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First 100, 1,000 and 3,000 customers, handling churn, and lessons on term sheets and LOIs from Review Wave

Matt Prados · Review Wave

Published September 1, 2022
About this resource

Matt Prados, Founder of Review Wave, shares:

- How we got our first 100, 1000, and 3000 customers

- Churn and how to address it

- What he’s learned about term sheets and LOIs

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What you’ll learn

Matt Prados discusses building Review Wave through a deliberate in-person culture, pragmatic financing decisions, persistence through setbacks, and long-term relationships.

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Key moments

Find the ideas you need and go straight to the source.

Choose a working culture

“don't do decks yeah I'm like man you have such a [ __ ] good story but this deck is just not gonna work just let me do a deck and let me just interview you and he was game you're letting us do it so that's good so I mean I'm just I'm an operator I don't go around I don't speak on stages you know literally Nathan asked me to speak and I was like no I'm I'm actually not going to come I just archived that email I was like I got too much [ __ ] going on I went home that night and then I felt guilty because I've been exactly where you guys are in these seats and needing to hear one or”
Watch at 02:25

Build the company narrative

“that from a 99 starting point to 299 399 499 and with another 300 available add-ons so we definitely pushed the you know go up Market scenario there I was gonna say so on this screen right now everyone's saying you're spending 1800 bucks to get these doctors as customers but the average initial ACV is it was about what today so I mean you know you've got 35 000 is what our um you know guys calculated but in reality at our growth rate half of our customers”
Watch at 07:16

Consider liquidity choices

“no take the note don't ever try to raise during summer it was on vacation nobody wants to like make meetings and stuff so it's very hard to get VC firms to do anything during that time but yeah no we sent it out to everybody who basically reached out ever to us to just get some feedback see what the deal was uh that was you know probably 40 different firms from that we ended up in 30 different uh conversations and uh from that we got down to like three um based term sheets and uh you know and”
Watch at 12:04

Persist through setbacks

“would get this if it wasn't here um did you get into tax consequences of the secondary and how to process it and if so you know how did you think about doing that if you did close it so let me give you two options pay a lot of [ __ ] taxes yeah well so would you oh so two two big options right did you decide to go the route of having that 15 million go into the company first and the company repurchasing your shares or was it the investor buying your shares directly and then your which you have common and then and then they Auto convert the common the preferred in this round yeah the latter the latter yeah”
Watch at 16:38

Invest in relationships

“so we actually pay them uh 15 minutes a day to read and encourage them to read more and”
Watch at 21:32

Doubled Revenue Each Year, 5 years

“Doubled Revenue Each Year, 5 years.”
Read slide 2

Buy Book - Venture Deals

“Let’s Jump in to Section 3 Vultures”
Read slide 14

Review Wave Team

“Experienced Founding team with deep connections and understanding of the chiropractic industry”
Read slide 19

Mercy House - We provided 500 meals

“Mercy House - We provided 500 meals to individuals seeks refuge in an emergency shelter.”
Read slide 24

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About the speaker
Matt Prados

Matt Prados

Founder · Review Wave

LinkedInTwitter

Matt Prados is the Founder and CEO of Review Wave, a platform that helps healthcare practitioners gain and retain patients with 24/7 online booking and personalized post-appointment messages. Matt Prados started his career in sales and marketing after dropping out of college. He led as CEO of Chiropractic Traffic for six years while also founding Gotcha Local helping dentists and chiropractors with their sales and marketing.

Company revenue
$13M
Team size
200

More founder interviews

Slide by slide

Each slide with a short explanation of what it shows. Open the slide text for its exact wording.

25 passages

Review Wave growth context

  1. Slide 1Open deck
    Slide text

    Matt Prados Founder of Review Wave Bootstrapped to $100m+ Valuation Founder500, Sept 2022

  2. Slide 2Open deck

    Revenue doubled year over year

    A rising gross-volume line supports the claim that revenue doubled each year for five years. The chart runs from January 2017 through July 2022 and highlights $25.53M in gross volume.

    Slide text

    Doubled Revenue Each Year, 5 years.

  3. Slide 3Open deck

    Review Wave revenue accelerated

    Revenue climbs from $127k in 2016 to $13.3m in 2022, with a steepening trajectory after 2018. The chart visualizes rapid growth over six years.

    Slide text

    Review Wave Revenue Growth

  4. Slide 4Open deck

    Growth earned repeated Inc. 5000 rankings

    A founder portrait with three Inc. 5000 badges presents Review Wave's growth recognition across 2020, 2021, and 2022. The rankings shown are #228, #328, and #891, respectively.

  5. Slide 5Open deck

    The speaker pauses for an ask

    This transition introduces the speaker's ask before the talk moves into its growth story. The slide provides no further details about the request.

    Slide text

    My Ask…

The client-growth story

  1. Slide 6Open deck

    The talk covers selling, churn, and capital

    Prados organizes the story around finding the first 100 and 1,000 clients, retaining them, and dealing with investors. The overview previews sales, logo and revenue churn, cold outreach, and term-sheet decisions.

    Slide text

    3000 Clients and beyond Over the next 20 minutes: First 100 Clients I’m going to tell you my story SELL CHURN VULTURE CAPITALISTS First 1000 Clients Logo Churn Revenue Churn Net Revenue Churn Cold Emails NDAs and LOIs Turn your head and Cough

  2. Slide 7Open deck

    Start selling with trials and simple terms

    For the first 100 customers, the playbook starts with an idea, free trials, and month-to-month agreements. The slide introduces selling as the first phase of growth.

    Slide text

    Let’s start with Section 1 Sell Idea I’m going to show you FIRST 100 CUST. First 1000 Clients 3000+ Clients Proof of Concept Scale Free Trials Month to month agreements 30 Day Money Back Guarantee Increase Offering Enterprise Clients Idea

  3. Slide 8Open deck

    The first customers came from a home office

    A home-office photo marks the earliest stage, from an idea through the first 100 clients. It grounds the early sales story in a small, founder-led setup.

    Slide text

    Home Office 0-100 Clients

  4. Slide 9Open deck

    Prove the offer before scaling

    The first 100 customers validate the idea through free trials and month-to-month agreements. For the first 1,000, the deck adds proof of concept, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a broader offering.

    Slide text

    Section 1 Sell Idea I’m going to talk about FIRST 100 CLIENTS FIRST 1000 CLIENTS 3000+ Clients Proof of Concept Scale Free Trials Month to month agreements 30 Day Money Back Guarantee Increase Offering Enterprise Clients Build Out Management

  5. Slide 10Open deck

    A garage office served the first thousand

    A team photo outside the garage office marks the stage when Review Wave reached its first 1,000 clients. The image connects early growth with the people building the company.

    Slide text

    2015, My Home in CA Garage Office First 1000 Clients

  6. Slide 11Open deck

    Later growth required scale and management

    The sales progression moves from an initial idea to proof of concept and then to 3,000-plus clients. At that scale, the slide emphasizes enterprise customers and building out management.

    Slide text

    Section 1 Sell Idea I’m going to talk about FIRST 100 CLIENTS FIRST 1000 CLIENTS 3000+ CLIENTS Proof of Concept Scale Free Trials Month to month agreements 30 Day Money Back Guarantee Increase Offering Enterprise Clients Build Out Management

  7. Slide 12Open deck

    The company reached 3,000 clients

    A team gathering at Review Wave's office marks the milestone of 3,000-plus clients in December 2021. The photo gives a people-centered view of the company's expansion.

    Slide text

    2015, My Home in CA December 2021: 3000+ Clients

Retention and churn

  1. Slide 13Open deck

    Retention means tracking several kinds of churn

    The retention section separates logo churn, revenue churn, and net revenue churn. It pairs those measures with customer expectations, white-glove setup, NPS, quits, downgrades, upgrades, and cohort comparisons.

    Slide text

    Let’s Jump in to Section 2 Retain Sales Expectations I’m going to talk about LOGO CHURN REVENUE CHURN NET REVENUE CHURN Quits Cohort Date vs Date White Glove Set Up NPS Downgrades Upgrades

Funding preparation

  1. Slide 14Open deck

    Investor outreach calls for careful diligence

    The investor section moves from cold emails and term sheets to evaluating whether a deal makes sense. The slide recommends learning the process and points founders to Venture Deals.

    Slide text

    Buy Book - Venture Deals Let’s Jump in to Section 3 Vultures Dating Phase I’m going to talk about COLD EMAILS TERM SHEETS TURN HEAD & COUGH Rubber Meets the road Learn

  2. Slide 15Open deck

    A look inside the fundraising deck

    This transition introduces a sample of Review Wave's deck after the sections on selling, retention, and investor outreach. It signals a shift from the playbook to the fundraising materials.

    Slide text

    … a peek at our deck

  3. Slide 16Open deck

    Review Wave summarized its business metrics

    The overview presents roughly 5,000 locations, $1m MRR, about $1.8k CAC, and 0.76% churn alongside HIPAA compliance. It also lists $150k previously raised, about $35k LTV, and a $238B total addressable market.

    Slide text

    Review Wave at a Glance

  4. Slide 17Open deck

    Profitability distinguished Review Wave

    The comparison table positions Review Wave as a profitable, bootstrapped product serving chiropractors and expanding into optometry and dental. It compares verticals, funding, locations, profitability, and features across several SMB and medical software companies.

    Slide text

    How We Stack Up Review Wave is one of the only profitable SMB SaaS solution that is ready to help offices become more efficient

Funding and team

  1. Slide 18Open deck

    Funding would speed up existing plans

    The proposed $30M round is split into $15M primary and $15M secondary. Planned uses include hiring sales and technical staff, entering new verticals, and acquiring companies to accelerate expansion.

    Slide text

    Funding Will Accelerate Our Growth This funding only allows us to do what we are already doing, but faster

  2. Slide 19Open deck

    The founding team knew its industry

    The team slide presents an experienced founding group with connections and knowledge of chiropractic. It assigns leadership across finance, operations, technology, and regional roles.

    Slide text

    Review Wave Team Experienced Founding team with deep connections and understanding of the chiropractic industry

Values and giving

  1. Slide 20Open deck

    Five values define the team

    Review Wave lists five core values: showing up, L.U.R.N, handling it, winning, and having fun. The slide presents these as shared expectations for the company.

    Slide text

    Review Wave Core Values: We Show Up We L.U.R.N We Handle It We Win We Do Fun

  2. Slide 21Open deck

    Prados recommends seven business books

    The reading list spans revenue growth, leadership, sales and marketing, customer retention, influence, gifting, and company culture. Book covers accompany all seven recommendations.

    Slide text

    My Top Book Recommendations Extreme Revenue Growth Winning 80/20 Sales & Marketing Never Lose A Customer Again How To Influence Friend 6. Giftology 7. What You Do Is Who You Are.

  3. Slide 22Open deck

    The talk turns to charitable giving

    This transition introduces the company's donations section. It signals a move from fundraising and company-building to the causes Review Wave chose to support.

    Slide text

    August 2022 Donate To Shit That Matters…

  4. Slide 23Open deck

    Donations supported families and children

    The examples include groceries for trafficking survivors, joy jars for children with cancer, bedtime-story recordings for deployed soldiers' families, backpacks for foster children, and shoes for children in need. The slide also lists support for a school memorial fund.

    Slide text

    August 2022 Donations Operation Underground Railroad - We provided 16 weeks of groceries to survivors of human trafficking. NEGU - We provided about 165 Joy Jars to children battling cancer. USO - We provided 20 deployed soldiers the chance to record bedtime stories for their kids back home. We donated to Robb School Memorial Fund where 21 people lost their lives at Robb Elementary School. HumanKind - We provided 56 backpacks to kids for their first night in foster care. Soles4Souls - We donated 50 pairs of shoes to kids in need.

  5. Slide 24Open deck

    More donations funded care and support

    The second list includes shelter meals, conference scholarships for parents and caregivers, birthday boxes for foster youth, therapy sessions for trafficking survivors, and prenatal chiropractic care in Haiti.

    Slide text

    August 2022 Donations Mercy House - We provided 500 meals to individuals seeks refuge in an emergency shelter. The Autism Community in Action - We provided scholarships for 12 parents/caregivers to attend a conference where they will receive education and support. Foster Love - We provided 33 birthday boxes to foster youth. Operation Underground Railroad - We provided 25 human trafficking survivors with personalized therapy sessions. Mission Life International - We provided chiropractic prenatal care for 13 mothers and babies in Haiti.

  6. Slide 25Open deck

    Prados closes with thanks

    The closing slide thanks the audience and identifies Prados as Review Wave's CEO. It ends the talk after the company's growth, fundraising, and community contributions.

    Slide text

    September 2022 Matt Prados CEO of Review Wave