SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders 742: This Founder Crowns Real Estate Agents "Mayors", Grows From $700k to $6.4M in Under 12 Months
Aug 5, 2017
21:56
Amanda Newman. When she was 26 and working as a relator in Liberty, Toronto, she created a website for local deals, events, and news. Soon, other realtors were approaching her about the website, and she realized it had the potential spread all across North America. Today, Park Bench, her company, has grown from a fun little marketing idea to help a struggling realtor, into a multi-million-dollar company with 27 employees and a rapid growth rate.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? – DotCom Secrets
- What CEO do you follow? – Gary Vaynerchuk
- Favorite online tool? — DocuSign
- How many hours of sleep do you get?— 7-9
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "To start writing down my goals"
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:54 – Amanda was in episode 353 of The Top
- 02:11 – In 2016, Amanda was doing $80K in MRR
- 02:16 - $4500 from upfront payment
- 02:25 – They build neighborhood focused website for real estate agents
- 03:07 – Amanda had 215 customers in 2016 with $880K revenue in 2015
- 03:15 – Each customer is paying $350 a month with a total of $70K MRR
- 03:20 – 5% churn, CAC of $400 and LTV of 20 months
- 03:26 - $7000 LTV with 8 people in the team
- 03:31- Founded in 2014
- 03:38 - Park Bench builds neighborhood websites
- 03:40 – They have the technology that aggregates local content
- 03:46 – They sell the exclusive rights to the neighborhood sites which are run by 1 real estate agent per neighborhood
- 03:53 - Park Bench provides training and guidance on how to use the website and leverage it
- 04:05 – "They become a conductor of their community"
- 04:18 - Park Bench currently over 1000 customers
- 04:46 – They invested a lot on Facebook advertising
- 05:00 - Park Bench gets 60-100 realtor inquiries who want to be the digital mayor of their neighborhood
- 05:10 - Park Bench has 3000 sq. ft. office with 30 employees
- 05:16 – In May, Park Bench hit $628K in revenue which is their biggest month by far
- 05:38 – It's the total revenue
- 05:38 – Last month, Park Bench sold to 150 realtors who have paid upfront of $4500-5000
- 05:57 – Churn is now 2.75% with 65-70% renewal rate
- 07:18 - $628K May revenue divided by $5000 to get 126 customers
- 07:38 – 75 existing customers and 50 new customers
- 09:00 – CAC is $676 and LTV is around $13K or 3 years
- 09:51 – Currently, Amanda isn't sure where to spend their money so they're investing more on Facebook ads
- 09:58 – They track the leads they get daily
- 10:16 – The Facebook algorithm is making it more expensive now to get new customers
- 10:25 – They invest more on content and wanted to drive more organic traffic
- 10:40 – They spend $6500 on ads monthly
- 11:02 – "We're just growing our business"
- 11:23 – On personal wealth creation, Amanda only thinks of being happy
- 11:37 – "I don't have to raise money, I don't have to sell the company"
- 11:40 – Amanda loves her team and enjoys being a part of it
- 12:15 – Gross margin is over 90%
- 12:45 – The investment deal should be strategic and can be from, like Keller Williams, for Amanda to accept it
- 13:00 – Amanda wants to access to more real estate agents
- 13:41 - Park Bench has country managers who work with clients whenever they need to
- 13:54 - Park Bench is starting to offer realtors other things they need like in marketing
- 14:02 - Park Bench knows lead generation too
- 14:30 – Amanda's parents sold their company to invest in real estate
- 14:50 – Amanda is still thinking if she will invest in real estate too
- 15:04 – "At this point, our best return is to invest in ourselves"
- 15:27 – Amanda's dad has a foundation and is currently in Kenya
- 18:02 – The Famous Five
- 20:46 – $1.9M 2016 revenue
- 20:53 – 2017 target revenue is $6.3M and currently on track
3 Key Points:
- Have a reliable support system that will make your customers be stickier.
- With Facebook's ever changing algorithms, it's better to invest more on creating great content to drive more organic traffic and leads.
- Write down your goals so you can keep track of them.
Resources Mentioned:
- 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
- GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
- Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
- Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- 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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives