Joe Hyrkin, CEO of Issuu. Joe enjoys working in the publishing industry because it is driven by passion. It is a collective space for people who are moved about something to experience that thing together. Listen as Joe talks about Issuu, which has brought the publishing industry into a modern, digital context.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing about Hard Things
- What CEO do you follow? — Mark Zuckerberg
- Favorite online tool? — Slack
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Not now.
- If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Put in effort to make an impact. Have a broader learning perspective. Care and effort matter over anything else.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:05 – Nathan introduces Joe
- 01:40 – Issuu is a modern media company
- 02:20 – Tools for publishers
- 02:45 – Access to premium tools brings in revenue
- 03:05 – Revenue from Issuu itself
- 03:40 – Started in Copenhagen
- 03:55 – A more current platform of digital media
- 04:15 – He was not part of the original founding team
- 04:50 – A focus on giving great content to people who are passionate about it
- 05:20 – It grew through word of mouth and digital marketing
- 05:30 – Over 3 million publishers have used Issuu
- 06:20 – Almost 100,000 publishers had paid for the service
- 06:40 – Primarily recurring revenue payment
- 07:30 – 90% of revenue is recurring revenue
- 08:15 – The new subscription plan
- 08:45 – Most pay $35/month
- 09:30 – Publishers come and go
- 10:00 – Customer churn is 2%/month
- 10:30 – Focus is to help the customers
- 10:50 – The new plan helps with collaborative efforts
- 12:00 – Center of the business is in the west coast
- 12:40 – Raised $21 million
- 13:30 – His focus is to create products that have an impact
- 14:40 – Team of 60 people
- 15:20 – Acquisition costs
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- 15:30 – Not much is spent on marketing
- 15:50 – They are found through search engines and word of mouth
- 16:10 – “We’re clearly the leader in the space.”
- 16:40 – About $40/customer
- 17:30 – Customers see the value
- 18:00 – Why publishing?
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- 18:20 – “It’s about what moves people in their lives.”
- 18:50 – Example of Malala’s birthday celebration
- 19:35 – Getting publishers into podcasting
- 20:00 -- @yankeejoe or jhy@issue.com
- 22:00 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
- Get into an industry that you are passionate about.
- Take an ancient product or service and update it for today’s world.
- Focus on doing what’s best for your customers.
Resources Mentioned:
- 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.
- Slack – The online tool Joe uses
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives