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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: September, 2016
Sep 30, 2016

Jim Fowler, the founder and CEO of Owler– the crowd sourced competitive intelligence platform business professionals are using to out-smart their competitive insights and uncover the latest industry news and alerts. Prior to Owler, Jim founded Jigsaw in 2003 and was the CEO until it was acquired by Salesforce in 2010 for $ 175 million.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Good to Great
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — Owler
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “How to plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best case scenario”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:43 – Nathan introduces Jim to the show
  • 02:12 – Jim was at NathanLatka.com/thetop73
  • 02:45 – Where is Owler now?
    • 03:23 – New product of Owler
  • 03:41 – Do I need to build manually or you scrape the data out of searches?
    • 04:32 – Most data input by users
    • 05:00 – HeYo’s data on Owler
    • 05:24 – Data sources
    • 06:00 – Howler’s challenge
  • 06:47 – Data sources without human input
    • 06:53 – “No data set is perfect”
    • 07:15 – Benchmark start
  • 08:05 – Number of active users
  • 08:45 – Making money by selling the data on the backend
    • 08:47 - Crowdsourcing
  • 09:21 – Total revenue in 2015
    • 09:41 – Jigsaw’s success
  • 10:20 – Active user definition
  • 10:50 – Data pricing
    • 11:13 – Licensing deals
    • 11:50 – Competitive proximity
  • 12:30 – Type of company who’s willing to spend millions on the data
    • 12:46 – 3 buckets of types of big partners
    • 13:33 – Resellers
    • 14:05 – Financial services institution
  • 14:40 – Goal in 2016 in terms of numbers to hit
  • 16:20 – Why are the people willing to pay regardless of the accuracy of the data?
    • 16:35 – “Everything that is out there is an estimate”
    • 16:56 – No SLA
    • 17:27 – Why is it illegal to disclose the revenue?
    • 18:42 – “Do crowdsourcing well”
  • 19:00 – Collective intelligence of people: Better or Worse?
  • 21:05 – Role-playing with an angry CEO with inaccurate data on Owler
    • 21:20 – If the data is not correct, fix it.
  • 22:37 – Connect with Jim thru his website. Follow Owler on Twitter and Facebook
  • 24:30 – Estimated number of  employees
  • 25:20 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
  • Sometimes, business is give and take – customer takes something that is valuable and we get data that we can sell.
  • Change is constant and we should improve on keeping track of the changes.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • Owler.com – Jim’s business website
  • @owlerinc  - Owler’s twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 29, 2016

Josh Ledgard, co-founder of KickoffLabs to The Top. KickoffLabs is a viral lead generation platform with amazing landing pages, lead capture forms, and e-mail marketing rolled into one seamless package.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – The 4-Hour Workweek
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — https://www.helpscout.net/Help Scout
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Working smart is way more important than working hard”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Josh to the show
  • 02:03 – What KickoffLabs does differently and how it makes money
    • 02:15 – Engage customer as a form of marketing
    • 02:43 – Online advertising
  • 03:12 – KickoffLabs is a SaaS business
    • 03:58 – Pricing plan
  • 04:20 – Customer churn for HeYo
  • 04:40 – Josh’s monthly churn rate
    • 05:10 – How to mitigate churn rate
  • 06:00 – Paid acquisition
    • 06:08 – Types of paid acquisition
  • 06:48 – Monthly spent on blog content promotion
  • 07:18 – Bootstrap or fund raised?
    • 07:23 – Bootstraped since 5 years ago
  • 07:45 – How did Josh get into the business
    • 08:00 – Josh and his co-founder’s ideas
    • 09:02 – Promoting 6 ideas
  • 09:49 – Total number of paying customers
    • 10:25 – Monthly revenue
  • 10:49 – First year revenue
  • 11:50 – 2015 revenue
  • 12:07 – Goal for 2016
    • 12:21 – Adding 30% to annual revenue
  • 12:43 – Lifetime value
  • 13:14 – What are you willing to spend as a CEO for an acquisition?
  • 14:10 – Total value per new customer
  • 15:01 – Total team size
    • 15:10 – 100% remote
  • 15:32 – Long-term goal for the business’
  • 16:20 – “Will you take a million dollar deal?”
  • 16:47 – Ownership percentage
  • 17:42 – Connect with Josh thru his Twitter and you can send him an email at josh@kickofflabs.com
  • 19:58 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Evaluate your progress and study your growth.
  • If you want to start with a business – explore on different ideas.
  • Be a goal-oriented person.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • @joshaledgard – Josh’s twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 28, 2016

Nathan Putnam, an entrepreneur who’s currently working on a company called Monumetric. Their focus?—help people unlock the earning potential behind online content through data analysis and optimization strategies. As Nathan says, “What we do is not magic. It’s science.”

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Start with Why, Reality Check, Leaders Eat Last
  • What CEO do you follow? – Brian O’Kelley
  • Favorite online tool? — Slack
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “No. Not close”
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Look stop listening to music as entertainment. Remember, whatever you put in your brain, that's what's going to come out”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Nathan Putnam to the show
  • 02:27 – Monumetric functions
  • 03:44 – Current number of publisher partnerships
  • 04:05 – Why people use Monumetric and not Google Analytics or AdSense
    • 04:29 – Second price auction
    • 04:58 – “Google is our best partner but also our greatest competition”
  • 06:55 – Business was founded in 2014
    • 07:07 – Started entrepreneurship in 2012
  • 08:23 – Total revenue in 2014
    • 08:40 – Got a few good publishers
    • 09:18 – Sixsistersstuff.com
    • 09:44 – Driving customers acquisition
    • 10:20 – Monetize traffic
  • 11:10 – Biggest costs
  • 11:38 – Number of buyers and advertisers
    • 11:43 – Six top-tier providers
  • 12: 36 – The publisher on the six sisters’ site
    • 13:04 – Integrated with 5 largest agencies
    • 13:30 – Percentage that goes back to the seller
  • 14:20 – In 2015, total amount of ads spend that went through the platform
    • 14:35 – Cost structure of revenue
  • 14:50 – Social or website traffic
    • 15:19 – Disenchanted with agency’s space
    • 15:45 – Use it in a way that reinforces the platform’s model
    • 16:46 – “What you can monetize is what you own”
  • 17:05 – Self-funded or boot strap
    • 17:08 – Bootstrap
    • 17:04 – Current team size
  • 17:35 – Connect with Nathan thru his LinkedIn
  • 19:20 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Utilize your platform to maximize its full potential.
  • Build honest and genuine relationships.
  • Always seek the opportunity.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • LinkedIn – Nathan linkedin
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 27, 2016

Sue Zimmerman, the creator of the online Instagram course Ready, Set, Gram! In addition to her popular instruction, Sue is also a powerful speaker on prominent stages like Social Media Marketing World, and a highly sought after business coach. She's passionate about teaching business owners and marketing professionals how to leverage the power of Instagram to get tangible business results.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Book Yourself Solid
  • What CEO do you follow? – Sophia Amoruso
  • Favorite online tool? — Dropbox
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Absolutely. I have to”
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew how to collaborate with people who I knew, like and trust.”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:37 – Nathan introduces Sue to the show
  • 02:40 – Sue’s focus at the moment
    • 02:45 – How to leverage power of Instagram stories
  • 03:04 – How Sue makes money in teaching
    • 03:17 – Successful online courses
    • 03:56 – Paid webinar
    • 04:18  - Sent email to list of a little over 21,000
  • 05:24 – Registration from the list
    • 05:50 – Thousand seats for webinar
    • 05:58 – UTM links
  • 06:20 – Maximum revenue for successful campaign
    • 06:26 – Between $5,000 and $10,000 on a week  preparation
  • 07:10 – How to manage priorities with the team
    • 07:23 – Nurture sales funnel
    • 07:48 – Ready, Set, Gram
  • 08:43 – Partnered with trusted affiliate
  • 09:27 – Business model
    • 09:35 – Online marketing educators
  • 09: 58 – Payment per student
    • 10:09 – $700/month on a 6-month plan
  • 10:33 – Create a micro community
  • 11:25 – Total revenue for 2015
  • 11:35 – Goal for 2016
  • 12:03 – Closed her store last year
    • 12:27 – Started her store in 2007
  • 12:52 – Sue’s payment per speech
    • 13:05 – First paid speaking gig
    • 14:04 – Different ways to get compensation when you speak
  • 14:40 – Connect with Sue thru her Instagram and use the hashtag #suebmademedoit and tag her and Nathan
  • 17:35 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Take the risk—removing something valuable from your live is worth it if that valuable thing keeps you from growing.
  • It always feels good to be able to help and empower people.
  • Focus on your priorities – teamwork always come in handy.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • @suebzimmerman – Sue’s Instagram
  • SueBZimmerman.com – Sue’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 26, 2016

Gavin Zuchlinski, the founder of Acuity Scheduling—the slickest way for businesses to automate and manage their appointments online, allowing clients to schedule themselves. He’s a self-professed tech geek and an espresso-maniac who wholeheartedly believes that business should be totally fun.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Anything You Want
  • What CEO do you follow? – Andy Grove
  • Favorite online tool? — Canary
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “8 and a half hour is my ideal number”
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Spend more time doing the things you enjoy doing.”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:37 – Nathan introduces Gavin to the show
  • 02:09 – Gavin is on his 4th espresso for the day
  • 02:25 – How Acuity Scheduling generate sales
    • 02:30 – SaaS to manage scheduling appointments online
    • 02:48 – Developed for Gavin’s mother
    • 03:00 – 2006 started
  • 03:21 – Start of Gavin’s business
    • 03:48 – 2007 first year in business
    • 04:05 – Only a side project
    • 04:54 – First year revenue
  • 05:21 – Transition from working as a government employee
    • 05:50 – Organic search results and SEO
    • 06:24 – Had friends’ sign up on private link
    • 06:45 – 2013 decided to shift
    • 07:15 – Hired the first employee
    • 07:50 – “Keep things small”
  • 08:20 – Number of users on free trial
    • 08:50 – Number of users at the moment
    • 09:25 – 10% month over month increase
    • 09:50 – Number of users in the past week
  • 10:54 – 85% active users on paid accounts
  • 11:46 – Most SaaS count their total base
  • 12:57 – Growth from organic results and referrals
  • 13:54 – “When the rate of growth gets too high, that’s when I need to hire”
  • 14:07 – Total team size
    • 14:18 – Everyone is remote
    • 14:40 – Support works for only 6 hours a day
    • 15:18 – Team size question is Gavin’s pet peeve
  • 16:06 – Growth customer churn is about 8% per month
    • 16:18 – Dashboard churn
  • 16:40 – Current customer acquisition cost on average
    • 16:55 – 10 dollars to acquire for paid acquisition
  • 17:12 – Total marketing spender
  • 18:07 – Total expected earnings from a new unique customer
    • 18:58 – Monthly RPO
  • 19:37 – Gavin’s bootstrap
  • 19:50 – Goal for the company
    • 20:08 – “Create a company where I enjoy working”
  • 20:47 – Connect with Gavin thru his website and LinkedIn
  • 22:40 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Sometimes, you just have to choose – and choose what makes you happy.
  • Small team has advantages too – it’s easier to manage.
  • Just be patient and let things grow slowly.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • AcuityScheduling.com – Gavin’s website
  • LinkedIn – Gavin’s linkedin account
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 25, 2016

Egbert Ootsburg, onto The Top. Egbert runs a company that designs apps for the scalding-hot consumer drone market. Listen as Egbert talks about his strong ambition to make a difference in the world and how he takes advantage of the drone market.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Zero to One
  • What CEO do you follow? – Andy Stanley
  • Favorite online tool? — Evernote
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Are you kidding?”
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “To get started faster and not to wait for something to occur before giving yourself permission to succeed”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:37 – Nathan introduces Egbert to the show
  • 02:06 – How Egbert generate money
    • 02:18 – Open Skkye App
    • 02:45 – Helps Drone pilots find places where to fly versus not fly
    • 03:25 – 2015 total revenue
    • 03:44 – Drone Aviator
  • 05:00 – Leaving the corporate world
    • 05:10 – Worked with Pfizer in 2009
    • 05:38 – Biggest recommendation
    • 05:55 – “There’s always a way to bootstrap something”
  • 06:20 – Egbert did a consulting job
    • 06:31 – Consulting revenue
  • 07:07 – The gap between the pre-revenue and 2009
    • 07:35 – Drone industry
  • 08:25 – Creative ways to decrease expenses
    • 08:36 – “Live on the basics that you need”
    • 08:52 – Cut the monthly expenses to 45% of previous total
    • 09:09 – 4 kids
  • 09:46 – How much money you keep is NOT how much money you make
  • 10:05 – Reason why Egbert’s business attracted investors
    • 10:24 – Experience in aviation from Navy
      • 11:05 – Anticipated revenue in the next quarter
    • 11:55 – About half a million registered users
    • 12:17 – New items every week
  • 12:37 – Connect with Egbert thru his LinkedIn and Twitter
  • 14:55 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Believe in the vision of what you’re doing and create value.
  • It is about how much money you keep, not how much money you save.
  • Get started faster.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • LinkedIn – Egbert’s linkedin account
  • @EgbertOostburg  - Egbert’s twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 24, 2016

Keith Perhac onto The Top. Keith is a marketing expert, developer, and designer. His goal is to take complex things and make them simple, understandable, and actionable for business owners. Today he is the CEO of SegMetrics and DelfiNet, technical marketing agencies that help companies create highly optimized sales funnels.

Famous Five:

 

  • Favorite Book? – Work the System
  • What CEO do you follow? – N/A
  • Favorite online tool? — HarvestApp
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “It’s not as scary as jumping off and leaving the company that you’ve been working on for 6 years to start on your own.”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 02:13 – Focus: DelfiNet or SegMetrics
  • 03:02 – Founding day of SegMetrics and first revenue
    • 04:20 – How SegMetrics is built
    • 04:50 – Focused on building the greatest product
  • 05:48 – Margins are better in SaaS
  • 06:19 – Average sales per customer per month
  • 07:10 – August Revenue
  • 09:40 – 50% gross margins
  • 10:15 – Biggest lever to increase profitability
    • 11:02 – Traffic increased drastically
      • 11:55 – Acquisition cost
      • 12:16 – Biggest affiliate
      • 12:33 – Second biggest affiliate
      • 13:54 – Bootstrap
      • 14:26 – Similar with Angel Investing
      • 15:10 – The business’ worth
      • 16:13 – Keith was based in Japan
      • 16:38 – Developyourmarketing.com
  • 18:57 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Take advantage of your on-peak time.
  • Turn your previous challenges into positive experiences.
  • Don’t just focus on sales, focus on creating a great product.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • Developyourmarketing.com – Keith’s website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 23, 2016

Pablo Fuentes, founder and CEO of Proven—a company that specializes in small business HR solutions. In addition to his passion for helping both minorities and women start businesses, Pablo also owns a BA from UCLA and an MBA from Stanford.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – The Art of Learning
  • What CEO do you follow? – Richard Branson
  • Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Absolutely
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Start Jiu-jitsu earlier”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:35 – Nathan introduces Pablo to the show
  • 02:04 – How Pablo’s business generates sales and collaborates with talent managers
    • 03:21 – First year revenue in 2009 versus revenue in 2015
  • 03:45 – How do you make money?
    • 03:55 – When small businesses post a job
    • 04:30 – Average pay per company location
    • 04:51 – Average revenue per user
    • 05:00 – Lifetime value
  • 06:10 – Average churn = of 2 years
  • 07:10 – August Revenue
  • 08:10 – Subscription vs. pay as you go pricing
    • 09:40 – 50% gross margins
  • 10:15 – The biggest lever to increase profitability
    • 11:55 – Company is fully remote
  • 13:55 – Revenue goal for 2016
  • 16:56 - @provenpablo
  • 19:44 – What were you trying to raise before you stoped last year?
  • 22:10 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Don’t give up just yet – give your company a time to grow.
  • Balance is everything.
  • Have a goal and focus on pursuing it.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • @provenpablo – Pablo’s Twitter handle.
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 22, 2016

Yuri Elkaim, a nutrition fitness and fat loss expert, onto the podcast. Yuri is a New York Times best-selling author of “The All-Day Energy Diet” and “The All-Day Fat Burning Diet”. He's a former soccer player turned health crusader, and is most famous for helping people who've tried everything to lose weight but enjoyed very little success. 

Famous Five:

 

  • Favorite Book? – Zero to One
  • What CEO do you follow? – Peter Teal
  • Favorite online tool? — Google Docs
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— About 7-8
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Focus on one thing”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 02:34 – 25 million Youtube views
  • 03:06 – Yuri’s focus on building now
    • 03:59 – Webinars
    • 04:11 – Conversion from the webinar
    • 04:30 – Shut down the sales page
  • 04:39 – Facebook Ad expenditure
    • 05:21 – Totalwellnesscleanse.com
    • 05:40 – Facebook ad look and landing page
    • 06:17 – Eyelid test guide
  • 07:00 – Number of webinars per month
    • 08:00 – No domain for webinar
    • 08:30 – Webinar sell price
  • 09:05 – Webinar is a great tool for teaching
  • 09:26 – Ways to normalize the funnel
    • 09:30 – Cost per lead
  • 10:38 – Number of viewers needed to get one new sale
    • 11:00 – One webinar, they get 5 sales
  • 15:14 – Call to action in Youtube videos
    • 16:03 – Sample video titles from Youtube
    • 16:50 – Get people to click on the ad before 30 seconds
    • 17:10 – Youtube ad overlay
  • 17:40 – Webinar Jam
  • 18:02 – Total sales of cleansing product
  • 18:35 – Yuri’s first episode with Nathan
  • 19:05 – Check Yuri’s website and his group
  • 21:25 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Gaining the trust of the customer is a like having a relationship—let them know you better.
  • Utilize your online resources.
  • Don’t be scared of changes—they can lead to a better opportunities.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • YuriElkaim.com – Yuri’s website
  • Healthpreneurgroup.com – Yuri’s group
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 21, 2016

Matt Tumbleson is the founder and CEO of Teckst – a New York based startup that's transforming customer service by directly connecting consumers with businesses via 2-way text messaging. His own frustrations with lengthy hold times and incompetent customer service representatives are why he decided to launch Teckst. Prior to jumping into entrepreneurship, Matt worked as the Creative and Marketing director of Seamless (now Grubhub), and worked as a graphics journalist at The Miami Herald.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Delivering Happiness
  • What CEO do you follow? – Marc Benioff
  • Favorite online tool? — WorkFlowy
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Stick to one thing long enough to see it through”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:37 – Nathan introduces Matt to the show
  • 02:31 – What Matt does and how they make money
    • 03:09 – Selling ROI
    • 03:15 – Created software in a house in NY
    • 03:33 – They have monthly subscription plan
  • 03:50 – Currently have 5 clients
  • 04:10 – How a client used Matt’s product
    • 05:37 – Created encrypted SMS
    • 06:40 – Works with Memebox
  • 05:22 – How does Betterment use you?
    • 06:40 – 65% gross margins on labor
  • 06:55 – Matt put his own equity for the company
  • 07:30 – How old were you when you launched this and did you feel comfortable leaving your job?
    • 07:40 – Started in his late 20s
    • 08:20 – 6 months deal
    • 08:51 – Reason Matt left his job
    • 09:13 – Launched Teckst in 2012 but officially launched in 2013
  • 10:06 – First year revenue
  • 10:45 – Total funding raised
  • 11:40 – Enterprise client pay per month
    • 11:50 – Thousands or tens of thousands monthly
  • 12:05 – Number of team members
  • 13:12 – Acquisition costs and churning
    • 13:35 – Lost a client once
    • 14:15 – Did Google Adwords
  • 14:50 – Matt’s lifestyle
  • 15:50 – Average the customer have to pay to get them on board
  • 18:39 – Upside on quarterly business review
  • 19:13 – MRR last month
  • 21:17 – Connect with Matt on his LinkedIn and twitter @teckstco
  • 23:53 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Think 10x. That’s how you should think regarding business.
  • Even if you’re the CEO, you still need to learn and grow.
  • If we can do everything right, we can hit all the numbers.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • LinkedIn – Matt’s LinkedIn account
  • @teckstco – Matt’s Twitter handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 20, 2016

Johnson Emmanuel the founder and CEO of Clients Attraction, a company that specializes in online marketing strategies engineered to attract big-ticket clients. Listen as Johnson shares his story of starting a business in Nigeria, and how he used his passion for marketing to start chipping his path to the top.

Famous Five:

 

  • Favorite Book? – The Ultimate Sales Machine
  • What CEO do you follow? – Richard Branson
  • Favorite online tool? — Asana
  • 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 on your marketing and charge more sooner.

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 02:20 – $230K in revenue in 2015
  • 03:00 – How Johnson’s company makes money
  • 04:00 – Johnson uses a lot of Infusionsoft with his clients
  • 04:30 – When you’re selling a high value product, you don’t list your prices you have a conversation
  • 05:15 – Johnson charges his clients between $5k and $20k per month
  • 05:55 – Johnson’s top client paid $25K last year
  • 07:30 – It’s important to learn, but don’t overstimulate yourself
  • 08:15 – It’s normal to be afraid of raising your prices, but it’s a part of good business
  • 08:45 – During Johnson’s first year in 2013, the company’s revenue was about $32K
  • 11:08 – The catalyst to Johnson’s success was helping his clients understand the flaws within their marketing systems
  • 12:39 – Johnson is based in Lagos, Nigeria and he employs 17 people
  • 13:08 – The company’s goal is to hit $1M in 2016
  • 14:00 -- $5k per day on PAID media
  • 15:40 – Average cost per employee per month in Nigeria? $500
  • 16:12 – To date, the business has worked with 30 unique customers
  • 18:54 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

  • If you want to sell to high-value clients, you need to engage them in a conversation.
  • If you engage in too many educational inputs, you’ll inhibit your own success.
  • Charge more sooner.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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
Sep 19, 2016

Pejman Ghadimi, a self-made entrepreneur and best-selling author born in Iran, raised in France, and crushing it in the United States since 1997. Listen as Nathan and Pejman talk bottom-line numbers, exotic cars, and what it takes to build a multimillion dollar business from scratch.

Famous Five:

 

  • Favorite Book? – Start With Why
  • What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
  • Favorite online tool? — N/A
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – Take life more seriously.

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:40 – Nathan introduces Pejman to the show
  • 02:15 – VIP Motoring
  • 02:45 – At its core, VIP is an automotive investing service
  • 05:00 – Legal bribery
  • 06:30 – Pejman sharing his payout
  • 06:56 -- $2.6M net cash flow
  • 07:12 – What Pejman does with the money he takes from VIP Motoring
    • 07:45 – Buying luxury assets
  • 09:05 – The exotic car market allows people to get in and out of it quickly
    • 09:34 – These cars aren’t meant to be driven, no one ever drives the cars, they never see public roads
  • 11:10 – The industry and room for growth is limited by demand…the people buying these high-value cars are limited in supply
  • 12:38 – Secret Entourage— A mindset, attitude, and a way of life. The relationships you form that revolve around yourself. The network that helps you be successful. The movement that.
  • 13:30 – The entrance fee is $200
  • 14:20 – Secret Entourage was not established as a revenue generating business
  • 14:50 – As many as 36,000 sign ups in 2015
  • 15:36 – How Pejman drives signups and facilitates exposure for his brands and drives new customers
  • 17:50 – Pejman’s email list has 100K people, but he doesn’t use the list very often
  • 19:40 – Nathan drill Pejman on the definition of “his movement”
  • 20:59 – @ICreateMillionaires
  • 23:16 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

  • Obscure industries can be extremely profitable.
  • Just because you have a massive email list, doesn’t mean you should exploit it.
  • You will always be limited by demand so be aware of what that demand is.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
  • 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.
  • @ICreateMillionaires – Pejman’s Instagram Handle
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
Sep 15, 2016

Matt Schwartz, the president of MJS Executive Search –a 13-year old, New York based retained executive search firm that specializes in placing transformational talent to global Fortune 500 companies. His clients are included but not limited to Pepsi Co, American Express, Fidelity, New York Life, Equinox, and Pitney.

Famous Five:

 

  • Favorite Book? – Profit First and Rework
  • What CEO do you follow? – Gary Vaynerchuck
  • Favorite online tool? — Send Later and Trello
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I do
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – Don’t follow the herd.

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:44 – Nathan introduces Matt
  • 02:44 – Why MJS Executive Search is different
    • 02:51 – The trends have changed
  • 03:45 – The roles placed for Pepsi Co
    • 04:30 – Engineers for reinventing equipment
    • 05:30 – We are there to tell the story
    • 05:40 – The pitch MJS delivers
  • 06:42 – How MJS make money through placing people on roles
    • 07:41 – Our competition bills the entire fees in 90 days
  • 08:15 – Founded MJS Executive Search in 2002
  • 08:32 – First year revenue was $85,000
  • 08:45 – Matt left Heidrick & Struggles with an $280K salary including bonuses
    • 09:24 – They changed the complain significantly
    • 10:35 – “I had nothing to lose.”
  • 11:01 – MJS’ revenue in 2015 was $1.1M
  • 11:14 – Revenue goal for 2016 is $1.4M
  • 11:39 – Working with a team from Less Doing’s Virtual Assistance Services
  • 12:19 – Nathan hates humans
  • 12:40 – Matt spends $700 to $1000 monthly for a virtual assistant
  • 13:17 – Bottom line profit in 2015 was $600K
  • 13:31 – What the entrepreneur does to create wealth for himself
    • 14:00 – Meeting with Michael Michalowicz
    • 14:25 – I struggled with not knowing where my cash wash
    • 14:34 – Bank balance accounting
    • 15:57 – Matt wants to make sure he has security, funding, and business health
    • 16:23 – Nathan’s struggle with his investments
    • 17:04 – Matt can save up to $53,000/year from his bank balance accounting
    • 17:24 – All on the profit first
  • 17:43 – The average contract value from $80K to $100K
  • 18:05 – Working with an average of 5 to 6 customers per year
  • 18:21 – MJS is competing with the largest firms in the world
  • 19:06 – Connect with Matt thru his email address and website
  • 21:25 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  1. We are there to tell the story.
  2. Struggling without knowing where your cash is at.
  3. All on profit first.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal– Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal
  • 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.
  • Profit First and Rework – Matt’s favorite business books
  • Send Later and Trello – Matt’s favorite online tools
  • Connect with Matt thru his email address and website
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 14, 2016

Sweeney Daniel, a partner at Hustle and Grow and Click Bank University. He launched his first company in high school which lead him to working full time in digital marketing. He decided to leave the corporate grind and is now focused on helping others create their digital business while maintaining a fun lifestyle.

Famous Five:

 

  • Favorite Book? – Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
  • What CEO do you follow? – James Schramko
  • Favorite online tool? — Clickfunnels and Drip
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Most of the time 7 and a half
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – Spend money and invest in assets

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:34 – Nathan introduces Sweeney
  • 02:04 – What Hustle and Grow is and how it generates revenue
    • 02:11 – Marketing list, promoting digital products, and an agency
    • 02:20 – Selling marketing and affiliate products and working closely with ecommerce partners
  • 02:28 – Founded in 2016
  • 02:38 – Hustle and Grow’s website
  • 02:53 – 2016’s revenue will be close to $1M
  • 03:17 – The most successful thing sold
    • 03:39 – Partnership with Click Bank
    • 04:01 – Providing digital products to Click Bank customers
    • 04:48 – How Hustle and Grow landed the deal
    • 05:05 – The pay and the partnership
    • 05:50 – Commission based income
  • 06:36 – Online Course Academy
    • 07:25 – Sold about 100
  • 07:03 – Sweeney worked with 4 7-figure businesses
  • 08:06 –Why not another line of business?
    • 08:21 – Sweeney was an employee earning $60K+commisions
    • 08:55 – Sweeney’s tragedies in college
    • 09:09 – “You need to have your ducks in a row in order for your business to grow.”
    • 09:28 – If Sweeney’s dad didn’t pass away
    • 09:53 – The before and after
  • 10:51 – The trend from tragedy to realization
  • 11:46 – Tragedy –one if the things that makes or breaks people
  • 12:01 – Sweeney had 2 podcasts in the past
  • 12:36 – Nathan’s experience with podcasts
  • 13:08 – The big thing is that people puts out a course but doesn’t build a brand.
  • 14:07 – Brand first, product second
  • 14:17 – Connect with Sweeney on Facebook
  • 15:53 – The Famous Five
  • 18:32 - Grab FREE Facebook Ads and Ecommerce Guide for The Top Tribe

 

3 Key Points:

  1. You need to have your ducks in a row in order for your business to grow.
  2. Tragedy –one if the things that makes or breaks people.
  3. The big thing is that people puts out a course but doesn’t build a brand.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • Toptal– Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal
  • 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.
  • Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday – Sweeney’s favorite business book
  • Clickfunnels and Drip – Sweeney’s favorite online tools
  • Connect with Sweeney on Facebook
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

 

Sep 11, 2016

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

Sep 10, 2016

Mathilde Collin, CEO and co-founder of Front. Her app has developed email and inbox features meant specifically for teams. Growing up in France, Mathilde realized that being an adult wasn’t fun—that getting a job usually meant a life of misery. She would not settle for that. She knew from the beginning that she had to create a job that she loved, and so Front was born.
Famous Five:

Favorite Book? - The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What CEO do you follow? — Patrick Collison
Favorite online tool? — Front! and Slack.
Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — Yes.
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – We can be happy at work. Get a job you love.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:40 – Nathan introduces Mathilde Collin
02:00 – Front App is an inbox for teams.
02:25 – A SaaS company founded in 2014
02:50 – She started the business when she was 22.
03:05 – She realized a lot of people didn’t like their job, and she wanted to solve that issue for herself.
03:35 – 2015 revenue was $1 million
04:00 – 1210 companies use Front
04:20 – A large variety of company sizes
04:50 – Why they raised millions in capital.
05:25 – Email is complicated, so you need to invest in resources and good engineering.
05:45 – She already had a loan from studying in France.
06:15 – They raised with key people who could help.
06:37 – They wanted to invest in hiring super qualified people.
07:05 – Team of 21 in San Francisco
07:15 – Monthly expenses are about $200k
07:50 – How did you get over the psychological barrier of that red line?
08:20 – Spending money when you have money.
08:35 – A more rational spending plan.
09:05 – She will keep that money in the bank.
09:45 – That extra money has allowed for growth.
10:20 – She has people under her responsibility.
10:55 – She has one cofounder.
11:05 – How they determined equity.
11:15 – An even split for people who will be there for the whole life of the company.
12:05 – They have no marketing team.
12:25 – She publishes content at blog.frontapp.com and @CollinMathilde on Medium and Twitter.
13:10 – Customer lifetime value: Customer churn is 3%
13:35 – Revenue churn is negative.
13:45 – They sell three plans.
14:10 – Selling the upsell versions to new teams in the same companies
15:00 – An inbound sales team
15:15 – Monthly and annual plans
15:35 – Lifetime value is about 33 months, or $6300
16:15 – Valuation was not disclosed
16:45 – Her goal is to make as many people possible happy at this company.
17:20 – They will try to go public eventually.
17:40 – They want to keep their product as it is, which would be difficult if it were acquired.
18:15 – Why customers churn
18:25 – They dislike how often changes happen.
19:05 – They grow 10% each month
19:30 – They would like to hit $300k this year.
19:45 – Connect with Mathilde on Twitter at @CollinMathilde
21:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Get a job that you love.
Starting a business is hard—all entrepreneurs go through challenges.
In the early stages of your company, keep perfecting your product.

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
blog.frontapp.com and @CollinMathilde on Medium and Twitter – Follow Mathilde and her company!
The Hard Thing About Hard Things – The business book that completely changed Mathilde’s outlook on her business.
Slack – The tool that Mathilde and her team use a ton at Front
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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