Matthew Bernman of Sonar, a business that makes is super convenient for customers to chat with the companies they buy from. Listen as Nathan asks Matthew about his journey into the startup game, Sonar’s financial backing, and their long-term development goals.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:09 – Nathan’s introduction
01:39 – Welcoming Matthew to the show
01:52 – Why he left 500 Startups
02:08 – Matthew always wanted to jump back into the startup game
03:09 – Used to work with Teamly—a company that folded
04:10 – Convertible note versus equity
05:03 – Lead Cap negotiation
05:34 – How Sonar makes money
06:00 – 120 paying customers, on average contributing $2K per month
07:30 – Customer acquisition is primarily through word of mouth
08:05 – Month over month revenue increase is 35%
09:20 – Inbound leads tend to convert at a much higher rate
09:48 – 3rd party integration will also be a growth driver
10:22 – Want to hit $1M ARR in 2016
11:49 – The interest is in taking a lasting vestment in the company
Famous 5
Favorite Book? – None
What CEO do you follow?— None
What is your favorite online tool?— Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—It’s all about who you know and forming good relationships—you can’t do it yourself.
2 Key Points:
You need help so involve other people in your life.
Understand the differences between a convertible note and an equity round.
Resources Mentioned:
Edgar – Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over – time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn’t have to work or pay for.
Host Gator - Powerful web hosting made easy and affordable.
Trello – The online tool Matthew can’t live without
Listen to The Top if you want to hear from the worlds TOP entrepreneurs on how much they sold last month, how they are selling it, and what they are selling - 7 days a week in 20 minute interviews! Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop
The Top is FOR YOU if you are:
A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)
STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)
An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).
Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.
Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop