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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: June, 2016
Jun 6, 2016

John Rampton: a startup guru who was ranked #3 among the world’s top online influencers by Entrepreneur magazine. John’s recently founded the online invoicing company Due, and is aiming to put Paypal out of business. Listen as John and Nathan break down online influence and how to dominate an incredibly competitive market.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Zero to One
What CEO do you follow? — Richard Branson
What is your favorite online tool? — Buffer
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —To take a lot more risks


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
01:54 – Welcoming John to the show
02:00 – John’s spending the majority of his time working on Due
02:20 – Due is a platform designed to help businesses get paid faster
03:00 – ‘Every person in the world wants to get paid faster’
03:30 – Do makes money with a 0.5-1% fee on credit card transactions
04:10 – Launched 9 months ago; self-funded
04:30 – Transaction volume in February 2016 was about $4 million
05:10 – Made a little less than $40k that month
05:40 – ‘I like going into hard-to-enter spaces’
06:30 – John knows how to rapidly increase page rankings
07:25 – 20-30k people have used the site since it launched
07:40 – Goal is to become “Western Union for the modern world”
08:40 – So much competition: How do you beat Venmo, Paypal and Stripe?
09:30 – We’ve already had a multi-million dollar offer to buy
10:00 – We’re not interested in being bought at the moment
10:40 – John has invested close to $500k in this project
12:00 – John’s company Pixloo was acquired rapidly for over $10 million
12:40 – Patented the process of spinning a camera 360 degrees
15:20 – Sole founder of Pixloo; minor founder of Maplenorth
16:00 – Contact John on Twitter or via his blog
17:50 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
If you know exactly what you’re doing, it’s possible to enter spaces with a lot of competition. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing - don’t try.
Take risks when you’re young. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
Try things that seem crazy. The worst people can do is say no.

Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Jun 6, 2016

Robin Thurston, the founder of Map My Fitness and senior VP at Under Armour. Robin built a conversation with cycling buddies into a multi-million dollar app. Listen as Nathan and Robin talk about turning a website into an iPhone app, Map My Fitness’ user base, and the process of exiting a company you’ve founded.

 

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Career Warfare
What CEO do you follow? — None
What is your favorite online tool? — I travel so much - it’s a car-sharing service
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —You never actually know what’s going to happen


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:25 – Nathan’s introduction
01:45 – Welcoming Robin to the show
02:10 – The process of founding Map My Fitness
02:40 – Came out of a dinner conversation where someone wanted to map their cycle route
03:10 – Robin wasn’t a developer but had a product background
03:30 – Worked with developers who were also cyclists
04:20 – Bought the ‘Map My Run’ website for $5k
04:50 – Moved to Denver and launched Map My Fitness
05:15 – Had 1 million web users before the iPhone launch
05:40 – 2006-2013, became one of the USA’s top 100 apps
06:00 – Made money from ads and subscriptions early on; added a SaaS business
06:45 – Around $17 million in revenue when they exited in 2013
07:30 – Under Armour was interested in the community and user base
07:40 – Revenue of about $4 per month per user in the US
08:20 – Spent almost nothing on acquisition
09:00 – Early 2013 were advised to ‘go big or go home’ by potential investors
09:40 – Had a call from Kevin Plank in the middle of the raising process - and sold
11:30 – Underarmour were keen to acquire a team experienced in e-commerce
12:40 – Time from call to public announcement was less than 3 months
13:00 – Had 103 employees at time of sale
13:30 – Contact Robin on Twitter
16:10 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Know when it’s the right time to sell or exit your business. Even if it’s not what you’d planned, opportunity may come knocking.
Dominate your niche. Robin and his partner bought the ‘Map My Run’ site - a potential competitor - and used it to propel their own site forward.
You don’t know where you’ll be in twenty years. Keep an eye out for opportunity and let yourself be surprised.


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jun 6, 2016

Ryan Moran, creator of the Freedom Fast Lane podcast. Ryan’s new venture is Capitalism.com, which will go live in June. He’s making millions from multiple revenue streams and about to run his second conference. Listen in to hear Ryan and Nathan talk creating authority, how to game the Amazon ranking system, and why running conferences is worth the effort.


Famous 5:
Favorite Book? – Ready, Fire, Aim
What CEO do you follow? — Glenn Beck
What is your favorite online tool? — My journal
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —That there were going to be compounding returns on everything he did. I wish I had gone bigger.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:18 – Nathan’s introduction
01:46 – Ryan was interviewed in episode #140 of The Top
02:05 – Why go from Freedom Fastlane to Capitalism.com?
02:45 – “We wanted something more authoritative”
03:45 – Paid $100k for the domain name
04:40 – Ryan’s generating about $1 million in topline revenue per month through Amazon products and his coaching programme The Tribe
05:20 – Access to The Tribe costs $2000 for coaching, conference calls, and physical meetups
06:38 – Revenue breakdown is 25% coaching, 75% physical-product businesses
07:40 – Best-selling product is fish oil, which sells for $20 per unit
08:22 – Product costs $5; Amazon takes around 30% in fees - so $6.50
09:30 - Makes about $7 profit per unit
10:40 - Sells around 150 units per day
11:05 – “It’s still fairly easy to game” the Amazon system
11:30 – The Amazon ranking algorithm is based on volume of sales
12:50 – Ryan also makes money from a yoga business; real estate; and other product sales
13:45 – Why do conferences?
14:05 – “I wanted to create the conference that I wanted to attend”
15:09 – Expecting 750 attendees at the next conference; tickets cost $1497 or earlybird $997
15:16 – At the last conference, spent about $170k on speakers; $70k on AV, and $80k on catering
16:08 – Revenue was around $400k; profit around $50k
16:20 – Expect to spend around $200k on speakers this year
17:00 – “We don’t aim to make money from conferences - it’s a pure branding and networking play”
17:25 – What would Bernie Sanders say about your brand of capitalism? Is it unethical?
17:50 – Subscribe to Ryan’s podcast at Freedom Fast Lane
19:06 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Wealthy people have multiple revenue streams - diversify
There are compounding returns on everything you do. Risks and failures go away fast - but successes stay with you
Maybe it is unethical that people are paying $1497 to attend a conference while other people are sleeping on the street. Who knows?
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.
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jun 5, 2016

Drew Taylor, founder of AstroPrint - a software and app ecosystem described as “the Android of the 3D printing world”. Listen as Nathan and Drew talk 3D printing, making money, and how to dominate an emerging niche.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Crossing the Chasm
What CEO do you follow? — Tony Hsieh
What is your favorite online tool? — Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Absolutely not
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —I don’t know. I’m a fan of taking life’s lessons as they come.


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:11 – Nathan’s introduction
02:00 – Welcoming Drew to the show
02:30 – AstroPrint started because Drew saw that 3D printing software needed to improve
03:00 – Two products: software, and cloud-based app store
03:25 – Free for personal use; charge for commercial use
03:50 – 70/30 split on profits from app store
04:10 – Founded in 2015 - with a different idea
04:45 – $150k total revenue in 2015
05:00 – 9 team members
05:10 – Raised $500k in convertible note
05:50 – Fundraising with accelerators including BetaSpring and 500 Startups
06:20 – How do you get enough sales to dominate?
06:45 – Partnering with larger companies
07:30 – Can provide the entire software base for existing printers
09:00 – Adds value to machine by connecting it to an app system
11:00 – Consumer revenue is entirely from app sales
11:50 – Currently almost no revenue from app sales - expected to take off around 2017
14:00 – Would be happy with a pre-money valuation of $10 million
14:30 – Currently in the middle of a fundraising debt round
16:40 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Be creative about making money - what revenue models are working in other areas? How can you generate multiple revenue streams from one product?
Accept that your start-up idea will change as you sound out the market. Learn from what doesn’t work.
Don’t worry about making mistakes when you’re young - it’s all part of growing.


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Jun 5, 2016

Charlie Mulligan , co-founder of BrewPublik - a business that Charlie wants to become “Amazon for beer”. Brewpublik provide a premium catering service delivering craft beer to homes and offices in cities across the States. Listen as Nathan and Charlie talk expansion, investment, and how much to sell a start-up for.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Goal
What CEO do you follow? — Jeff Bezos
What is your favorite online tool? — Intercom
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —To have more confidence. I can do anything if I set my mind to it.


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:22 – Nathan’s introduction
01:40 – Welcoming Charlie to the show
02:00 – Match over 3,000 types of craft beer to a taste profile
02:30 – BrewPublik delivers beers to your office or home
02:50 – $75 for a case of 24 bottles
03:13 – Offers one-off orders, regular subscriptions and monthly memberships
03:40 – Founded in 2014
04:02 – $275k revenue in 2015
04:15 – Delivered around 80k bottles
04:40 – Net margin of 35%
05:00 – Reinvesting capital in expansion
05:40 – Hope for $1.5-2 million revenue in 2016
06:30 – How do you decide which markets to expand into?
07:10 – Look at baseline demographics: age, income, breweries per capita
08:30 – Then look for with B2B clients
09:10 – Bootstrapped for first 6 months then had an angel investment round of $1 million
09:45 – Looking for Series A in the next 12 months
10:03 – Sees the beer industry as ripe for disruption
11:00 – Would sell the business for $100 million
15:19 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Have confidence in yourself. Trust your own abilities and move forward.
When you’re thinking about expansion, consider what strategy is going to give you a positive operating balance as quickly as possible.
Find a niche to disrupt. Successful start-ups exploit a need that no one else has even considered.


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Jun 5, 2016

John Bowen - the man who gives financial advice to financial advisors. John’s an expert in the financial world. After founding six multi-million dollar businesses, John moved on to coaching the world’s top financial advisers on ways to better serve their clients. Tune in to hear John’s advice for Nathan on investment, why entrepreneurship is the best way to make millions, and why you need to be playing the long game.


Famous 5:
Favorite Book? – Bold
What CEO do you follow? — David Booth
What is your favorite online tool? — SaneBox
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —That I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:30 – Nathan’s introduction
02:00 – Welcoming John to the show
02:08 – Key firm is CEG Worldwide
02:55 – Created a firm to do research on the best practice of top financial advisers
04:12 – CEG coaches financial advisors. One product is a year-long coaching program that costs $2000 per month.
05:05 – There’s also a mastermind group that costs $18k per year
06:00 – If you have less than $100k, you can’t afford a good financial adviser
06:57 – “The surest way of creating tremendous wealth is being an entrepreneur”
07:20 – Entrepreneurs often don’t create personal wealth soon enough
08:17 – Do you invest in your own business or other options?
09:30 - We’re not in business just for business - we’re in it for quality of life
10:10 - Think about the long haul
11:15 – Your time is the most valuable asset you have. Focus on a few things.
12:35 – Some financial assets have become commercialized
13:20 – John likes to invest in a team: “Have a personal CFO”
14:45 – What’s John focused on now?
15:05 – John’s just started a site with Dan Sullivan and Joe Polish: Accelerating Entrepreneurial Success
16:00 – Get your free book on the website and learn from the world’s most successful entrepreneurs
18:15 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
9/10 multi-millionaires are entrepreneurs
You don’t have to change the world overnight. Put a long-term plan together and be patient.
Your time is your most valuable asset. Focus on what you’re passionate about.
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.
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jun 4, 2016

Arry Yu, the CEO and co-founder of GiftStarter - a consumer platform for crowd-sourcing gifts. Arry’s a leader in the space where creativity and technology meet. She worked as a consultant for Microsoft, Google and L’Oreal before launching her own startup. Listen as Nathan and Arry talk fundraising, working with co-founders, and what her mom thinks of her career.


Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What CEO do you follow? — Jonathan Sposado
What is your favorite online tool? — Autopilot
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I just had a baby
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Get away from your insecurities. It’s okay to mess things up - no one else knows what they’re doing either.


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
02:05 – Welcoming Arry to the show
02:10 – Launched GiftStarter in July 2014
02:30 – After 12 years in services industry, Arry wanted a change
03:01 – Won 1st place on Hackathon and decided to launch
04:17 – GiftStarter lets consumers break a product into affordable chunks
04:33 – Contracts range from $2k to $20k each month
05:10 – “Basically crowdsourcing gifts”
05:40 – Makes money on an 8% transaction fee
06:00 – Makes commission on products sold
06:10 – Total revenue in 2015 was $12k
06:30 – Aiming for 50k in 2016
06:40 – Team of 3 full-time, 3 part-time
06:50 – Raised $525k via convertible note
07:10 – Product changed between fundraising round and today
08:00 – Question to Arry’s mom: “What do you think about Arry starting her own business?”
10:00 – Do you ever feel stuck because of angel investors?
10:30 – People expect us to innovate and change
13:29 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Don’t be controlled by your insecurities - trust yourself, and let yourself make mistakes
Accept that your start-up will change as you grow. It means you’re innovating and responding to your market, and it’s a good thing
No one else knows what they’re doing either. Do what you love.

Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Jun 4, 2016

John Lincoln, the CEO of Ignite Visibility, California’s #1 SEO company in 2015. John’s an expert on online visibility who’s worked with hundreds of high-profile clients. Listen as Nathan and John talk about Ignite Visibility, quitting a six-figure job, and the process of writing John’s new book Digital Influencer.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Unleash the Power Within
What CEO do you follow? — Tony Robbins and Neil Patel
What is your favorite online tool? — Basecamp, ColorNote, SEMrush
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — You don’t have to have it all figured out. Take your time to see what’s out there.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:15 – Nathan’s introduction
01:45 – Welcoming John to the show
01:51 – John started Ignite Visibility at the age of 30 while a director at SEO Inc
02:30 – Gave up a salary of over $100k and a satisfying role
03:04 – “It was literally the scariest thing I’ve done in my life”
03:40 – Invested $10k personally in Ignite Visibility
04:05 – John was well-known in the industry and gained 9 clients in his first 6 months
04:33 – Contracts range from $2k to $20k each month
04:50 – Total revenue in the first year (2013) just under $1 million
05:05 – Aiming for $3 million revenue this year
06:00 – 20-30% net margin on revenue
06:40 – What are they doing with profits?
07:40 – Digital Influencer - John’s book
08:25 – John hopes the book will provide concrete tips for young entrepreneurs
09:20 – Self-published on Amazon and used CreateSpace to make the print copy
10:20 – All proceeds from the book go to charity
10:40 – Aiming to sell 1,000 copies to raise $7k - $10k
11:30 – Sales almost entirely online
12:15 – Book launched February 2016
15:49 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Take the plunge and do something that you love. Even if it terrifies you, it’ll be worth it.
Building your digital influence is a process - there are concrete steps you can take to achieve it
If you’re young, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Enjoy what’s around you and don’t push too hard.


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jun 4, 2016

Julian Martinez, marketing director at Maestro Conference, the webinar platform used by Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Julian’s spent 7 years building marketing programmes from scratch. Listen as Nathan and Julian talk webinars, and the nuts and bolts of building a marketing strategy.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Monkey Business
What CEO do you follow? — Eoghan McCabe
What is your favorite online tool? — Intercom
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Maybe
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — To start travelling more, date more girls, and pay more attention in class


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
01:50 – Welcoming Julian to the show
02:00 – Why Julian left Bid On Fusion to join Maestro Conference
02:40 – Choosing between family and work
03:04 – Julian joined Maestro Conference in 2016
03:20 – Hosts interactive webinars and conference calls
03:45 – Obama, Hilary, and Bernie Sanders all use the platform
04:14 – “A sexier version of GoToWebinar”
04:30 – It’s possible to generate breakout groups of 2 from a group of up to 5000
05:05 – Between 1,000 and 2,000 paying customers
06:00 – Julian’s the first marketing hire - most investment has been in the platform
06:20 – Team of 15 full-time people
07:40 – Currently around 30% churn rate
08:30 – Based in Oakland
09:05 – Marketing budget for February was around $3000
09:30 – Julian wants to implement paid social media advertising and SEM
10:00 – Currently around 10% conversion
10:40 – Raised around $2 million total
11:11 – MRR of $90k in February
12:30 – Goal is now to follow up exposure from nominees’ campaigns with paid social
15:13 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Take advantage of all the resources you can find. Do more with what’s around you.
Build a marketing strategy around the exposure you already have.
If you’ve just joined a company, take time to clean the slate before kicking off your own projects


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jun 3, 2016

Thomas Smale, co-founder of FE International, a company with seven-figure revenues that specialises in brokering the sale of online businesses. Listen as Nathan and Thomas talk about valuing SaaS companies, brokerage models, and the importance of focus.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Tipping Point
What CEO do you follow? —Elon Musk
What is your favorite online tool? — SEMrush
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Focus. I used to jump from idea to idea - it’s far better to focus on one thing.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:06 – Nathan’s introduction
01:50 – Welcoming Thomas to the show
02:00 – FE International started at university when Thomas was 22
02:30 – Completed just over 300 deals
02:50 – Last deal was a SaaS business
03:20 – Model: FE will value a business, put together a package, and look for buyers
04:10 – How do you value a SaaS business?
The amount of time the owner spends on a business: more time = less valuable
The growth prospects of a business
A multiplier of 4-6 times on annual net revenue
06:10 – Why use net?
06:30 – When valuing smaller businesses, it makes more sense to use net revenue
07:05 – Business in last deal had around $200k net revenue
08:11 – Recent public deal was with PlanScope - around $100k
09:10 – The buyer was a developer looking for a safe investment project
11:00 – 7-12% churn rate is normal for businesses they deal with
11:30 – FE International charges 15% brokerage on each deal
12:00 – Currently have a team of 12 people
12:30 – Made $1.5 million in commissions in 2015
16:00 – Famous Five


3 Key Points:
Focus on one thing. It’s tempting to jump from plan to plan - but focus leads to success.
Small businesses need a different valuation model to large ones. Make sure you’re looking at the right numbers.
Always be looking for opportunities - a start-up can expand incredibly fast with the right input


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

Jun 3, 2016

Ryan Urban, the founder and CEO at Bounce Exchange, a fast-growing consultancy that increases online conversion rates. Listen as Nathan and Ryan talk about investing in your own start-up, why some analytics aren’t worth it, and the best eateries in Tribeca.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Psychology of Persuasion
What CEO do you follow? — None
What is your favorite online tool? — Gmail
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Drop out of college! I should have dropped out instead of going to grad school.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
02:20 – Welcoming Ryan to the show
02:30 – Best eateries in the Tribeca area?
02:54 – Bounce Exchange makes money for e-commerce companies
03:20 – Created a new category of marketing software to increase online conversion rates
04:00 – Why Ryan left Bonobos when he was offered $300k to stay
04:40 – It’s crucial to get the right co-founder for a start-up
06:10 – In 2013 Ryan made a little over $30k: he couldn’t get a loan for a wedding
06:50 – The co-founders of Bounce Exchange are both in business
07:30 – Their developer has equity but doesn’t work for BounceX full-time
08:30 – Ryan didn’t want to follow the model of big software companies
09:10 – Bounce Exchange currently has around 150 employees
09:40 – Bounce Exchange was initially self-funded
10:30 – In August 2015, raised $6.3 million in a VC round
11:30 – 2012 made around $105k in revenue; 2015 made $17 million.
12:00 – Aiming to make $3.3 million in December 2016
12:20 – Currently working with 250-300 clients
13:40 – It’s difficult to come up with average revenue per client
15:30 – MRR January 2016 was between $1.5 and 2 million
16:50 – Net revenue churn is roughly 0%
18:20 – What are Bounce Exchange spending to acquire new customers?
21:30 – CPA of around $2k
23:10 – Why Ryan thinks CAK/LTV isn’t a useful analytic
24:40 – What’s a better measure? Ryan likes to use CPA to acquire a qualified demo
25:10 – Acquiring a customer for 20% of what the contribution margin dollars will be
26:00 – 85% of the team is in New York
26:45 – Bounce Exchange is currently in the black
28:00 – Calculating a PNL
22:30 – Other major costs include security and server infrastructure

3 Key Points:
Put your energy into the right start-up. Lots of talented people waste their time making bad ideas work.
Everyone feels like they’re underachieving. Decide what goals matter to you.
Decide what analytics are relevant to your business. The numbers that everyone else is talking about might not be useful for you.


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

 

Jun 3, 2016

Omar Zenhom, co-founder of Webinar Ninja. Omar and his partner Nicole used their years of education experience to develop software and training resources for webinars. Omar also hosts the $100 MBA show, a top-ranked podcast with over 50,000 downloads per day. Listen as Nathan and Omar talk through the process of building up Webinar Ninja - as always, with an eye on the numbers.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Anyone Can Do It
What CEO do you follow? — Myself
What is your favorite online tool? — Slack
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — You’ll do better if you rely on your own strengths and skills - don’t look for a path through other people.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:10 – Nathan’s introduction
02:20 – Welcoming Omar to the show
02:30 – “Education is a performance”
03:00 – Of Omar’s projects, Webinar Ninja is currently generating the most revenue
03:30 – Over 500 episodes of the $100 MBA show since 2014
04:10 – What you really need to know about getting sponsorship for your podcast
05:05 – Currently use an agent, Midroll, to negotiate sponsorship deals
06:15 – Making around $15-16k in sponsorship per month
07:20 – Discussion of sponsorship models
08:10 – Webinar Ninja: “I was scratching my own itch”
08:50 – Omar and Nicole launched Webinar Ninja in April 2014
09:15 – From $65, $115, or $165 per month
09:40 – “We’re still testing prices and collecting data”
10:20 – Moved away from Google Hangouts to Web RTC
11:00 – Currently working with 2500 customers, 1900 of whom are monthly customers
11:30 – Average customer pays $115 per month
12:20 – MRR $200,000 from Webinar Ninja
12:30 – “We’re really into making everything we release completely stable”
13:15 – Churn rate of around 7% - that means 93% of customers stay on month-to-month
14:20 – Advertise through Facebook ads, public speaking, event sponsorship
15:00 – Paid $15,000 to sponsor Heroic Public Speaking
16:00 – Advertising spend of around $3.20 per customer
17:20 – 8 full-time team members on Webinar Ninja, all remote
18:00 – Total salary cost per month around $9500; all costs around $20,000 a month
19:15 – “I’m happy growing slow - I don’t really want to blow up”
19:30 – Omar says he wouldn’t sell Webinar Ninja right now
20:30 – Right now Omar’s investing profits back into his business
21:15 – How the affiliate program works
22:30 – Other major costs include security and server infrastructure

3 Key Points:
Forge your own path. Success comes from relying on your own strengths and skills, not by following other people.
It’s okay to grow slowly. You get to decide what you want from your business: stable, slow growth is no better or worse than being explosive.
Some of the best business ideas come from solving your own problems.


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

Jun 2, 2016

Jefferson Lilly, a millionaire who left his Silicon Valley job to become an expert in Mobile Home Park Investment. Listen as Nathan goes over the nuts and bolts of Mobile Home Park Investing with one of the industry’s leaders.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Snowball
What CEO do you follow? — Sam Zell
What is your favorite online tool? — Search Tempest
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — How good this niche of real estate is...I would have started raising outside capital sooner.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
02:01 – Welcoming Jefferson to the show
02:15 – Why Jefferson left Silicon Valley to enter mobile home investing
02:40 – “Warren Buffett was right” - Jefferson looked for value investments
03:10 – Mobile home parks yield 300-400 basis points more than apartments
03:30 – Jefferson was 39 with a $100k salary when he got involved with property investing
04:30 – First deal was $450k, with an 80% loan from the bank - put down about $86k
05:17 – Jefferson had almost $1 million saved at this point
06:00 – First property earned about $45k each year
07:00 – 40 filled lots; lot rents $110 per month. 24 vacant lots
08:08 – Jefferson invested in buying and fixing used mobile homes to fill his vacant lots
09:10 – The $20k investment in each used home was repaid by tenants at $600 a month
10:00 – Rental income is about…
12:00 – “If I’ve got $30k, what are the first steps I should take to find a deal?”
12:30 – Get educated: resources at Park Street Partners
13:00 – For $30k, look to buy a 5-space property, say $100k
14:20 – “If you’re not earning 20% on your money, you’re doing something wrong.”
14:50 – Any state that borders the ocean is a good bet
15:30 – Look at places like LoopNet for starting deals
16:30 – How do I value a mobile home park? Jefferson’s advice.
18:00 – Going it alone vs. joining a fund
20:00 – Park Street Partners runs an investment fund
21:40 – They don’t charge management fees - they only make money if the fund does
22:40 – Last year the business made around $5 million


3 Key Points:
Do your research. If you’re moving into a new investing field, take at least 100 hours to really learn what you’re doing.
Mobile homes have some of the best returns on investment of any property type
Consider how much time you want to spend managing a property investment. If you’ve got the time and want more profits, go it alone; otherwise it’s worth looking into funds


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

Jun 2, 2016

Rob Walsh, the VP for Podcaster relationships for Libsyn, and recently named as the 5th most influential person in podcasting. Rob was in podcasting before iTunes was: listen as he and Nathan talk through the ins and outs of business podcasting, how to make a successful show, and what to look for when sponsoring a podcast.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Art of SEO
What CEO do you follow? — Jack Welch
What is your favorite online tool?— Evernote
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I have never had 8 hours of sleep
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— The powerball numbers for December 1, 1989


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:23 – Nathan’s introduction
02:15 – Welcoming Nova to the show
02:45 – What are the trends in business podcasting?
02:50 – Concentrating on ‘new and noteworthy’ is a waste of time
04:02 – The podcast Top 200 list is calculated only by new subscribers
05:10 – New subscribers doesn’t translate to downloads
05:33 – Best resource for investors is the episode list in iTunes
07:20 – Top 5 business podcasts sit at 100s of 1000s of downloads per episode
09:20 – The Top has 250 to 300k downloads per month - how does that compare?
09:58 – Don’t look at figures per month - look at per episode
10:21 – The Top averages around 3000 downloads 30 days after an episode
10:50 – The median number is about 150
11:50 – Most business podcasts don’t reach the median mark
12:20 – An adjusted average is about 2000
12:40 – A show with 5000 downloads per episode is in the top 8%
13:40 – “Everything comes down to word-of-mouth marketing”
14:30 – The best advice on podcasting is free
14:53 – Advice on sponsoring a podcast
16:40 – Starting a new show: put together your own email list and blast your links out
17:46 – Is anyone putting together something like Wistia for podcasts?
18:40 – Apple is committed to keeping podcast traffic on iTunes
19:30 – Overcast is the most promising new podcast player
20:50 – The ‘discoverability issue’ in podcasting is a myth
22:05 – Libsyn’s business model
23:01 – Libsyn has around 30,000 paying customers
21:45 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
The absolute best way to succeed in podcasting is to create fantastic content. Don’t waste your time looking for shortcuts.
The quality of advice is usually inversely proportional to how much you pay for it.
Podcasting is down to word-of-mouth marketing: if you’re making a great product, then help people to talk about it


Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

 

Jun 2, 2016

Nova Spivack, CEO of Bottlenose - a company that uses data mining to predict long-term market trends. Nova’s a notable angel investor, blogger, public speaker, and technological pioneer who’s been involved with everything from the development of Siri to the Daily Dot. Listen as Nathan and Nova talk early-stage investment, big data, and the future of AI.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – Positioning
What CEO do you follow? — Myself
What is your favorite online tool?— Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— That the first internet bubble was actually going to burst...that would have been a great opportunity to sell up!


Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:10 – Nathan’s introduction
01:45 – Welcoming Nova to the show
03:00 – In 2007 Nova was the first investor in Klout - will net about 100x ROI
04:06 – In 2010 started the Venture studio in LA
05:05 – Venture helped incubate The Daily Dot: the internet’s local news website
06:20 – Idea behind Venture is to ‘produce’ companies: linking money to creativity
07:50 – Produced Daily Dot; Klout; Bottlenose, Live Matrix...
08:20 – Took the CEO position at Bottlenose
09:00 – Early-stage companies don’t need CEOs: they need producers
09:50 – The skill set of a producer is very different to that of a late-stage CEO
09:33 – Omelette currently has around 20 big-brand clients
11:20 – What does Nova think of Dose.com and the AI trend?
14:10 – How Bottlenose analytics works
15:00 – Real-time analytics across 100 billion data records per day
15:40 – SAS model: annual subscription with annual contracts of $10,000 - $500,000
16:48 – Discussion of Bottlenose’s current fundraising
19:09 – Tabletop entry for big data analytics is around $40 million
21:45 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Don't let early-stage investors take over your company. The skills they have won't necessarily help you down the track
Humans are always going to be needed for creative tasks. Creativity will become more important as automation kicks off
Focus on improving yourself and your own performance: don't fret about what anyone else is doing
Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

 

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