Sales platform Apollo is valued at $1.6 billion. But in 2016, it was a little company called ZenProspect. This morning, I watched their YC Demo Day pitch.
Founder Tim Zheng clearly shows us why salespeople need ZenProspect. Then, he shows us some incredible traction.
Let’s dive in…
A Clear Value Prop
Tim is very clear about what his platform does and why customers need it:
“Our product lets B2B sales people find their most lucrative potential customers, e-mail them, and close deals.”
ZenProspect’s value proposition is clear. Pay us money, close more sales.
An All-In-One Platform
Tim explains that salespeople spend all day jumping between different systems. One to find prospects, another to e-mail, a CRM to track it all…I get confused just thinking about it!
ZenProspect lets you do everything in one place. Who’s not going to at least try that for a month and see if it works?
Financials Like I’ve Never Seen
Tim doesn’t just tell us a great story — he’s got the numbers to back it up.
Tim and his team have hit $1 million ARR while still in an accelerator. That is incredibly rare. GitLab did it, but I don’t know of any others.
And believe it or not, 5x growth in a few months isn’t even the most amazing stat here.
ZenProspect is at 70% net margins. This is so rare that Tim has to clearly explain this is net, not gross.
In other words, of every dollar ZenProspect takes in, 70 cents hit the bottom line as profit.
That never happens. Even Apple, notorious for high margins, clocks in at “only” about 25%.
Best of all, Tim did all this using his own platform! If that’s not proof this thing works, I don’t know what is.
But Can You Get an Allocation?
Any investor who does early stage software would want to invest in this company.
But the question is, can you get an allocation? Tim says something at the end of his pitch that’s subtle, but if you’ve been investing for a bit, you hear it…
“If your portfolio has a company that wants to make more money, please come and find us.”
Tim is looking for customers. But he doesn’t sound like he’s looking for investments.
At the end of most YC Demo Day pitches I’ve seen, the founder says something like “If you want to learn more, please come and find me afterwards.”
I suspect this company’s seed round filled up well before Demo Day. (However, I wasn’t able to find any information to confirm that.)
This happens a lot with the best YC companies. That said, a variety of VC’s got their beak wet on this one, including All-In bestie Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital.
Wrap-Up
Tim’s pitch is a clear winner. But it’s not so easy to recreate.
He explains what he does and why customers want it with incredible clarity. But what will really make investors’ eyes pop out of their heads is that traction.
Tim is great at pitching. But more importantly, he’s great at building a business.
What do you think of Tim’s pitch? Leave a comment and let us know!
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