David Dunne. He’s the CEO and co-founder of Velocidi, a marketing intelligence company that harnesses data for leading brands and agencies. In the 7 years since founding Velocidi, it enables marketers to make data-driven decisions that optimize marketing spend. David is currently leading the firm’s next chapter into artificial intelligence.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? – Selling the Invisible
- What CEO do you follow? – Richard Branson
- Favorite online tool? — Tidal
- How many hours of sleep do you get?— 5-6
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Hurry up, things are changing fast, you have to move faster”
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:07 – Nathan introduces David to the show
- 01:41 – Velocidi focuses on how AI can speed up insights
- 01:48 – Velocidi’s technology has always been enabling the process of analysts driving the insights
- 02:22 – The analysts are Velocidi’s customers
- 02:39 – Velocidi is a SaaS business selling licenses
- 03:01 – Pricing starts at $3K a month
- 03:23 – Average monthly RPU is around $6K
- 03:44 – Velocidi charges by the amount of data streams
- 04:20 – Velocidi uses API calls to bring in the data
- 04:42 – Velocidi was launched in 2010
- 05:19 – There are people who are with David in building Velocidi
- 05:44 – David was a part of a global business
- 06:11 – David was happy with Edelman, but he wanted to reinvent himself
- 07:46 – David was 43 when he started Velocidi
- 09:26 – Every entrepreneur takes risks
- 09:51 – David has always separated personal assets with work
- 10:15 – Velocidi was capital intensive for the first few years
- 10:56 – Velocidi has initially raised $3M from friends and families
- 11:01 – Velocidi just closed a $12M round
- 11:18 – David has ambitious plans for growing the business
- 11:49 – More capital allows you to have more options
- 12:10 – CAC
- 12:21 – Most of Velocidi’s customers are large global agencies
- 12:31 – Velocidi is expanding into other industries
- 13:45 – LTV to CAC ratio
- 13:58 – David tries to look at some of the classic businesses for comparison
- 15:19 – Velocidi focuses on what they can give to customers
- 16:04 – Velocidi keeps their customers for at least 5 years
- 16:54 – Some of Velocidi’s customers have thousands of customers and there’s a lot of room to grow
- 17:39 – Velocidi is innovating their product at a much faster rate
- 17:55 – The innovations depend on the customer's’ needs
- 18:21 – Velocidi is expanding their automated self-serve platform this year
- 18:40 – Velocidi has hundreds of customers
- 19:19 – Self-service means different things
- 20:08 – Analysts have been using excel and powerpoint
- 20:42 – Velocidi delivers the core-data and the clients tailor the data
- 21:11 – The quality of the data alongside a creative makes Velocidi’s clients standout
- 23:01 – David believes that data with creative is a better creative
- 23:55 – Average MRR
- 25:36 – David won’t sell Velocidi
- 26:53 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
- Entrepreneurs will always take risk—what matters is how big of a risk you’re willing to take.
- Focus on what you CAN commit to your customers.
- Things change faster than you think; so KEEP moving and don’t get left behind!
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