Founders, Is It Better to Stay Focused on Subscription Analytics?
I think it's such an interesting point. I had a patrick olan, who's a ser of 99 designs, on the podcaster a while ago now and he spoke about a so of very similar a product stream that they'd built up which was pulling them away from their focus. It can be hard to kind of turn off on specific revenue channels as well. Again, any advice on how or frameworkst that founders can use to help them decide whether a particular sort of channel or focuss is not actually the right, right approach for them?
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The Startup Playbook Podcast
Insights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
My guest for Ep154 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder and CEO of ChartMogul, Nick Franklin.
ChartMogul is the leading subscription analytics platform for SaaS companies and Nick has had a unique approach to building the company.
He launched ChartMogul in 2014 as a solo founder, has grown a globally distributed team of 57 across 3 head quarters in Toronto, Berlin and Seoul and despite having spent over $20M in building their platform and company, he has not raised external funding over the last 4 years.
We covered a range of topics in this interview including:
A deep dive into Key SaaS metrics for startups
Why Nick has decided to “fundstrap” the business
Why he operates as both the CEO and Head of Product
ChartMogul’s approach to pricing strategy and why they introduced a free tier
& much more!
Timestamps
2.45 – Nick’s background and starting ChartMogul
3.53 – How the idea for tChartMogul came from his time working at Zendesk
7.32 – Pursuing a business idea when you’re working for another company and managing competitors launching before you do
11.07 – How competitors enhanced Nick’s conviction for their product
13.54 – Differentiating your business from competitors through finding your strengths and staying focussed on them
17.10 – Deciding what to focus on and why defining the target audience is so important
20.35 – Trying and failing with new product lines
27.10 – The importance of focusing on existing customers to reduce the churn rate
30.11 – The key metrics startups should be focusing on to track success
34.23 – The choice to raise early then moving focus to customer revenue as a source for growth
41.06 – Why ChartMogul have taken their approach to raising and their future plans
43.35 – The pricing strategy used by ChartMogul and why it was the best approach
47.18 – How to decide on the pricing strategy that is best for your business and making sure existing customers are comfortable when making pricing changes
52.32 – Choosing where to open offices around the world and how ChartMogul approached it
57.51 – How Covid-19 impacted how ChartMogul worked remotely
1.02.35 – How Nick manages being the Head of Product and CEO
1.05.12 – Getting in contact with Nick and ChartMogul
If you are planning on fundraising in the next 3-6 months and want to connect to VCs and Angel investors, apply to get featured in my monthly newsletter, Playbook Deal Flow. More details here.
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