EP 591: Now Interact Closes $5M Round On $18M Pre Money Helping Enterprises With OmniChannel Data with CEO Magnus Astrom

Magnus Åström. He's the CEO and founder of Now Interact, a machine-learning, SaaS platform for omni channel optimization. He's also the founder of InLead, a business consultant and operations company which was sold in 2010 and prior to that, he was founder of Primelog, a transportation management SaaS platform which was sold in 2006.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Blue Ocean Strategy
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A
• Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn
• 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 focus"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:35 – Nathan introduces to the show
• 02:17 – Primelog started in 2000
• • 02:29 - Primelog connects transportation providers with transportation buyers
  • 02:57 - Annual revenue
  • 03:10 – Primelog was sold to Swedish group
• 04:44 – They raised 4.5M
• 04:57 – Inlead's idea is to help customers sell in C-level
• • 05:39 – Inlead turned out to be too heavy on the consultancy side, so Magnus sold it
  • 05:48 – It didn't turn out as a software play
  • 06:10 – Inlead's annual revenue was $1.5 M
• 06:27 – Now Interact offers machine-based algorithm software to large businesses
• 06:40 – The software personalizes how each customer is offered a customer service channel
• 07:00 – Businesses get less calls from customer service
• 07:30 – Now Interact tracks the data of how customers behave on a website and how they interact with a customer service
• 08:06 – Magnus goal is to get telco giants like AT&T and Verizon as customers
• 09:04 – Now Interact has a group that chooses their customization
• 09:22 – Now Interact is a SaaS model
• 09:31 – Average customer pay per month is $10K
• 09:39 – Now Interact was founded in 2010
• 09:45 – Now Interact raised $100K in 2012
• • 10:46 – Now Interact has raised a total of $7M
• 11:20 – Customer churn
• 11:31 – Team size
• 11:47 – Headquartered in Stockholm
• 12:04 – CAC is $30K
• 12:22 – Now Interact has salespeople and are doing paid content marketing
• • 12:58 – "Sales play a lot"
• 13:30 – Magnus discusses what they'll do with the capital they've raised
• • 13:45 – Some would go to the expansion in the USA
• 14:05 – 2015 total revenue
• 14:30 – 2016 total revenue
• 15:00 – Magnus shared how he negotiated for the valuation
• 15:45 – The top 3 most important terms when negotiating
• • 15:48 – The preference structure, the lock-in and the investors you want to have
• 18:00 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• You can choose to close your company if it is not going in the direction you intended it to go.
• Valuation is not always everything—there are more things to consider when negotiating.
• Stay focused, don't take on more than you can handle.

Resources Mentioned:

• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
• Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
• Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives