Arry Yu, the CEO and co-founder of GiftStarter - a consumer platform for crowd-sourcing gifts. Arry’s a leader in the space where creativity and technology meet. She worked as a consultant for Microsoft, Google and L’Oreal before launching her own startup. Listen as Nathan and Arry talk fundraising, working with co-founders, and what her mom thinks of her career.
Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What CEO do you follow? — Jonathan Sposado
What is your favorite online tool? — Autopilot
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I just had a baby
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Get away from your insecurities. It’s okay to mess things up - no one else knows what they’re doing either.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
02:05 – Welcoming Arry to the show
02:10 – Launched GiftStarter in July 2014
02:30 – After 12 years in services industry, Arry wanted a change
03:01 – Won 1st place on Hackathon and decided to launch
04:17 – GiftStarter lets consumers break a product into affordable chunks
04:33 – Contracts range from $2k to $20k each month
05:10 – “Basically crowdsourcing gifts”
05:40 – Makes money on an 8% transaction fee
06:00 – Makes commission on products sold
06:10 – Total revenue in 2015 was $12k
06:30 – Aiming for 50k in 2016
06:40 – Team of 3 full-time, 3 part-time
06:50 – Raised $525k via convertible note
07:10 – Product changed between fundraising round and today
08:00 – Question to Arry’s mom: “What do you think about Arry starting her own business?”
10:00 – Do you ever feel stuck because of angel investors?
10:30 – People expect us to innovate and change
13:29 – Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Don’t be controlled by your insecurities - trust yourself, and let yourself make mistakes
Accept that your start-up will change as you grow. It means you’re innovating and responding to your market, and it’s a good thing
No one else knows what they’re doing either. Do what you love.
Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives