Michael Litt started his first video company, Redwoods Media, as his undergraduate thesis project. He then evolved with his partner to create another successful video software company, Vidyard. He has learned the value of supportive family and friends throughout his life as an entrepreneur.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – Behind the Cloud
What CEO do you follow? — Mark Benioff
Favorite online tool? — Gmail
Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — I try to.
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – If you want to be an entrepreneur, surround yourself with people who love and support you. Focus on those relationships.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:40 – Nathan introduces Michael
02:15 – He started at the University of Waterloo and Research in Motion
03:00 – He graduated at 25, and the Redwoods Media was built as his undergraduate thesis project
03:50 – He contracted businesses to sponsor their company
04:50 – They were passionate about the video company, and turned down jobs at places like Google
05:30 – Vidyard is a video platform for business
05:50 – They sell that technology to businesses on a monthly basis
06:10 – Average revenue per customer is about $30k
06:35 – They have an inside sales team
07:25 – Four categories of businesses and sales teams
07:50 – 132 people on their team, and they have almost doubled in the last year
08:15 – Growth pains are opportunities to learn
08:55 – Looking at retention instead of churn
09:25 – Gross retention is 95%
09:45 – Net retention is 135%
10:47 – They have raised $70 million in funding
11:00 – Customer acquisition cost is paid back in 1.5 years
11:15 – Average customer acquisition is $40000
11:45 – Customers stay for quite a long time, according to the numbers
13:27 – Why lifetime value is tricky
13:45 – They focus on payback period for their customers
14:25 – Being honest about their business and their numbers for customer acquisition costs
15:10 – They include hard costs, like any work supplies
15:40 – Total customers is private
16:05 – They are looking to triple the business for two years, and then double the business for the next three years
16:40 – It would show their potential to go public
17:00 – Building a fast growing, high-value business
17:25 – Tom Tunguz’s Blog
17:45 – Revenue is private.
18:15 – They broke through $1 million for their first full year of sales
18:45 – Michael has a holiday party every year at his office.
19:00 – Project Christmas has carried throughout their business
19:28 – The Fall is a great time to raise money
19:55 – Connect with Michael at Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
22:20 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Your first business ideas will develop into bigger, better projects.
Be honest about your company and spending.
Surround yourself with people who love and support you as you pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.
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.
Toptal – Great for business people to start building their app
Behind the Cloud - Michael’s favorite business book
Gmail – His favorite tool, besides his own
Tom Tunguz’s Blog – Learn about the best models that public companies use
Connect with Michael at Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives