EP 437: SaaS $10m Raised, $8m+ 2015 Revenue, The Algorithmic Mckinsey with CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal

Anand Sanwal, CEO and co-founder of CB Insights, a company that provides predictive intelligence for emerging technology trends, startups, and corporate. Their customers include Cisco, Marketo, and Red Hat, just to name a few. Prior to CB Insights, Anand managed the $50 million Chairman’s Innovation Fund at American Express.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Bezos
• Favorite online tool? — Gmail

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “I wish”
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Be patient”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:42 – Nathan introduces Anand to the show
• 02:45 – “If you buy something for 2 and sell it for 1, you will not make it up in volume”
• 03:12 – He was in-charge of spending money
• • 03:25 – Sent to London for Cosmo Europe
  • 03:40 – Overspent
• 04:00 – Rationalizing the expenses
• 04:45 – Worked in American Express after Cosmo
• 06:25 – Salary in American Express
• • 06:55 – “Decided to take the plunge”
• 07:30 – CB Insights
• • 07:46 – Every industry is under attack by technology
  • 08:09 – Monthly customer pay
  • 08:34 – “Use our data to create a sense of urgency”
  • 09:20 – Tracking the competitors
  • 10:00 – Using algorithm on the data
• 10:30 – Number of paying customers
• • 10:45 – Average of pricing
• 11:25 – Total MRR last August
• 11:40 – Hoping for 8-figure revenue this year
• 12:12 – Team size
• • 12:25 – Some are based in New York
• 13:05 – Exact MRR last month
• 13:30 – “Everybody pays upfront”
• 14:14 – Individual customer acquisition
• • 14:40 – Gross revenue churn
• 15:20 – Lifetime value
• • 15:29 – 20% churn just to be conservative
  • 15:49 - $200,000 lifetime value
• 16:16 – Funds raised
• 16:46 – Most customers are VCs
• 18:18 – Jon Sherry is the other founder
• 19:18 – No current acquisition talks
• 19:32 – Connect with Anand through his website and Twitter
• 21:05 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Do not be afraid to take the plunge—there are risks but just do it.
• Things happen for a reason and believe in your life plan.
• There’s no absolute certainties in life—only right places and right times.

Resources Mentioned:

• 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 quality of Toptal  developers.
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• 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.
• CBInsights.com – Anand’s website
• @cbinsights – Anand’s business’ Twitter handle
• @asanwal – Anand’s Twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives