In this episode, Mikael Dia, Founder and CEO of Funnelytics, shares insights into the journey and growth of Funnelytics, a marketing analytics platform. Mikael discusses how Funnelytics helps businesses visualize customer journeys and overlay data to optimize conversions and identify bottlenecks.

Product Overview:

Funnelytics is a marketing analytics platform that allows businesses to visualize customer journeys on a digital whiteboard. It helps users see conversion rates, identify bottlenecks, and understand the flow through various touchpoints. The platform integrates with tools like HubSpot and uses a tracking script on websites to collect and visualize data.

Customers:

• Thousands of customers across various industries, including agencies, e-learning, SaaS, and e-commerce sectors.
• Revenue Distribution**:** Approximately 30% from agencies, 30% from midsize in-house teams, and 30% from mapping-only users.
• Customer Acquisition**:** Acquires approximately 50 new customers per week. Around 200 new free trials per week.

Top of Funnel Channels:

• Initially relied on paid advertising to promote the free mapping tool.
• Currently, most traffic is organic, driven by word-of-mouth and users sharing their experiences.
• Self-attribution from customers points to sources like YouTube, Instagram influencers, and LinkedIn.

Conversion Strategy:

• Uses a product-led approach with a free mapping tool and a free trial model.
• Focus on optimizing the onboarding experience for new users.
• Employs an SDR process to identify high-value leads from free trials and schedules kickoff calls to demonstrate the platform and assess fit for higher-level plans.

0 to 1 Journey (Initial Days):

Mikeal built the first version of Funalytics for his own agency needs. To gain early users, he:

• Launched a free mapping tool and built a community on Facebook.
• Offered a lifetime deal for early access to the analytics feature, generating over $200,000 in 48 hours and closing seven figures in non-recurring revenue in the first 12 months.

Company Funding & Team:

• Funding**:** Raised $3 million in VC funding, primarily used to rebuild the platform for scalability.
• Initial Development Cost**:** Built with a small team of developers, funded by lifetime deal revenue and early income.
• Team Structure**:** Initially had three full-time engineers and one part-time engineer.

Vision:

Funalytics aims to become the command center for digital marketing teams globally, providing a universal language through its visual canvas and data integration. The company is focused on sustainable, profitable growth and is considering raising a Series A round to further scale its operations.

Conclusion:

Mikhail's journey with Funalytics highlights the importance of adaptability, leveraging user feedback, and maintaining a clear vision for growth. The episode provides valuable insights into building and scaling a successful SaaS product in the competitive marketing analytics space.

So we charged 700 lifetime.

2

And because I had built a lot of goodwill

in that Facebook group, because people

3

were using our free mapping tool a

lot, um, The 700 was a really good

4

bargain for very, for a lot of people.

5

Uh, we ended up generating just over

200, 000 in revenue in about 48 hours

6

when we first launched the lifetime deal.

7

Uh, and we ended up kind of closing

seven figures in non recurring revenue

8

in those first 12 months, uh, using

that kind of Facebook group methodology.

9

And, uh, that's kind of how we

kind of got things kicked off.

10

Upendra Varma: Hello, everyone.

11

Welcome to the B2B SaaS podcast.

12

I'm your host, Mikhail Diya here with us.

13

Mikhail here is the founder and

CEO of a company called Finalytics.

14

Hey, Mikhail, welcome to the show.

15

Mikael Dia: Thank you for having me.

16

Upendra Varma: All right, Mikhail,

let's, let's sort of, you know, jump,

17

uh, jump into your product, right?

18

So let's understand what Finalytics does

and like why customers are willing to pay.

19

Mikael Dia: Yeah, absolutely.

20

So Funalytics, uh, is fundamentally

a marketing analytics platform.

21

Uh, what we do is we help businesses

visualize their entire customer

22

journey on a digital whiteboard,

and then they can overlay all of

23

the data on top of that journey, on

top of that whiteboard, so that they

24

can see exactly how people Convert.

25

What are the conversion rates?

26

Where are the bottlenecks?

27

How are people flowing through

all the different touch points,

28

um, that they have to try to

convert strangers into customers?

29

Upendra Varma: Uh, all right.

30

So just talk a bit more here, right?

31

So, uh, I can see your product.

32

You've got nice, nice dashboard

and I could see some sort of, you

33

know, maps and all of it, right.

34

And, you know, data

flowing through it, right.

35

So do you also help companies run those

campaigns or are you, are you just sort

36

of collecting those data and then sort

of, you know, showing them like what's,

37

what's working and what's not like,

38

Mikael Dia: Yep.

39

So we don't help you run campaigns.

40

We basically help you plan out and

measure the performance of those campaigns

41

from a, uh, from a visual standpoint.

42

So think of it as, uh, Miro,

which is like the whiteboarding,

43

um, tool meets Google analytics.

44

So the ability to basically look

at every single customer touch

45

point, uh, map it on a canvas and

basically connect them all together.

46

And then.

47

Turn on data to understand how

are people flowing through this.

48

Uh, it's a perfect way for agencies

specifically, but marketing teams in

49

general, uh, to communicate both the

strategy and the results of that strategy.

50

However, no, we, we integrate

with all different platforms.

51

We'll pull data from HubSpot or,

uh, we, you install Funalytics on

52

your website as a tracking script.

53

Um, and basically we'll pull

data from other platforms and

54

then visualize it on the canvas.

55

Upendra Varma: so talk about

your customer base today, right?

56

So how many customers are we talking

about by using your product today?

57

Mikael Dia: Uh, we have thousands

of customers using Finalytics, uh,

58

and it ranges across different, um,

industries, different types of businesses.

59

So many of them are, uh, agencies.

60

Like I said, they help businesses do

kind of performance marketing as a whole.

61

And basically they come in

and do this for their clients.

62

And then we have in house marketing

teams who, for, um, uh, typically the

63

three core segments are e learning.

64

So.

65

education course creators, um,

coaches, that kind of stuff.

66

Uh, then you have kind of SAS

people who try to generate demos

67

and, uh, want to get something kind

of scheduled in or a free trial.

68

And we have e commerce as well.

69

So those are kind of

the three core segments.

70

Where in house marketing teams come in.

71

Uh, however, because we have this

really cool mapping canvas, uh, we have

72

all sorts of marketers from newbies

to experienced people across all

73

industries, kind of use our mapping

tool to visualize their strategy.

74

Upendra Varma: So just talk, help

us understand, how much does a

75

typical customer or a typical

agency pay you to use the software?

76

Mikael Dia: Yep.

77

So, uh, it ranges.

78

So our mapping tool is 49 per

month, uh, and basically allows

79

you to map all of your strategies.

80

So most people who are kind of just on

the mapping level are at that price point.

81

Um, however, for our performance plans,

which is the ability to overlay data,

82

It'll range anywhere from 200 per

month to, you know, 2, 000 per month.

83

Now on an agency level, it's usually based

on a workspace, um, and how many clients

84

they have inside of their, their account.

85

So for, for them, a typical agency will

pay about a thousand dollars a month.

86

Upendra Varma: Thousand a month, right?

87

That makes a lot of sense.

88

How much of your revenue

does come from agencies?

89

It looks like that's your bigger chunk.

90

That's what I'm understanding.

91

Mikael Dia: It's our core

customer, our ideal client profile.

92

However, however, um, it's actually

pretty much split 30 percent across

93

the board, uh, bigger midsize in house

teams, uh, versus our, um, agencies

94

versus kind of that mapping segment.

95

Those are the kind of three core and it's

pretty much 30 percent across the board.

96

Upendra Varma: Like approximately,

right, as a company, what are

97

you doing in terms of revenue?

98

Did you cross that one or

two million dollar mark?

99

Mikael Dia: we've, we're, we're past

the, I don't like to overly disclose,

100

uh, revenue numbers, but, uh, we

are past the seven figure mark.

101

Yes.

102

Upendra Varma: So yeah,

let's just go back.

103

Right.

104

So just want to get a sense of, right.

105

So where you're getting all of these

agencies or your marketing teams, right?

106

So where are you finding them?

107

Then just, just talk about

your whole GTM strategy.

108

And I want you to sort of start

at the top of funnel, right?

109

So where you're discovering what

channels have been working for you.

110

I know you are into digital

marketing, so I know you, you

111

have a good plan here, right?

112

So what's, what's that plan?

113

And just help us walk through,

walk us through that funnel, right?

114

So, yeah.

115

Mikael Dia: Yeah.

116

Interestingly enough, uh, it's,

it's changed over the years.

117

Um, so we originally started off

with the mapping tool being free.

118

And we would advertise the mapping tool,

and we would basically use a product

119

led motion to get people to pay for

the analytics tool on the back end.

120

Um, and over the years, we've experimented

with a few different models, and

121

the mapping tool has always been

kind of the core driver for growth.

122

People talk about our mapping

tool, share our mapping tool, etc.

123

Um, but we also experimented

with a sales led motion on the

124

back end of the mapping tool.

125

And right now we are very

much experimenting with a free

126

trial motion on the front end.

127

So all of the people who are

coming in, um, and most of our

128

traffic right now is organic.

129

We just have a lot of people

coming in organically.

130

Which is great.

131

Uh, and that's a, uh, you know, a

function of a few things, um, our, our

132

product itself being great, but also,

um, you know, the use and, and the

133

kind of word of mouth aspect of things.

134

So most of our traffic

comes in organically.

135

That's our core kind of funnel.

136

We bring in people through a product

led approach through the free trial.

137

Um, and really try to dial in

that onboarding experience.

138

It's really, really challenging cause

our, our product is quite technical

139

and, and quite, um, complex in

terms of what you can do with it.

140

And it's not a, a single kind

of, you know, connect your Google

141

calendar and here's the outcome.

142

Um, there's, there's a lot

of nuances to using our tool.

143

So it requires some, some backend

144

Upendra Varma: so just, I just want to

sort of, you know, quantify a lot of

145

things that you've just said, right?

146

So I know there are a lot

of things in there, right?

147

So let's just stick to

the past 12 months, right?

148

So like how many new customers have

you sort of, you know, acquired

149

over that, over the past 12 months?

150

What's, what's an

approximate range for that?

151

Mikael Dia: Yeah, we acquire

approximately 50 or so per week,

152

give or take, um, in terms of new

customers, in terms of, uh, free

153

trials, we're acquiring anywhere around

200 or so free trials, uh, per week.

154

Upendra Varma: And, and what's, what's

like, what's that top of funnel, right?

155

So where, where, like, I know word of

mouth, you mentioned word of mouth, right?

156

But like.

157

Where else are you sort of driving

all of this traffic from, right?

158

Have you been writing any content or

is something working for you, right?

159

I mean, like,

160

Mikael Dia: purely organic.

161

Upendra Varma: okay, so how do you

generate like what, like 4, 000 sort

162

of that's like 200 into 50, right?

163

So we're talking about almost

thousands of, you know, lead

164

free trials every year, right?

165

So where are we getting

all of this from, right?

166

So it's,

167

Mikael Dia: Uh, yeah, every, every month.

168

Yeah.

169

Um, yeah, the, the, honestly it is very

much a hundred percent organic in the

170

sense that, um, it's not through our blog.

171

It's mostly direct to funneletics.

172

io.

173

And when we look at, let's say,

our, um, our, um, self attribution,

174

when people fill out a form and

say, how did you hear about us?

175

It very much ranges from YouTube to info,

Instagram, influencers, to LinkedIn to.

176

Um, just, it's basically people using

our tool, taking screenshots of it,

177

uh, and other people talking about it.

178

So it's less so,

179

Upendra Varma: and you haven't put in

any effort on those standards to, you

180

know, drive the word of mouth, right?

181

You know, it's, it's people, your

users sort of, you know, sharing

182

the content that, you know,

183

Mikael Dia: Correct.

184

Now, the interesting thing is that

wasn't the case in the beginning, right?

185

Obviously, it snowballed into that.

186

We used a lot of paid advertising

in the very beginning to

187

promote our free mapping tool.

188

And that free mapping tool started to

take a life of its own, and people started

189

talking about the mapping tool, people

started talking about the ability to

190

map these customer journeys on a canvas,

and that kind of snowballed into, All

191

of this organic traffic people recorded

videos and and posted and and then it

192

just created kind of a lot of organic

traffic now that's not to say that that's

193

the best traffic because we get a lot of

traffic from South American countries.

194

We get a lot of traffic from

all over the world, right?

195

And, um, our ideal customers, the

ones who do pay, let's say 1, 000

196

a month as an agency, they're not

coming in, you know, those free trials

197

coming in are not the them, right?

198

So.

199

We need to, um, continue to

optimize and figure out how do

200

we get more of those customers,

201

Upendra Varma: where are

they coming from, which is my

202

naturally next question, right?

203

So where are those actual paying 10, 000

ACV deals, these agencies discovering

204

Mikael Dia: current, currently

they are still coming in from the

205

organic, but it's a small fraction

of the, the bigger pool of people.

206

So, um, for us, in order for us to grow,

um, we've got to now figure out, okay,

207

well, how do we, what is our go to market

motion for that particular type of client?

208

Because we've been kind of

growing through organic.

209

And think of it as a

high level top of funnel.

210

So now think of instead of free

trials, most people look at free

211

trials as like, uh, a step, right?

212

Well, for us, we almost look at

free trials as a lead more so

213

than we look at a free trial as

a, um, an actual email address.

214

So people start a free trial.

215

And only a small fraction of the

people who start a free trial currently

216

through our organic traffic is our ICP.

217

And now what we need to do is figure out

how do we get more free trials from the

218

right ICP using a proper go to market

219

Upendra Varma: still

220

Mikael Dia: that's something we're

221

Upendra Varma: of your ICP is still

coming from those free trials, right?

222

That's what's happening today.

223

You

224

Mikael Dia: Exactly.

225

There's still a small percentage.

226

That allows us to keep

growing, but it's, it's a small

227

Upendra Varma: Let's talk

about the sales cycle, right?

228

What does it involve, right?

229

For you to sort of close

that 10, 000 ACV deal, right?

230

So.

231

Do you do any handholding?

232

I know you must have like,

you must figure that out.

233

Like, Hey, this is an ICP for me, right?

234

These guys are going to

pay big bucks for me.

235

Right.

236

So do you do anything after that?

237

Or we just leave them to sort of, you

know, for that self serve motion, right?

238

Because your product is

also not so easy to use.

239

I mean, you need some handholding

or at least in the beginning.

240

Yeah.

241

So do you do anything

242

Mikael Dia: so, so we have, uh,

think of it as a, an SDR process.

243

So they start a free trial.

244

We identify who is the, uh,

right person for every trial.

245

We, uh, host, or at least we attempt to

host a kickoff call with every one of them

246

to kind of Show them the ins and outs of

the platform, even though they can kind

247

of go through the platform themselves, and

we have a lot of training and onboarding

248

and all that stuff we incentivize them

to schedule a kickoff call, and that

249

kickoff call is really ultimately.

250

A combination of both a, um, onboarding

or showing them the ins and outs of

251

the platform for their use case, but

also a discovery call to understand

252

whether or not they would be a good

fit for our agency level plans and,

253

um, and our higher level plants.

254

So we kind of just use

that as a sales process.

255

So basically, anytime a free trial

comes in, uh, we use an SDR to outreach

256

as much as possible, get those kickoff

calls scheduled, post those kickoff

257

calls, and then identify the right

ones and move them down the path.

258

Upendra Varma: that makes sense?

259

Or let me guess.

260

So let's just sort of go back right

to when it all started, right?

261

So what's the backstory there?

262

And like, how did you get your first, how

did you get your first five, 10 customers?

263

Just help us walk us through

264

Mikael Dia: Sure.

265

Um, yeah, so I, I did it very

unconventionally to get, um, customers.

266

Um, I, I built originally Finally, this

for myself as an, as an agency owner.

267

Uh, and I, it was just

a tool that I wanted.

268

I, you know, Now, I was extremely naive

in terms of the complexity of what this

269

tool required to build and to kind of,

you know, get to where it is today.

270

Um, it's been a, a journey and a half to

say the least in terms of building this.

271

Uh, however, I really

wanted this tool for myself.

272

So what we did is Uh, at the very

beginning, because again, the, the

273

it's called funnel lytics, right?

274

It's funnel analytics.

275

It was always about the analytics

and always about the data.

276

However, the way we visualize the

data is through this mapping canvas.

277

So at the very beginning, I was speaking

to a friend of mine, and he shared

278

the idea of how of saying, Hey, this

mapping canvas is really, really cool.

279

Why not give away this mapping tool

for free and then just sell people on

280

the backend on, on the analytics side,

um, while you continue to build this.

281

So that's exactly what we did.

282

We basically went and, uh, started

advertising the mapping tool.

283

So I used some of my income from my, my

agency to advertise the mapping tool.

284

But what I did is I pushed everyone

who signed up to the mapping tool

285

to a Facebook group and we started

building out a Facebook group.

286

And, um, then in order to launch

the analytics, uh, I called

287

it Funalytics Pro at the time.

288

And we did it through a kind of founding

members round and it was a lifetime deal.

289

And basically, uh, in order for me to

generate some customers, uh, I knew that

290

From a a churn standpoint, like our, the

analytics wasn't even close to ready.

291

It was, it was barely a prototype,

let alone something usable.

292

So instead of charging people 99 a month

or a hundred, you know, whatever, um,

293

I figured, okay, well, based on what

it is, we could probably, you know,

294

it's probably worth about 700 lifetime.

295

You know, now we charge 500

a month for our product.

296

However, at the time it was nothing.

297

So we charged 700 lifetime.

298

And, um, and because I had built a lot of

goodwill in that Facebook group, because

299

people were using our free mapping tool

a lot, um, The 700 was a really good

300

bargain for very, for a lot of people.

301

Uh, we ended up generating just over

200, 000 in revenue in about 48 hours

302

when we first launched the lifetime deal.

303

Uh, and we ended up kind of closing

seven figures in non recurring revenue

304

in those first 12 months, uh, using

that kind of Facebook group methodology.

305

And, uh, that's kind of how we

kind of got things kicked off.

306

Upendra Varma: And have you raised

any external finding post that, right?

307

Mikael Dia: I have, yep.

308

I've raised a VC funding, uh, in, in

309

Uh, and we kind of have raised, uh,

we've raised about 3 million in terms

310

of funding and, um, It was interesting

because a lot of that funding was used

311

specifically to rebuild the platform.

312

Again, I didn't know what

I was building, right?

313

This is something I want.

314

And I hired a developer.

315

There was no structure.

316

We were planning as we

were building, so we were

317

Upendra Varma: how much did

it cost you to sort of build

318

that first version back then?

319

Mikael Dia: Man, maybe with the developer

that we had, maybe the first prototype

320

and then the two years of investing,

I had about three engineers on it,

321

um, full time for about two years.

322

Uh, so I don't know, do the math of that.

323

And then one engineer part

time for about a year.

324

So, you know, and again, we were

using kind of the lifetime deal

325

revenue to kind of fund that.

326

But again, we were

building as we were going.

327

So in other words, we're like, Hey, you

know, what would be cool, this feature.

328

So we build the feature.

329

And then it's like, Hey, you know,

what would be cool, this feature.

330

And we would stack another feature

and then realize, oh, wait, these two

331

features don't talk to, don't connect.

332

And, you know, And it was poorly

designed and all that stuff.

333

So it ended up being a

non scalable product.

334

So when we raise our first round

of funding, we used a lot of that

335

money to rebuild from the ground up.

336

Upendra Varma: So Mikhail, like what's,

what's the vision here right now

337

that you're on that VC path, right?

338

So where do you see your company in

like next three, four years, right?

339

So what are the next big milestones

you're aiming for and like,

340

what's the big vision here?

341

Thank you

342

Mikael Dia: Yeah, good, good question.

343

Uh, so ultimately we see Funalytics

as a platform that can be used

344

by really any digital marketing

team, uh, all over the world.

345

So we have a, you know, a, a

universal language with our products.

346

Canvas.

347

Everybody loves to look at pictures

and everybody knows they need data.

348

So we're continuing to build

that vision of just creating that

349

command center for all the digital

marketing teams in the world.

350

Uh, our goal is to kind of

get to kind of the series A.

351

We'll probably raise a series

A round, um, at some point,

352

but we're operating profitably.

353

We're growing.

354

So.

355

We're not in a rush to kind of

raise, um, however, we'll probably

356

at some stage raise the next round

and, and take it to the next level.