Colin Day. He’s the chairman and CEO of a company called iCIMS which he founded in 2000 with a vision to deliver applicant tracking software, emphasizing easy-to-use, unparalleled, customer service. iCIMS is the largest stand-alone provider of talent acquisition software in the industry and stands among Forbes top 100 fastest growing private cloud companies in the country
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? – Good to Great
- What CEO do you follow? – Satya Nadella and Marc Benioff
- Favorite online tool? — Office 365
- How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Trust your gut and trust your instincts”
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:08 – Nathan introduces Colin to the show
- 01:47 – iCIMS know they’re winning by customer base
- 02:02 – iCIMS is next to Oracle
- 02:37 – iCIMS has a bedrock product that is their applicant tracking system
- 03:07 – iCIMS is a SaaS business
- 03:39 – iCIMS has multiple products, but the main product is the tracking system
- 03:52 – It handles compliance around data
- 04:14 – Pricing varies
- 04:21 – Recruitment becomes an important part of a company when they reach 100 employees
- 04:37 – iCIMS has price buckets that fit the smaller market, mid-sized and high-end markets
- 05:10 – How Colin started a SaaS business in 1999
- 05:17 – Colin graduated from Cornell with a degree in Psychology
- 05:23 – Colin wanted to do something entrepreneurial
- 05:38 – Colin’s first client was from New Jersey
- 05:56 – Colin was logged into Comrise's proprietary system
- 06:21 – Colin then thought to buy the rights to Comrise’s proprietary system to start his own company
- 06:48 – Colin started as a recruiter in 1997
- 07:36 – The CEO of Comrise believed in Colin
- 08:43 – Colin saw an opportunity and bought the system
- 08:57 – The CEO of Comrise loaned Colin the capital for iCIMS
- 09:40 – When Colin was working as a recruiter, they couldn’t find enough technology to work
- 09:55 – It was a “hey day” when Colin spun out
- 10:20 – The capital was called a payroll loan
- 10:48 – Colin will call the CEO every time he needed money
- 11:11 – Colin didn’t negotiate equity upfront
- 11:37 – iCIMS was charging monthly
- 12:23 – Current team size is around 650
- 12:33 – In November, they’ll be moving from New Jersey to Old Bell Labs HQ
- 13:06 – iCIMS has grown without any outside money other than the loaned capital
- 13:17 – iCIMS has brought in a private equity company
- 14:14 – The money from the private equity company went directly towards the equity and not on the operational side of the company
- 14:29 – Besides getting an outside investor, it is also a good choice to get a private equity company
- 15:22 – Colin has a desire to win
- 16:12 – iCIMS’s mandate is to convince the world to be contrarian
- 16:51 – Colin wants iCIMS to be the definition of winning
- 17:30 – Colin tries to always stay focused
- 18:18 – CAC
- 18:43 – Average annual contract price is around $30K
- 19:50 – Average MRR
- 20:40 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
- Don’t be afraid to ask someone about their business plan.
- Always desire to win and stay focused – it works.
- Trust your instincts; don’t doubt yourself.
Resources Mentioned:
- The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
- Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
- Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
- Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives