many more. Shannan, you ready to take us to the top?
Shannan Gove
00:17>> Let's do it.
2020 and 2021 Revenue, and COVID Impact
Nathan Latka
00:18All right, last week's chat was August last year. I think you shared you were going be doing about $2,100,000 in ARR. I imagine COVID impacted you somehow. What happened?
Shannan Gove
00:27>> Yeah, question. So we ended up around the 2.1, you're right. We're probably closer to 1 ish ARR. And so we ended up for this year, for 2021, we'll probably end up around 3.2 with 2 mil ARR. So we've managed to weather the storm as best we can and grow quite significantly. So it has been a challenge, but we've managed to get through well.
Nathan Latka
00:54You're a SaaS plus model. 2,000,000 of your 3,200,000 this year will be SaaS. What's the other $1,200,000
Enterprise Contracts and Key Clients
Shannan Gove
00:59>> Yeah, we work on some significant enterprise contracts that require a lot of support from our team and also some technical support as well. So dedicated project leads on projects like the Commonwealth Games or some work with FIFA and UEFA as well.
What Rosterfy Does
Nathan Latka
01:17Yes. Describe for people who missed our first episode together, describe to people like what you do.
Shannan Gove
01:22>> Sure. Large organizations require mass workforce management. They come from spreadsheets or out there with systems. Our platform provides the end to end solution from recruitment, screening, engaging, rewarding, scheduling, time and attendance, award rates. So we provide that end to end journey in one central system where previously they might have had four or five systems. That's what our platform does. And given the significance of some of these programs like the FIFA World Cup or the Commonwealth Games
01:54>> or the City of London Volunteer Program, a lot of these programs may require one or even two full time staff supporting them to execute that journey.
Customer Count and Growth
Nathan Latka
02:04Launched in 2015, I think you told me last year you passed 100 customers. How many today?
Shannan Gove
02:10>> Probably closer to 130 or so. And I'd suggest that's because of COVID because we've probably just gone to the larger end of town compared to gaining mass smaller customers. And what?
Retention and Churn
Nathan Latka
02:23So MRR just on the SaaS side today is something like 150,000, something like that?
Shannan Gove
02:28>> Ish, yeah. Yeah, roughly.
Nathan Latka
02:30Is churn high?
Shannan Gove
02:32>> No, churn is really good. We have on average at the moment because we're doing this, we're raising investment at the moment as of next week we're starting. And so we'll be at about 97% retention month on month.
Nathan Latka
02:49Got it. So 3% churn per month or 36 per year. Do you have expansion revenue that makes up that whole?
Shannan Gove
02:57>> Yeah, roughly, yes.
Nathan Latka
02:59Okay. Alright. Sorry. What's your net revenue retention?
Shannan Gove
03:04>> I don't know the number off the top of my head then for that for that question. Yep.
2019 Raise and Valuation
Nathan Latka
03:08Talk to me about the raise because you were bootstrapped today. Right?
Shannan Gove
03:11>> Well, we raised 2 mil end of twenty nineteen Aussie, and we've been boost bootstrapped until that point in time.
Nathan Latka
03:202 what is that in US dollars?
Shannan Gove
03:22>> 2,000,000 Aussie? $1.6 ish.
Nathan Latka
03:25Interesting.
03:26And what valuation did you raise that at?
Shannan Gove
03:29>> 7.5 Aussie. So call it 6.
Nathan Latka
03:34Was that the right valuation you think for them?
Shannan Gove
03:37>> Who knows? I think we probably had a large portion of our revenue being as a fair split between SaaS revenue and once off revenue. So probably at that time potentially, but we've certainly increased our recurring revenue now. So I think we'll be in a better place for this this raise.
The New $5M Raise and What It Funds
Nathan Latka
03:54How much are you looking to raise now?
Shannan Gove
03:57>> We're looking to raise $5,000,000 potentially by the end of this year, but we'll see how we go.
Nathan Latka
04:02And why $5,000,000 I
Shannan Gove
04:06>> guess we can talk about it but we've come from the volunteer mass workforce space and we're really finding an opportunity for us in a larger contingent workforce space. So probably a higher level of workforce into an organization, effectively anyone that's not full time in an organization. So because of that, it's a much larger market size we'll be moving into. So we want to increase our sales and marketing capacity and probably just general resource around the team
04:35>> to support that.
Nathan Latka
04:36And what valuation do you think you'll raise up?
Shannan Gove
04:39>> It's a million dollar question but we're seeing some pretty crazy valuations at the moment. We'll really let the market decide that anything off a 10 to 15 times multiple for recurring revenue would be a good mark. And then we do have around a million of support sort of non recurring typically but whether you want to classify support for these contracts as recurring, we'll find out. So 10 to 15 times SaaS recurring would be about the valuation.
Nathan Latka
05:10So you think you'll see it'll be above a $30,000,000 valuation?
Shannan Gove
05:14>> Yeah, I think that's the number that a few people have mentioned to us that we'll go through the journey and find out.
Nathan Latka
05:20Talk to me about the art. I mean, this is game theory. How do you get soft conversations? So give me your term sheet or shut up.
Shannan Gove
05:27>> It's a great question. And we learned a lot through our last investment raise, where we had a lot of fantastic conversations, people really love the concept. And for us, we are passionate about is connecting communities all around the world. We've got a great story to tell. And so people are really attracted to that story. Then the contracts come out and they display a different thing with the conversation. So we learned a lot through that process. And
05:52>> I think for us, it's just about cutting to the chase. Importantly, that we want to work with the right people that will support us and help us grow. We're not naive to think we know it all. So it's not just money we're chasing here. I think we can get that money from somewhere. We just want to make sure it's from the right people.
Cap Table and Ownership
Nathan Latka
06:09And Shannan, what's the cap table like today? How much equity do you still own?
Shannan Gove
06:16>> Did we give up last time? I think it was 22%. That's still what we have there. And so three co founders are majority shareholders of business And I'm one of those. And then we have the investors in that small pool.
Nathan Latka
06:33Scott, so you plus the other two co founders own 78% and investors own 22%?
ESOP Pool and Employee Incentives
Shannan Gove
06:38>> Yeah. And we have an ESOP pool for our staff. So that is 10%, but that just hasn't all been utilized yet in this small portion.
Nathan Latka
06:47We'll struggle with when to set that up. Right? When you start incentivizing employees with an ESOP pool. When did you did you set that up at your pre seed round, the 1,600,000?
Shannan Gove
06:55>> Yeah, we did. Around then and a touch after. But yeah, it's an interesting thing to have. Staff is so important to us and we want them to be as part of the journey as what we are. And so we decided to set it up then. And I guess the advice or the thought was, it's probably easier to do it then compared to later down the line where people may have to sell shares to create it. And
07:22>> it just might get a little messy. And I think future investors want to see that to be able to bring good people in. So you're just prepping yourself for the future. Weren't in this for two years. We're in this for the long run. So thought we might as well set it up early.
Team Size and Structure
Nathan Latka
07:37And what's the team size today? How many people?
Shannan Gove
07:40>> We're around 23 now. So significantly bolstered our team in the last six to nine months. Certainly probably not what we were expecting at the start of this year with COVID and how it's lingered on in particular this year and especially where we are in Asia Pacific. But 23 now.
Nathan Latka
08:01Very cool. And how many engineers?
Shannan Gove
08:04>> We have six to seven engineers in that team.
Nathan Latka
08:08Seven, interesting. So where are the other 15? Are they sales reps or what?
Shannan Gove
08:13>> Yeah, we have six in the sales team at the moment. And then like I mentioned on those significant projects, we have dedicated project staff so that's probably around four. And then we have a global account management team as well that supports clients through Zendesk. That might be another four and then finance and leadership.
Nathan Latka
08:33Interesting. And how are you landing more customers? Where are you spending money today on CAC?
Marketing Spend and How Rosterfy Wins Customers
Shannan Gove
08:38>> I think our summer in this investment round is we've got where we are today from hustle and grind and good relationships and networks. So we really have in the last six months bolstered our marketing efforts to increase our visibility out there. I guess for our larger clients, it's often a direct sales lead and effort into that and building relationships. But then for the mid market opportunities, it's through marketing. So we'll probably spend top line 250,000 in
09:10>> marketing this year but that could be a lot more to increase visibility coming into next year. So we're doing the groundwork is what I'd say this year but we're going to grow off that next year.
Nathan Latka
09:22Sorry, say that again.
Marketing Channels: SEO, LinkedIn, Google
Nathan Latka
09:24Where's the 250,000 going this year? Where are you spending it?
Shannan Gove
09:28>> Into
09:31>> lot into SEO agency and so just finding the right avenues there. A lot into LinkedIn, Google and then advertising sponsorship of some campaigns.
09:44>> And then some other resources in the marketing team as well. Content providers, the sort of direct marketing, that's what we're putting it into.
Nathan Latka
09:53Good stuff, Shannan, let's wrap up here with the famous five. Number one, favorite book.
Shannan Gove
09:58>> I'll have to stick with my similar answers last time. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Love that book.
Nathan Latka
10:03Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying?
Shannan Gove
10:09>> I think Gary Vee, like last time, just take or leave a lot of his stuff, but hard work and accountability to what your role is. That's what I appreciate.
Nathan Latka
10:20Number three, what's your favorite online tool for building the business?
Shannan Gove
10:25>> HubSpot. We just moved to them about four months ago from Salesforce and it's been such a breeze.
Nathan Latka
10:31Number four, how many hours of sleep are you getting every night?
Shannan Gove
10:35>> Seven to eight, depending on how the baby sleeps.
Nathan Latka
10:38One so okay. So married and one kid?
Shannan Gove
10:41>> Married and one kid and a dog called Sunny.
Nathan Latka
10:44And how old are you, Shannan?
Shannan Gove
10:46>> I'm 32.
10:47>> 32. Last question.
Nathan Latka
10:48Something you wish you knew when you were 20?
Shannan Gove
10:53>> Something you wish I knew. I think just enjoy it. We're in a privileged position to be able to work in this type of environment and build a team. I think that's it. And with that, don't ride the highs and lows because they're pretty equal. They balance each other out somehow in a weird way. So just try and stay as neutral as you can and get through it.
Nathan Latka
11:15Guys, manage your volunteer workforce for your in person events using rosterfy. They're growing nicely. 2,100,000 in revenue last year, this year 3,200,000. 2,000,000 of that is pure ARR. The other 1,200,000 is consulting contracts. They've kept it as co founders managed to keep up 68% of the business. They've built this business raising just 1,600,000 on a pre seed round at a 6,000,000 valuation back in 2019, now raising 4,500,000 and hopefully north of a $30,000,000 valuation. We will
11:39see what happens as they look to continue to scale with our team of 23. Shannan, thanks for taking us to the top. Thanks, mate.
11:48One 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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