EP 500: $5M Funding, $1.3M Revenue For LGBT Lifestyle Traveling like AirBNB with CEO Matthieu Jost

Matthieu Jost, who founded his first company when he was 17 and exited it when he was 21. Most recently, he started Misterb&b in 2015 and has become the world's largest gay hotel brand in the world. Listen as Matthieu shares how he managed his first business at an early age and how Misterb&b grew exponentially in less than 4 years.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – N/A
• What CEO do you follow? – Brian Chesky

• Favorite online tool? — RJ Metrics
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Being less naïve maybe"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:31 – Nathan introduces Matthieu to the show
• 02:00 – Matthieu's first company that posted TV series was sold to PlanetSeries (French equivalent of IMDB) for about $1 million
• • 02:33 – The team composed of 4 people
  • 02:53 – The company sold series' merchandise
  • 03:18 – Matthieu built the company
  • 03:38 – Matthieu studied Computer Science for two years to work in a radio station
• 04:38 – Matthieu shares how Misterb&b is different from Airbnb
• 05:00 – Misterb&b is a marketplace
• 05:25 – The sellers are the homeowners
• 05:36 – "It's not only for gay men, we are open to everyone in the LGBT community"
• • 05:45 – There are straight women using Misterb&b because they find it cool and much safer
• 06:10 – Misterb&b is taking 4% from the host and 12% from the traveler
• 06:27 – Average booking for 3 nights is $300
• 06:40 – Misterb&b was founded at the last quarter of 2014
• 06:50 – Misterb&b was bootstrapped for 6 months and went on raising capital
• • 07:02 – Total funds raised was $5 million
• 07:10 – Team size is 22
• 07:44 – Currently, there are 80,000 hosts in Misterb&b in over 135 countries
• 08:00 – Misterb&b has an average of 80,000 bookings per month
• 08:22 – Most of the travelers are solo travelers
• 09:16 – First year total transaction volume is 300K
• 09:35 – Total transaction volume for 2015 is $3M and 2016 total transaction volume goal is $7M
• 09:58 – Misterb&b is seasonal
• 11:00 – Misterb&b's 2015 average revenue is $480,000
• 11:12 – Misterb&b's 2016 revenue aim is $1.3 million
• 11:24 – Misterb&b is working on different types of ads
• 12:05 – There are around 300K people on Misterb&b's email list
• 12:12 – Average opening click-thru rate is 14%
• • 12:50 – People are paying Misterb&b a flat-rate and they are getting 15,000 clicks
  • 13:00 – Misterb&b also works with non-media companies
• 13:46 – 40% of Misterb&b's travelers are repeaters
• 14:28 – Follow Matthieu's company on Facebook and visit the website
• 16:33 – The Famous Five
• • 17:16 – RJ Metrics was at The Top Episode 233

3 Key Points:

• It is always advantageous to start your business as EARLY as possible.
• Life is about making a choice; don't be afraid to step out and make that decision.
• Misterb&b is about building a worldwide community that promotes safe travel without discrimination.

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
• Facebook – Matthieu's business Facebook account
• Misterbandb.com – Matthieu's business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives