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

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

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

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

Sean Howell, the founder of Hornet - the second largest gay social network with 15 million members worldwide, known for its ongoing “Know your Status” HIV campaign. He's a speaker on mobile technology and his opinions have been featured all over the place, even the New York Times. Outside of work, Sean likes to serve on various non-profit boards and committees like the World Affairs Council, PFLAG, and UNAIDS,

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Alibaba
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A
• Favorite online tool? — Insightly

• 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 started earlier”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:38 – Nathan introduces Sean to the show
• 02:13 – How Hornet generates revenue
• • 02:23 – Premium subscription model
  • 02:53 – Direct deals
• 03:08 – Premium subscription service
• • 03:29 – No restrictions
  • 03:43 – 5% of their user base
  • 03:37 – 15 million user base
• 03:53 – Hornet was founded in October 2011
• 04:13 – MAU
• • 04:22 – Metric
• 04:42 – Total revenue in 2015
• • 04:50 – Fundraising
  • 05:17 – Multi-million revenue last year
• 05:32 – Traditional advertising and mobile setting
• • 05:55 – Gaming companies are buying display ads
  • 06:20 – Direct deal with Uber
  • 06:34 - CPM
• 07:10 – Demographic data for users
• 07:40 – Churn number that is being tracked
• • 07:51 – Focus on user growth
  • 08:20 - Monetization
• 08:32 – Total churn number
• • 08:37 – Different subscription packages
  • 09:00 – Monthly renewal
  • 09:33 – Users buy in at a lower amount
  • 09:49 – Average monthly churn is 20%
• 10:00 – Raised $ 1.5 million in the first year
• 10:26 – Costs in acquiring new paying customers
• 10:32 – 40 employees
• 10:44 – Getting customers through organic discovery and viral co-efficients
• • 11:00 – Viral co-efficient technique
• 11:27 – Attribution links for social sharing
• 11:53 – Sean is based in San Francisco and his team members are in other parts of the world
• 12:27 – No revenue for the first year
• • 12:33 – Started making revenue in 2013
• 12:48 – 2 biggest competitors
• 13:00 – Looking to raise several millions
• • 13:08 – Valuation
• 13:47 – Connect with Sean thru AngelList, LinkedIn and his email.
• 16:05 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Be motivated – use your competitors as inspiration.
• There are tons of ways to make your brand known without spending much.
• Start early – if you want to do something now, do it now.

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.
• AngelList – Sean’s AngelList account
• LinkedIn – Sean’s LinkedIn account
• sean@hornetapp.com – Sean’s email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Laura Behrens Wu, the co-founder and CEO of Shippo. Listen as Laura talks about how a laundry list of shipping obstacles with her previous e-commerce store birthed the idea for Shippo.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Hard Things About Hard Things
• What CEO do you follow? – Patrick Collison
• Favorite online tool? — Slack

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “I wish”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Trust that things will turn out right”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:45 – Nathan introduces Laura to the show
• 02:13 – E-commerce business Laura had
• • 02:27 – Started at Shopify
  • 02:40 – Sourcing unique items from NGO
  • 03:07 – Shipping problem
• 03:32 – Revenue with the e-commerce business
• 03:50 – Laura was 21 when she started her business
• 04:13 – Financing with Shippo
• • 04:17 – Drop shipping
• 05:08 – Typical shipping pricing
• 05:30 – Shippo shipping rates
• • 05:58 – Volume metric
  • 06:07 – Doing millions of packages a month
• 06:30 – Negotiation with shipping providers 
• • 06:44 – Based on projected volumes
• 07:00 – Shippo is a pay-as-you-go; not SaaS
• 07:20 – Sample price per package shipped
• • 07:30 – What if I’m shipping a 10 lbs. dumbbell?
  • 07:44 – “We only provide the software”
• 08:06 – How Shippo works in an e-commerce website
• • 08:10 – Will compare different shipping providers
  • 08:30 – Not a standard shipping rate
  • 08:47 – How the shipping providers get the package from the seller
• 09:07 – Why clients use Shippo’s service
• 09:37 – Shipping providers are not tech company
• 09:55 – Number of unique customers
• 10:12 – Average shipping volume per month
• 10:29 – Memebox
• • 11:10 – Nathan’s proposed deal for Shippo and Memebox
• 11:54 – They raised $9M in 2014
• 12:20 – Team size
• 12:50 – Use of the extra money
• 13:23 – Minimum monthly revenue
• 13:33 – Upselling
• • 13:50 – Shipping insurance
  • 14:11 – Tracking as a product
• 15:28 – Bigger revenue stream
• 15:37 – $ 7 million in series A round, March 2016
• 16:00 – How to keep the balance when you have a big account
• 16:38 – Travel expenses last month
• 17:25 – Will you sell the business for $ 47 million?
• • 17:45 – Ideal exit assuming there’s a good fit
• 18:03 – Built an app on top of Shopify
• 18:11 – Connect with Laura through her Twitter, LinkedIn and email
• 20:00 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Keep your customers updated and excited.
• Spend money on the right things and appreciate what you have.
• Don’t get upset on your first try – everything falls into place given patience and time.

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.
• @LauraBehrensWu – Laura’s Twitter handle
• LinkedIn – Laura’s LinkedIn account
• laura@goshippo.com – Laura’s email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Zach Benson, an award-winning dancer who travels around the world running instructional clinics. He's been featured as a Round 4 finalists on FOX TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” and he’s also the founder and CEO of Assistagram.co.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Slide Edge
• What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Olson
• Favorite online tool? — Slack

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Usually 7 and a half”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew everything then that I know now”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Zach to the show
• 02:13 – How the dance clinic works
• • 02:20 – Place, schedule, and class pricing
• 03:06 – Total revenue of the dance clinic in 2015
• 03:35 – Zach talks about how he partners with dance studios
• • 04:25 – CTA
• 05:14 – Number of students per class
• 05:53 – Assistagram.co
• • 06:07 – Team in the Philippines
  • 06:27 – Hashtag optimization
  • 06:58 – How to find hashtags to use
  • • 07:14 – There’s no database
    • 07:40 – Follow/unfollow process
• 08:38 – ROI
• • 09:04 – Sample of Zach connecting and making a deal
• 10:17 – Cold marketing and prospecting
• • 10:40 – Finding people on your niche
• 11:03 – Working with Four Seasons
• • 11:14 – Regular hotel room rate
  • 11:40 – How Zach got a free stay at the hotel
  • • 12:35 – Writing a free blog post
• 13:00 – Benefits of a good Instagram profile
• 13:26 – Current number of Assistagram clients
• • 13:40 – Average pay a month
  • 13:53 – Assistagram’s services
• 14:28 – How to get people go to your Instagram account
• 15:38 – Reach Zack thru his email, website and Instagram.
• 17:58 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• It’s all about timing.
• Find the mentor who can help you grow.
• Be consistent and persistent.

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.
• Assistagram.co -  Zach’s business website
• @thetravellerslist – Zach’s Instagram handle
• Benson.zach@gmail.com  - Zach’s email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Anand Sanwal, CEO and co-founder of CB Insights, a company that provides predictive intelligence for emerging technology trends, startups, and corporate. Their customers include Cisco, Marketo, and Red Hat, just to name a few. Prior to CB Insights, Anand managed the $50 million Chairman’s Innovation Fund at American Express.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Bezos
• Favorite online tool? — Gmail

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

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:42 – Nathan introduces Anand to the show
• 02:45 – “If you buy something for 2 and sell it for 1, you will not make it up in volume”
• 03:12 – He was in-charge of spending money
• • 03:25 – Sent to London for Cosmo Europe
  • 03:40 – Overspent
• 04:00 – Rationalizing the expenses
• 04:45 – Worked in American Express after Cosmo
• 06:25 – Salary in American Express
• • 06:55 – “Decided to take the plunge”
• 07:30 – CB Insights
• • 07:46 – Every industry is under attack by technology
  • 08:09 – Monthly customer pay
  • 08:34 – “Use our data to create a sense of urgency”
  • 09:20 – Tracking the competitors
  • 10:00 – Using algorithm on the data
• 10:30 – Number of paying customers
• • 10:45 – Average of pricing
• 11:25 – Total MRR last August
• 11:40 – Hoping for 8-figure revenue this year
• 12:12 – Team size
• • 12:25 – Some are based in New York
• 13:05 – Exact MRR last month
• 13:30 – “Everybody pays upfront”
• 14:14 – Individual customer acquisition
• • 14:40 – Gross revenue churn
• 15:20 – Lifetime value
• • 15:29 – 20% churn just to be conservative
  • 15:49 - $200,000 lifetime value
• 16:16 – Funds raised
• 16:46 – Most customers are VCs
• 18:18 – Jon Sherry is the other founder
• 19:18 – No current acquisition talks
• 19:32 – Connect with Anand through his website and Twitter
• 21:05 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Do not be afraid to take the plunge—there are risks but just do it.
• Things happen for a reason and believe in your life plan.
• There’s no absolute certainties in life—only right places and right times.

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.
• CBInsights.com – Anand’s website
• @cbinsights – Anand’s business’ Twitter handle
• @asanwal – Anand’s Twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Victor Levitin, co-founder and CEO of CrazyLister. Prior to CrazyLister, Victor ran a retail business that he drove from $0 to $4.5M in revenue in just three years. In fact, it did so well it won an eBay award for highest conversion rate. Victor channels his eBay retail experiences through a blog called “eBay Sellers Journey to $100K a month” where he helps eBay sellers avoid mistakes and grow their business the right way.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Elon Musk Biography
• What CEO do you follow? – Alex Turnbull
• Favorite online tool? — Intercom

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “About 7”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Teach myself how to code and learn the balance”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:37 – Nathan introduces Victor to the show
• 02:08 – What is CrazyLister and how does it make money?
• • 02:16 – Created for sellers
  • 02:50 – Similar with creating websites
  • 03:28 – Built-in to eBay’s API
  • 03:40 – You have to know how to code to use CrazyLister
• 03:49 – Pricing scheme
• • 03:54 – Plans based on the number of listings
  • 04:05 – Monthly RPU
• 04:20 – CrazyLister is founded in late 2013
• • 04:33 – Victor was 29 then
• 04:40 – Victor has always been an entrepreneur
• • 05:05 – He was a seller before
• 05:14 – Shifted to software because of the entrepreneurial bug
• 06:20 – Shared equity
• 06:40 – Number of paying customers
• 07:02 – Total revenue in 2015
• 07:15 – January 2016 – from premium to paid
• • 07:40 – 14-day free trial
• 07:55 – MRR
• 08:50 – Pricing on the website
• 09:15 – Actively doing customer development
• 09:41 – Metrics customers have to hit
• 09:58 – Growth churn per month
• • 10:08 – Typical monthly churn of SaaS companies
  • 10:35 – First month with monthly churn
• 11:40 – Lifetime value
• 12:00 – What are you going to pay for a new customer?
• 12:28 – Team size and located in Tel Aviv, Israel
• 12:45 – Self-funded or crowd raising
• • 13:01 – Equity round
  • • 13:22 - Valuation
• 13:33 – Victor feels they’ve exceeded the valuation
• • 14:20 – Will never sell
• 14:45 – Content marketing drives traffic to Victor’s company
• 15:47 – August expenses
• 16:20 – Connect with Victor thru his LinkedIn or Facebook
• 18:40 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Know your priorities and maintain a balanced life.
• Keep moving—don’t stay in your comfort zone, stagnation is death.
• Take care of your customers—know their needs and find out how you can help 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.
• LinkedIn – Victor’s LinkedIn account
• Facebook – Victor’s personal Facebook account
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Liz Pearce, CEO of LiquidPlanner–a fast-growing, Seattle based, maker of dynamic project management technology—and an active member of the Seattle startup and technology community. Listen as Liz talks about her passion in mentoring and advocating for technology and leadership.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Search Inside Yourself
• What CEO do you follow? – “My Top 5 Customers”
• Favorite online tool? — Mint

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t let go of  your interest and you will always get something back when you give”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:38 – Nathan introduces Liz to the show
• 02:02 – What LiquidPlanner is and how it generates revenue
• • 02:08 – Project management software
• 02:28 – How does the customer use Liquid planner
• 03:13 – LiquidPlanner is a SaaS business model charge per user
• • 03:30 - Pricing
• 03:52 – First year revenue in 2007
• 04:01 – Worked as a marketing contractor of the business
• • 04:32 – What happened to founders
• 05:13 – Raised total of $13 million
• • 05:39 – Liz raised the $10 million
• 06:05 – Former CEO still active in the company
• 06:30 – 2015 revenue
• 07:16 – Negative revenue churn
• • 07:35 – Inbound driven model
  • 08:05 – Transactional business
• 08:37 – Document storage
• • 08:50 – Team function
• 09:16 – Average revenue
• 09:29 – Gross monthly churn
• • 10:01 – Negative revenue churn
  • 10:09 – SMB market
• 10:30 – CLTV
• 10:48 -  Lifetime value
• 11:30 – Some are remote
• • 11:37 – Total team size
• 11:43 – Number of customers
• • 12:01 – How many are enterprise?
• 12:18 – Talking about acquisition or raising the next round?
• 12:45 – Interested in raising more capital in the future
• 14:07 – Microsoft project
• • 14:45 – Invest in scheduling engine
• 15:03 – Revenue goal in 2016
• 15:20 – Acquisition money expenditure
• • 16:05 – Total monthly expenditure
• 17:15 – @lizprc
• 19:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Believe in your product and what it can do to change the industry.
• Remember that karma bus drives in circles.
• Keep priority focus tight.

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.
• @lizprc – Liz’ twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Brad Costanzo, an entrepreneur, investor, and business consultant who built (and sold) two digital businesses. Today, Brad helps companies use proven marketing methods, innovative branding campaigns, and form strategic alliances to grow their revenue. He also hosts the “Bacon Wrapped Business” podcast on iTunes.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – One Simple Idea
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A
• Favorite online tool? — MindMeister and XMind

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Typically 7”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t seek comfort, seek challenge.”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:44 – Nathan introduces Brad to the show
• 02:06 – Brad sold two digital businesses
• • 02:30 – Dating and relationship product, real estate product etc.
  • • 03:10 – Fun bar tricks
    • 03:38 – Sold it for six figures
  • 04:05 – Pigtones.com
  • • 04:23 – Sold it for less than $100,000
• 04:36 – Brad now focuses on consulting, crowdfunding, and coffee
• • 04:50 – Equity crowdfunding
  • 05:08 – What he did after selling his businesses
• 05:34 – Launched consulting firm in 2013
• • 05:40 – How the firm grew over time
  • 03:30 – Pricing
  • 06:05 – Average retainer
  • 06:22 – Total revenue in 2013
  • 07:15 – Total revenue in 2015
• 07:34 – Revenue goal in 2016
• 08:11 – Total price per deal
• • 08:38 – Equity product campaign
  • 09:00 – Where Brad base his consulting fee
• 09:29 – Team size
• • 09:35 – Full-time
• 09:51 – Number of unique customers in 2016
• 10:10 – First equity crowdfunding campaign
• 10:39 – Brad talks about his client who is from the real estate field
• • 11:23 – Reww.com
  • 11:45 – Different funnels
• 12:54 – Brad likes 2-3 steps funnel
• 13:08 – Magnified message
• • 13:30 – MVF funnel
• 14:10 – Selling DVDs for real-estate market
• 15:14 – Cost of driving a sale and the return
• 15:26 – Brad’s coffee business with wife
• • 15:41 – StilettoCoffee.com
  • 16:14 – Coffee is a commodity
  • 16:32 – His wife’s idea of selling coffee to women
  • 17:35 – Build a brand using story-telling
  • 18:18 – Total sales as of the moment
  • 19:14 – Hillary Clinton coffee
• 20:26 – Potential for an exit
• 20:46 – Check StilettoCoffee.com and use the code BRADVIP on checkout to get a discount. Follow Brad on his website and podcast
• 22:35 – Launch of Brad’s podcast
• • 22:55 – Total downloads
• 23:50 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Listen and learn from the people that belong to your market.
• You only get one shot in life—make sure your aim is true.
• Keep things simple.

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.
• StilettoCoffee.com – Brad and his wife’s coffee business
• Costanzomarketing.com – Brad’s website
• BaconWrappedBusiness.com – Brad’s podcast channel
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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

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

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

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

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 4^th 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