Splynx Revenue (2024)

[00:00] Folks. My guest today is Alex Vishnyakov. He's the CEO of Splynx, a SaaS platform for Internet and voice service providers that helps companies get their operations under control from a single place. That means billing and payment collections, ticketing, job scheduling, and network management. Alex, you ready to take us to the top? [00:18] >> Thank you for inviting me. [00:20] You bet. So give me an example of a customer that's paying you and help us understand what they're paying you for. What do they get? [00:26] >> We work with small and medium sized Internet providers that usually operate on emerging markets. And [00:36] >> at the moment, we have around 700 companies working with us, so it's a business to business. [00:40] Those are paying customers? [00:42] >> Yeah. Paying customers. Paying customers. So we are currently on $3,000,000 annual revenue, and we started six years ago. [00:55] >> And bootstrapped completely. So we started with my with my my friends and my business partner. So [01:06] >> yeah. The as I said, the companies that we work with, they are quite small, so they are not that big. So monthly they pay us around 350 US dollars. So it means like $4,000 annually. Mhmm. And yeah. But we have clients from 50 different countries. So at the moment This is great. [01:25] Yeah. Because you're Alex, do listen to the show? [01:29] >> Yes. [01:29] Have you have you listened to the podcast before? [01:32] >> Yes. Of course. [01:33] No. I'm like, this is great. You're giving you you know all the questions I'm gonna ask, so you just give me all the answers. I love it. [01:40] I'm like, I don't have to do any work. This is great. So no. The math the math makes sense. 700 customers paying 350 a month is about $250,000 a month in revenue, is $3,000,000 run rate. If you're doing about $250,000 a month today, where were you exactly one year ago? [01:55] >> We were on 2,000,000. [01:57] So So nice growth. [01:59] >> Yes. The growth the growth per year in the last two years is around 70%. [02:03] Mhmm. [02:04] >> So, of course, the first years yeah. [02:07] I was gonna say, take us back one more year. Do you remember what was revenue in [02:10] >> 2020? It it it was 1,000,000, then we went to 2,000,000, so we doubled. And always in the previous years, we also doubled the the revenue. So we started with like $80,000, then we went to $250,000, then we went to $500,000, then we went to 1,000,000, 2,000,000, and at the moment That's awesome. 3,000,000. Yes. This is what we are heading now so far. That's amazing. [02:35] Well, look. A lot of my audience might not be familiar with sort of Internet companies in emerging markets. Right? So why do they need you? What are they paying you for? [02:43] >> Because they try to compete with the large players. So because we work with Internet and voice providers. So the companies that provide Internet connection to end users and, you know, you can compare. So for example, AT and T is a large operator, Vodacom, all these big players. But we work with the small guys, they try to beat these big operators. And these small players, they need software that will work efficiently and that will help them to [03:07] >> manage their business and grow and compete and beat these large competitors. So what Mhmm. We bring them is that kind of software that does everything for them. So we manage everything in one single place. Now there's billing, payments, scheduling, network management, plenty of things that all the areas actually of Internet provider that we just bring it in one place and that really increases a lot efficiency of the company. So this small company then is able to [03:38] >> to work well and and to compete and get get the market, sell their From your [03:44] website, Splynx makes it easy to sell internet, connect, bill customers, and support your customers. Right? [03:51] >> Yes. [03:51] Now, what got you into this space? Are you an ex internet guy? [03:55] >> Yes. I started as a network architect or a network engineer, but also I was working as a project manager, product manager for some online companies in Czech Republic. And then in 2014, I went to I was invited to South Africa to work as a network architect there to help to run the local company to build quite large network. So I was helping them, and meanwhile, I found out that the market is emerging and there are many [04:21] >> new players coming there in South Africa and and in all other African countries as well. And when I came back, when my contract ended, so I came back 2016, and we decided to write a software that will start helping these companies to to operate efficiently. So that's that's how it started all. [04:39] Oh, 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 [05:03] your Stripe account, you see your valuation real time, you can see what 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 get [05:27] 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 not [05:49] built off random data. Again, you guys hear these interviews on YouTube. All these datas are built from real time valuation data points founders 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 going [06:15] out right now and you're raising your seed round. We'll go in here and look at all this recent seed deals that went down, what they raised, what valuation they raised at, and what percent that they sold. There's never been a larger dataset of SaaS valuations than what you can get now inside of Founderpath. And we're thrilled to bring it to you. Alright. We're gonna go back to the YouTube video here in a second, but if you [06:37] 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 the interview. [07:04] It's amazing. And how many folks are on your team today full time? [07:07] >> We have 50 members at the moment. Five zero. [07:10] Five zero? Yeah. Mhmm. How many are engineers? [07:15] >> At least 35. [07:16] 25. Okay. [07:17] >> 35. [07:20] Yes. Five. Now I imagine your churn is very low. Once someone signs up, they can't just turn you off. Right? What is your churn like today? [07:28] >> Very low. Very low. So if I can tell you that if we if we gain 15 customers per month, we lose maybe two customers. But mainly, it's a new companies that we're not able to onboard, for example. So we made some mistake or they had no time to onboard. So usually if company signs up, so they do not leave it because the whole operations of their company is just linked or is completely connected to our software. [07:55] Mhmm. And when you say our software, are you the sole founder or or do you have a co founder? [07:59] >> Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm a co founder and managing director. [08:02] That's amazing. Okay. So how many founders are there? [08:06] >> At the moment, we have four founders. [08:08] Four. Okay. Did you guys just split equity evenly at the start? [08:11] >> Not that much, but more or less, yes. There is a one main developer who who started it all, and then I joined, and then we took one apartment that helped us a bit to finance the whole process. Okay. So [08:25] it might be like the bigger one owns 30% and the other three sort of split, you know, 20%, 25% each, something like that. [08:31] >> The biggest one has 48%. Then me and my partner, we have twenty, twenty four, and there is one silent partner with eight percent. [08:41] I see. How do you guys think about and this is a question I get a lot from Bootstrap founders. How do you guys think about building your personal wealth using your SaaS company? Do you pay yourself dividends per year, or how do you think about that? [08:52] >> Yes. We pay some dividends, but actually we try to reinvest. So Mhmm. But we pay we pay dividends. Yes. Of course, we have some salary also that we pay, and we decided to to pay dividends, I think, three years ago, and we haven't increased this amount as we decided to get we just need to get some money from that, but we would like to reinvest to the business to grow because there are plenty of things still [09:15] >> to do. And we are growing in this year, and I think we'll be more than 50 people till the end of the year. So I'm I'm planning to have 80 people on my team. And in one year, I want to have 100 because we have launched also several new products or sub products that help us to operate in more areas, let's say in different markets and different countries as well. So it's not only emerging markets, but [09:40] >> now we are getting also many requests from United States because as you know, States also is plenty of there are plenty of areas that are not covered by Internet, rural zones, and there are many providers that require services like or software services. [09:56] Mhmm. So three years ago when you paid out some dividends to co founders, how how much are we talking? Like, 100,000 or more or less? [10:05] >> 200,000, more or less. [10:06] 200. Okay. And that you guys split amongst the four of you. Right? [10:09] >> Yes. Yes. Exactly. [10:11] Interesting. And so how do you when team members sign up today, do you give all team members some, like, some amount of options or no? [10:18] >> Not yet. Not yet. Okay. [10:20] Interesting. And so moving forward, you're reinvesting everything. You're driving growth. Help me understand what the growth how are you adding so many customers? You have 700 you're adding 15 per month. Where are you finding these customers? [10:33] >> We put a lot of efforts in in the marketing. So, I mean, we try to to build the brand from the day one. So we we we try to convince people that this software is exactly what they need and not competitors. So we do spend a lot to to online. I mean, a lot of efforts, maybe not investments to online tools, but a lot of efforts. I think I have quite good marketing team. Two people there [10:56] >> working very professional. So and sales is also performing very well. So that's [11:02] spend any money on paid ads? [11:04] >> Yes. We do. We do. But not that much because, you know, we have the niche is very is quite small. [11:11] So How much last month do you spend on paid ads? [11:14] >> I think around, like, $4,000. [11:16] Okay. So not a lot at all. [11:17] >> Yeah. Yeah. [11:19] Yeah. And then tell me how your sales team is structured. Do the salespeople have quota? [11:23] >> Yes. Of course. They they do have. So they they do have some fixed salary, and then based on on the sales that they bring or all they process, we pay them some percentage on annual revenue, first year of the annual revenue of of What percent? 3% and up to 5%. Depends on on their involvement. [11:45] Three to 5%. Okay. [11:46] >> Interesting. [11:47] And how how how much how many deals do you expect reps to close? What is their annual quota? [11:54] >> There is no annual. There is a monthly quota that they need to to to get and it's based. So at least at least they must bring us like, the minimum is everyone should have, like, $1,000 monthly revenue, the new one. So if they if they they make it, then we start talking about some kind of bonuses. Yeah, usually, [12:20] >> it's just that way. So they [12:23] Yeah. So how do you make that math work? So if you have a salesperson that's adding a thousand dollars of new monthly recurring revenue every month over a year, right? They're gonna add 12,000, right? Times twelve months. So about a 150,000 of ARR. Are you able to pay them way less a 150,000 so that you actually make money on that sales rep? [12:44] >> Yes. What we because they are employees of our company, you know, so they are quite they have very strict rules on how they work. So it's not they they are a bit limited in what we what options they have. So we have this strict policy. They need to reach this 1,000. And so if they reach it so that we pay them that three to 5% of of [13:08] I understand that. What's the what's the base though you would pay? Like, if I join you today and I do a thousand dollars a month of new deals, what would you pay me as a base? [13:19] >> That will be not that simple because you are from United States. So it depends on the country where my my accounts, they work from from the countries with a lower income, let's say. [13:29] So that that's why I'm asking. Yeah. How low? How low can you give it to this talent? [13:35] >> No. With all the bonuses, what they have, they have around 3,000, 4 $3,000 monthly salary. That's what they have. [13:43] Okay. Got it. So you could have a sales rep that's making $36,000 per year if they hit a 150,000 of new ARR closed, $1,000 a month for 12 [13:54] >> Usually, they make more. They make, like, 2.5 thousands monthly. [13:58] Okay. [13:59] >> You know? So so it means I'm I'm saying that 1,000 is a minimum when we say that they work and they perform. So in in in general, they they make around $2,000 to $2,500 monthly each each of them, you know, so that's [14:12] I see. And how many are there? How many quota carrying reps? [14:14] >> Two two two two. At the moment, we have two. [14:17] Two, okay. And how many folks are marketing? Just two? [14:21] >> Two marketing guys, yes. [14:22] Okay, cool. And then that makes a lot of sense. This is very cool. Listen, this is a heck of a story here. Do you plan to keep bootstrapping or you plan to raise? [14:31] >> We are thinking about it at the moment. [14:33] Uh-huh. Probably And why is that? [14:37] >> As I said, we launched several products and we are also actively now starting working on the markets that we were not present and where the competition was a bit tougher. So now we need to touch it first, see first two, three months how it will perform, how it will go there. And if everything will work well, we will probably think about raising some money. [15:01] And how much would you look at raising, you think? [15:06] >> Not in our plans at the moment. So haven't thought about it. Just need to get the numbers first, you know, to get, yeah, get the first results of of this new products that we are launching and the new markets. And then Understood. [15:21] Well, Alex, you're on an exciting journey, man. I'm certainly rooting for you. In the meantime, though, let's wrap up with the famous five. Number one, what's your favorite book? [15:29] >> What my favorite book is? [15:37] >> War and peace from Leo Tolstoy. [15:40] >> That's good. [15:41] Number two, is there a CEO you're following or studying? [15:44] >> Yes. [15:46] >> I have I'm following few CEOs of and one CEO that runs quite big company in in Russia at the moment. And so his name is Alex Yanovsky. So he is one of my teachers. So and I I follow him. [16:05] Number What he does. [16:06] >> Yes. [16:07] Number three, what's your favorite online tool for building Splynx? [16:10] >> Online tool? [16:16] >> We do plenty of things that we built ourselves. We we use Splynx for our own operations as well, so that's very interesting to do to to help. Jira, like, basically, Jira we use for for everything. [16:29] So Alright. [16:30] >> Number four. How many hours of sleep do you get every night? [16:33] >> Can you say it again? [16:34] How many hours of sleep do you get each night? [16:38] >> Eight hours, tried seven, six. Last week it was five or four hours. [16:42] And what's your situation, Alex? Married, single, kids? [16:47] >> Yeah. Married. Married. [16:48] Any kids? [16:49] >> Yeah. Four kids at the moment. [16:52] Oh my gosh. You're really busy. [16:54] >> Yes. [16:55] Four kids. How old are you? [16:57] >> I'm 39. [16:58] >> 39. [16:59] Last question. Something you wish you knew when you were 20. [17:06] >> Yeah. Get some advisor, and I'll get some person who can who who help me in in this, like, business trip or business journey. That's [17:15] Guys, Splynx helps local Internet providers compete with the big guys like AT and T and emerging markets. They broke a million dollars in revenue in 2020, 2,000,000 last year in 2021. And right now, last month, they did $250,000 in revenue. So they're at a $3,000,000 run rate today, helping 700, again, of these internet providers in emerging markets that pay on average $350 per month. They're bootstrapped today. They only paid out some dividends, you know, three years [17:38] ago to help the founders make some money, but there are 35 engineers on the team today out of 50 total. Just now ramping up their sales team with two folks there, two folks on the marketing as they continue to bootstrap and are learning if their new products are gonna take off. If it does, they might think about raising. We'll see what happens. Alex, thanks for taking us to the top. [17:55] >> Thank you. Thank you so much. [17:58] One 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 [18:23] Central. 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 [18:46] 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 want to 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 up [19:07] 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. We [19:27] got to push them away. Click the thumbs up below to counter them and know that I appreciate your guys'support. All right. I'll be in the comments. See you.