724: The $70m+ Recruiting Company You've Never Heard Of

Colin Day. He's the chairman and CEO of a company called iCIMS which he founded in 2000 with a vision to deliver applicant tracking software, emphasizing easy-to-use, unparalleled, customer service. iCIMS is the largest stand-alone provider of talent acquisition software in the industry and stands among Forbes top 100 fastest growing private cloud companies in the country

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Good to Great
• What CEO do you follow? – Satya Nadella and Marc Benioff
• Favorite online tool? — Office 365
• How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Trust your gut and trust your instincts"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:08 – Nathan introduces Colin to the show
• 01:47 – iCIMS know they're winning by customer base
• 02:02 – iCIMS is next to Oracle
• 02:37 – iCIMS has a bedrock product that is their applicant tracking system
• 03:07 – iCIMS is a SaaS business
• 03:39 – iCIMS has multiple products, but the main product is the tracking system
  • 03:52 – It handles compliance around data
• 04:14 – Pricing varies
• 04:21 – Recruitment becomes an important part of a company when they reach 100 employees
• 04:37 – iCIMS has price buckets that fit the smaller market, mid-sized and high-end markets
• 05:10 – How Colin started a SaaS business in 1999
• 05:17 – Colin graduated from Cornell with a degree in Psychology
• 05:23 – Colin wanted to do something entrepreneurial
• 05:38 – Colin's first client was from New Jersey
• 05:56 – Colin was logged into Comrise's proprietary system
• 06:21 – Colin then thought to buy the rights to Comrise's proprietary system to start his own company
• 06:48 – Colin started as a recruiter in 1997
• 07:36 – The CEO of Comrise believed in Colin
• 08:43 – Colin saw an opportunity and bought the system
• 08:57 – The CEO of Comrise loaned Colin the capital for iCIMS
• 09:40 – When Colin was working as a recruiter, they couldn't find enough technology to work
• 09:55 – It was a "hey day" when Colin spun out
• 10:20 – The capital was called a payroll loan
  • 10:48 – Colin will call the CEO every time he needed money
• 11:11 – Colin didn't negotiate equity upfront
• 11:37 – iCIMS was charging monthly
• 12:23 – Current team size is around 650
• 12:33 – In November, they'll be moving from New Jersey to Old Bell Labs HQ
• 13:06 – iCIMS has grown without any outside money other than the loaned capital
• 13:17 – iCIMS has brought in a private equity company
• 14:14 – The money from the private equity company went directly towards the equity and not on the operational side of the company
• 14:29 – Besides getting an outside investor, it is also a good choice to get a private equity company
• 15:22 – Colin has a desire to win
• 16:12 – iCIMS's mandate is to convince the world to be contrarian
• 16:51 – Colin wants iCIMS to be the definition of winning
• 17:30 – Colin tries to always stay focused
• 18:18 – CAC
• 18:43 – Average annual contract price is around $30K
• 19:50 – Average MRR
• 20:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

1. Don't be afraid to ask someone about their business plan.
2. Always desire to win and stay focused – it works.
3. Trust your instincts; don't doubt yourself.

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
• 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