EP 616: His Coffee Shops Do $1.8M But His Crowdfunding Platform is More Impressive With $550k 2016 Revenue on 486 Projects With $2.5M Funded with CEO McCabe Callahan

McCabe Callahan who has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He began with a coffee shop named Mugs Coffee Lounge, which has been operating successfully in Fort Collins, Colorado, since 2002. He began a company called Community Funded, in 2011, out of his passion for providing technology that connects, supports and empowers people.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – E-Myth and Good to Great
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? — Slack
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Pay attention to numbers"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:32 – Nathan introduces McCabe to the show
• 02:33 – Mugs Coffee Lounge is McCabe's first real business
• 02:43 – McCabe went to Colorado State University
• 02:50 – McCabe was coming back from Europe when he had the idea of the Mugs Coffee Lounge
• • 02:56 – Mugs Coffee Lounge was the first wireless internet café in Fort Collins
• 03:11 – Building relationships is the key to a successful coffee lounge
• 03:36 – First year revenue
• 04:04 – McCabe is 36; but when he was 24, he was already opening 5 coffee shops
• 04:22 – Total topline of all the coffee shops and restaurants
• 04:58 – McCabe didn't raise any capital
• 05:31 – McCabe's credit card debt when he started Mugs Coffee Lounge
• 05:48 – McCabe also had debt from other sources
• 06:43 – "Coffee is a good business to be in—there's no recession"
• 06:58 – McCabe shares where he sells his business to
• 07:07 – McCabe's income is now generating well
• 07:16 – McCabe did $1.6M in sales in 2016
• 07:30 – McCabe shares how he started with Community Funded
• • 08:17 – McCabe had to find a way to secure a loan to open up a location
  • 08:31 – The amount McCabe wanted to loan
  • 08:45 – 2009-2010 was the hardest time for McCabe
  • 09:41 – McCabe was about to give up when one of his regulars offered help
  • 10:05 – 5 months after the McCabe's next shop opened, he heard about NPR's Kickstarter
  • 10:20 – McCabe thought, "What if he could something like Kickstarter, but for communities?"
• 10:44 – Community Funded started out bootstrapped and just recently raised a round
• 11:03 – Community Funded first round raised $40K-75K
• • 11:29 – Total funding was $2.3M
  • 11:38 – Rounds are equity round
• 11:50 – McCabe shares Community Funded's valuation
• • 12:18 – People believed in Community Funded's vision
• 12:38 – Community Funded's is a SaaS model
• 13:46 – Sample of fundraising raised in Community Funded
• 14:26 – Community Funded's focus
• 14:53 – Current Community Funded's revenue and revenue goal for 2017
• 15:54 – Total transaction volume in 2016
• 16:03 – 2016 total revenue
• 17:21 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Lack of funds is not a hindrance in building a company.
• There's nothing wrong sharing your problems with your regulars – you don't know who can offer you help.
• Stick and pay close attention to your numbers.

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
• Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• 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