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SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

What if you knew data behind the fastest growing SaaS companies today? Each morning join Nathan Latka as he spends 15 minutes interviewing SaaS founders. You'll learn how SaaS CEO's launched their startup and grew it into a business. SaaS Founders range from bootstrapped to funded, MVP to 10,000 customers, pre revenue to pre IPO.
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SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders
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Now displaying: May, 2019
May 31, 2019

David Hassell is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of 15Five. David’s foray into entrepreneurship begun nearly 20 years ago, co-founding three companies in ad tech, kite surfing adventure travel, and leadership coaching before starting 15Five, where he sees the opportunity to help organizations and everyone in them reach their highest potential. David formerly served as the President of the San Francisco chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and was later named by Forbes “The Most Connected Man You Don’t Know in Silicon Valley.” He’s been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Inc.

May 30, 2019

Chief Executive Officer of ClickDimensions, the leading marketing automation solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365. Mike joined ClickDimensions from PGi, a global provider of web conferencing software and collaboration technology, where he served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. In that role, he developed partnerships with some of the biggest players in the technology industry, including Microsoft. Prior to that, he started PGi’s Global Collaboration Services division, growing it from $86 million to $240 million in revenue and serving as a trusted advisor to some of the most recognized brands around the globe.

May 29, 2019

John is the founder of GetCredo.com. They take a high touch approach to matching businesses with the right SEO and marketing agencies. John has a decade in SEO, primarily on the largest sites on the internet. He lives in Denver with his wife and their black labrador Butterbean.

May 28, 2019

Dennis Kelly is CEO of Postalytics, the leading direct mail marketing automation tool. is a 6 time entrepreneur, primarily focused on software & technology. He's been involved in founding, investing and senior management roles in startups such as Genesis Business System, AnyDay.com, Palm Inc., Adjoin Solutions, Computer Associates and others.

May 27, 2019

Kim is the founder and President of Genoo. Genoo’s products and services over deliver what entrepreneurs, Small, and midsize businesses need to attract leads and grow new customers. Through a comprehensive software-as-a-service offering and “right-sized” professional service offerings, our customers compete and win.

May 26, 2019

Andy MacMillan is CEO of UserTesting, the leading Human Insights company. Prior to UserTesting he was CEO of Act-On Software and COO, Products at Salesforce. Andy is from the Detroit area and has a B.A. from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland).

May 25, 2019

Tim's background in software has spanned technical, sales, marketing, and general management in the US, UK, and Japan. Tim started at IBM and went on to a number of successful startups including Illustra ($400M acq), Interwoven ($1B IPO) and BoardVantage ($250M acq). Other experience includes Sybase, Sakkam and Genesys Telecommunications.

May 24, 2019

I am an Israeli entrepreneur with a specialty in data science; after building several e-commerce sites, I recognized the tremendous need for personalization and the opportunity to fill a niche in the market, and so eventually I arrived at a venture that serves one of my chief passions, utilizing AI and digital automation to create an internet that is more personal and efficient. Since 2008, we at Personyze have been honing and perfecting the tools we use to accomplish that goal, and today I am happy to say we have created one of the most versatile and powerful personalization solutions on the market.

May 23, 2019

Recognizing the early trend for insurtech innovation in 2013, Jason co-founded Limelight Health to deliver better data integration and sales efficiency for insurance carriers, PEO’s, brokers and others in the employee benefits ecosystem.

Limelight's award-winning technology, QuotePad™, aims to transform the way health insurance and employee benefits are quoted, sold and renewed.

Jason is a serial entrepreneur advising numerous Silicon Valley startups, also volunteering in the industry/community.

May 22, 2019

Neil Napier is a charismatic leader of people. He empowers people to spread their wings and develop their super-powers. Neil cares about his customers like nobody else and is available for them more than his wife would prefer. He loves to teach and goes the extra mile to enable success.

May 21, 2019

Randy Wootton is the CEO of Percolate. Randy has been a leader and strategic innovator in the marketing technology industry for over 20 years.

Prior to Percolate, he served as CEO of leading predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel, where he re-positioned the company and led its sale to Sizmek. During his career, Randy has held senior positions at Microsoft and Salesforce. He serves on the Board of Directors at Guidant Financial and Rally Point Networks and is a graduate of Harvard Business School, St. John’s College and the U.S. Naval Academy.

May 20, 2019

00:30 – How Kahuna focuses on customer engagement

03:05 – Why they price based on volume and usage

03:50 – How he made the decision to join Kahuna after they approached him

04:50 – Why both of Kahuna's founders are still involved in the company

05:10 – Their team of 40 full-time employees is based in Redwood City

05:40 – Why they've scaled to serve 100 total customers internationally

06:40 – How they have more than doubled revenue year over year

07:00 – Why they've raised close to $50M in outside capital

07:40 – How they are managing churn across

08:30 – Why Kahuna's net revenue retention is well north of 100%

10:30 – How they aim for payback on customer acquisition within 12 months

12:00 – Why computing power is their main expense

13:00 – How their margins are still well within the average SaaS range

13:30 – Why they did an inside round in Q4 2017 and not looking to raise at present

14:00 – How they are still burning cash today

14:15 – Why they are north of $3M in ARR and targeting 100% growth YoY again this year

15:15 – The Famous Five

May 19, 2019

0:55 – How SaaS PayKickstart launched inside agency

1:25 – Why their average customer pays $99 per month

2:10 – How they've hit $50k in MRR today

2:40 – How $0 to $10k/mo in under 12 months

3:40 – Why they've bootstrapped to this point

4:15 – Tactic used to hit 20% gross revenue churn

9:40 – How they are landing customers through affiliates and cold outreach

10:50 – Why 10-15% of their revenue is coming from affiliate deals
 

May 18, 2019

Time Stamped Show Notes:

0:55 – Why he spun the company out of his agency one year ago
3:45 – Average customer pays them $3,500 annually
4:15 – How they've scaled to 250 paying customers
4:35 – Did $9k in MRR last month
5:20 – Less than 1% gross revenue churn monthly
6:05 – They are raising $1m right now on $2.5m pre money value
7:10 – How they've scaled with just two full-time employees
8:00 – Why they are paying under $100 to acquire a new customer

May 17, 2019

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 – Nathan's introduction to today's show

00:25 – Why Kellogg was named top CEO by Glassdoor

00:45 – How Madwire has grown to 600 employees

01:25 – Why they operate on a hybrid SaaS and professional service model

02:30 – How they view revenue per employee and prioritize it

03:15 – Why they are doing $175k in revenue per employee today

03:30 – How Madwire is doing $105M in ARR right now

04:00 – Why they help small businesses with marketing at scale

04:50 – How they are serving 10k active customers at this point in time

05:05 – Why their average new account is paying around $1,500 each month

05:45 – How Madwire has scaled with $7.5M in outside funding

06:15 – Why they are cash flow positive

06:35 – How they are still growing 40% year over year

07:45 – Why they track churn in two unique ways

10:00 – How they receive payback within 3 months on a $3k CAC

11:10 – Why they are landing customers entirely through digital channels

12:10 – How he started the company with his father in 2009

13:45 – Why they've set aside stock and equity for top performing employees

14:40 – How they are targeting an IPO in the next few years

15:30 – Why they would look to IPO in two years

16:30 – The Famous Five

JB Kellogg is the co-founder of SMB marketing platform, Madwire and Marketing 360. JB was named the Top CEO in the country by Glassdoor in 2016. 

Company website: https://www.madwire.com/

SaaS Metrics:

Founded: 2009

Customers: 10,000

ARPU: $875 (monthly)

Annual recurring revenue: $104 million

Founded: 2009

Funding: $7.5m

Team: 600

May 16, 2019

French, 24yo. I have lived in the US, Cambodia, South Korea, and Switzerland. I launched my first company 4 years ago doing smartphone repairs for students in campuses. And 18 months ago, I started Ease.space with 3 other people.

May 15, 2019

Christopher Reid is the founder and CEO of Sortable, a Waterloo Region startup on a mission to Empower Publishers. With an engineering background from the University of Waterloo, he is a serial entrepreneur on his fifth venture and has led tech ventures in industries ranging from educational technology to the consumer web and B2B SaaS.

He is the driving force behind Sortable (formerly Snapsort Media), which uses machine learning to help online publishers automate ad operations. Previously a web publishing company, Snapsort Media was acquired in 2011 and bought back in 2014 to relaunch to Sortable’s current day business.

May 14, 2019

Distinguished track record in technology, with a 20-plus year career spanning the development, marketing, and sale of technology. Spent the past 10 years on the cutting edge of social media, helping media companies and marketers more effectively use technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain to power their social media efforts.

May 13, 2019

Valentin Radu is a serial entrepreneur from Bucharest, Romania. He has founded four companies and had one important exit and one useful failure. Currently, he is the Founder & CEO of Omniconvert, a growth marketing platform for websites looking to become customer-centric.

May 12, 2019

Byron White is one of the original content marketing revolutionaries, and founder of WriterAccess. He’s started several other businesses including Freelance Access, LifeTips, ideaLaunch and more. Byron is the Chair and Founder of Content Marketing Conference, an event featuring 65 speakers and 20 keynotes in 2018. He has authored four books on content marketing topics, is a popular speaker at dozens of conferences, and hosts a Webinar and Podcast series.

May 11, 2019

Frost Prioleau is the Co-Founder and CEO of Simpli.fi. An experienced online advertising executive specializing in targeting, optimization, and technology, Prioleau focuses on corporate strategy, driving Simpli.fi’s growth, and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Prior to Simpli.fi, Prioleau was the CEO and Founder of Personifi, a contextual and behavioral targeting company. The firm was acquired by Collective Media in 2008. While at Collective, Prioleau served as General Manager of the Technology Solutions Group.

A thought leader in online advertising, Prioleau often speaks on the topic at industry trade shows and in the press. Prioleau is a graduate of Princeton University, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering Management Systems.

May 10, 2019

Jay is responsible for all revenue-generating activities of Atlassian,
including customer success and retention, operations and marketing. Jay
joined Atlassian in 2008 as vice president of sales and marketing to lead
Atlassian’s pioneering efforts to develop a high-velocity, low-touch sales
model. He’s overseen the company’s global expansion, introduction of its
Starter License program (a disruptive approach to “freemium” where the
company donates all proceeds to a charitable cause), and its growing
worldwide customer community and programs. In 2011 Atlassian
introduced its cloud-based offering Atlassian On-Demand, an evolution of
its fast-growing SaaS platform.
Jay has more than 18 years of experience in the software industry. He
began his career at Plumtree Software where he held a variety of senior
marketing and sales roles. Significantly, Jay oversaw the company’s
expansion throughout Europe and Asia Pacific. When Plumtree was
acquired by BEA Systems in 2005, Jay became vice president of marketing
for BEA Systems, which was later acquired by Oracle in 2008. Jay holds a
bachelor’s degree in political and environmental science from the
University of Washington.

May 9, 2019

Carbon Black solutions enable customers to defend against the most advanced cyber threats, including malware, ransomware, and non-malware attacks.

May 8, 2019

Ryan Carson is the CEO & Founder of Treehouse, an online technology school with more than 80,000 enrolled students and 850,000 students taught in the past 8 years. Treehouse takes people from zero experience to job-ready in as little as six months. He also founded Carsonified and DropSend.

May 7, 2019

Kevin is the founder and CEO of TribeBoost, the first company to offer Twitter audience growth as a service.

He is a serial entrepreneur and has also founded ThoughtFlame, MoSquatch, and others.

Early in his career Kevin one of the first employees of USinternetworking – maybe the first SaaS business ever.

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