Hal Elrod, a husband, father ,and the best-selling author of 8 books including one of the best self-published book of all time, The Miracle Morning, which sold over 200,000 copies and has been translated into 21 languages. He is an entrepreneur and international keynote speaker, podcaster, and co-creator of best blueprint ever life experience. Listen as Hal talks about his life after a car crash and how it paved his future. 

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Love is the Killer App
• What CEO do you follow? –  Jeff Hoffman

• Favorite online tool? — Five Minute Journal iOS App
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Have patience”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:53 – Nathan introduces Hal to the show
• 02:30 – The Miracle Morning now has 240,00 copies sold
• • 02:40 – It was published in 2012
• 03:00 – When Hal was 20, he was the top sales agent for a kitchen knife company
• • 03:25 – Hal was in car accident on his way home and broke 11 bones
  • 03:36 – Hal was pronounced dead for 6 minutes and in a coma for 6 days
  • 04:00 – Three months after the crash, Hal was told by the doctor the unexplainable – that he can walk again
• 04:45 – Some people go through traumatic experiences to learn a lesson and share it to other people
• 05:11 – “Don’t make the same mistakes. Learn from other people’s action and learn from it”
• 05:28 – “Accept all things that you can’t change while you focus on what you can”
• 06:26 – Hal’s sister died when he was 8 years old
• • 06:46 – After a few months, Hal’s mother created a support group to help parents cope with a child loss
  • 06:55 – You can use adversity. Turn it into an advantage by finding a way to make it benefit other people
• 07:30 – Hal conditions himself for the 5-minute rule
• 07:58 – Why is The Miracle Morning, the best self-published book
• • 08:02 – It changes behavior
  • 08:40 – It adds value to your life and changes your daily life
• 09:43 – Ask yourself “how can I take this and turn into a daily ritual”
• 10:47 – Give the readers a quick win
• 11:30 – The 30-day challenge in the book
• 12:15 – Hal is coaching people to get an accountability partner
• 13:30 – Hal thought he could go to a traditional publisher
• 13:43 – The Miracle Morning is not a title. It is the practice that Hal made in his life since 2008
• 14:32 – Hal learned that self-publishing  for authors is (99% of the time) the way to go
• 15:09 – Hal had an email list for publishing
• • 15:54 – Hal sold 7000 copies in the first month
• 16:53 – Hal is averaging 10,000 copies every month
• 17:12 – Hal is charging $ 25,000 (+ travel) for speaking events
• 17:36 – Hal did an audiobook and it was worth-it
• 17:45 – Hal had no ghost writers and co-author
• 17:51 – Hal didn’t spend on advertising for the first 3 months
• 17:59 – Hal got his first 100 sales through pre-selling to his personal network with additional offers
• 19:45 – The sales of the other books of Hal is only a fraction of his original
• 20:15 – Get in touch with Hal through his website and Twitter
• 22:25 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Don’t make the same mistakes. Learn from other people’s actions.
• Self-publishing is the way to go.
• You can turn adversity into advantage.

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 the 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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• @halelrod – Hal’s Twitter handle
• MiracleMorning.com – Hal’s website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Steli Efti, CEO and founder of Close.io. Listen as Steli talks about how he uses sales and communication to his company’s advantage and why he won’t disclose their churn rate—his answer WILL surprise you.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Paypal Wars
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — Evernote
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew how to manage my own emotions and focus on consistency”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:23 – Nathan introduces Steli to the show
• 01:52 – Steli’s entrepreneurial power is in sales and communication
• 02:02 – Close.io is Steli’s biggest success
• 02:15 – There are less than 20 people in the team
• 02:21 – Steli is competing with massive organizations
• 02:40 – They launched their first product in 2013
• 02:56 – First year revenue is $ 200,000
• • 03:10 – They started as a services business
• 04:08 – There’s a common pattern with SaaS companies building product
• 04:45 – Close.io is a CRM
• • 04:55 – Focused on inside sales team
  • 05:12 – Paid monthly
  • 05:26 – RPU
  • • 05:58 – The average per month is $ 400 to $ 500
• 07:01 – Total number of customers is between 500 and 5000
• 07:54 – They are self-funded but they did raised for the business
• 08:45 – CAP table
• 09:29 – Raised a little after graduating
• • 10.08 – They raised $ 1 million
• 10:32 – They are not currently in any acquisition talks and not raising capital
• • 11:09 – They have all the funds they need
• 11:35 – There are 2 co-founders
• 12:00 – Monthly gross churn is horrible
• • 12:26 – “Every customer we are losing is a tragedy”
  • 12:50 – They don’t share churn numbers
• 13:11 – Their sales tactics
• 13:41 – When they launched Close.io, it doesn’t have any record in it
• 14:15 – People will buy the product even if it’s not sufficient
• 14:54 – They are now doing a ton of blog posts, public speaking, etc
• 16:20 – Consistently improve your product
• 17:22 – Fully-weighted CAC
• 17:55 – “The most important thing in trying new channels is to determine what a success and failure look like”
• 19:30 – Steli won’t accept sample acquisition offer
• 21:00 – Connect with Steli through his blog and Twitter
• 22:30 – Steli’s podcast has thousands of followers
• 23:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• If you have the solution to your customer’s problem, they will stay longer.
• Plan your failure scenarios. Know what to do when you succeed AND fail.
• Every business is different. The value of your business is determined by what the market is willing to pay for it, and what you’re able to create in terms of market demand.

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 the 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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• Blog.close.io – Steli’s blog site
• @Steli – Steli’s Twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Chris Koerner, founder and CEO of LCDcycle – a company that recycles broken iPhone screens and supplies wireless repair shop with wholesale electronic parts. Aside from being a motivational speaker and winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award, Chris is a guy who appreciates the haters.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Delivering Happiness
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

• Favorite online tool? — Flipboard
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I try but I don’t
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Tell myself to appreciate the haters”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:46 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show
• 02:31 – LCDcycle was founded in 2013
• 02:43 – Chris opened a smartphone repair shop in college in 2010
• • 02:51 – Sold it for $ 30,000
• 03:50 – They started in Alabama
• 04:10 – They got more customers in the Texas market
• 04:45 – The supply parts to repair shop
• 04:58 – First year revenue
• • 05:08 – Did $ 2.1 million for the first full year
• 05:13 – For 2014, they did $ 4.8 million and $ 8.8 million in 2015
• 05:36 – They are doing cold-calling to get customers
• 05:57 – Uses a lead generation tool to scrape the repair shops details
• 06:25 – Gross margin average is 31%
• 06:55 – Team size is 12
• 07:08 – They are self-funded
• • 07:31 – Started with $ 30,000
  • 07:41 – Chris asked his family and friends for a loan
• 08:16 – Total volume of parts shipped
• • 08:27 – About million parts
• 08:45 – Most of their shipments are iPhone screens
• 08:53 – Average price point for the shops
• 09:17 – Spending $ 23 for raw material
• 10:15 – 8% net margin
• 10:30 – Supplies are coming from China
• 10:49 – LCDcycle sells new screens and buying the broken screens from the repair shops
• • 11:05- Broken screens are being sent to China
• 11:27 – Their revenue is shrinking this year to $ 6.5 million
• 11:41 – There’s a shortage in supplies last year so there was a spike in sales
• 12:25 – They’re supplying to 700-800 unique shops
• 12:36 – Reorder rate
• 13:45 – Chris raised money last year
• 14:21 – Chris would sell to a bigger company
• 15:20 – Connect with Chris through his Facebook
• 17:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• You have a good chance of developing a great company—you just need to be willing to navigate through the failures. Believe in yourself.
• Expansion—even in the face of risk—is worth it.
• Always appreciate the haters.

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 the 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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• Facebook – Chris’ personal Facebook account.
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Will Mayo, founder of SpokenLayer. Being dyslexic led Will to find an alternative to written text and he thought of an audio solution. Listen ad Will talks about how SpokenLayer changes mainstream reading and how it helped him personally.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The E-Myth
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

• Favorite online tool? — Streak
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just keep trying and you’ll figure it out”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:13 – Nathan introduces Will to the show
• 02:05 – How is a podcast different from SpokenLayer
• • 02:28 – “Spoken edition is a different interpretation of what audio can be”
  • 02:44 – It caters to listeners first then letting them choose the experience
• 02:53 – Working for about 30 properties
• 03:13 – SpokenLayer distributes articles for Playboy
• 04:10 – Different publishers work in different ways
• • 04:15 – Some publishers would pay to have a spoken edition
  • 04:27 – SpokenLayer help publishers sell advertising and sponsorship
• 04:50 – “In the long term, the growth of ad revenue will be the largest component of a business but it takes a while”
• • 05:05 – They make more revenue from the SaaS side
  • 05:15 – The other side of the business works with non-media clients
• 05:50 – The pay depends on volume of content
• 07:05 – SpokenLayer started as an iPhone app in 2012
• • 07:17 – They didn’t pursue the app idea
• 07:35 – They did Angel finance and tapped family
• • 07:50 – Price rounds and notes
  • 08:08 – Raised over a bit of $ 2 million for the past 6 years
• 08:20 – Expenses for the team and the studio
• 08:37 – Technology and infrastructure fund the SpokenLayer
• 08:52 – Handling 40 or 50 clients at the moment
• 09:16 – Getting customers through inbound
• 09:25 – They’re getting more requests than they can handle
• 09:55 – Focused on English and other local languages
• 10:27 – Focused on clients that has over 10 million audiences
• 11:25 – Content analyzing
• • 11:35 – Not all content is worth voicing
  • 12:00 – “There are great content and great stories that people want to consume”
• 12:06 – Example of phenomenal contents and stories
• • 12:19 – “Anything that is written as a first person is a personal story destined to be an editorial or an opinion”
• 13:05 – There are different types of distribution
• • 13:30 – Some people use different platform to consume the audio
• 13:50 – They’ve been working with Time, Reuters,  and ZY to name a few
• 14:24 – Some of the team members are based in Manhattan
• • 14:40 – 10 full time
• 14:50 – Raised capital
• • 15:03 – The core team is interested in raising capital
  • 15:20 – Their another product Audio
• 16:06 – How much do you want to raise?
• • 16:25 – “Somewhere between third or half of the round”

• 17:05 – Connect with Will through his website and Facebook

• 18:17 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Disabilities can turn your life around—it all depends on your attitude and ingenuity.
• Not all content is destined to be vocalized.
• Keep trying until you figure it out…whatever that it may be.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• SpokenLayer.com  -Will’s business website
• Facebook – Will’s business Facebook account
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Mike Chapman, an author, speaker and subject-matter expert for both healthcare and insurance matters. Listen as Mike talks about helping self-employed and small business owners take control of their health.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Approach
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — Acuity
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Make the leap—start a business earlier.”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Mike  to the show
• 02:10 – Why people should listen to Mike?
• • 02:25 – “There are so many basic things that people can do that will save money and provide better options for healthcare”
• 02:37 – Mike is a consultant for small businesses and individuals. He’s also a broker
• 03:13 – Total revenue in 2015 is under $ 1 million
• 03:38 – Sometimes, Mike will hire people, depending on the season
• 04:04 – Average annual net profit
• 04:45 – Mike has been in the business for 15 years
• 04:54 – First year revenue
• 05:20 – Mike is a marketing guy
• • 05:34 – Mike used to do SEO for insurance
• 06:13 – Goal for 2016 revenue
• 06:36 – How Mike gets paid
• • 07:01 – Mike gets paid directly from his recommendation

• 07:43 – Mike recommends Nathan alternatives for healthcare providers
• • 07:54 – Consider a small group plan or business plan
  • 08:24 – A short term plan can get coverage for you

• • 08:50 – Why do you get penalize for not having health plan?
  • 08:53 – Part of Obamacare
• 10:02 – Mike would get 3% - 6% per plan
• 10:47 – September expenses
• • 11:00 – Marketing expenses
• 11:30 – Mike had signed-up hundreds to thousands of people
• 11:40 – Mike is based in Texas
• 11:58 – Mike does speaking to increase his network
• • 12:03 – Email and web marketing
• 12:20 – Mike has about 6,000 subscribers
• 12:40 – Connect with Mike through his Facebook and website
• 14:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• You can save money and have better healthcare—it just takes planning and discipline.
• Entrepreneurship is the avenue to fulfilment.
• You can hit two birds with one stone – maximize your resources and network.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• Facebook – Mike’s Facebook account
• TheMedicalInsuranceExchange.com – Mike’s website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

George Bandarian II, CEO and President of AMI – The Paperless Company. He has a mission of eliminating paper and a vision for simplifying work for companies such as SpaceX, Walt Disney, MBC Universal, schools and colleges. Listen as George explains their unique culture and what he and his team are working on to disrupt the document management industry.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Bold
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

• Favorite online tool? — Headspace and Calm
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:10 – Nathan introduces George to the show
• 01:58 – “In this day and age, there shouldn’t be any paper documents”
• • 02:20 – It is senseless to route documents from desk to desk
  • 02:43 – They automate business processes and digitize the paperwork
• 03:28 – The price will depend on what the client wants them to do
• • 03:40 – Provide full-service solution
  • 04:22 – “It feels like we’re handing them a new car key”
  • 04:38 – They’re an agency
  • 04:50 – Product range is from $ 10,000 to $ 400,000
• 05:35 – Number of unique customers
• 05:50 – Team size is 25
• • 05:59 – It should be 40 by the end of 2016
• 06:05 – The breakdown of work
• • 06:20 – They have BPO service who does organic services
• 06:47 – Are you trying to build robots?
• 07:10 – George’s father founded the company in 1968
• • 07:28 – When George’s father passes, his mother took the business over
  • 07:36 – George went to ULC and finished early
  • 08:10 – They started as micro-fund company but have gone through iterations
• 08:23 – First year revenue in ‘68
• 08:33 – 2015 revenue
• • 08:42 – They might end at $ 2.5 million this year
• 09:08 – George’s passion is in software and SaaS companies
• 09:21 – Some companies got bloated and expensive
• 09:43 – “We think that it is always a good time to think what customers really care about”
• 09:54 – They have a 45-day implementation guarantee
• • 09:58 – Their number one core value is “follow the light”
• 10:50 – Working life as a bootstrapped business
• 11:08 – They’ve been profitable for decades and never had to raise funds
• 11:25 – Help people achieve breakthroughs
• 11:46 – Connect  with George through his email at george@amipaperless.com
• 12:47 – George’s focus on the business
• 13:25 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Go with your passion.
• Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward
• Technology is always changing—adapt to the change and stay ahead of the curve.

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.
• George@amipaperless.com – George’s email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Kim Garst, CEO of Boomsocial. She’s also best Selling author of Will the Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media. She’s internationally recognized and regularly contributes to www.Entrepreneur.com

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Lean In
• What CEO do you follow? – Sheryl Sandberg

• Favorite online tool? — Slack, Canva and Buzzsomo
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I would tell myself to become an entrepreneur”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Kim to the show
• 02:57 – Kim was earning $ 3,000 per month
• 03:32 – As of the moment, they are generating $ 56,494 a month
• • 03:50 – Kim asked her staff about the numbers before the interview
• 04:17 – www.KimGarst.com – where her new product is
• • 04:43 – Focus on how you can truly make money from social media
• 05:20 – Kim runs a 3-lane, 3-stage sales funnel
• • 05:28 – 3 different premiums
  • 06:10 – Starts with a free offer then a mini course
  • 06:50 – In just an hour, they can learn something and implement it in their business
  • 07:24 – “We try to over deliver and give great content”
• 07:58 – About 11.2% of the people who take the  free offer took the $ 9 upsell
• • 08:07 – 70% take the free trial directly and the 30% will eventually take the 3-stage series
• 08:45 – Three landing pages and their conversions
• 09:57 – Kim explaining the process of landing pages conversion
• • 10:03 – People don’t immediately go to the $ 1 trial, they download the premium first
  • 10:09 – First upsell is the mini-course
• 12:44 – The landing page that converts 40%
• 13:50 – 10% take the membership trial
• 15:00 – 30% monthly churn
• 15:15 – Customer value is $ 263
• 15:22 – Customer acquisition cost
• 15:25 – ROI
• • 15:30 – Spent on Facebook ads
  • 15:55 – 18% of profit is organic
• 16:16 – You can get traffic for free from social media
• 16:38 – Been using Facebook ads for quite a few months
• 17:00 – Average opening cut-through rate
• • 17:12 – Open rate used to be 18-20% but right now it is  15-17%
  • 17:25 – “I’m always wanting more”
• 18:20 – 2015 Boomsocial’s total revenue
• 19:30 – Connect with Kim through her website and Boomsocial.com
• 21:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• People will come back to you if you have good content.
• Increasing traffic through organic campaigns is free and effective.
• Don’t be content—always find ways to improve.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• Boomsocial.com – Kim’s business website
• KimGarst.com – Kim’s personal website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Tommy Gibbons, a former employee of both Goldman Sachs and Fundera. Listen to learn how Tommy met his Princeton bosses, and how he used those connections to get into Piper.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – N/A
• What CEO do you follow? – Mark Pavlyukovskyy – his boss
• Favorite online tool? — Zapier

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20-year-old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew how I could”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:10 – Nathan introduces Tommy to the show
• 01:41 – Piper is a guide for kids ages 8 – 12 to build their first computer
• 02:02 – Apple’s co-founder review on Piper
• 02:16 – Piper has more than 4,000 customers since launching last year
• 02:28 – Looking into subscription plans in the future
• 02:45 – Piper was launched in Kickstarter in June 2015
• • 03:10 – Sold their first product in December 2015
  • 03:20 – They had craigslist posters
  • • 03:40 – Title of craigslist poster was “Workers needed for packing of children’s toys in Long Beach”
• 04:23 – Total funding raised is $ 2.3 million
• 04:47 – Tommy does customer service, retail partnership and ran all school app design
• • 05:10 – Tommy has an equity In Piper
• 05:40 – Piper has 3 founders
• 06:20 – Tommy’s approach to Mark regarding his interest in Piper
• • 06:55 – Tommy told Mark about how he can be an advantage to the company
• 07:30 – Tommy was working for free for a couple of months
• 09:00 – The Piper question
• 09:30 – Cost of goods sold
• 09:45 – Gross margin
• 10:00 – Reselling
• • 10:23 – Reseller’s price and markup 
  • 10:36 – Facebook Ad
• 11:00 – Reorder rate
• 11:30 – They are now focusing on the development of Piper computers
• 11:52 – Revenue goal for 2016
• • 12:00 – Big expectations for Christmas
  • 12:15 – Order baseline
  • 12:55 – Baseline now per month
• 13:32 – They will be very happy with 8,000 units sold
• 13:54 – Connect with Tommy through Playpiper.com
• 14:55 – They do retargeting
• 15:45 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Don’t just tell your future boss how you can be an asset to the company – show them what you can really do.
• Because businesses start small, there’s always room to grow.
• Your degree doesn’t define your future.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• Playpiper.com – Tommy’s company website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ali Mirza, used to sell personal insurance door to door in Canada before getting fired and electing to venture out on his own. Listen to learn how he transformed his floundering sales career into a winner that he now sells to other companies.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – How to Win Friends and Influence People
• What CEO do you follow? – Henry Ford

• Favorite online tool? — Mixmax
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Stop being so afraid and just go do it. Work hard and smart.”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Ali to the show
• 02:06 – Ali build sales processes for mid-market companies
• 02:22 – Ali charged based on the work that he has to do
• • 02:40 – His program ranges starts at $ 20-25,000 to $ 130,000
• 03:00 – Typical retainers
• 03:43 – HH Land Developments as a client
• • 03:53 – Didn’t pay retainers
• 04:20 – Ali has 4 employees
• 04:33 – Ali’s business was founded in 2011
• 04:42 – First year revenue
• 05:25 – Total 2015 revenue
• 05:35 – 2016 target revenue
• 05:58 – They are back on startup level now
• 06:20 – Number of customers at the moment is 5 – 6
• 06:45 – Ali wants to be a consulting space
• 07:17 – Why would people choose Ali?
• • 08:20 – “It doesn’t matter what you’re selling. What matters is what your client is buying”
  • 08:41 – Need to figure out what the client exactly need
• 09:24 – Ali is launching a new business
• • 10:30 – Building an online platform where we can do Monday morning meetings
  • 11:27 – Is a webinar based hosting a sales meeting
  • 12:45 – People will pay Ali a subscription fee to meet him in Monday morning meetings
  • 12:50 – Will be launched in Canada in January
  • 13:00 – First year goal
• 13:33 – Net margin in consulting business
• 14:17 – “In the long term, I may have thousands of people in Monday morning meeting”
• 14:45 – Reach Ali through RoseGardenConsulting.com
• 16:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Take your failures and turn them into inspiration.
• Be your own self.
• Adjust to your client’s needs and don’t just stick with what you can offer.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• RoseGardenConsulting.com – Ali’s website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ariel Camus, a product builder, 500 startups alumni and the CEO and Founder of TouristEye, acquired by Lonely Planet in 2013. Today, Ariel is building a new education system called HackerPath that utilizes collaboration between peers and bots.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Founders at Work
• What CEO do you follow? –

• Favorite online tool? — Google Apps
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Relax, you’re doing well. Have more fun”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:12 – Nathan introduces Ariel to the show
• 01:35 – TouristEye is Ariel’s first company and exited it in 2013
• 01:45 – TouristEye is a travel guide for mobile devices with all information offline
• • 02:03 – Revenue is from referral fees and premium features in application
  • 02:24 – Raised funding for TouristEye
  • 02:55 – Acquisition price of Lonely Planet
  • 03:18 – Why did you sell TouristEye?
• 04:50 – Ariel was 26 when he sold TouristEye
• 05:00 – Ariel joined Lonely Planet after selling TouristEye
• 06:00 – Ariel is starting a new project related to teaching
• • 06:30 – Building a new platform online
  • 06:46 – The project is called HackerPath
  • 07:04 – Still in the process of building the database
  • 07:18 – Goal is to make it open to everyone
  • 07:37 – Recruiters are charging companies a 20% fee
  • 07:53 – Currently pre-revenue
• 08:20 – No retainers for TouristEye
• 09:00 – “Do something you really love. Don’t waste time and just do it”
• 09:24 – Ariel and his friends talk about ideas and how to make to make it happen
• 10:00 – What salary would be giving up should you decide to quit completely?
• • 10:12 – A 6-digit salary
• 10:35 – “I can start a new business and pay developers to help me”
• 11:04 – Most of the money that were spent so far was for an experiment that was launched last week called Coderoulette
• • 11:25 – Did it to validate the interest
  • 11:33 – Did well on the launched
  • 11:45 – Used existing technologies
• 12:00 – Put in $ 10-15,000 for the project
• 12:19 – Connect with Ariel through Twitter
• 13:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Do something you really love. Don’t waste time and just do it.
• Selling a business is a crucial choice – make sure you won’t regret it.
• Relax and have more fun.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• @arielcamus  - Ariel’s Twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Sean Wycliffe, CEO of Dealflicks –  a company that helps movie theaters move tickets at discount prices. Listen as Sean breaks down how he uses affiliate-driven system to drive a $ 240,000 per month business.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Laws of Leadership
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A
• Favorite online tool? — Slack

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Wish I would have got to real estate earlier”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Sean to the show
• 02:10 – What is Dealflicks and how it makes money?
• • 02:15 – Dealflicks is partnered directly with movie theaters
  • 02:27 – Currently all over the country
• 02:47 – Number of ticket moving per month
• 03:20 – Average ticket price
• • 03:45 – 70,000 tickets per month and 70,000 from concessionaires
  • 04:05 – 2 tickets per transaction
• 04:16 – Average order value is around $ 13
• • 04:25 – People buy them as gift cards
  • 04:44 – The $ 13 can be for a ticket and a concession
• 05:05 – Marketplace
• • 05:13 – Movie theaters are allowed to have inventories in the platform
  • 05:24 – Sellers are the theaters; buyers are the movie-goers
• 05:31 – There’s around 800 movie theaters and 6000 screens on the platform
• 06:02 – Number of unique buyers since the Dealflicks started
• 06:41 – Dealflicks was launched in 2012
• 06:48 – First year revenue
• 07:17 – Dealflicks takes a pre-arranged percentage per ticket sold on the platform
• • 07:36 – An average of around 15%
• 07:58 – Gross margin
• 08:30 – Current team size
• • 08:40 – 8 full-time employees
• 09:21 – Raised $2.9 million and opened up a bridge net recently
• 09:58 – Aiming on getting Series A next year
• 10:20 – They’re willing to take investors
• • 10:27  - “If you’re a startup, you can always raise money but it’s not always necessary”
• 11:07 – Dealflicks is making $ 50,000 per month
• 11:24 – No other expenses
• 11:30 – In July, they crossed over $ 480,000 for revenue
• • 11:50 – Spending more on marketing and team
• 12:13 – Valuation of the company
• 13:45 – They recently expanded internationally
• • 14:18 – It’s a big proof point
• 14:43 – 2015 total transaction volume
• 16:16 – 2016 growth goal
• 16:36 – Number of unique buyers per month
• 17:40 – Reach Sean through Twitter and Facebook
• 19:50 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• If you’re a startup, you can always raise money but it’s not always necessary.
• Aim for a healthy growth.
• There’s no age limit in entrepreneurship – you can start as early as you want.

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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• @dealflicks – Sean’s business Twitter handle
• Facebook – Sean’s Facebook account
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

George Revutsky, CMO for Soothe – the world’s largest on-demand massage service. He’s also the CEO of ROIworks – a growth agency that runs growth and build growth agency teams for funded startup and Fortune 1000 companies like Headspace, TriNet and Original Stitch just to name a few. Listen as George talks about how he generated double digit revenue for Soothe in straight 11 months.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Don’t Make Me Think
• What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Levie

• Favorite online tool? — Optimizely and Hotjar
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Knew the value of moderated user testing and customer development when founding companies or evaluating product”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:10 – Nathan introduces George to the show
• 01:48 – ROIworks started as an agency 10 years ago
• • 02:12 – Used digital tools such as aid acquisition, A/B testing etc. for a series of experiment
• 02:40 – Typically, they would make some kind of retainer
• 03:15 – They used to have 3-6 months contract
• • 03:40 – Shifted to monthly
• 03:51 – Average pay per customer
• • 04:00 - $ 240,000 per customer
• 04:05 – Number of total unique customers
• • 04:25 – Worked for hundreds for the last 15 years
• 04:45 – First year revenue
• 05:05 – ROIworks is making roughly around $ 2 million a year
• 05:15 – 12 people in the team
• 05:30 – ROIworks changed their model
• • 05:43 – Used to have smaller retainers
  • 06:16 – Now they’re getting larger retainers and less clients
  • • 06:25 – They’re getting deeper with these Series A and B clients
• 06:30 – Monthly head count expenses
• 06:50 – Agencies should retain a 25% percent after all the expenses
• 07:20 – What George does with the cash flow as the CEO
• • 07:40 – “We like to be conservative and be safe for our team members”
  • 07:50 – Keeping some cash in the bank
  • 08:04 – Give bonuses to team that is coming from the cash flow
• 08:54 – How Soothe works with ROIworks
• • 09:00 – The founder of Soothe invested in one of George’s startup
  • 09:15 – George takes a leave from 6-12 months
  • • 09:27 – George co-founded SplendidLabs during his leave
    • 09:50 – It is a machine-learning based personal shopping assistance
    • 10:08 – Sold it because they can’t find a particular market fit
  • 11:13 – Became friends with the owner of Merlin of Soothe
  • • 11:40 – George started providing ROIworks’ discounted marketing services to  Soothe to help the beta testing
    • 12:21 – Soothe grew steadily and Merlin got Angel funding
    • 12:33 – Soothe got Series A for $ 10.6 million
    • 13:00 – Merlin asked Gerry if he can worked with Soothe in Hollywood
    • 13:35 – They got 3 months of dramatic revenue bills
    • 13:51 – Merlin hired George directly as the contract CMO
    • 14:30 – Able to put together 11 straight months of double digit growth
    • 14:45 – The growth led to their Series B which is for $ 35 million
    • 14:55 – ZEO is their biggest competitor
• 15:10 – Created a playbook to acquire customer
• • 15:30 – Doing Facebook advertising, AdWords, re-marketing and a lot of paid ads
  • 16:00 – Paid acquisition is foolproof
  • 16:17 – Soothe was in the Ellen show for Mother’s Day
  • 16:59 – Who to approach with the Ellen team
• 17:45 – Connect with George through george@roiworks.com and ROIworks.com
• 19:00 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Make your team members happy – it will boost their confidence and will reflect to their work.
• Be happy on being a part of one’s success.
• There are tons of ways to acquire customer – you just have to find what works best.

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.
• ROIworks.com – George’s business website
• george@roiworks.com – George’s email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Arif Momin, CEO and co-founder of CStorePro technologies – the leading provider of mobile and cloud based operations management for retail businesses. He has an MBA from University of California. Berkley and BS in Computer Engineering from Michigan State University.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Innovator’s Dilemma
• What CEO do you follow? – Mark Zuckerberg

• Favorite online tool? — JIRA
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Move fast and willing to fail a little quicker. Don’t regret the old stuff”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Arif to the show
• 02:05 – Arif used the network that his MBA provides
• 02:16 – What is CStorePro and how it generates revenue
• • 02:22 – CStorePro modernizes the operation of a single-operated store
  • 02:50 – Customers pay CStorePro $ 59 a month
• 03:02 – Arif was from a different company
• 03:40 – Raise under $ 1 million
• • 03:45 – All convertible note
• 03:48 – Number of unique customers as of September 2016 is 32,000
• • 04:09 – Number of paying customers is about 15,000
• 04:20 – MRR
• 04:30 – CStorePro was founded in 2011
• 04:44 – Arif’s first business turned into a lifestyle company
• 05:04 – Zero first year revenue
• 05:33 - $ 350,000 revenue in 2015
• 05:40 – Revenue goal in 2016
• 06:07 – CStorePro clients are store owners
• 06:17 – Gross monthly customer churn
• • 06:33 – Current churn is 5%
• 07:25 – Lifetime value
• • 07:41 – Calculated lifetime is 3 years
• 08:40 – Best number to quantify CStorePro’s data
• • 09:00 – Number in August is 13 million
• 09:10 – Team size and based in Houston
• 10:25 – Current customer acquisition cost
• • 10:31 - $ 180 to get a trial customer
  • 10:45 - $ 360 per paying customer
• 11:04 – Currently not in a capital raise
• 11:11 – Not raising funding and not selling
• • 11:25 – “We don’t need it and the time is not right”
  • 11:33 – There’s a huge opportunity in the business
• 11:50 – Total head count cost per month
• 12:24 – They’ve got access to financial resources
• 12:40 – Connect with Arif through CstorePro.com
• 14:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Give your business more time to grow.
• Tracking your churn has its advantages.
• Be prepared to fail – the earlier you fail, the earlier you learn.

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.
• CstorePro.com – Arif’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jerry Wilmink, a recovering bio-engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Wisewear.com. Listen how Jerry fuses fashion and technology to keep people safe.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Startup CEO
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — Strategyzer
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Go for it. Don’t be scared”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:13 – Nathan introduces Jerry to the show
• 01:33 – Jerry was connected with Nathan through Twitter
• 01:51 – Jerry is a startup junkie
• 02:16 – What is Wisewear and how it generates revenue
• • 02:29 – Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe
  • • 02:41 – A fusion wearable product
    • 03:00 – Develop a jewelry product that transmits Bluetooth through metal
    • 03:15 – Iris Apfel is the designer of Wisewear
    • 03:35 – Each piece is priced at $ 295 - $ 345 depending on the collection
    • 03:59 – Currently sold online but will be available at Saks
• 04:05 – Wisewear was founded in 2013
• 04:15 – They just started selling this year
• 04:20 – Current sales is close to $ 4 million this year
• • 05:04 – Started shipping late March
• 05:19 – No problems with P.O
• 05:55 – There’s more risk in international market with P.Os
• 06:00 – Wisewear demands 30% upfront payment for bulk P.Os
• 06:22 – Average number of devices sold
• 07:40 – They are initially bootstrapped but raised a little over $ 5 million from friends and families
• • 08:03 – Note from friends and families and they’re doing equity now
  • 08:15 – Raising $ 10 million from equity
• 08:40 – Fashion brand is not a traditional tech-play
• • 09:05 – Retailers that can potentially pull down the brand
• 09:49 – Expenses per piece of jewelry is quite expensive
• 10:55 – Retailers are selling the jewelries at the same price with them
• 11:05 – Distributor price
• 11:25 – 8 people in the team from San Antonio and New York City
• 11:45 – They can track online orders easily
• 12:08 – Goal for 2016 revenue
• 12:34 – They have multiple products
• 12:48 – The initial product was a medical device
• • 12:56 – Jerry’s grandfather was suffering from a type of dementia
  • 13:13 – When Jerry’s grandfather passed away, that’s when he started Wisewear
  • • 13:15 – Developed a hearing aid device
• 13:50 – 65% of their sales is from college women
• • 14:35 – Biggest market is 20 – 35-year old women
  • 14:49 – There’s a lot of burglary and sexual violence on college campuses
  • 14:58 – There’s a panic button on the jewelry
• 15:14 – There’s a big market on realtors too
• • 15:25 – Most realtors show homes and there’s a safety concern
• 15:51 – Connect with Wisewear through Instagram and Facebook. Jerry is more active on Twitter
• 17:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• You can take inspirations from the people around you.
• Fashion retail brand is not a traditional tech-play.
• Choose your business partners wisely.

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.
• @Wisewear – Jerry’s business Instagram account
• Facebook – Jerry’s business Facebook account
• @GeraldJWilmink – Jerry’s twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Robert Leclerc, co-founder of Agfunder – an online investment market place for global agriculture industry. He is a Forbes contributor and has five degrees including a PhD from Yale. Listen as Rob talks about the global agriculture industry and how important Agfunder is for the investors.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Mini MBA
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — MailChimp
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely not
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – N/A

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:44 – Nathan introduces Robert to the show
• 02:24 – Agriculture represents about 10% of global GDP
• 02:40 – Agfunder’s idea is to create an online investment platform that made this space mainstream
• • 02:53 – Like AngelList in agriculture
• 03:28 – Agfunder focus is food and agriculture technology
• • 03:40 – Eventually, they will be able to offer farm lands and agri-business
• 03:55 – Technology is needed to centralize management and scale the opportunities
• 04:10 – Started as a pure market place
• • 04:28 – Taking the transaction fees
• 05:00 – Revenue in the first quarter of 2016
• • 05:11 – Raising capital funds
• 05:35 – Total revenue In 2015
• 05:43 – They are on venture-funding
• 06:10 – Business was founded late 2013
• 06:20 – $0 revenue for the first year
• • 06:40 – “We just need to know that the market works for the first year”
• 06:58 – Number of investors
• • 07:38 – Investors seek them out
• 07:56 – Number of sellers/companies
• • 08:10 – They are series A companies
• 08:30 – Take 5% transaction fee to make money
• • 08:48 – Nathan’s sample scenario how to get the 5%
  • 09:45 – They we’re not taking any transaction fees for the first year
• 10:07 – “In August 2016, how many investors put money into how many companies?”
• • 10:25 – There’s a deal timeline
  • 10:50 – Average raise size
• 11:05 – Notes and actual equity funding
• • 11:18 – The companies set the market rate term
• 11:45 – What’s so special with Agfunder?
• • 12:10 – When they started Agfunder, it was the dark ages of food and agriculture technology
  • 12:30 – Built a very progressive business model
• 13:18 – 17 team members based in SF
• 13:23 – Connect with Robert through Agfunder.com
• 15:33 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• It is important for customers to know things about your company – transparency is the key.
• Agriculture is as important as food.
• There’s always a trial period – you either make or break 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.
• Agfunder.com – Robert’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Don Breckenridge, a life-long entrepreneur and the founder of Hatchbuck. Listen as Don shares how he made Hatchbuck a successful company and the struggles he endured to bring it to life. 

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Good to Great
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — Lean Canvas
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I had mentored earlier”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:41 – Nathan introduces Don  to the show
• 02:00 – What is Hatchbuck and how it generates revenue
• • 02:05 – Sales and marketing software that  helps small businesses grow their revenue
  • 02:11 – CRM + email marketing
• 02:39 – Price point starts at $59 a month
• • 02:50 – Subscription model as recurring revenue
  • 02:55 – Discount for semi-annual and annual subscriptions
• 03:17 – Price increase is based on number of users and contacts
• 03:55 – Average revenue per customer per month
• • 04:10 – When customers see results, they’ll start to use more of the product
• 04:23 – Launched in 2012
• 04:40 – Don had a SaaS company prior to Hatchbuck
• • 05:10 – The business was running smoothly
  • 05:20 – Don saw the need for SMB apps that could actually help businesses
• 06:04 – Number of current users
• • 06:20 – Average number of users per customers
• 06:40 – First year revenue
• 06:58 – Self-funded before raised capital
• • 07:10 – Raised over $5 million
• 07:28 – Series A or series B
• • 07:45 – Their investors are great supporters
• 08:18 – The market of SaaS is an attractive business to invest in
• 08:30 – Under $2M revenue in 2015
• 09:00 – MRR computation
• 09:32 – Churn
• • 09:59 – Have a product customer fit
  • 10:16 – “We tried to focus on who our customer is”
• 10:51 – Gross customer monthly churn
• • 11:15 – Around 3% churn
  • 11:34 – In SMB, there’s an average of 3-4% churn
  • 12:00 – Hubspot 0% revenue churn
  • 12:25 – Companies that has negative churn that are not MSB
• 13:00 – Fully inbound marketing
• • 13:10 – Produce a lot of content on the web
• 13:40 – CAC ratio
• • 13:50 – “If your MRR churn rate bounces around, it starts to be really difficult”
  • 14:25 – Healthy ratio
• 14:44 – Lifetime value
• 14:48 – Acquisition cost
• 15:00 – Paid media
• • 15:10 – Marketing courses, Google Adwords
• 15:29 – Don is based in Missouri
• 15:34 – Team size is 30
• • 15:40 – Some remote employees
• 15:55 – The $5 million funding
• • 16:06 – “We’re always raising funds”
• 16:32 – Goal for the company
• 17:10 – Monthly revenue growth
• 17:35 – Connect with Don through Hatchbuck.com
• 19:05 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Find a space to fill.
• Aim for positive results – that is what will make customers hold onto your product.
• It’s never too late to learn.

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.
• Hatchbuck.com – Don’s company
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Pieter Boekhoff, the 2016 Startup Canada Entrepreneur of the Year and one of Calgary's top 40 under 40. He’s also Mount Royal University’s Horizon Winner and one of Canada's 10 Mentor Rock Stars. Listen as Pieter talks about the company he founded, Nobal Technologies, and the success of their flagship product – iMirror.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Lean Startup
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

• Favorite online tool? — Wave Accounting
• 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? – “I wish that entrepreneurship and startups was more of a thing and I’d known where to get into it”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:44 – Nathan introduces Pieter to the show
• 02:25 – What is Nobal Technologies and how it generates revenue
• • 02:28 – Software company based in Calgary, Canada
  • 02:40 – Selling iMirror for retail and hospitality
• 03:03 – 70% revenue from the one-time cost of the iMirror
• 03:27 – Launched in 2014
• 03:44 – The idea was inspired by the video made by Corning in 2011
• • 04:02 – Started to build prototypes
• 04:23 – First year revenue is around $75,000
• 04:37 – Total of 10 units sold
• • 05:15 – Each unit cost about $15,000
• 05:38 – They’re looking into a sustainable monthly recurring business model
• 06:05 – 40% gross margin
• 06:23 – Net margin
• • 06:28 – Low overhead on the backend
• 06:28 – They raised a $1M 2 years ago and $800K in grants
• 06:50 – Process of government funding
• • 07:03 – Partner with NRCIRAP
  • 07:12 – They need to know you’re legit
• 07:44 – 9 people on the team, based in Alberta
• 08:00 – Pieter made $1.2 million in 2 years
• 08:20 – Pieter’s focus now is only iMirror
• 08:36 – 2016 revenue goal
• 09:34 – Some clients have more than 1 mirror
• 09:44 – Pieter wants to expand on the retail side
• • 10:10 – Long sales cycle
• 10:40 – This is Pieter’s second business
• • 10:53 – Pieter saw the need for the iMirror from his previous business
• 11:14 – Connect with Pieter through his Twitter and Instagram. Visit his website at Nobal.ca
• 13:23 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Be willing to jump outside the box—ideas are everywhere.
• Expanding doesn’t always mean adding more people.
• Learn from your experiences and find ways to share them.

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.
• @pieterboekhoff – Pieter’s Twitter handle
• @pieterboekhoff- Pieter’s Instagram account
• Nobal.ca – Pieter’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Greg Raiz, founder of Raizlabs – a technology innovation firm for design custom applications, web platforms and other cutting-edge software. Listen how Greg earned the respect of startups and Fortune500 companies through his business.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Blink
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

• Favorite online tool? — Invision
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just make sure to stop and smell the roses”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:41 – Nathan introduces Greg to the show
• 02:10 – What Raizlabs does and how it makes money
• • 02:14 – It is a software design company
  • 02:21 – Build iphone and android apps
• 02:45 – Average project size and price
• • 03:10 – Raizlabs as a product business service
  • 03:22 – Raizlabs helps with the technology side of the business
• 03:35 – Greg started Raizlabs in 2003
• 03:47 – Greg was making $ 60-70,000 when he was working with Microsoft
• • 03:57 – Greg was 23 when he left Microsoft
• 04:11 – First year revenue in 2013
• • 04:25 – Greg was living off his savings
• 04:55 – Total revenue in 2015
• 05:10 – 80 people in team
• 05:35 – Business has been cash deposited for more than a year
• • 05:44 – Margin and business capital
• 06:09 – “Paying yourself as a CEO has always been a challenge”
• • 06:23 – Reasonable salary
  • 06:58 – Total annual personal expenses
• 07:37 – Total savings back then
• 07:53 – Greg had a day job when he was just starting his company
• 08:20 – Total monthly headcount expenses on an average
• 08:55 – Greg uses Basecamp and other tools
• • 09:24 – Spending on tools
• 09:47 – How Greg feels when their client earns more than them
• • 10:00 – They did some good stuff for HubSpot
• 10:25 – Just released an interesting product for The Perkins School for the Blind 
• • 10:35 – Challenge for micro-navigation
  • 10:50 – How to get people to the bus stop
  • 11:10 – Launched earlier this week
• 11:30 – RunKeeper as a client
• • 11:37 – Fitness mapping idea
  • 12:10 – Design development of the product with the iphone GPS
  • 12:40 – Success to take in-house
• 13:04 – Equity with the companies
• 13:25 – How much RunKeeper pays Greg
• • 13:40 – Charged 15K early on
• 14:20 – Exploring apps that can help the employees betterment
• • 14:41- Methodology on how to facilitate feedback
• 14:48 – Product exploration and incubation
• 15:05 – Connect with Greg on his website and Twitter
• 16:40 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• As an entrepreneur, you have to manage your stability and your company’s.
• It is not about how much other companies earn – it is about how you become a part of their success.
• You can never turn back time – pause and enjoy the beauty of the present.

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.
• @graiz – Greg’s Twitter handle
• Raizlabs.com – Greg’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ben Uyeda – a respected architect and creative genius. Listen to hear how Ben makes money off YouTube, earns serious subscriber numbers, and acquires some pretty sweet assets.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Accidental Billionaires
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — Steller
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— About 6 and a half
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just to be nice and patient with people”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:38 – Nathan introduces Ben to the show
• 02:21 – What Ben does on Youtube and how he is monetizing it
• • 02:28 – Ben wanted to give affordable design to the masses
  • 02:43 – Started to make videos of how to make affordable modern furniture
  • 03:00 – Product immigration into the video content itself is how you make money
  • 03:20 – Producing a video product is more difficult
  • 03:45 – First branded deals
• 03:55 – Homemade-modern.com
• 04:15 – DIY concrete design deal
• 04:30 – Home Depot is Ben’s biggest client
• • 04:40 – Created a series of content packages
  • • 04:50 – Step by step video instructions and social media posts
  • 05:10 – Creating a bunch of products at once
• 05:18 – It is often rare for big brands to have a real YouTube presence
• 05:38 – Ben started in this field in 2013
• 05:45 – First year revenue
• • 05:50 – First 6 months get Ben 10-15,000 subscribers in Youtube
• 06:00 – Brands that gave Ben donations
• • 06:10 – Ben made a deal of 10 videos per brand after getting 20,000 subscribers
  • 06:38 – “You can’t get paid cash until you have 100,000 subscribers”
  • 06:48 – Making a whole package of content
  • 07:00 – Ben’s deal on brands versus traditional commercial
• 07:40 – Total 2015 revenue
• • 07:50 – Adsense money
• 08:15 – Ben buys his own equipment
• 08:44 – Long format video is what Youtubers doesn’t usually do
• • 09:00 – Long format video is an over 20-minute video
  • 09:09 – Youtube to TV
  • 09:45 – Offering brands full-length videos
• 10:05 – Person to contact if one needs a full length videos
• • 10:10 – Brands have agencies that they work with
  • 10:20 – Do reverse engineering to find a person
  • • 10:30 – Message on Instagram
• 11:20 – Show the brands that you can do it
• • 11:33 – Put their tools in the video and get positive response
• 11:45 – Projected revenue this year
• • 11:55 – 68 clients
• 12:05 – How to scale a business?
• • 12:20 – Scaling would be finding the right people
  • 13:07 – Find 2 to 3 brands that are compatible
  • • 13:16 – You can get promotional ad even if the brands didn’t pay you
    • 13:43 – Collecting and acquiring assets
  • 14:26 – Ben’s content is instructional
• 14:55 – Connect with Ben through Instagram
• 17:44 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• If you know you can do it, just do it – approval isn’t always necessary.
• There’s a right recipe for everything.
• Be creative – it can get you somewhere.

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.
• @benjaminuyeda – Ben’s  Instagram account
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Timothy Sykes – the Penny Stocks Guru.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Losing My Virginity
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A
• Favorite online tool? — Business Insider

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—“I wish. I really wish”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t be so cocky”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:42 – Nathan introduces Timothy to the show
• 02:05 – Tim trades penny stocks and people attack him for doing it
• • 02:12 – Most people in a company fail
• 02:53 – Tim was 17 when he got into business
• • 03:00 – Turned $12,000 into nearly $2 million
  • 03:30 – He’s getting more conservative now
• 03:58 – First splurge
• 05:00 – The price was $ 17,000 per share
• • 05:20 – Crazy volatility
• 05:40 – ISCO stock price now
• 05:50 – Causes of stocks going down
• 06:03 – Tim is a short-seller
• 06:25 – Tim defines short squeeze
• • 07:00 – “In order to cover your short, you have to buy it back”
  • 07:10 – Shorts are getting squeezed when the stock goes up too quickly
• 07:25 – The stock market is not always logical
• 08:25 – Penny stocks
• 09:10 – Stocks are not scalable
• 09:25 – Shorting requires a loan from a broker
• • 09:40 – “If there’s a scam, everybody wants to short it”
• 09:45 - Tim’s strategy is ideal for people with small accounts
• • 10:05 – Stock of sponge company
  • 10:40 - HUSP
• 11:07 – Research that Tim is doing to find out things about the scams
• • 11:17 – Created a tool StocksToTrade.com
• 11:35 – Playing the volatility
• 11:57 – Tim was on a TV Show that led him to start teaching stocks
• 12:41 – First year revenue
• 13:10 – Total revenue is 2015
• 13:40 – How Tim uses the people who attack him to his benefits
• • 14:01 – Tim attacks companies and scam
• 14:48 – Tim’s blog
• 15:50 – Tim’s list size
• • 16:00 – People have to learn how to read the materials
• 16:30 – Total number of unique customers since 2007
• 16:41 – Selling DVDs and streaming DVDs
• 17:31 – Tim made an apology posts
• 18:05 – Tim’s parents work with him
• 18:30 – Tim is giving to charities and foundations
• 19:15 – Tim made $27M in 2016
• 20:16 – Connect with Tim through his Twitter and Instagram
• 21:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• It’s not always about the money – sometimes, imparting your knowledge is more important.
• Don’t let people bring you down.
• Try to find the good in the all the negativities. Make impossible, possible.

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.
• @Timothysykes – Timothy’s Twitter handle
• @Timothysykes – Timothy’s Instagram account
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Mark Ross, a man who’s spent 20 years working in senior level global technology management, and owns board-level experience with Fortune 500 financial services companies. He’s the co-founder of GridMarkets and senior level advisor for a number of startups. Listen as Mark discusses why he jumped into entrepreneurship and how it differs from big-time corporate life.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Tipping Point
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? — Slack

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Never”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Startups are a whole lot harder than you think”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:42 – Nathan introduces Mark to the show
• 02:07 – What is GridMarkets and how does it generate sales?
• • 02:18 – Power extensive engineering applications
  • 02:40 – Serve studios that make animations and simulations
• 03:33 – Similar with dark-power concept
• 04:08 – Agreements with the suppliers
• 04:20 – GridMarkets has their own grid
• 05:00 – Idea of GridMarkets started in 2011
• • 05:47 – SaaS in the sense of push-button
• 06:39 – Give credits to new customers
• • 07:20 – Offering credit hours at $ 1.60
  • 07:30 – Credit numbers per month is over a million at the moment
• 07:57 – GridMarkets is self-funded and 10 people invest in the company
• 09:46 – Valuation of GridMarkets
• • 10:15 – Investors’ different valuation
• 10:40 – Number of current customers
• • 11:00 – Fantastic feedbacks from customers
• 11:20 – MRR
• 11:48 – Team size
• • 12:26 – There’s a lot specific skills and knowledge needed
  • 12:50 – The demand would justify having our own machine
• 13:10 – Amount a computer can handle per month
• • 14:00 – Millions of computer hours needed to serve studios
  • 15:00 – Spinning up machines
• 15:45 – Connect with Mark through his email
• 18:06 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• It won’t hurt to give your customer something for free to start off.
• Invest in your people.
• Value your customer’s feedback and learn from 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.
• Mark.Ross@gridmarkets.com – Mark’s email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Nathan interviews Joel Holland, founder of VideoBlocks - a company that distributes over a million clips of royalty-free stock video and audio each month to over 150K customers in the television and video production industry, ranging from professional outlets like NBC to video hobbyists and enthusiasts. They're a 5x INC 500 out of 5000 fastest growing company, and Joel has been named one of the Top 25 under 25 by Business Week, and INC magazine’s prestigious 30 under 30 list.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Influence
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? — Mailchimp

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “I do now”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I have lived my college life”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:50 – Nathan introduces Joel to the show
• 02:57 – What is VideoBlocks and how does it generate sales
• • 03:00 – Stock media company
  • 03:22 – Elements that creative professionals can incorporate to their projects
• 03:45 – VideoBlocks was founded 2010
• • 04:00 – Idea of VideoBlocks
• 04:40 – VideoBlocks’ model
• • 04:50 – Started selling by the collection
  • 05:10 – Launched subscription plan as a test in 2010
  • 05:20 – 150,000 paying members
  • • 05:38 – Monthly and annual plan
• 05:43 – Total revenue in 2015
• 06:15 – Royalty-free
• • 06:30 – 6,000 videographers now shooting for VideoBlocks
• 07:10 – RPU
• • 07:37 – Created more premium plans
• 08:00 – The 80/20 rule
• 08:30 – How much would a videographer get if National Geographic buys his clip?
• • 08:40 – Standard pricing
  • 08:50 – “If National Geographic bought it for 49 bucks, the videographer will get a check”
  • 09:00 – 2 types of libraries
• 09:38 – VideoBlocks buy clips to put in the library
• 10:10 – Customers only need to download 2 clips in a year to avail unlimited clips
• 11:00 – “We want shooters to make as much money as possible”
• 11:24 – A few million dollars to acquire creative lights
• 11:40 – “Content is king”
• 12:00 – MRR
• 12:09 – Annual churn
• • 12:16 – Subscription business is like a puzzle
  • 13:05 – Churn on monthly plan
  • 13:26 – Returning cost acquisition
  • 14:10 – Customer insights operation
• 14:25 – Direct response marketing
• • 14:33 – Million dollars spent monthly
  • 14:40 – Example of direct response marketing
• 14:58 – Joel has a huge number of list
• 15:15 – Launching other products
• 15:42 – Weighted average cap
• 15:55 – Lifetime value on average
• 16:16 – Blended channels
• 17:17 – 80 team members
• • 17:25 – Based in Virginia
• 17:36 – Funding history: Raised under 20 million to date
• • 18:02 – North Atlantic Ventures
  • 18:11 – SBA gives you leverage
  • • 18:40 – Interest rate
• 19:35 – “Currently, we are not raising nor in any acquisition talks”
• 20:15 – “Going public is a tough process”
• 21:07 – Connect with Joel through his LinkedIn and website
• 22:45 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Work hard but don’t forget to live your life.
• Give life to your ideas if you want your business to grow.
• Know your customers and the people who supports your products.

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 – Joel’s LinkedIn account
• VideoBlocks.com – Joel’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ryan Stewman, CEO and CTO of Clyxo.com – the world’s only opt-in social media search engine. Ryan has one of the top online training resources for sales people worldwide, and is a best-selling author/contributor to Forbes Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, and The Good Men Project. Listen as Ryan talks about his new book, Elevator to the Top and how he is addicted to success.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Influence
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? —Leadpages

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I was at the right place at the right time 20 years ago. Just following the path that led me to where I’m at today.”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 02:38 – Ryan’s focus
• • 02:40 – Focus on Hardcore Closer
  • 03:10 – Modern ways to close sales
• 03:30 – Founded Hardcore Closer in January 2012
• 03:45 – 35,000 people on his list
• 03:57 – Content strategy
• 04:35 – Reasons why Ryan writes for publications
• 05:15 – Use ads for Facebook
• • 05:25 – Spent $250,000 to grow his page
• 06:08 – 4,000 unique buyers for Hardcore Closer
• • 06:25 – Elevator to the Top
  • 06:40 – People love Ryan’s products and they keep coming back to buy more
• 07:18 – First year revenue
• 07:40 – Ryan had an app
• 08:10 – Total revenue in 2015
• • 08:30 – “I want to be transparent with the numbers”
  • 08:55 – Free cash flow in 2015
• 09:25 – Other expenses
• • 09:34 – Facebook ads costs has toned down
  • 09:48 – Most significant cost
  • 10:11 – Affiliate marketers
• 10:23 – 57 people in 30K per year program
• 10:36 – Estimate revenue in 2016
• 10:50 – Ryan’s salary
• • 11:00 – Ryan talks about his cars
• 11:30 – Team size
• 11:40 – Revenue stuff: one-time or monthly?
• • 11:45 – 99.99% one-time
• 12:32 – Hardcore Closer app to 42222
• • 12:39 – Backend of the app
  • 12:50 – It is a website that is mobile optimized
• 13:40 – The Hardcore Closer podcast
• • 13:47 – Downloads per month
  • 14:16 – No guests
• 15:05 – Ryan’s book is self-published
• 15:20 – Connect with Ryan through his Facebook, podcast and website
• 17:45 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Keep your customers happy and you’ll gain more.
• It’s good to let people know about your numbers – it gives them an opportunity to learn from them.
• Do what you love to do.

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.
• Facebook – Ryan’s Facebook account
• Clyxo.com – Ryan’s website
• HardcoreCloser.com/podcast – Ryan’s podcast

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Sujan Patel, an entrepreneur and a marketer who’s made a career out of learning how to keep an eye on ALL the moving pieces of his business. He's the co-founder of two successful digital marketing companies, ContentMarketer and Web Profits.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Never Eat Alone
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? — Buzzsumo

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “No”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew that I could work harder”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:43 – Nathan introduces Sujan to the show
• 02:03 – What is Web Profits and how does it make money?
• • 02:09 – Marketing agency
• 02:20 – Average retainer is $ 10,000 a month
• • 02:40 – Reject 90% of the people
• 03:00 – 20 clients at the moment
• 03:05 – Web Profits is founded earlier this year
• 03:12 – Consulting firm
• 03:40 – Joint venture with a big company in Australia
• 03:55 – 90 team members
• • 04:09 – 8 people are in Austin
• 04:21 – Total revenue at the moment
• 04:28 – Goal in 2016 is to hit a million
• 04:50 – Sujan’s thoughts on distractions
• • 05:05 – Sujan likes to do a lot of things
  • 05:12 – Additional 4 SaaS businesses
  • • 05:28 – ContentMarketer, Narrow.io, Quu.co, LinkTexting.com
• 06:40 – Sujan helps in strategy
• 07:37 – ContentMarketer has a few products
• • 07:44 – Email and twitter outreach
  • 08:09 – Great for bloggers and podcasters
  • 08:30 – Just hit a million email sent
  • 09:00 – Finding an email is an art
• 09:26 – Total number of customers on all the business
• 09:27 – Average pay per month
• 09:55 – MRR
• 10:15 – “It is definitely worth it”
• 11:20 – RPU
• 12:00 – Number of paying customers on Quu.co
• • 12:10 – Quu.co as SaaS and an advertising content
  • 12:53 – Number of customers per promotion
• 13:09 – ContentMarketer is a bootstrap
• • 13:15 – Founding date
  • 13:25 – First year revenue
  • 14:00 – UX designs
• 14:25 – Launching a new product
• • 14:55 – Gross customer churn for ContentMarketer
  • 15:10 – No upselling
  • 15:30 – “We know what product to sell”
• 15:48 – 4 team members for connector
• 15:56 – Goal for the business
• • 16:10 – Grow as big as possible
• 16:31 – Sujan owns half of LinkTexting.com
• • 16:38 – Acquired the whole company with a partner
• 17:16 – Connect with Sujan through his blog and Twitter
• 18:50 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• It is easier to promote your products if you know them well.
• Have a bigger goal for your business.
• Creating a great email is like creating great art – you need the right tools and the right artist.

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.
• SujanPatel.com – Sujan’s blog
• @SujanPatel – Sujan’s Twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives