PulseAd Series A Plan · operating plan 2025–2030
DRAFT

PulseAd · Series A operating plan · 2025–2030

Raise $10M, 10x the company in four years.

PulseAd is vertical AI for global commerce: its product, Pulson, is an AI workforce of 60+ agents that grows brands' Amazon and multichannel sales, with Korea-based pods carrying the relationships. We're raising off 17 months of real growth, not a projection — ARR run-rate ~$1.2M (trailing-6-mo, seasonality-smoothed) as of May '26 — roughly flat off the ~$1.2M year-end '25 exit and turning up. The $10M Series A funds the missing piece — a real go-to-market motion — to 10x revenue in four years — FY $1.5M → $14.5M — to ~$17.5M exit ARR (~70% CAGR). That's the deliberately conservative case — below the 2–3× venture bar, built to survive diligence; the self-serve platform tier is the ~15x upside on top. Margin starts at ~64% in 2025, dips to ~52% in '26 as we onboard, then recovers to 65% by 2030; burn deepens through 2028–29 as the sales org ramps, then operating leverage pulls EBITDA toward breakeven just past 2030, backed by a Series B in Q3 2028 (two years after the A). 2025 is actual, 2026 is part-actual (H1 booked), everything later is the plan.

~$1.2M
ARR run-rate · trailing-6-mo
May '26 · +211% TTM
~10x
revenue in four years
$1.5M → $14.5M · ARR to $17.5M
$10M
Series A Q3 '26
+ Series B Q3 '28
~$9.8M
Cumulative net burn
'26–'30, after grants
17 months of actuals +211% TTM net-rev growth $95.1M GMV managed ~93% logo retention ~0.8× burn multiple 21+ brands · 8 countries

Exit ARR, 2025 → 2030

Where we want to be each year — exit ARR climbing to the full $17.5M target by 2030 (the dashed line). A ~10x in four years off the raise, and the conservative case at that. The Series A funds the slope. The navy line is FY recognized revenue ($0.66M → $14.5M) — it tracks below the run-rate.

$20M $15M $10M $5M $0 full $17.5M target $0.66$1.50$3.08$5.60$9.30$14.50 Exit ARR Revenue (FY) $1.2$2.4$4.3$7.2$11.5$17.5M Series A · Q3 ’26Series B · Q3 ’28 202520262027202820292030
Assumptions & inputs

What's behind the numbers

Read these first — they are the load-bearing inputs behind every chart below. Each row is tagged grounded when it comes from the actual 2025–H1'26 P&L or the rate card, or assumed when it's a forward input for this plan.

2025–H1'26 baseActual P&L: FY25 $655K revenue, 63.8% GM, EBITDA −$0.78M, 22 heads (R&D ~$0.65M / S&M $0.37M / G&A $0.18M), ~$356K grants. H1'26 through ~May puts the ARR run-rate at ~$1.2M (trailing-6-mo; booked/contracted ~$0.89M; ~52% GM YTD), +211% TTM net-rev growth, ~93% logo retention (NRR recomputed — see Conclusion)grounded
Gross margin63.8% FY25 actual (revenue − all COGS); compresses to ~52% YTD '26 as new accounts onboard, then recovers to 65% by 2030 as agent leverage lifts accounts/PSMgrounded
R&D / G&ACarried from the 2025 P&L (~$0.65M / ~$0.18M), grown well below revenue — the operating-leverage enginegrounded
Govt grants~$0.36M/yr non-dilutive, from the P&L; nets down the burngrounded
Exit ARR target~$17.5M by 2030 (~70% CAGR) — the moderate, defensible target you setassumed
S&M spendRuns 45–57% of revenue (57% in '25 on a tiny base, and again in '27 as the sales org ramps; eases to 40% by '30) — the growth-max, S&M-tilted choiceassumed
New-logo engineThe ARR slope implies a funded acquisition motion built from one S&M head todayassumed
CAC / churn / conversionEmbedded in the ARR ramp; no historical funded-CAC data behind them yetassumed
Financing$10M Series A Q3 2026 + a Series B Q3 2028; ~$9.8M cumulative net burn over the windowassumed
The projection

2025 actual → 2030 projected

2025 is the internal P&L; 2026 is part-actual — H1 is booked through ~May '26 (run-rate ~$1.2M trailing-6-mo, TTM ~$1.0M), H2 and 2027–2030 are the plan. Revenue forward is built off the rate card plus funded acquisition; cost lines carry the P&L structure forward, tilted to S&M. Shading: darker = actual, lighter = part-actual, unshaded = plan. Dollars in millions; parentheses = negative.

Line2025 actual2026 *2027202820292030
Exit ARR Dec run-rate$1.2$2.4$4.3$7.2$11.5$17.5
Revenue FY recognized$0.66$1.50$3.08$5.60$9.30$14.50
YoY growth+127%+105%+82%+66%+56%
Managed ad spend Amazon, gross$5.7$12.5$24.6$43.1$68.9$103.6
Take rate est. · rev ÷ spend11.5%12.0%12.5%13.0%13.5%14.0%
Gross margin64%52%62%64%65%65%
Gross profit$0.42$0.78$1.91$3.58$6.05$9.43
  S&M funded GTM$0.37$0.68$1.77$2.90$4.19$5.80
  R&D$0.65$1.30$1.90$2.60$3.30$4.10
  G&A (+ one-time '25)$0.18$0.35$0.60$0.90$1.30$1.70
Total OpEx$1.20$2.33$4.27$6.40$8.79$11.60
EBITDA($0.78)($1.55)($2.36)($2.82)($2.74)($2.17)
EBITDA margin(119%)(103%)(77%)(50%)(29%)(15%)
S&M % of revenue57%45%57%52%45%40%
Net burn after grants ~$0.36M/yr($0.42)($1.19)($2.00)($2.46)($2.38)($1.81)
Headcount EOY2230456282105

* 2026 is part-actual — H1 is in the book and the run-rate is ~$1.2M trailing-6-mo (~$1.0M TTM) as of May '26, roughly flat off the ~$1.2M Dec-'25 exit and turning up. 2025 column = actual trailing P&L (gross margin 63.8%, EBITDA −$0.78M); 2026 gross margin compresses to ~52% as new accounts onboard, recovering toward the 65% target thereafter. Cumulative net burn '26–'30 ≈ $9.8M after grants — close to $10M standalone, but the Q3 2028 Series B refills cash long before then (see Use of funds & runway), so the company never runs tight. Managed ad spend is the gross Amazon ad budget under management; the take-rate estimate (revenue ÷ managed spend) starts at the legacy ~11.5% flat agency rate and lifts toward ~14% as the book migrates onto the base + % rate card — more revenue per dollar of spend, not just more spend.

If CAC moves — base / bear / bull

S&M efficiency is the plan’s #1 swing variable. The funded plan under three CAC / ramp outcomes; the platform/self-serve scenario is separate upside on top (below).

ScenarioExit ARR ’30Cum. burn ’26–’30Series BWhat moves it
Bear — CAC ~2× / slow ramp~$12M~$12M~Q2 ’28 · from needGTM hires and ramp lag; each logo costs ~2×
Base — the plan$17.5M$9.8MQ3 ’28 · from strengthCAC and ramp land in range
Bull — fast ramp / CAC in range~$22M~$8.5Mlate ’28 · optionalMotion compounds; clears $20M without the platform tier

Illustrative ranges around the single swing variable (S&M efficiency / CAC), holding the rest of the plan fixed. Bear: a ~2× CAC miss on the planned S&M spend lands ~30% less ARR and pushes cumulative burn past the $10M, so the Series B comes earlier and from need, not strength. Bull: the funded motion ramps faster than modeled and clears $20M on its own. The platform/self-serve scenario (~$25.5M ARR, breakeven 2030) layers on top of any of these.

Korea · APJ · US

Three books, three motions

Korea is the volume engine — cheap reps, more logos, lower ACV. APJ is the expansion — Chinese & Hong Kong operators and other Asian exporters selling into the US, won with Asia-based reps at near-US ACV. The US is the premium engine — expensive reps funded by the relationship premium, fewer and larger logos. APJ goes from nothing to ~21% of revenue by 2030 as we take our crack at Asia.

Split202520262027202820292030
Korea revenue$0.40$0.90$1.72$2.99$4.80$7.30
APJ revenue$0.20$0.55$1.10$1.90$3.10
US revenue$0.26$0.40$0.81$1.51$2.60$4.10
Total revenue$0.66$1.50$3.08$5.60$9.30$14.50
Korea % of revenue61%60%56%53%52%51%
APJ % of revenue13%18%20%20%21%
US % of revenue39%27%26%27%28%28%
Managed ad spend Amazon, gross$5.7$12.5$24.6$43.1$68.9$103.6
Korea sales reps137111520
APJ sales reps001245
US sales / relationship012346
Loaded cost / repKR ~$75K · APJ ~$95K · US ~$200K (the premium funds the gap)

Korea carries the most reps on the smallest cost line; APJ pairs near-US ACV with Asia rep cost — the expansion's edge; the US line stays small in headcount but expensive, which the rate-card premium funds. Korea holds ~half the book by 2030 while APJ becomes the fastest-growing of the three.

Sales-capacity model

The engine behind the Korea, APJ & US lines

Sales headcount isn't a guess — it's sized to the new ARR the plan needs. Quota-carrying reps (a subset of total sales headcount; SDRs, marketing and RevOps sit on top) close logos at a geo-specific quota, ramp over 2–3 quarters, and carry a geo-specific CAC.

Driver (per AE)KoreaAPJUS
New-logo ACV$40K$60K$70K
Quota at full ramp8 logos/yr6 logos/yr5 logos/yr
New ARR / AE (full)$320K$360K$350K
Ramp to full quota~2 qtrs (50% yr 1)~3 qtrs (40% yr 1)~3 qtrs (40% yr 1)
Loaded cost / AE~$75K~$95K~$200K
CAC / new logo~$16K~$30K~$74K
CAC payback (at 65% GM)~7 mo~10 mo~19 mo
Capacity build202520262027202820292030
KR AEs quota-carrying, EOY1357911
  productive AE-years2.04.06.08.010.0
  new logos1632486480
  new ARR booked$0.64$1.28$1.92$2.56$3.20
APJ AEs quota-carrying, EOY001234
  productive AE-years0.41.42.43.4
  new logos281420
  new ARR booked$0.14$0.50$0.86$1.22
US AEs quota-carrying, EOY011234
  productive AE-years0.41.01.42.43.4
  new logos2571217
  new ARR booked$0.14$0.35$0.49$0.84$1.19
Total new ARR booked$0.78$1.77$2.91$4.26$5.61
ARR-walk requires$1.14$1.78$2.69$3.94$5.43

AEs are the quota-carrying subset of sales headcount in the headcount plan; SDRs, marketing, RevOps and the US relationship PSM sit on top. Booked new ARR tracks the plan's requirement from 2027 on; 2026 runs ~$0.36M short — the build year, when hiring and ramp lag (exit-2026 ARR likely lands nearer $2.0M than $2.4M if the motion starts slowly). Ramp convention: a new AE delivers ~50% (KR) / ~40% (APJ, US) of quota in the hire year, full quota thereafter.

Korea — volume engine

~7-month CAC payback. $16K CAC on a $40K logo at 65% gross margin. Cheap reps (~$75K), short cycle, agent-assisted outbound. 1 → 11 AEs carry ~80 new logos a year by 2030 — the bulk of the logo count.

APJ — cross-border expansion

~10-month CAC payback. $30K CAC on a $60K logo — near-US ACV won with Asia-based reps (~$95K), agent-assisted. Chinese & Hong Kong operators and other Asian exporters selling into the US. APJ goes 0 → ~21% of revenue by 2030: the funded crack at Asia.

US — premium engine

~19-month CAC payback. $74K CAC on a $70K logo — pricier reps (~$200K), longer enterprise cycle, funded by the rate-card relationship premium. Watch item: US CAC has no track record yet, so it's the assumption most likely to come in worse.

Building the org

Who we hire to get there

Headcount grows 22 → 105, but not evenly. Delivery scales sublinearly (agents do the work); sales is where the money goes. Every column reconciles to the headcount line in the P&L above.

Headcount by function, 2025 → 2030

Delivery (ink) barely doubles while revenue grows 20×, because the agent platform lifts accounts-per-PSM. The green block — sales & marketing — is the real hire, going from 3 to 42. That is what the $10M buys.

100 50 0 2230456282105 202520262027202820292030
Sales & marketing Delivery (KR pods) R&D G&A
Headcount (EOY)202520262027202820292030
Delivery — KR pods7912152025
Sales — Korea137111520
Sales — US incl. relationship PSM0135811
Marketing / SDR / sales ops2246811
R&D — product + eng Korea-based101214182126
G&A23571012
Total2230456282105
Accounts served~17~32~54~85~131~190
Accounts per PSM leverage trajectory; ~2.0 H1 '26 actual2.32.53.54.86.17.5

Delivery pods (rate-card model)

All delivery stays on Korea pods. Pods carry clusters; agents push accounts-per-pod up, so pod count grows far slower than accounts.

  • KR Key pods whale relationships1 → 4
  • KR Long-tail pods small/mid, agent-run1 → 6
  • US Delivery pods US accounts, KR-staffed1 → 5
  • US Senior PSM relationship only, US-based0 → 3

First US Senior PSM lands in 2026, when the US book crosses the rate card's ~$74K/mo funding threshold. We never US-deliver — the premium buys US relationship, not US delivery.

Where the engineers come from

R&D grows 10 → 26 (~3–4 hires/year), almost entirely in Korea — a Korea SWE is ~$63K loaded vs ~$200K+ in the US, the same arbitrage that protects gross margin.

A handful of senior / AI-specialist hires (and the CTO) explain the rising cost per head. This team is the flywheel: the agents they ship lift accounts-per-PSM from ~2.0 today to 7.5, letting delivery grow 7 → 25 while accounts grow 17 → 190. R&D spend is the reason the delivery line stays flat-ish.

The burn curve

Spend first, leverage later

Funding S&M deepens the operating loss through 2028–2029 while the sales org ramps. Then operating leverage — R&D and G&A growing far slower than revenue, and margin climbing to 65% — pulls EBITDA back toward zero, at ~22× the 2025 revenue.

EBITDA, 2025 → 2030

Bars drop below the line as the company burns. The hole deepens to ~−$2.8M in 2028, then narrows as revenue outruns a slowing cost base. Breakeven lands just beyond the 2030 horizon.

$0 ($1M) ($2M) ($3M) (0.78)(1.55)(2.36) (2.82)(2.74)(2.17) 202520262027 202820292030

Cost as % of revenue — the path to breakeven

S&M (green) stays heavy by choice — this is a growth raise. But R&D and G&A fall fast as a share of revenue, so the whole stack drops toward the 65% gross-margin line. When it crosses below, the company is profitable — just past 2030 on this plan.

160% 80% 0% 65% gross margin · breakeven 155%139%114%94%80% 20262027202820292030
S&M R&D G&A
Use of funds & runway

What the $10M buys — and how long it lasts

The raise is deployed against the plan above. ~45% builds the go-to-market org (the missing piece); the rest funds the agent platform, the scale-up, and a deliberate buffer. With ~$1M already on hand, pro-forma cash at close is ~$11M.

Allocation of the $10M

Derived from the incremental OpEx ramp '26–'28 (the window the Series A funds). S&M is the largest single bucket — this is a go-to-market raise.

GTM · 45%
Product · 25%
G&A · 10%
Reserve · 20%
  • Go-to-market sales + marketingS&M scales 1 → ~16 heads through 2028 — scaling live Korea & US sales (KR + US AEs, SDR/RevOps, demand gen), then the APJ cross-border expansion — Asian brands selling into the US. The funded acquisition motion.~$4.5M 45%
  • Product & engineeringR&D 10 → 18 (Korea) — the agent platform that holds delivery flat and lifts gross margin toward 65%.~$2.5M 25%
  • G&A & opsFinance, systems, and the operational backbone for a 62-person company.~$1.0M 10%
  • Operating reserve CAC-risk bufferCushion to raise the Series B from strength and absorb a 2–3× CAC miss — the plan's #1 risk.~$2.0M 20%

Cash runway — pro-forma, $M

Pro-forma cash from the Series A close (Q3 '26) at ~$11M, drawn down by quarterly net burn, with a $20M Series B in Q3 '28 — exactly two years after the A. The trough before the B is ~$7M — comfortably over a year of runway, so the B is raised from strength, not necessity. A debt facility sits underneath as an undrawn backstop.

$28M $21M $14M $7M $0 ~$11M close ~$7M trough +$20M Series B → ~$27M ~$22M '30 20262027202820292030

Net cash burned from close to the Series B is only ~$4M — the $11M nearly funds the entire plan to 2030 on its own (~$9.8M cumulative net burn). That's a ~0.8× burn multiple (after grants; ~1.1× gross): the Series B (Q3 2028, two years after the A) funds the push past $20M ARR and de-risks CAC, it isn't a rescue. Burn spread evenly within each year; excludes working-capital timing. Grants (~$0.36M/yr) assumed; debt facility excluded (undrawn backstop).

The Series B

Q3 2028 — raised from strength

Timed for Q3 2028 — exactly two years after the Series A — and raised from strength, not necessity: the runway reaches it with ~$7M still in the bank (comfortably over a year of cushion). The B is the growth round that funds the push past $20M ARR, not a rescue.

Where the business is when we raise it

Exit-2028 plan — the metrics that earn the round.

Exit ARR~$7.2M
FY revenue$5.6M · +82%
Gross margin64% → 65%
US-facing share US + APJ~47%
Logo retention target~95%
Headcount62
Funded-CAC track record~2 yrs

~2 years of funded-acquisition data retires the plan's #1 risk — it turns the ARR ramp from plan into forecast.

What it takes to get there

  • Deliver the GTM ramp — S&M 1 → ~16 heads, KR + US AEs producing at quota. The Series A thesis, executed.
  • Prove US CAC & payback — the assumption most likely to miss; two years of funded data turns the ramp from plan into forecast.
  • Hold the margin recovery (52% → 65%) while onboarding fast, and hold NRR / churn through the ramp.
  • (Upside) Convert the self-serve pilots — Q4 2026 design partners to paying licenses, a second growth vector beyond the managed motion.

What we'd target in the round

  • SizeThe model assumes a +$20M raise.~$20–25M
  • MarkOff ~$7M ARR growing ~70%+ at ~64% GM, with a proven funded GTM motion — a real step-up from the Series A.step-up
  • Use of fundsScale the proven US motion, deepen the self-serve / platform tier, and fund the roadmap — geographic expansion, brand ads & CTV, channel breadth — carrying exit ARR past $20M (base ~$17.5M, ~$25M with the platform tier) toward breakeven just past 2030.growth
Oversubscribe

What raising more buys

The plan is sized for $10M. If the round is oversubscribed, the question isn't can we deploy it — it's what each extra dollar buys against what it costs. The base plan already reaches the Series B from strength (~$7M trough, Q3 2028); more upfront capital pushes that to a later, larger, or optional B — but at today's Series A price, the most expensive equity if the plan works.

RaiseExtraEffect on the Series BWhat the extra funds
$10M — baseB at Q3 '28, from strength (~$7M trough)The funded GTM motion, as modeled
$11M+$1MB slips to ~Q4 '28; reserve $2M → $3MCAC-risk insurance — top up the buffer against the plan's #1 risk
$12M+$2MB to ~H1 '29, at higher ARR & a better markAccelerate the US premium engine — pull 2–3 US AEs forward
$15M+$5MB becomes optional — $15M > ~$9.8M base burn, funded to near-breakevenBase GTM plus the self-serve / platform build — no B dependency

Dilution is at the Series A price — the most expensive equity if the plan works, since the B would be a step-up. So extra now = insurance you pay for in dilution. The plan absorbs ~$11–12M efficiently on the current motion; beyond that, deploying more means funding a second motion (the platform tier), not hiring GTM faster than quality allows.

Post-money — illustrative

No term sheet yet, so these are illustrative: at a typical Series A dilution of ~20–25%, post-money ≈ raise ÷ dilution.

RaiseDilutionPost-money (≈)Pre-money (≈)
$10M — base20–25%$40–50M$30–40M
$11M20–25%$44–55M$33–44M
$12M20–25%$48–60M$36–48M
$15M20–25%$60–75M$45–60M

Oversubscription gives two levers: hold the price and take more (more dilution at the same mark), or hold dilution (~21%) and let demand push the valuation up. The strong play blends both — a bit more capital at a modestly higher mark. These scale with the round; the actual number is set by the term sheet, not the raise size.

✓ Why oversubscribe

De-risks the #1 risk.CAC could come in 2–3× worse; extra cash is direct insurance against the one assumption with no track record.
The B from greater strength — or optional.More runway means raising the B later, at higher ARR and a better mark; at $15M the base plan is funded to near-breakeven and the B is a choice, not a necessity.
Insures against the 2028 market.Removes the risk of having to raise into a possibly-worse environment.
$15M pulls the upside in.Enough to fund the self-serve / platform tier inside the funded plan — the ~15x scenario without waiting for the B.

✕ Why not

Dilution at the cheapest-to-you round.If the plan works, every future dollar is raised at a higher price; over-raising now is the most expensive way to fund it.
Absorption risk.The GTM motion is paced by hiring quality — you can't usefully spend $15M faster on the same motion. Unspent capital is lazy capital.
It sets the bar.A bigger A raises the expectations (and the post-money) the B has to clear.
The call $11–12M is the easy yes — cheap insurance on CAC plus pulling the US premium engine forward, for marginal extra dilution. $15M only makes sense paired with the self-serve / platform build: that's the absorption capacity to deploy it, it removes the Series B dependency, and it pulls the ~15x upside into the funded plan. Above $15M on the same sales motion is lazy capital — take it only if the platform tier is a committed second engine.
Product strategy → GTM

Three products, three motions

Two client-facing products — a web app and a CLI — plus one internal platform, taken to market through three motions: managed today, hybrid next, self-serve on the horizon.

Pulson — web app
Pulson — Web
Pulson CLI — terminal
Pulson CLI — Terminal

Product Strategy

ProductInterfaceFor
PulsonWebClients
Pulson CLICLIClients
AOPCLIInternal

GTM

ProductManaged ServiceHybridSelf-service
PulsonLive, v1.1 (JULY '26)Live, v1.1 (JULY '26)on the horizon
Pulson CLIlate Q3 '26on the horizon
AOPactive nowsupports at scale

AOP — the internal engine. The agent-operations platform our Korea pods deliver on, run at minimum cost by design — that low, fixed cost is the point. Its one job is PSM efficiency: lifting accounts-per-PSM from ~2.0 today → ~7.5 (the forward agent bet, not yet banked) so delivery scales sublinearly. It now extends into the Hybrid motion — the same platform lets one PSM co-pilot and support many client accounts at once, servicing growing clients at scale without adding delivery heads. Never sold; the margin engine behind every revenue motion.

Sales Targets & Motions

TargetManaged ServiceHybridSelf-service
PulsonMid-market brands, full-service
~$3.3K/mo · ~$40K ACV
Client-operated + co-pilot, license + seats
~$2.9K/mo · ~$35K ACV
SMB / long-tail, fully self-serve
~$0.7–1.3K/mo · ~$8–15K ACV
Pulson CLIEnterprise teams operate on CLI
~$4.2–6.7K/mo · ~$50–80K ACV
Enterprise power users / agencies
usage + seats
The build gate

When do we build it?

Don't build on hope. Build a new motion only when a customer backs it with money or a signature — not a "that's cool." Then it isn't a bet; you're filling demand you already have. That's the whole gate.

The standard greenlight: build a motion only when signed demand covers the build in year one. The floor = build cost ÷ gross margin — the signed revenue whose first-year profit pays the build back. An LOI is a signed Letter of Intent: a customer's commitment to buy at a price, before we build.
CLI · Hybrid
Greenlight to build
1 signed LOI
A standard ~$65K enterprise deal — its year-one margin clears the $13K floor ~5× over.
Build ~$11K · floor $13K
CLI · Self-Serve
Greenlight to build
1 signed LOI ≥ $20K
One agency or power-user prepaying ~$20K clears the $19K floor.
Build ~$15K · floor $19K
Web · Self-Serve
Greenlight to build
3–4 prepaid partners
No single big deal — design partners summing to the ~$42K floor (~$12K each).
Build ~$33K · floor $42K
The GTM matrix

Two front doors, three motions

Pulson Web and Pulson CLI are two front doors to the same agent platform; CLI has no Managed motion — it rides Hybrid (follow along, or operate direct), so its demand validates against the book you already have. AOP is the internal agent-ops platform — run lean, built for PSM efficiency, now extending into Hybrid to support clients at scale. Each cell reads the ACV a deal lands at → the account ceiling it can grow to (ceilings illustrative).

Managed Service
Hybrid
Self-Serve
Pulson Web
web app · clients
Live, v1.1 (JULY '26)
$40K $120K/yr
land → ceiling
Web-ledMid-market, full-service
Growth limit
Sales capacity — hire the next AE
Live, v1.1 (JULY '26)
$35K $115K/yr
land → ceiling
Web-ledClient-operated + co-pilot
Growth limit
Sales capacity — hire the next AE
on the horizon
$12K $40K/yr
land → ceiling
Web-ledSMB long-tail · base + 3%
To build
A demand funnel
Pulson CLI
terminal · clients
No CLI managed motion
late Q3 '26
$65K $300K/yr
land → ceiling
CLI-led WebFollow along · operate direct
To build
A signed LOI
on the horizon
$20K $90K/yr
land → ceiling
CLI-led WebPower users / agencies
Sequenced
After CLI Hybrid lands
AOP
internal · CLI
Active now
Agent-ops platform — pods deliver on it
The internal agent-ops platform, run at minimum cost by design. Its one job is PSM efficiency — lifting accounts-per-PSM ~2.0 today → 7.5 so delivery scales sublinearly.
Role
The margin engine
no ACV · run lean, on purpose
Active now
Supports Hybrid clients at scale
The same platform now extends into Hybrid — one PSM co-pilots and supports many client accounts through AOP. Service that scales without adding heads.
Role
PSM efficiency, applied
min cost · serve clients at scale
Internal only
The rate card

Where we play

Read it as a flow: the y-axis is the client’s monthly ad spend (annualized beneath), and each cell is the revenue we bill them — our fixed platform base + take rate % — shown with the gross margin and accounts-per-PSM we deliver it at. KR card; US adds a ~40% relationship premium.

Web-ledBrand Operators buying outcomes — the brand's own team wants results (sales growth), not tooling. The web app leads — dashboards, approvals, reporting — and the agents do the work.
CLI-led WebTechnical Operators & Agencies buying control — in-house growth engineers and agencies running many accounts. The CLI leads so they operate fast (scripts, bulk actions, automation); the web folds in for dashboards. It's how PulseAd's own team runs on AOP.
Managed
Hybrid
Self-Serve
Launch
$10K/mo spend
≈ $120K/yr
we bill
$28K/yr
$1.07K base + 13%
51% GM · 4 accts/PSM
grow spend ↓push to hybrid →or out ✕
we bill
$22K/yr
$1.07K base + 8%
66% GM · 7 accts/PSM
grow spend ↓push to self-serve →or out ✕
we bill
$16K/yr
$1.07K base + 3%
74% GM · 12 accts/PSM
Web-ledSMB brand owners
Core
$25K/mo spend
≈ $300K/yr
we bill
$50K/yr
$1.43K base + 11%
75% GM · 4 accts/PSM
Web-ledgrowing brand teams
we bill
$38K/yr
$1.43K base + 7%
82% GM · 7 accts/PSM
Web-ledgrowing brand · co-pilot
CLI-led Webtechnical teams
we bill
$26K/yr
$1.43K base + 3%
83% GM · 11 accts/PSM
Web-ledself-run brand teams
CLI-led Webagencies · mid-market
Growth
$70K/mo spend
≈ $840K/yr
we bill
$106K/yr
$2.50K base + 9%
83% GM · 3 accts/PSM
Web-ledscaling brand ops
we bill
$80K/yr
$2.50K base + 6%
89% GM · 6 accts/PSM
Web-ledscaling brand ops
CLI-led Webtechnical growth teams
we bill
$55K/yr
$2.50K base + 3%
90% GM · 10 accts/PSM
CLI-led Webpower users · in-house eng
Scale
$150K/mo spend
≈ $1.8M/yr
we bill
$209K/yr
$3.93K base + 9%
93% GM · 3 accts/PSM
Web-ledwhales · enterprise brands
we bill
$155K/yr
$3.93K base + 6%
94% GM · 5 accts/PSM
CLI-led Webenterprise teams
we bill
$101K/yr
$3.93K base + 3%
95% GM · 9 accts/PSM
CLI-led Webagencies · multi-account
Web-led · brand operators buying outcomes
CLI-led Web · technical operators buying control
Cull · grow spend (↓), push lighter (→), or out
Platform upside · scenario

A self-serve tier — quantified

This is the Self-Serve column from the GTM matrix above, converted into numbers — the client-operated hybrid license (annual fee + per-seat, no delivery pod, software margin) that breaks the sales-led headcount cap. First pilots land Q4 2026; here's what it does to the model if they convert.

Scenario — not the base plan This is layered on top of the funded plan, not a replacement. The sales-led base stays the single forward model for the raise; these figures are illustrative and assumption-driven, deliberately excluded from the raise math. One-line thesis: best case, a self-serve tier adds ~$8M ARR by 2030, lifts blended margin to ~69%, and pulls EBITDA breakeven into 2030 — on the same $10M, with less total burn, because you reach profit instead of burning past it.
$25.5M
Exit ARR 2030
+$8M vs funded $17.5M
~69%
Blended gross margin
+4 pts vs 65%
+$0.3M
EBITDA 2030 · breakeven
vs −$2.2M funded
$7.5M
Cumulative burn '26–'30
−$2.3M, same $10M

Exit ARR — funded plan vs. + self-serve

The green wedge is the self-serve tier stacked on the sales-led base. It barely shows through 2027 (product-build years), then compounds — clearing the $20M line by 2030 that the base plan needed the Series B to chase.

$28M $21M $14M $7M $0 ▲ pilots Q4 '26 $25.5M combined$17.5M funded Q2Q3Q4Q2Q3Q4Q2Q3Q4Q2Q3Q4Q2Q3Q4 202520262027202820292030
Funded plan + self-serve Funded plan only
The guardrail that decides the margin In a client-operated license the danger isn't a delivery pod — it's implementation creep. If every license needs a dedicated PulseAd team to stand it up, train the operators, and hand-hold them, you've sold professional services dressed as software and the margin falls to ~55%. Implementation and CS must be productized and one-to-many — and the pilots exist precisely to prove a client's team can operate it without that. That ratio is the 80%-vs-55% swing factor, made operational.

The assumptions this rides on

Gross margin is the swing factor — at 80% (client-operated, productized onboarding) the tier reprices the company; if every license needs hands-on PulseAd implementation (~55%) the upside collapses.

LaunchPilots Q4 2026 (design partners) → commercial ramp 2027 — pilots prove a client's team can operate it before we scaleQ4 '26
SegmentBrands & agencies that want to run ad ops in-house on our platform — additive, not cannibalizingnew tier
Blended ACVAnnual license (~$15–20K) + ~5–10 seats vs managed KR $40K · US $70K~$35K/yr
CACLight license sale + onboarding, partly inbound — <12-mo payback at 80% GM vs $16K KR · $74K US~$10–15K
Gross marginThe swing factor — client operates it (their labor), no delivery pod vs 55→65% human pods80%
Relationship to baseLicense/self-operated and managed feed each other — start managed then license, or license then add managedsticky book

The tier on its own

2026 is the Q4 pilot year (a few design partners). A cash drain through 2027 (build + pilots), crosses over in 2029, throws off +$2.5M EBITDA in 2030. Go-to-customer cost (license sale + onboarding + CS) falls to ~27% of tier revenue by 2030.

Self-serve ($M)'26'27'28'29'30
Exit ARR0.10.61.84.08.0
FY revenue0.050.351.22.96.0
Licensed clients @~$35K~3~17~50~115~230
Gross profit @80%0.040.280.962.324.80
  − incr R&D0.300.400.500.600.70
  − incr S&M + onboard/CS0.100.300.601.001.60
Tier EBITDA(0.36)(0.42)(0.14)0.722.50

Combined — funded + self-serve

Deeper burn in 2026–28 (funding the build) buys a bigger, higher-margin, profitable company by 2030 — and less total cash consumed, because you reach breakeven instead of burning past it.

Combined ($M)'26'27'28'29'30
Exit ARR2.54.99.015.525.5
Revenue FY1.63.46.812.220.5
Gross profit0.82.24.58.414.2
Blended GM53%64%67%69%69%
Total OpEx2.734.977.5010.3913.90
EBITDA(1.91)(2.78)(2.96)(2.02)0.33
Net burn after grants(1.55)(2.42)(2.60)(1.66)+0.69
The swing factor — self-serve GMTier EBITDA '30Combined EBITDA '30Verdict
80% — client-operated, productized+$2.5M+$0.3MReprices the company
65% — hands-on onboarding/CS per license+$1.6M−$0.6MStill accretive, no breakeven
55% — needs a PulseAd implementation team+$1.0M−$1.2MServices in disguise — little gain

Even at 55% the tier stays mildly accretive (incremental S&M is low), but it only reprices the business at the top of the range. Validate that a client's team can operate it — without a PulseAd implementation team — before banking the upside.

What to validate before this is a plan, not a sketch

  1. Do the Q4 2026 pilots convert to paid licenses — at ~$35K? Count and size the design partners; confirm they'll commit to a license + seats, not just a free trial. The whole ramp starts here.
  2. Can a client's team actually operate it without a PulseAd implementation team? This single answer is the difference between 80% and 55% margin — between repricing the company and selling services in disguise.
  3. Does licensed/self-operated cannibalize or feed the managed book? Best case: a client licenses now and adds managed later (or vice versa). Worst case: clients who'd have paid for managed self-operate instead, at a lower take.
  4. What's the right license/seat split — and does it expand? Per-seat is the expansion meter; confirm seats grow inside accounts, and decide whether to layer a usage/%-of-spend component on top.
Conclusion

What’s solid — and what we need to improve

The 2025 base and the cost engine are real ground; the five-year ramp is a plan on a go-to-market motion PulseAd has not yet run. A fresh read against the live P&L tab also surfaces several headline numbers to reconcile before diligence — the table below.

✓ Solid ground

17 months of real growth, not a cold start.Run-rate ~$1.0–1.1M (TTM), ~+220% like-period net-rev growth, H1 2026 banked — the slope is in motion.
2025 revenue is exact.$655K straight off the P&L — the starting point is fact. (Its margin and EBITDA basis are now re-based to the tab — see below.)
Operating leverage.R&D and G&A are semi-fixed; growing them well below revenue is what bends EBITDA toward breakeven. Mechanical, not heroic.
A ~10x in four years — the conservative case.~10x revenue ($1.5M → $14.5M); ~$17.5M exit ARR (~70% CAGR), deliberately below the 2–3× venture bar.
Capital efficiency & financing logic.~$9.8M net burn against $10M + grants + a Q3 2028 Series B is internally consistent and standard for the stage.
A shipped product.Pulson (Web) and Pulson CLI are live and AOP runs delivery — the revenue rests on software in market, not a build.

△ What we need to improve

Confirm the margin recovery slope.Re-based to the tab — 64% FY25, ~52% in ’26, recovering to 65% by 2030. The level and direction now match; the recovery off the ’26 trough is the assumption to defend as accounts onboard.
Confirm the 2025 OpEx line split.EBITDA and OpEx totals now match the tab (−$0.78M / $1.20M). The line split — R&D restated to ~$0.65M to reconcile — is provisional pending the IN_OpEx detail.
Lead with logo retention (~93%).14 of 15 FY25 accounts retained. 106% NRR isn’t cohort-supported — Wish (45% of the 2025 base) dropped ~73% same-months YoY, so gross dollar retention is ~58% blended (~82% ex-Wish) and NRR swings 110–240% on one account. Churn is the small underpriced tail pruned on purpose; recompute the monthly cohort NRR from revtrack before a lead does.
Burn multiple — confirm the basis.Restated to ~0.8× (after grants) / ~1.1× (gross) across the doc, replacing the old 0.43×. Confirm against the tab’s net-new ARR.
Prove the GTM ramp & CAC.~$1.2M → ~$17.5M rests on a motion that is one person today; 45–57% of revenue on S&M only works if CAC lands in range, with no funded history.
Hold margin & churn through the ramp.A flood of new accounts can pressure delivery margin and retention before agents lift them.

The numbers to reconcile — exec-summary vs. the P&L tab

A lead will rebuild the headline metrics off the P&L tab. Here’s where they tie, and where they don’t.

ClaimP&L tab actualStatus
ARR run-rate ~$1.2Mtrailing-6-mo (Dec ’25–May ’26) ≈ $1.18M; May ×12 = $1.41M; TTM ~$1.0Mworks — seasonality-smoothed; booked/contracted is lower (~$0.89M); never label $1.4M as contracted
Net-rev growth +211% TTMJan–May YoY +222%; Q1 +219%works ~+220% real (exact TTM not computable — no 2024 in tab)
Take rate 11.5%$975K opt fee ÷ $7.49M managed spend (TTM) = ~13%works if anything conservative
2025 revenue $655K$655,202works exact
Brands 21+ / 8 countries~14–20 booked logos in the cohort blocksplausible consistent, not precisely checkable
NRR 106%Recompute: ~93% logo retention (14/15); gross $ retention ~58% (~82% ex-Wish); NRR swings 110–240% on one account (Wish −73%)demoted lead with logo retention; monthly cohort NRR pending
Burn multiple 0.43×$1.13M net burn ÷ $0.99M net-new ARR = 1.14× (0.78× post-grants)re-based doc now states ~0.8× (after grants)
Active GMV $95.1M (+7.9×)Not a P&L line; tab has $7.5M managed spend TTM (~$9M run-rate)verify in revtrack, not the P&L tab
Gross margin 55% → 60%FY25 63.8%, 2026 YTD 51.7%, TTM 58.6%re-based projection now shows 64%→52%→65%
2025 EBITDA −$1.22M / OpEx $1.58MEBITDA −$0.78M / OpEx ~$1.20Mre-based projection now shows −$0.78M / $1.20M

Bottom line: the ✓ ground — 2025 revenue, ~+220% growth, ~12–13% take rate, the cost engine — is solid. Three of the four reds — gross-margin level & direction, the 2025 EBITDA basis, and the burn multiple — are now re-based into the projection above (the recovery slope and the OpEx line-split remain to confirm against the tab). NRR support is the one red still fully open: compute a blended figure we can defend, or lead with logo retention, before this goes in front of a lead.

Acronyms

Key & abbreviations

Every acronym used above, in one place.

ARRAnnual Recurring RevenueACVAnnual Contract Value — revenue per customer/yr
GMGross MarginGMVGross Merchandise Value — ad sales managed
NRRNet Revenue Retention — expansion minus churnCACCustomer Acquisition Cost
EBITDAEarnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & AmortizationOpExOperating Expenses
S&MSales & MarketingR&DResearch & Development
G&AGeneral & AdministrativeGTMGo-To-Market — the sales & marketing motion
AEAccount Executive — quota-carrying repPSMPerformance Success Manager — account/delivery lead
SDRSales Development RepresentativeRevOpsRevenue Operations
CSCustomer SuccessCAGRCompound Annual Growth Rate
TTMTrailing Twelve MonthsYoYYear over Year
FYFiscal YearEOYEnd of Year
P&LProfit & Loss — the income statementCTVConnected TV
KRKoreaAPJAsia-Pacific — cross-border sellers into the US
USUnited StatesACVAnnual Contract Value