Chris Brisson, the founder of Call Loop website. Call Loop is a voice and text messaging service that’s used by a huge range of clients. Listen as Chris and Nathan talk buying out a co-founder, building a company while working full-time, and how to pivot with an established product.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – Stealth Marketing
What CEO do you follow? — James Clear
Favourite online tool? — ClickFunnels and ConvertFlow
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—That being young is an advantage - take the opportunity to make mistakes
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:22 – Nathan’s introduction
01:40 – Welcoming Chris to the show
02:00 – Call Loop is a voice and text messaging service
02:22 – Had the idea in 2009; business was founded in 2011
03:00 – It took 3 years to build the software as a side project
03:55 – Put in $10,000 to kick-start the project
04:12 – Bought out his business partners in 2015
04:50 – Two investors put in $90k total for 7.5% equity
05:55 – How did buying out his co-founders work?
06:20 – One co-founder had a full-time job and didn’t want to be hands-on
07:20 – Chris wasn’t financially experienced - hadn’t put caps of cliffs on the equity
08:10 – Co-founder had 25%
09:10 – Bought out for less than $100k
09:30 – “We have SaaS components but we’re not really a SaaS business”
10:00 – Different customers have extremely different needs - they buy credits differently
10:45 – Topline revenue in 2015 was $385k
11:25 – Reinvested $150k in the company in 2015
12:15 – Revenue goal in 2016 is $430-450k
12:35 – Around 1000 unique customers each month
13:54 – Sending around 400k text messages each month
14:34 – Goal is to develop the software behind the product, add features, and scale
15:45 – Chris hopes to pivot towards marketing automation
18:18 – Connect with Chris at the Call Loop website
19:55 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Youth is an advantage. Don’t be scared to act because you’re too young.
When you’re distributing equity with co-founders, by sure to have a vesting schedule. You’ll hugely reduce the risk of problems down the line.
Look for opportunities to pivot, even when you’re an established company. The market changes; technology changes: make sure you keep up.
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