Napkin Math

The boys are back talking about Loveable's insane growth and $200m raise, the dangers of founder liquidity, plus more AI chat (of course). Charlie turns Sabba into BusinessGuruGPT prompting him with how he'd grow an eSIM business to $1m in a year. All this, and more, in this week's episode of NAPKIN MATH.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:30 Loveable raises $200m
• 05:58 Jason Lemkin's Replit disaster
• 09:38 Takeaways from Loveable's raise and the future of AI companies
• 15:53 Generative content opportunities
• 18:19 Making £1m from e-sims
• 30:17 Founder liquidity
• 40:14 Focusing on a single growth channel
• 45:25 Are AI influencers important in the future of marketing
• 48:34 Should we be worried about the AI backlash?
• 53:30 The seasonality of SaaS

Sabba and Charlie kick things off with some napkin math on how to make £26k per year in pure profit selling fans, then dive into a the real money maker; an AI automation consultancy. They talk about the rise of the “VEED (or Indie Beers) Mafia,” and discuss JB's Ahrefs-style tool for LLMs. 

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:20 Portable fan Napkin Math
• 09:22 Startup idea: AI automation consultancy
• 15:28 AI for marketing
• 17:40 The VEED Mafia (Indie Beers Mafia)
• 19:41 Ahrefs for LLMs
• 25:16 Why in person events are so important
• 28:20 The new Perplexity browser
• 36:05 Why Charlie is pausing his SaaS

After a hiatus that included a weekend at Glastonbury and a failed recording, the boys are back, and they are on fire. They break down the business of the Glastonbury festival and some new startup ideas around it, they talk about the Figma S1 filing and the insane numbers behind the software platform and Charlie talks about the future of Ramen Space potentially becoming a nation state.

On this episode of Napkin Math, Sabba and Charlie explain why “small bets” are a terrible idea for most founders. They unpack how VEED ranks #1 for “AI video generator” (and other competitive keywords), explore Ben’s idea for a dream analysis app, the surprising business case for astrology, and how AI agents could thrive in markets like Nigeria. Sabba also shares why he believes the global adoption of stablecoins is inevitable.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:51 Small bets vs single focus
• 11:03 How VEED ranks number one for highly competitive keywords
• 18:32 Ben's dream analysis app
• 23:48 The business of astrology
• 29:25 AI agent app in developing markets (Nigeria)
• 37:17 The adoption of stable coins globally is inevitable - Sabba
• 41:26 Quick fire round

There’s been a major catfight on the internet this week: Trump vs. Elon. So, Charlie did what any good podcast host would do and distilled the best lessons SaaS founders can take from the drama. The guys also share feedback from listeners, chat about opportunities in TikTok Shop, discuss why companies need to reinvent themselves, and of course, Charlie gets Sabba into trouble.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:32 - B2B lessons from Trump x Musk fallout
• 03:41 - Napkin Math guest feedback
• 12:51 - When did VEED get product market fit
• 15:15 - VEED's 24 hour hackathon
• 18:24 - Why companies need to reinvent themselves
• 25:28 - The future of AI for VEED and 11 Labs
• 31:55 - Business opportunities in TikTok Shop
• 43:07 - Will ChatGPT be the operating system for AI?
• 45:56 - Evolution of seat based billing

Fresh off the launch of VEEDs new AI, Sabba is excited about the company having built their own fully fledged AI model, so breaks down how much it cost to build it. Charlie, meanwhile has had some bad news about his SaaS app, Cosy, potentially being killed off by Slack's new restrictions. The chaps also fire off some "Loveable for X" business ideas, with the main opportunity in gaming.

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:30 VEED AI video launch 
• 06:17 How much does it cost to build VEEDs AI video engine
• 13:05 Platform risk for Charlie's app, Cosy
• 21:44 Is Apple's 30% cut a good thing?
• 28:38 Lovable for X business ideas
• 40:58 VEEDs hackathon

The boys have made it to 10 episodes, somehow. They are still talking about AI, this time after the impressive Google Gemini launch they discuss the possibilities (including getting a new podcast co-host). Sabba talks about the pastries he had at 10 Downing Street and if they think Jony Ive's $6bn Open AI deal is worth it.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:39 Google's new AI launch
• 09:12 Future challenges of AI video
• 16:29 AI powered podcasts
• 24:02 Claude 4 release
• 27:43 Jony Ive x Sam Altman
• 37:48 Sabba's Downing Street breakfast
• 43:17 Charlie talks AI agents with Monzo ex-CTO

Charlie is back from Dracula's castle and Sabba is back from running a marathon. They are both arriving inspired. They do some Napkin Math on the economics of the running industry and the opportunities there, and how long it will be before they can pump out daily Dracula movies.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 04:00 Marathon running breakdown and opportunties
• 12:35 Runna acquisition Napkin Math
• 25:18 Building interesting things vs networking
• 28:31 How to stick to ideas
• 40:08 How long before we can make feature length AI films
• 54:32 Ramen Club launch party

After 7 beautiful episodes, the MRR show is dead. But fear not, Napkin Math is born from its ashes. Sabba and Charlie discuss the performance of the show, dig into where Sabba invests his angel money, do a business breakdown (some actual napkin math) before going on a tirade on founders why founders aren't working hard enough...

Timestamps

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:23 New podcast name
• 05:27 Podcast growth numbers
• 16:22 Listener Labs napkin math
• 23:49 Sabba's angel investing strategy
• 28:03 Sabba's lunch hack
• 36:23 How hard do founders need to work?
• 46:50 Long term vs short term revenue

Sabba is tired after being at a trade show all week for VEED, but was it worth it? Sabba and Charlie discuss the cost and results. But there's nothing better than a pick me up recording with BBQ crisp-eating Charlie Ward, who finally has some MRR for his SaaS app. The chaps talk all things AI, opportunities, SaaS drama and more.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:20 How much does a SaaS trade show cost?
• 05:56 What makes an entertaining video according to VEED
• 09:32 Rippling vs Deel drama update
• 11:29 AI image generation opportunities
• 16:24 Sabba gets upset
• 19:30 Cool opportunities in the AI image generation space
• 22:13 AI products to help user research
• 28:35 Other AI ideas
• 32:08 Will we get AI fatigue?
• 33:01 Scam call curiosity
• 35:34 Loveable 2.0 release
• 43:41 Charlie has some MRR
• 46:33 Matthew McConaughey's audiobook