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SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

What if you knew data behind the fastest growing SaaS companies today? Each morning join Nathan Latka as he spends 15 minutes interviewing SaaS founders. You'll learn how SaaS CEO's launched their startup and grew it into a business. SaaS Founders range from bootstrapped to funded, MVP to 10,000 customers, pre revenue to pre IPO.
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Now displaying: 2016
Nov 12, 2016

Matt Kepnes of NomadicMatt.com, the man who went from everyday worker to travel writer. Matt grew up in Boston and he didn’t take his first trip until he was 23—a cruise to Montreal. After he started a life as a young professional, he decided to travel the world, so he headed to Costa Rica in 2004, Taiwan in 2005, and never looked back. Listen as Matt talks about the success of his blog and how he grew it from a simple online journal.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Influence
  • What CEO do you follow? –  N/A
  • Favorite online tool? — N/A
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Value eating healthy”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Matt to the show
  • 02:53 – Matt was working in administration
  • 03:16 – Number of unique website users on average per month is 1.2 million
  • 03:27 – Matt started the blog in 2008 after 14 months of traveling
  • 03:50 – Matt built the blog as an online resume
  • 04:17 – Matt is getting more visitors in 2010
  • 04:29 – Matt wanted to write guidebooks so he made his blog a guidebook
  • 04:56 – 2/3 of Matt’s income comes from affiliates
  • 05:30 – Matt’s book is The Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking
    • 05:40 – Matt self-published the book
  • 05:46 – Matt’s book with a publisher is How to Travel the World on $ 50 a Day
    • 05:53 – Matt is only getting royalties from the book
    • 06:18 – Matt met the publisher in 2012
    • 06:40 – How Matt negotiated with the publisher
    • 07:51 – Sold around 50,000 to 60,000 copies
    • 08:30 – Royalty percentage per book
  • 09:50 – Matt shifted the blog from an online journal to a website generating money
  • 10:44 – The affiliate offer page in the website are in the home page
  • 11:35 – Average percentage people spend on travel insurance
  • 12:10 – Matt sells 400-500 plan policies per month
  • 12:45 – Other affiliates of Matt
  • 13:21 – Matt is already with the affiliate for years
  • 14:18 – Matt spent some of his time guest blogging
    • 14:38 – Matt does 2-3 guest blogs per month
  • 15:03 – Matt is always traveling
  • 15:11 – Matt’s email list size
  • 15:54 – Matt has a team in different places
  • 17:00 – Connect with Matt through his website, Twitter and Instagram
  • 19:30 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Travel not only de-stresses you, it opens your eyes to global opportunities.
  • Having affiliates is a good way to increase revenue.
  • Eat healthy. You are what you eat.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • @NomadicMatt – Matt’s Instagram account
  • @NomadicMatt – Matt’s Twitter handle
  • NomadicMatt.com – Matt’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 11, 2016

Chris Bruznicki, CEO of Vaystays, which is a vacation rental marketplace tool used by propriety manager like Wyndam. He has been featured in Entrepreneur and was awarded the bronze star. Listen as Chris tells us how Vaystays is earning and what made him decide to raise capital. 

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Good to Great
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Steve Jobs
  • Favorite online tool? — DocuSign
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Networking is super important and consider raising capital”

 

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show
  • 02:20 – Vaystays is used by professionals managing a vacation companies
    • 02:27 – People who have houses in Tahoe and the like will have the vacation companies manage their properties
    • 03:44 – Vaystays gives them a marketplace for distribution
    • 03:55 – Vaystays provides open cable like service
  • 04:17 – Team size and location
  • 04:26 – Vaystays is making 5 million transactions and Chris is earning 13% of every transaction
  • 04:51 – Vaystays was founded in 2010
  • 06:10 – Average order value is $ 2000
  • 07:10 – Vaystays’ software automates all the check in procedure
  • 08:15 – Vaystays takes percentage both from the traveler and seller
  • 09:15 – Vaystays is transparent in their website about the pricing
    • 09:30 – Pricing varies depending on the season
  • 10:30 – Vaystays is connecting specific needs to specific supplies
  • 10:40 – Total transaction volume
  • 11:55 – Vaystays business model
  • 12:20 – Vaystays is in the process of creating subscription fees
  • 13:50 – The marketplace still has lifetime value
  • 15:09 – Vaystays currently has 2000 propriety management companies
    • 15:15 – Average is 10 units per company
  • 16:10 - 25,000 stayed in their properties in September
    • 16:30 – Now is a slow period for Vaystays
    • 18:03 – 312 bookings in September
  • 18:48 – Vaystays has been self-funded for a long time
  • 19:05 – Did a price round for fundraising
  • 19:33 – $ 650,000 revenue in the last 12 months
  • 19:47 – Valuation
  • 20:56 – Chris has 2 co-founders
  • 22:30 – Chris and his co-founders thought about a high valuation
    • 22:53 – They came up with something between $ 3-6 million
  • 24:24 – Connect with Chris through his LinkedIn and his email
  • 16:10 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Look for quality partners who can support you.
  • Networking is important – it can lead to tons of opportunities.
  • Consider raising capital if you see a reason to do so.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • Vaystays.com – Chris’ website
  • Chris@Vaystays.com – Chris’ email address
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 10, 2016

Patrick Ambron, co-founder and CEO of BrandYourself.com, which helps people look better online. He’s an instructor at General Assembly and was included INC’s 30 under 30 list. Listen as Patrick talks about his experience on SharkTank and how it boosted his company’s revenue.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Made to Stick
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Reed Hastings
  • Favorite online tool? — X.AI
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish that when I was building my business, I knew how important it was to have people who don’t have your strengths”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Patrick to the show
  • 02:00 – Patrick got a $ 2 million deal on SharkTank but didn’t take it
    • 02:11 – Patrick didn’t take the deal because they wanted 25%
    • 02:30 – Patrick’s episode was aired 2 years ago and it was a good exposure
    • 02:40 – Patrick did over $ 1 million in revenue while they were on SharkTank
    • 03:10 – Patrick said No on-air
  • 04:07 – BrandYourself provides software and services that helps someone look good online
  • 04:28 – Users buy BrandYourself’s subscription
  • 04:40 – User base is from college students to high level professional
  • 04:55 – BrandYourself is a SaaS business
  • 05:03 – Half of the revenue comes from professional customized services
    • 05:10 – BrandYourself handles issues online that is affecting the customers’ livelihood
  • 05:30 – 10,000 paying customers for software
  • 05:35 – A few thousand paying customers for professional services
  • 06:12 – $ 10,000 annual RPU for professional services
  • 06:40 – MOR is $ 7,000 on the software
  • 07:19 – $ 533,000 per month in revenue
  • 07:35 – BrandYourself has advisors
  • 08:30 – The professional services customers problems that BrandYourself is getting
    • 09:10 – One example is an employee who was fired and ranting online
    • 09:20 – One of the usual problem is what they call “You Shot Yourself in the Foot”
  • 10:36 – BrandYourself was founded in 2009
  • 10:40 – 2015 revenue
  • 10:50 – Target for 2016
  • 10:52 – BrandYourself has raised about $ 6 million recently
  • 11:19 – Team size
  • 11:28 – Team location
  • 12:30 – Gross monthly customer churn
  • 13:30 – Lifetime value
  • 13:40 – Customer acquisition cost
    • 13:45 – All of their leads are organic
    • 15:30 – BrandYourself won’t theoretically spend for a customer
    • 15:40 – BrandYourself do retargeting
    • 15:56 – Paid acquisition is not a necessary channel for BrandYourself
  • 16:31 – What if Reputation.com buys BrandYourself for $ 40 million, will you say yes?
    • 16:40 – “That’s not the goal right now”
    • 16:55 – “What we really want to do is help people prevent issues and be pro-active”
  • 18:26 – Current valuation
  • 18:58 – Connect with Patrick through his website and Twitter
  • 21:20 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Find someone who can fill your gaps.
  • Help people prevent issues and make them pro-active.
  • Saying “No” on national TV can also be beneficial and increase your revenue.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • BrandYourself.com– Patrick’s website
  • @PatrickAmbron  – Patrick’s Twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 9, 2016

Renee Zau, co-founder and CEO of DonationMatch, a product donation network for school and charity events that works similarly to match.com. She’s obsessed with increasing a win-win partnership between brands and non-profit that don’t cost money but can generate more for everyone involved. 

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – E-myth Revisited
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Craig Newmark
  • Favorite online tool? — Streak and Asana
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Almost
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Believe in yourself and talent even if it is different from someone else’s’ idea on what you should do”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Renee to the show
  • 02:08 – It takes 300 hours to secure in-kind and other donations from a benefit event
  • 02:31 – DonationMatch streamlines the product for companies and reduces the work for school and charities
  • 02:50 – Sahara Sam’s receives 100s to 1000s requests of tickets a year to raffle off at charity events
    • 03:26 – Doing a research and checking legitimacy takes time for companies
  • 03:55 – DonationMatch has matched $ 16,000,000 worth of donation goods
  • 04:14 – DonationMatch offers premium model
    • 04:22 – DonationMatch can be used for free
    • 04:35 – Companies can upgrade to premium which is $ 49 a month
    • 04:48 – DonationMatch is a SaaS business
    • 04:54 – DonationMatch has around 100 active companies at the moment
    • 05:02 – DonationMatch has a low customer churn
    • 05:40 – DonationMatch still get a value from their non-paying customers
  • 06:09 – DonationMatch started in 2010 but officially launched in 2013
  • 06:37 – DonationMatch is bootstrapped
  • 06:49 – DonationMatch had $ 100,000 credit card debt
  • 07:10 – Renee and her co-founder are also doing stuff outside of the company
  • 07:33 – 2015 revenue is $ 19,000
  • 07:37 – Goal for 2016
    • 07:49 – As of October 2016, they have around $ 40,000 revenue
  • 08:00 – DonationMatch is usually getting an annual payment from non-profit organizations
  • 08:25 – Holiday season is when companies usually hire DonationMatch
  • 08:40 – September 2016 revenue
  • 09:10 –Total number of paying customer
  • 09:44 – DonationMatch has 100 customers
  • 10:12 – DonationMatch is currently raising $ 500,000
  • 10:40 – Renee feels their valuation is $ 1.5 to 2 million
    • 10:47 – Based on their traction
  • 11:05 – Customer acquisition cost is about $ 1
  • 11:55 – DonationMatch has 13,000 non-profit users
  • 12:30 – DonationMatch has about 10% of non-profits in San Diego
  • 13:25 – They also have national brands in their system
  • 14:05 – DonationMatch is open to offers and already talking to people and investors
  • 14:30 –  Connect with Renee through her email, website and Twitter
  • 16:10 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • You can create a win-win partnership if you know the right ingredients.
  • Believe in yourself and your talent even if it is different from someone else’s idea on what you should do.
  • Take the risk – even if it means having a $ 100k debt.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • Renee@DonationMatch.com – Renee’s email address
  • DonationMatch.com – Renee’s website
  • @ReneeZau – Renee’s Twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 8, 2016

Ash Kumra, an award-winning entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and talk show host recognized twice by the White House as an entrepreneur making an impact. Listen as Ash shares how he runs Youngry, a media company he co-founded that informs, inspires, and elevates young and hungry minded entrepreneurs to thrive.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Inside Steve’s Brain
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Mark Benioff
  • Favorite online tool? — Lead.com
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “To not be worried about other people’s things”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:44 – Nathan introduces Ash to the show
  • 02:10 – Youngry is an entrepreneur media company
    • 02:27 – Youngry provides helpful information from successful entrepreneurs
    • 02:38 – Youngry’s business model provides e-commerce product
    • 03:40 – Youngry provides a community for early stage entrepreneurs to get the best content to help them thrive
  • 05:04 – Ash and his team decided to launch Youngry with an equity crowd funding
    • 05:12 – The new law stating that both credited and uncredited can invest in a deal
      • 05:27 – Difference of credited and uncredited
    • 05:48 – Worked with AngelList
      • 05:53 – AngelList launched an equity crowd funding called Republic
  • 06:15 – Republic.co
    • 06:40 – Minimum amount to invest is $ 10
    • 06:50 – Minimum goal to hit is $ 50,000
    • 06:55 – Youngry hits $ 65,920
  • 07:00 – Crowd safe is a form of a safe note
  • 08:25 – What if people want to donate but think that valuation is crap?
    • 08:30 – “It is not a donation but an actual investment”
    • 08:45 – Questions about crowd funding should go to the crowd forum
    • 09:08 – Youngry made a $ 2 million value
  • 10:00 – Ash and his partner had $ 50,000 as a side money
  • 10:30 – Youngry already made $ 65,000 revenue
  • 11:00 – Youngry is various focus
    • 11:23 – Influence remarking as an e-commerce marking
    • 11:28 – Bigger brands see the value of audience that Youngry is generating
    • 11:32 – In 60 days, Youngry generated 50,000-75,000 audience
    • 12:05 – The crowd funding campaign helped Youngry get fraction from the larger brands
  • 12:28 – Youngry’s event sponsorship
  • 13:15 – Launch date of Youngry is December 1 2016
  • 13:30 – Connect with Ash through Ash@Youngry.com
  • 15:38 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Equity crowdfunding can be beneficial to both startups and investors.
  • Study and learn the process before investing – even the legal matters.
  • Mind your own business. Don’t worry too much about other people’s problems.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • Ash@Youngry.com – Ash’s email address
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 7, 2016

Karan Chaudhry, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder and CPO of Comnplus, a company building advanced machine learning based personalization and recommendation engine focused on online digital content industry. He received his MS from Stanford University and is an active mentor and advisor at StartX, advising entrepreneurs on topics like fundraising, team building, data product management and product marketing. Prior to Comnplus, Karan was the co-founder and CEO of DropThought, a machine learning based instant feedback and text platform for voice over applications. Listen as Karan explains how DropThought was acquired last year and how he started Comnplus.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk 
  • Favorite online tool? — Asana
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Take risk. Failures are highly over-rated. It just makes us stronger”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:44 – Nathan introduces Karan to the show
  • 02:35 – DropThought was acquired last year
  • 02:43 – DropThought is doing feedback-based analytics
  • 02:58 – Karan raised a couple of rounds for DropThought
  • 03:10 – DropThought was acquired by Bahwan CyberTek
  • 03:22 – Karan was in the process of fundraising for DropThought when Bahwan CyberTek approached him
  • 03:50 – There were other companies who want to acquire DropThought
  • 04:33 – Valuation of DropThought
  • 05:24 – Team size for DropThought is 15-20
  • 05:35 – Comnplus is taking the machine analytic context to the content industry
  • 05:50 – Companies find it difficult to recommend similar content to their customers
  • 06:30 – Comnplus is only 3-4 months old
  • 06:42 – TVF funded Karan $ 500,000 to start Comnplus
    • 07:09 – Comnplus is creating clusters of users with similar habits for TVF
    • 07:28 – Comnplus handles marketing and contact targeted users
    • 07:48 – Comnplus reaches out to users with customize recommendations
  • 08:35 – Comnplus market is the large content providers
  • 08:58 – Comnplus price point
  • 09:15 – Comnplus is currently bootstrapped
  • 09:50 – Comnplus has a small but qualified team
  • 10:35 – Karan is willing to spend 50-70% of revenue for customer acquisition
  • 11:35 – Target RPU is $ 500,000
  • 12:15 – Comnplus is currently not fundraising and TVF as their only client
  • 12:43 – Biggest competitors are Rich Relevance and Gravity R&D
  • 13:48 – Get in touch with Karan through his email
  • 15:28 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Find the right people and they will acquire your business.
  • It’s about quality and not quantity.
  • You can never “lose”.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments.
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • Karan@Comnplus.com – Karan’s email address
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 6, 2016

Shawn Porat, founder of Scorely, Judgment Marketplace and Fortune Cookie Advertising. He’s a VP at Mark Echo Enterprise and a contributor to Forbes, Time, and Money Magazine among others.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – N/A
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — N/A
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Never
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Work with others and meet as many entrepreneurs as you can”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:53 – Nathan introduces Shawn to the show
  • 02:17 – Scorely is a business credit bureau
    • 02:23 – Started 6 months ago
  • 02:35 – Shawn is trying to get more small businesses in the platform for free
    • 02:53 – Subscription plans
  • 03:15 – Scorely is currently on pre-revenue and will launch in 3 weeks
    • 03:25 – 10,300 people in their launch list
  • 03:48 – The idea of Scorely started 3 months ago
    • 03:54 – They’ve partnered with different government agencies and businesses
  • 04:25 – The chamber of commerce
    • 04:30 – The members have been informed they can get access to business reports through email blast
  • 05:11 – Scorely is the first in the industry
  • 05:25 – Scorely charges between $ 120 to $ 200 per report
  • 06:04 – Scorely focuses on small businesses
    • 06:10 – Recovery of Judgement’s credit report
  • 07:25 – Some companies charges small businesses too much for credit reports
  • 07:45 – They are now free as they want more small businesses to learn about Scorely
  • 08:06 – Small businesses want credit reports because of a lot of reasons
    • 08:08 – Small businesses need loans
    • 09:00 – Scorely can recommend small businesses to banks
      • 09:15 – Goal is to get a loan with the smallest interest
  • 09:30 – Shawn telling Nathan how Scorely works in Nathan’s business scenario
  • 10:28 – Shawn gets 1% - 5% from the loans
  • 10:52 – Number of business loans made yearly in the USA
  • 11:45 – Shawn is still learning a lot
  • 12:20 – Judgment Marketplace
  • 13:48 – Scorely raised $ 250,000
  • 14:05 – Team size
  • 14:30 – Toptal as a freelancing site for developers
  • 15:48 – Connect with Shawn through his website
  • 18:00 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • You can’t do everything alone.
  • Bring your ideas to life.
  • Make a good action plan in starting a business.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments.
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • ShawnPorat.com – Shawn’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 5, 2016

Bill Lyons, a successful real estate entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Revestor.com. Revestor is in the business of helping real estate investors find profitable properties to rent out as short and long term rentals. He also helps identify properties for quick profits.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Slash
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Tony Robbins
  • Favorite online tool? — Rapportive
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “That when you get to your 30’s, a week is like a day, a month is like a week and year is like a month and slow down. Do what you can today”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:48 – Nathan introduces Bill to the show
  • 02:27 – Revestor started in 2012
  • 02:37 – Revestor is now focused short-term Airbnb properties
  • 03:08 – Bill is asking $ 250,000 for 10% in short-term properties
  • 04:10 – Bill was in Shark Tank in November 2012
    • 04:25 – Bill got 15,000 users but never got over 1,000 paid users
    • 04:38 – Bill can’t raise money after the show
  • 05:02 – In 2013, Bill started a mortgage company
    • 05:06 – In 2014, Bill did $ 500,000 in revenue
    • 05:10 – In 2015, Bill did $ 1.7 million in revenue
    • 05:14 – 2016, Bill is about to hit $ 5.5 million in revenue
  • 05:34 – Bill has been investing for the past few months in Revestor
  • 05:58 – Revestor did 0 revenue in 2016
  • 06:10 – The subscription plans were not working so they refunded them
  • 06:24 – Bill built a better platform to invest in Airbnb
  • 06:33 – Revestor re-launches on November 1st of 2016
  • 07:10 – Customers can see daily rent data in the website of Revestor
    • 07:20 – Revestor’s main data source
    • 07:34 – Revestor is paying $ 6,000 a month for the API
  • 08:25 – The properties in Revestor are for sale
    • 08:35 – The website will show you how you will earn when you purchase a property
  • 09:22 – Users can enter their own interest rate in the website
  • 10:00 – Revestor is pulling data from resources to come up with average daily rent
  • 10:40 – “You’re not going to get a good cash flow in San Diego on a long term basis”
  • 11:18 – They are working with a PR company
  • 11:38 – Mortgage is Bill’s passion
  • 12:13 – Email list is 30,000
  • 13:40 – Connect with Bill through his Instagram and website
  • 15:20 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Learn from your experiences. Don’t let other people predict your business.
  • Start from where you’re good at. Things are far easier when you already know what to do.
  • Do what you can today.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments.
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • @bill_lyons – Bill’s Instagram account
  • Revestor.com– Bill’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 4, 2016

Craig Ballantyne, a productivity and a success transformation coach and the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life. He’s been a contributor to men’s health magazines since 2000 and in 2001, he created a home popular work out program, Turbulence Training. Listen as Craig tells us how he overcome his anxieties using the 5 pillars of transformation and how he managed to make his users stay.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Rockefellar Habits
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Matt Smith
  • Favorite online tool? — N/A
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I should stop drinking before I’m 30 years old”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:54 – Nathan introduces Craig to the show
  • 02:43 – Craig uses the 5 pillars of success
  • 03:06 – Craig started in the fitness industry in 1999 and he started selling Turbulence Training online
  • 03:19 – In 2011, Craig bought the business, Early to Rise, a success wealth building newsletter
  • 03:31 – They have 100,000 email list for Early to Rise and 120,000 for fitness
  • 03:38 – Early to Rise did $ 6 million in 2015
  • 04:27 – The Perfect Day Formula is their best-seller
  • 04:45 – They have Early to rise University where online courses are
  • 05:00 – PerfectDayFormula.com
    • 05:05 – It was launched in January 2016
    • 05:18 – 35,000 purchases at the moment
    • 05:21 – They have their email list, affiliate email and Facebook ads for marketing
    • 05:30 – Price point is $ 200
    • 05:46 – Only a small portion of customers came from the affiliate email
  • 06:00 – Customers receive a box full of materials when they purchase
  • 06:31 – The cost of produce is $ 21
  • 07:02 – They are not making a lot from paid advertising
  • 07:43 – Craig is finding a way to send traffic on Facebook to an offer that works to prevent crashed after the launch
  • 08:30 – $ 100,000 MRR mostly from the fitness stuff
  • 08:35 - $ 7 price point on monthly fee
  • 09:12 – People stick with them for at least 3 months
  • 10:44 – People want results
  • 11:26 – The usage pay wall
  • 12:20 – What the user will get from the course
    • 12:23 – There’s a template to change your bad habits
    • 12:40 – They will help the user create a vision
  • 12:50 – One of the pillars is plan and prepare
  • 13:25 – Craig has a video of walkthrough on what they can get in the kit
  • 13:56 – Goal in 2016
  • 14:11 – Tools that Craig uses for his website
  • 14:30 – Tools that Craig uses to run his business
  • 14:43 – Team size
  • 14:59 – Follow Craig on Twitter and LinkedIn
  • 17:00 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Show people results. Show them how to consume a product to get the results.
  • Having an email list of the target market can boost your revenue tremendously.
  • Be healthy. Cliché as it sounds, health is wealth.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments.
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • @Craigballantyne – Craig’s Twitter handle
  • LinkedIn – Craig’s LinkedIn account
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 3, 2016

Ben Nye. Ben joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2004 and leads their infrastructure software team. Listen as Ben talks about how he became Turbonomic’s CEO and how they got to Series D.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs Book
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Jeff Bezos
  • Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew about the power of equity”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:34 – Nathan introduces Ben to the show
  • 02:00 – Ben joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2004
  • 02:15 – Capitalized Turbonomic as an investor in 2009 and first delivery of product in GA in 2010
  • 02:30 – Joined the company full-time in 2013
  • 02:40 – Bain Capital Ventures is a sector focus
    • 02:55 – They want something with a prepared mind
    • 03:17 – They cover multiple sectors
  • 03:38 – Total capital raised
  • 03:59 – Ben is the lead investor at Bain Capital Ventures for Turbonomic
  • 04:17 – There was 3 CEO in Turbonomic
    • 04:46 – There was an issue between the founder and the CEO that was hired
    • 04:58 – The board made a decision, making Ben the CEO
  • 06:15 – Passive equity in the company
    • 06:22 – They kept the best people
    • 06:42 – The company has to retire passive shares and it is covered by investors right agreement
    • 07:00 – They have bought people’s equity, who left the company
  • 07:15 – Turbonomic is a soft managing self-organizing control system
    • 07:40 – They have the capability to provide enhance performance for high workloads
  • 08:15 – They have on-premises and off- premises sectors
    • 08:30 – In on-premises, there is per socket and per core based pricing
    • 08:35 – In off-premises, there are no sockets so you work virtually in public cloud
  • 08:55 – They are not SaaS, but users can purchase on term basis
    • 09:20 – Some users request how to acquire the software
    • 09:35  - They measure the environment based on sockets and core count
    • 09:52 – 91% of the customers have a 3-month full payback
  • 10:19 – Ben offers a scenario how the model works
  • 11:34 – At Bain Capital Ventures, they research the companies and pick which they think will win
  • 12:53 – The startups competing in the market
  • 13:15 – In Turbonomic, there are 16,000 CIO who invested in them
  • 13:28 – They have 400 employees
  • 14:00 – Revenue growth in 2016
  • 14:36 – In November of 2014, they did a $ 50 million series-d
  • 15:35 – Going to series-d will depend on the nature of the company
    • 15:41 – Ben’s company is an intellectual property strategy company
  • 16:30 – Connect with Ben through his website and join Green Circle Community
  • 18:30 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • People can voluntarily sell their equity when the leave a company.
  • Getting to series-d will depend on the nature of the company.
  • Know your market.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • Turbonomic.com – Ben’s website
  • Green Circle Community – Ben’s online community
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Nov 1, 2016

Amit Shanbhag, co-founder of RocketReach.co, a company that allows users to lookup email addresses, phones, social links, etc. for over 250 million professionals worldwide. Amit bootstrapped to RocketReach from zero to over a hundred thousand customers including Apple, Google, and Morgan Stanley to name a few. He has more than a dozen patents and started his professional life writing code for geo-stationary satellites. He loves open water swimming, watching cricket, and spending time with his 4-year old son.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – N/A
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Marissa Mayer
  • Favorite online tool? — Google Drive
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Live the moment and enjoy what you have”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:53 – Nathan introduces Amit  to the show
  • 02:33 – RocketReach is a sales management tool
  • 02:54 – RocketReach was founded in 2015
  • 03:03 – Amit and his co-founder used to work for a SaaS business
  • 03:15 – They tried to get information from www.data.com for user acquisition
    • 03:25 – They realized that the data is 85% inaccurate
  • 03:31 – They tried different tools
  • 04:25 – Team size
  • 04:40 – Completely bootstrapped
  • 04:51 – They tried to raise a small round
    • 05:18 – Went to institution investors
    • 05:27 – The terms were not profitable
    • 05:40 – Amit stopped fund-raising after 6 months
  • 05:58 – They had 10,000 customers in March
  • 06:40 – Companies that are the competition
  • 07:35 – RocketReach is SaaS and has monthly subscription
    • 07:40 – Plans are $ 49, $ 99 and $ 299
    • 07:46 – Salespeople and recruiters are the biggest user base
    • 08:30 – Most of the users are from the $ 99 plan
  • 09:10 – MRR
  • 09:40 – They were doing a lot of outbound in January
  • 10:04 – Most of their users now are from SEO
  • 11:18 – Customers who buy access to RocketReach API
    • 11:38 – They are considered as competition
  • 12:29 – First year revenue
    • 12:45 – Total of $ 15 from October 2015 to December 2015
  • 13:02 – March 2016 is when the growth started
  • 13:40 – Did a deal with 500 startups companies
  • 14:40 – Gross monthly churn
  • 16:40 – Lifetime value
  • 17:17 – Company expenses
  • 18:09 – The quality of data that RocketReach has sets them apart from their competitors
  • 18:30 – Comparison of RocketReach and Email Hunter
  • 19:50 – Goal for 2016
  • 20:53 – Decent offer in the SaaS space
  • 21:15 – 2-digit percentage average monthly customer growth
  • 22:15 – Connect with Amit through his website and Twitter
  • 24:00 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • First year revenue is not always what you’re expecting.
  • Improve your product to the point it makes your competitors, your customers.
  • Live for the moment and enjoy what you have.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
  • RocketReach.co – Amit’s website
  • @RocketReachco – Amit’s Twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 31, 2016

Hal Elrod, a husband, father ,and the best-selling author of 8 books including one of the best self-published book of all time, The Miracle Morning, which sold over 200,000 copies and has been translated into 21 languages. He is an entrepreneur and international keynote speaker, podcaster, and co-creator of best blueprint ever life experience. Listen as Hal talks about his life after a car crash and how it paved his future. 

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Love is the Killer App
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Jeff Hoffman
  • Favorite online tool? — Five Minute Journal iOS App
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Have patience”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:53 – Nathan introduces Hal to the show
  • 02:30 – The Miracle Morning now has 240,00 copies sold
    • 02:40 – It was published in 2012
  • 03:00 – When Hal was 20, he was the top sales agent for a kitchen knife company
    • 03:25 – Hal was in car accident on his way home and broke 11 bones
    • 03:36 – Hal was pronounced dead for 6 minutes and in a coma for 6 days
    • 04:00 – Three months after the crash, Hal was told by the doctor the unexplainable – that he can walk again
  • 04:45 – Some people go through traumatic experiences to learn a lesson and share it to other people
  • 05:11 – “Don’t make the same mistakes. Learn from other people’s action and learn from it”
  • 05:28 – “Accept all things that you can’t change while you focus on what you can”
  • 06:26 – Hal’s sister died when he was 8 years old
    • 06:46 – After a few months, Hal’s mother created a support group to help parents cope with a child loss
    • 06:55 – You can use adversity. Turn it into an advantage by finding a way to make it benefit other people
  • 07:30 – Hal conditions himself for the 5-minute rule
  • 07:58 – Why is The Miracle Morning, the best self-published book
    • 08:02 – It changes behavior
    • 08:40 – It adds value to your life and changes your daily life
  • 09:43 – Ask yourself “how can I take this and turn into a daily ritual”
  • 10:47 – Give the readers a quick win
  • 11:30 – The 30-day challenge in the book
  • 12:15 – Hal is coaching people to get an accountability partner
  • 13:30 – Hal thought he could go to a traditional publisher
  • 13:43 – The Miracle Morning is not a title. It is the practice that Hal made in his life since 2008
  • 14:32 – Hal learned that self-publishing  for authors is (99% of the time) the way to go
  • 15:09 – Hal had an email list for publishing
    • 15:54 – Hal sold 7000 copies in the first month
  • 16:53 – Hal is averaging 10,000 copies every month
  • 17:12 – Hal is charging $ 25,000 (+ travel) for speaking events
  • 17:36 – Hal did an audiobook and it was worth-it
  • 17:45 – Hal had no ghost writers and co-author
  • 17:51 – Hal didn’t spend on advertising for the first 3 months
  • 17:59 – Hal got his first 100 sales through pre-selling to his personal network with additional offers
  • 19:45 – The sales of the other books of Hal is only a fraction of his original
  • 20:15 – Get in touch with Hal through his website and Twitter
  • 22:25 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Don’t make the same mistakes. Learn from other people’s actions.
  • Self-publishing is the way to go.
  • You can turn adversity into advantage.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • @halelrod – Hal’s Twitter handle
  • MiracleMorning.com – Hal’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 30, 2016

Steli Efti, CEO and founder of Close.io. Listen as Steli talks about how he uses sales and communication to his company’s advantage and why he won’t disclose their churn rate—his answer WILL surprise you.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – The Paypal Wars
  • What CEO do you follow? – N/A
  • Favorite online tool? — Evernote
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew how to manage my own emotions and focus on consistency”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:23 – Nathan introduces Steli to the show
  • 01:52 – Steli’s entrepreneurial power is in sales and communication
  • 02:02 – Close.io is Steli’s biggest success
  • 02:15 – There are less than 20 people in the team
  • 02:21 – Steli is competing with massive organizations
  • 02:40 – They launched their first product in 2013
  • 02:56 – First year revenue is $ 200,000
    • 03:10 – They started as a services business
  • 04:08 – There’s a common pattern with SaaS companies building product
  • 04:45 – Close.io is a CRM
    • 04:55 – Focused on inside sales team
    • 05:12 – Paid monthly
    • 05:26 – RPU
      • 05:58 – The average per month is $ 400 to $ 500
  • 07:01 – Total number of customers is between 500 and 5000
  • 07:54 – They are self-funded but they did raised for the business
  • 08:45 – CAP table
  • 09:29 – Raised a little after graduating
    • 10.08 – They raised $ 1 million
  • 10:32 – They are not currently in any acquisition talks and not raising capital
    • 11:09 – They have all the funds they need
  • 11:35 – There are 2 co-founders
  • 12:00 – Monthly gross churn is horrible
    • 12:26 – “Every customer we are losing is a tragedy”
    • 12:50 – They don’t share churn numbers
  • 13:11 – Their sales tactics
  • 13:41 – When they launched Close.io, it doesn’t have any record in it
  • 14:15 – People will buy the product even if it’s not sufficient
  • 14:54 – They are now doing a ton of blog posts, public speaking, etc
  • 16:20 – Consistently improve your product
  • 17:22 – Fully-weighted CAC
  • 17:55 – “The most important thing in trying new channels is to determine what a success and failure look like”
  • 19:30 – Steli won’t accept sample acquisition offer
  • 21:00 – Connect with Steli through his blog and Twitter
  • 22:30 – Steli’s podcast has thousands of followers
  • 23:30 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • If you have the solution to your customer’s problem, they will stay longer.
  • Plan your failure scenarios. Know what to do when you succeed AND fail.
  • Every business is different. The value of your business is determined by what the market is willing to pay for it, and what you’re able to create in terms of market demand.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Blog.close.io – Steli’s blog site
  • @Steli – Steli’s Twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 29, 2016

Chris Koerner, founder and CEO of LCDcycle – a company that recycles broken iPhone screens and supplies wireless repair shop with wholesale electronic parts. Aside from being a motivational speaker and winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award, Chris is a guy who appreciates the haters.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Delivering Happiness
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — Flipboard
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I try but I don’t
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Tell myself to appreciate the haters”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:46 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show
  • 02:31 – LCDcycle was founded in 2013
  • 02:43 – Chris opened a smartphone repair shop in college in 2010
    • 02:51 – Sold it for $ 30,000
  • 03:50 – They started in Alabama
  • 04:10 – They got more customers in the Texas market
  • 04:45 – The supply parts to repair shop
  • 04:58 – First year revenue
    • 05:08 – Did $ 2.1 million for the first full year
  • 05:13 – For 2014, they did $ 4.8 million and $ 8.8 million in 2015
  • 05:36 – They are doing cold-calling to get customers
  • 05:57 – Uses a lead generation tool to scrape the repair shops details
  • 06:25 – Gross margin average is 31%
  • 06:55 – Team size is 12
  • 07:08 – They are self-funded
    • 07:31 – Started with $ 30,000
    • 07:41 – Chris asked his family and friends for a loan
  • 08:16 – Total volume of parts shipped
    • 08:27 – About million parts
  • 08:45 – Most of their shipments are iPhone screens
  • 08:53 – Average price point for the shops
  • 09:17 – Spending $ 23 for raw material
  • 10:15 – 8% net margin
  • 10:30 – Supplies are coming from China
  • 10:49 – LCDcycle sells new screens and buying the broken screens from the repair shops
    • 11:05- Broken screens are being sent to China
  • 11:27 – Their revenue is shrinking this year to $ 6.5 million
  • 11:41 – There’s a shortage in supplies last year so there was a spike in sales
  • 12:25 – They’re supplying to 700-800 unique shops
  • 12:36 – Reorder rate
  • 13:45 – Chris raised money last year
  • 14:21 – Chris would sell to a bigger company
  • 15:20 – Connect with Chris through his Facebook
  • 17:30 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • You have a good chance of developing a great company—you just need to be willing to navigate through the failures. Believe in yourself.
  • Expansion—even in the face of risk—is worth it.
  • Always appreciate the haters.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Facebook – Chris’ personal Facebook account.
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 28, 2016

Will Mayo, founder of SpokenLayer. Being dyslexic led Will to find an alternative to written text and he thought of an audio solution. Listen ad Will talks about how SpokenLayer changes mainstream reading and how it helped him personally.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – The E-Myth
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — Streak
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just keep trying and you’ll figure it out”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:13 – Nathan introduces Will to the show
  • 02:05 – How is a podcast different from SpokenLayer
    • 02:28 – “Spoken edition is a different interpretation of what audio can be”
    • 02:44 – It caters to listeners first then letting them choose the experience
  • 02:53 – Working for about 30 properties
  • 03:13 – SpokenLayer distributes articles for Playboy
  • 04:10 – Different publishers work in different ways
    • 04:15 – Some publishers would pay to have a spoken edition
    • 04:27 – SpokenLayer help publishers sell advertising and sponsorship
  • 04:50 – “In the long term, the growth of ad revenue will be the largest component of a business but it takes a while”
    • 05:05 – They make more revenue from the SaaS side
    • 05:15 – The other side of the business works with non-media clients
  • 05:50 – The pay depends on volume of content
  • 07:05 – SpokenLayer started as an iPhone app in 2012
    • 07:17 – They didn’t pursue the app idea
  • 07:35 – They did Angel finance and tapped family
    • 07:50 – Price rounds and notes
    • 08:08 – Raised over a bit of $ 2 million for the past 6 years
  • 08:20 – Expenses for the team and the studio
  • 08:37 – Technology and infrastructure fund the SpokenLayer
  • 08:52 – Handling 40 or 50 clients at the moment
  • 09:16 – Getting customers through inbound
  • 09:25 – They’re getting more requests than they can handle
  • 09:55 – Focused on English and other local languages
  • 10:27 – Focused on clients that has over 10 million audiences
  • 11:25 – Content analyzing
    • 11:35 – Not all content is worth voicing
    • 12:00 – “There are great content and great stories that people want to consume”
  • 12:06 – Example of phenomenal contents and stories
    • 12:19 – “Anything that is written as a first person is a personal story destined to be an editorial or an opinion”
  • 13:05 – There are different types of distribution
    • 13:30 – Some people use different platform to consume the audio
  • 13:50 – They’ve been working with Time, Reuters,  and ZY to name a few
  • 14:24 – Some of the team members are based in Manhattan
    • 14:40 – 10 full time
  • 14:50 – Raised capital
    • 15:03 – The core team is interested in raising capital
    • 15:20 – Their another product Audio
  • 16:06 – How much do you want to raise?
    • 16:25 – “Somewhere between third or half of the round”
  • 17:05 – Connect with Will through his website and Facebook
  • 18:17 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Disabilities can turn your life around—it all depends on your attitude and ingenuity.
  • Not all content is destined to be vocalized.
  • Keep trying until you figure it out…whatever that it may be.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • SpokenLayer.com  -Will’s business website
  • Facebook – Will’s business Facebook account
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 27, 2016

Mike Chapman, an author, speaker and subject-matter expert for both healthcare and insurance matters. Listen as Mike talks about helping self-employed and small business owners take control of their health.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Approach
  • What CEO do you follow? – N/A
  • Favorite online tool? — Acuity
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Make the leap—start a business earlier.”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Mike  to the show
  • 02:10 – Why people should listen to Mike?
    • 02:25 – “There are so many basic things that people can do that will save money and provide better options for healthcare”
  • 02:37 – Mike is a consultant for small businesses and individuals. He’s also a broker
  • 03:13 – Total revenue in 2015 is under $ 1 million
  • 03:38 – Sometimes, Mike will hire people, depending on the season
  • 04:04 – Average annual net profit
  • 04:45 – Mike has been in the business for 15 years
  • 04:54 – First year revenue
  • 05:20 – Mike is a marketing guy
    • 05:34 – Mike used to do SEO for insurance
  • 06:13 – Goal for 2016 revenue
  • 06:36 – How Mike gets paid
    • 07:01 – Mike gets paid directly from his recommendation
  • 07:43 – Mike recommends Nathan alternatives for healthcare providers
    • 07:54 – Consider a small group plan or business plan
    • 08:24 – A short term plan can get coverage for you
    • 08:50 – Why do you get penalize for not having health plan?
    • 08:53 – Part of Obamacare
  • 10:02 – Mike would get 3% - 6% per plan
  • 10:47 – September expenses
    • 11:00 – Marketing expenses
  • 11:30 – Mike had signed-up hundreds to thousands of people
  • 11:40 – Mike is based in Texas
  • 11:58 – Mike does speaking to increase his network
    • 12:03 – Email and web marketing
  • 12:20 – Mike has about 6,000 subscribers
  • 12:40 – Connect with Mike through his Facebook and website
  • 14:50 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • You can save money and have better healthcare—it just takes planning and discipline.
  • Entrepreneurship is the avenue to fulfilment.
  • You can hit two birds with one stone – maximize your resources and network.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Facebook – Mike’s Facebook account
  • TheMedicalInsuranceExchange.com – Mike’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 26, 2016

George Bandarian II, CEO and President of AMI – The Paperless Company. He has a mission of eliminating paper and a vision for simplifying work for companies such as SpaceX, Walt Disney, MBC Universal, schools and colleges. Listen as George explains their unique culture and what he and his team are working on to disrupt the document management industry.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Bold
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — Headspace and Calm
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:10 – Nathan introduces George to the show
  • 01:58 – “In this day and age, there shouldn’t be any paper documents”
    • 02:20 – It is senseless to route documents from desk to desk
    • 02:43 – They automate business processes and digitize the paperwork
  • 03:28 – The price will depend on what the client wants them to do
    • 03:40 – Provide full-service solution
    • 04:22 – “It feels like we’re handing them a new car key”
    • 04:38 – They’re an agency
    • 04:50 – Product range is from $ 10,000 to $ 400,000
  • 05:35 – Number of unique customers
  • 05:50 – Team size is 25
    • 05:59 – It should be 40 by the end of 2016
  • 06:05 – The breakdown of work
    • 06:20 – They have BPO service who does organic services
  • 06:47 – Are you trying to build robots?
  • 07:10 – George’s father founded the company in 1968
    • 07:28 – When George’s father passes, his mother took the business over
    • 07:36 – George went to ULC and finished early
    • 08:10 – They started as micro-fund company but have gone through iterations
  • 08:23 – First year revenue in ‘68
  • 08:33 – 2015 revenue
    • 08:42 – They might end at $ 2.5 million this year
  • 09:08 – George’s passion is in software and SaaS companies
  • 09:21 – Some companies got bloated and expensive
  • 09:43 – “We think that it is always a good time to think what customers really care about”
  • 09:54 – They have a 45-day implementation guarantee
    • 09:58 – Their number one core value is “follow the light”
  • 10:50 – Working life as a bootstrapped business
  • 11:08 – They’ve been profitable for decades and never had to raise funds
  • 11:25 – Help people achieve breakthroughs
  • 11:46 – Connect  with George through his email at george@amipaperless.com
  • 12:47 – George’s focus on the business
  • 13:25 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Go with your passion.
  • Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward
  • Technology is always changing—adapt to the change and stay ahead of the curve.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • George@amipaperless.com – George’s email address
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 25, 2016

Kim Garst, CEO of Boomsocial. She’s also best Selling author of Will the Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media. She’s internationally recognized and regularly contributes to www.Entrepreneur.com

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Lean In
  • What CEO do you follow? – Sheryl Sandberg
  • Favorite online tool? — Slack, Canva and Buzzsomo
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I would tell myself to become an entrepreneur”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Kim to the show
  • 02:57 – Kim was earning $ 3,000 per month
  • 03:32 – As of the moment, they are generating $ 56,494 a month
    • 03:50 – Kim asked her staff about the numbers before the interview
  • 04:17 – www.KimGarst.com – where her new product is
    • 04:43 – Focus on how you can truly make money from social media
  • 05:20 – Kim runs a 3-lane, 3-stage sales funnel
    • 05:28 – 3 different premiums
    • 06:10 – Starts with a free offer then a mini course
    • 06:50 – In just an hour, they can learn something and implement it in their business
    • 07:24 – “We try to over deliver and give great content”
  • 07:58 – About 11.2% of the people who take the  free offer took the $ 9 upsell
    • 08:07 – 70% take the free trial directly and the 30% will eventually take the 3-stage series
  • 08:45 – Three landing pages and their conversions
  • 09:57 – Kim explaining the process of landing pages conversion
    • 10:03 – People don’t immediately go to the $ 1 trial, they download the premium first
    • 10:09 – First upsell is the mini-course
  • 12:44 – The landing page that converts 40%
  • 13:50 – 10% take the membership trial
  • 15:00 – 30% monthly churn
  • 15:15 – Customer value is $ 263
  • 15:22 – Customer acquisition cost
  • 15:25 – ROI
    • 15:30 – Spent on Facebook ads
    • 15:55 – 18% of profit is organic
  • 16:16 – You can get traffic for free from social media
  • 16:38 – Been using Facebook ads for quite a few months
  • 17:00 – Average opening cut-through rate
    • 17:12 – Open rate used to be 18-20% but right now it is  15-17%
    • 17:25 – “I’m always wanting more”
  • 18:20 – 2015 Boomsocial’s total revenue
  • 19:30 – Connect with Kim through her website and Boomsocial.com
  • 21:40 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • People will come back to you if you have good content.
  • Increasing traffic through organic campaigns is free and effective.
  • Don’t be content—always find ways to improve.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Boomsocial.com – Kim’s business website
  • KimGarst.com – Kim’s personal website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 24, 2016

Tommy Gibbons, a former employee of both Goldman Sachs and Fundera. Listen to learn how Tommy met his Princeton bosses, and how he used those connections to get into Piper.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – N/A
  • What CEO do you follow? – Mark Pavlyukovskyy – his boss
  • Favorite online tool? — Zapier
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20-year-old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew how I could”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:10 – Nathan introduces Tommy to the show
  • 01:41 – Piper is a guide for kids ages 8 – 12 to build their first computer
  • 02:02 – Apple’s co-founder review on Piper
  • 02:16 – Piper has more than 4,000 customers since launching last year
  • 02:28 – Looking into subscription plans in the future
  • 02:45 – Piper was launched in Kickstarter in June 2015
    • 03:10 – Sold their first product in December 2015
    • 03:20 – They had craigslist posters
      • 03:40 – Title of craigslist poster was “Workers needed for packing of children’s toys in Long Beach”
  • 04:23 – Total funding raised is $ 2.3 million
  • 04:47 – Tommy does customer service, retail partnership and ran all school app design
    • 05:10 – Tommy has an equity In Piper
  • 05:40 – Piper has 3 founders
  • 06:20 – Tommy’s approach to Mark regarding his interest in Piper
    • 06:55 – Tommy told Mark about how he can be an advantage to the company
  • 07:30 – Tommy was working for free for a couple of months
  • 09:00 – The Piper question
  • 09:30 – Cost of goods sold
  • 09:45 – Gross margin
  • 10:00 – Reselling
    • 10:23 – Reseller’s price and markup 
    • 10:36 – Facebook Ad
  • 11:00 – Reorder rate
  • 11:30 – They are now focusing on the development of Piper computers
  • 11:52 – Revenue goal for 2016
    • 12:00 – Big expectations for Christmas
    • 12:15 – Order baseline
    • 12:55 – Baseline now per month
  • 13:32 – They will be very happy with 8,000 units sold
  • 13:54 – Connect with Tommy through Playpiper.com
  • 14:55 – They do retargeting
  • 15:45 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Don’t just tell your future boss how you can be an asset to the company – show them what you can really do.
  • Because businesses start small, there’s always room to grow.
  • Your degree doesn’t define your future.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • Playpiper.com – Tommy’s company website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 23, 2016

Ali Mirza, used to sell personal insurance door to door in Canada before getting fired and electing to venture out on his own. Listen to learn how he transformed his floundering sales career into a winner that he now sells to other companies.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • What CEO do you follow? – Henry Ford
  • Favorite online tool? — Mixmax
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Stop being so afraid and just go do it. Work hard and smart.”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Ali to the show
  • 02:06 – Ali build sales processes for mid-market companies
  • 02:22 – Ali charged based on the work that he has to do
    • 02:40 – His program ranges starts at $ 20-25,000 to $ 130,000
  • 03:00 – Typical retainers
  • 03:43 – HH Land Developments as a client
    • 03:53 – Didn’t pay retainers
  • 04:20 – Ali has 4 employees
  • 04:33 – Ali’s business was founded in 2011
  • 04:42 – First year revenue
  • 05:25 – Total 2015 revenue
  • 05:35 – 2016 target revenue
  • 05:58 – They are back on startup level now
  • 06:20 – Number of customers at the moment is 5 – 6
  • 06:45 – Ali wants to be a consulting space
  • 07:17 – Why would people choose Ali?
    • 08:20 – “It doesn’t matter what you’re selling. What matters is what your client is buying”
    • 08:41 – Need to figure out what the client exactly need
  • 09:24 – Ali is launching a new business
    • 10:30 – Building an online platform where we can do Monday morning meetings
    • 11:27 – Is a webinar based hosting a sales meeting
    • 12:45 – People will pay Ali a subscription fee to meet him in Monday morning meetings
    • 12:50 – Will be launched in Canada in January
    • 13:00 – First year goal
  • 13:33 – Net margin in consulting business
  • 14:17 – “In the long term, I may have thousands of people in Monday morning meeting”
  • 14:45 – Reach Ali through RoseGardenConsulting.com
  • 16:50 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Take your failures and turn them into inspiration.
  • Be your own self.
  • Adjust to your client’s needs and don’t just stick with what you can offer.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • RoseGardenConsulting.com – Ali’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 22, 2016

Ariel Camus, a product builder, 500 startups alumni and the CEO and Founder of TouristEye, acquired by Lonely Planet in 2013. Today, Ariel is building a new education system called HackerPath that utilizes collaboration between peers and bots.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Founders at Work
  • What CEO do you follow? –
  • Favorite online tool? — Google Apps
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Relax, you’re doing well. Have more fun”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:12 – Nathan introduces Ariel to the show
  • 01:35 – TouristEye is Ariel’s first company and exited it in 2013
  • 01:45 – TouristEye is a travel guide for mobile devices with all information offline
    • 02:03 – Revenue is from referral fees and premium features in application
    • 02:24 – Raised funding for TouristEye
    • 02:55 – Acquisition price of Lonely Planet
    • 03:18 – Why did you sell TouristEye?
  • 04:50 – Ariel was 26 when he sold TouristEye
  • 05:00 – Ariel joined Lonely Planet after selling TouristEye
  • 06:00 – Ariel is starting a new project related to teaching
    • 06:30 – Building a new platform online
    • 06:46 – The project is called HackerPath
    • 07:04 – Still in the process of building the database
    • 07:18 – Goal is to make it open to everyone
    • 07:37 – Recruiters are charging companies a 20% fee
    • 07:53 – Currently pre-revenue
  • 08:20 – No retainers for TouristEye
  • 09:00 – “Do something you really love. Don’t waste time and just do it”
  • 09:24 – Ariel and his friends talk about ideas and how to make to make it happen
  • 10:00 – What salary would be giving up should you decide to quit completely?
    • 10:12 – A 6-digit salary
  • 10:35 – “I can start a new business and pay developers to help me”
  • 11:04 – Most of the money that were spent so far was for an experiment that was launched last week called Coderoulette
    • 11:25 – Did it to validate the interest
    • 11:33 – Did well on the launched
    • 11:45 – Used existing technologies
  • 12:00 – Put in $ 10-15,000 for the project
  • 12:19 – Connect with Ariel through Twitter
  • 13:30 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Do something you really love. Don’t waste time and just do it.
  • Selling a business is a crucial choice – make sure you won’t regret it.
  • Relax and have more fun.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • @arielcamus  - Ariel’s Twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 21, 2016

Sean Wycliffe, CEO of Dealflicks –  a company that helps movie theaters move tickets at discount prices. Listen as Sean breaks down how he uses affiliate-driven system to drive a $ 240,000 per month business.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Laws of Leadership
  • What CEO do you follow? – N/A
  • Favorite online tool? — Slack
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Wish I would have got to real estate earlier”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Sean to the show
  • 02:10 – What is Dealflicks and how it makes money?
    • 02:15 – Dealflicks is partnered directly with movie theaters
    • 02:27 – Currently all over the country
  • 02:47 – Number of ticket moving per month
  • 03:20 – Average ticket price
    • 03:45 – 70,000 tickets per month and 70,000 from concessionaires
    • 04:05 – 2 tickets per transaction
  • 04:16 – Average order value is around $ 13
    • 04:25 – People buy them as gift cards
    • 04:44 – The $ 13 can be for a ticket and a concession
  • 05:05 – Marketplace
    • 05:13 – Movie theaters are allowed to have inventories in the platform
    • 05:24 – Sellers are the theaters; buyers are the movie-goers
  • 05:31 – There’s around 800 movie theaters and 6000 screens on the platform
  • 06:02 – Number of unique buyers since the Dealflicks started
  • 06:41 – Dealflicks was launched in 2012
  • 06:48 – First year revenue
  • 07:17 – Dealflicks takes a pre-arranged percentage per ticket sold on the platform
    • 07:36 – An average of around 15%
  • 07:58 – Gross margin
  • 08:30 – Current team size
    • 08:40 – 8 full-time employees
  • 09:21 – Raised $2.9 million and opened up a bridge net recently
  • 09:58 – Aiming on getting Series A next year
  • 10:20 – They’re willing to take investors
    • 10:27  - “If you’re a startup, you can always raise money but it’s not always necessary”
  • 11:07 – Dealflicks is making $ 50,000 per month
  • 11:24 – No other expenses
  • 11:30 – In July, they crossed over $ 480,000 for revenue
    • 11:50 – Spending more on marketing and team
  • 12:13 – Valuation of the company
  • 13:45 – They recently expanded internationally
    • 14:18 – It’s a big proof point
  • 14:43 – 2015 total transaction volume
  • 16:16 – 2016 growth goal
  • 16:36 – Number of unique buyers per month
  • 17:40 – Reach Sean through Twitter and Facebook
  • 19:50 - The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • If you’re a startup, you can always raise money but it’s not always necessary.
  • Aim for a healthy growth.
  • There’s no age limit in entrepreneurship – you can start as early as you want.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • @dealflicks – Sean’s business Twitter handle
  • Facebook – Sean’s Facebook account
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 20, 2016

George Revutsky, CMO for Soothe – the world’s largest on-demand massage service. He’s also the CEO of ROIworks – a growth agency that runs growth and build growth agency teams for funded startup and Fortune 1000 companies like Headspace, TriNet and Original Stitch just to name a few. Listen as George talks about how he generated double digit revenue for Soothe in straight 11 months.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Don’t Make Me Think
  • What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Levie
  • Favorite online tool? — Optimizely and Hotjar
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Knew the value of moderated user testing and customer development when founding companies or evaluating product”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:10 – Nathan introduces George to the show
  • 01:48 – ROIworks started as an agency 10 years ago
    • 02:12 – Used digital tools such as aid acquisition, A/B testing etc. for a series of experiment
  • 02:40 – Typically, they would make some kind of retainer
  • 03:15 – They used to have 3-6 months contract
    • 03:40 – Shifted to monthly
  • 03:51 – Average pay per customer
    • 04:00 - $ 240,000 per customer
  • 04:05 – Number of total unique customers
    • 04:25 – Worked for hundreds for the last 15 years
  • 04:45 – First year revenue
  • 05:05 – ROIworks is making roughly around $ 2 million a year
  • 05:15 – 12 people in the team
  • 05:30 – ROIworks changed their model
    • 05:43 – Used to have smaller retainers
    • 06:16 – Now they’re getting larger retainers and less clients
      • 06:25 – They’re getting deeper with these Series A and B clients
  • 06:30 – Monthly head count expenses
  • 06:50 – Agencies should retain a 25% percent after all the expenses
  • 07:20 – What George does with the cash flow as the CEO
    • 07:40 – “We like to be conservative and be safe for our team members”
    • 07:50 – Keeping some cash in the bank
    • 08:04 – Give bonuses to team that is coming from the cash flow
  • 08:54 – How Soothe works with ROIworks
    • 09:00 – The founder of Soothe invested in one of George’s startup
    • 09:15 – George takes a leave from 6-12 months
      • 09:27 – George co-founded SplendidLabs during his leave
      • 09:50 – It is a machine-learning based personal shopping assistance
      • 10:08 – Sold it because they can’t find a particular market fit
    • 11:13 – Became friends with the owner of Merlin of Soothe
      • 11:40 – George started providing ROIworks’ discounted marketing services to  Soothe to help the beta testing
      • 12:21 – Soothe grew steadily and Merlin got Angel funding
      • 12:33 – Soothe got Series A for $ 10.6 million
      • 13:00 – Merlin asked Gerry if he can worked with Soothe in Hollywood
      • 13:35 – They got 3 months of dramatic revenue bills
      • 13:51 – Merlin hired George directly as the contract CMO
      • 14:30 – Able to put together 11 straight months of double digit growth
      • 14:45 – The growth led to their Series B which is for $ 35 million
      • 14:55 – ZEO is their biggest competitor
  • 15:10 – Created a playbook to acquire customer
    • 15:30 – Doing Facebook advertising, AdWords, re-marketing and a lot of paid ads
    • 16:00 – Paid acquisition is foolproof
    • 16:17 – Soothe was in the Ellen show for Mother’s Day
    • 16:59 – Who to approach with the Ellen team
  • 17:45 – Connect with George through george@roiworks.com and ROIworks.com
  • 19:00 - The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Make your team members happy – it will boost their confidence and will reflect to their work.
  • Be happy on being a part of one’s success.
  • There are tons of ways to acquire customer – you just have to find what works best.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • ROIworks.com – George’s business website
  • george@roiworks.com – George’s email address
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Oct 19, 2016

Arif Momin, CEO and co-founder of CStorePro technologies – the leading provider of mobile and cloud based operations management for retail businesses. He has an MBA from University of California. Berkley and BS in Computer Engineering from Michigan State University.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – The Innovator’s Dilemma
  • What CEO do you follow? – Mark Zuckerberg
  • Favorite online tool? — JIRA
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Move fast and willing to fail a little quicker. Don’t regret the old stuff”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Arif to the show
  • 02:05 – Arif used the network that his MBA provides
  • 02:16 – What is CStorePro and how it generates revenue
    • 02:22 – CStorePro modernizes the operation of a single-operated store
    • 02:50 – Customers pay CStorePro $ 59 a month
  • 03:02 – Arif was from a different company
  • 03:40 – Raise under $ 1 million
    • 03:45 – All convertible note
  • 03:48 – Number of unique customers as of September 2016 is 32,000
    • 04:09 – Number of paying customers is about 15,000
  • 04:20 – MRR
  • 04:30 – CStorePro was founded in 2011
  • 04:44 – Arif’s first business turned into a lifestyle company
  • 05:04 – Zero first year revenue
  • 05:33 - $ 350,000 revenue in 2015
  • 05:40 – Revenue goal in 2016
  • 06:07 – CStorePro clients are store owners
  • 06:17 – Gross monthly customer churn
    • 06:33 – Current churn is 5%
  • 07:25 – Lifetime value
    • 07:41 – Calculated lifetime is 3 years
  • 08:40 – Best number to quantify CStorePro’s data
    • 09:00 – Number in August is 13 million
  • 09:10 – Team size and based in Houston
  • 10:25 – Current customer acquisition cost
    • 10:31 - $ 180 to get a trial customer
    • 10:45 - $ 360 per paying customer
  • 11:04 – Currently not in a capital raise
  • 11:11 – Not raising funding and not selling
    • 11:25 – “We don’t need it and the time is not right”
    • 11:33 – There’s a huge opportunity in the business
  • 11:50 – Total head count cost per month
  • 12:24 – They’ve got access to financial resources
  • 12:40 – Connect with Arif through CstorePro.com
  • 14:40 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Give your business more time to grow.
  • Tracking your churn has its advantages.
  • Be prepared to fail – the earlier you fail, the earlier you learn.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • CstorePro.com – Arif’s business website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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