EP 482: Snip.ly $50k MRR, 1000 Customers For Lead Gen on Social Media Sharing with CEO Michael Cheng

Michael Cheng, co-founder of Sniply, an innovative new marketing tool that helps companies caption the value of content sharing in social media. Sniply links has generated over 150 million clicks and is used by notable brands such as IBM, Salesforce and Greenpeace.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs Biography
• What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs

• Favorite online tool? — Google Translate
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't rush it"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:39 – Nathan introduces Michael to the show
• 02:09 – Sniply is a content marketing platform
• • 02:11 – It allows people to generate ROI from the links they share
  • 02:30 – It is a SaaS subscription model
  • • 02:32 – Premium has a customized ability on call to action and other features
• 02:49 – Sniply was launched in 2014
• 02:59 – Sniply generates money from the subscription
• • 03:20 – Price range is $39 per month to $3000 per month
• 03:29 – Monthly RPU is $70-80
• 03:45 – Most of the users are the social media team of a company
• • 03:51 – Dropbox, Outbrain and Autodesk use Sniply
• 04:42 – The "Name your Price" option on Sniply's website
• • 05:03 – The "Name your Price" option allows Sniply to gauge the customers' needs and price range
  • 05:20 – It also allows Sniply to make an exception for non-profit groups that can't afford the price
  • 05:33 – It gives them a better idea of how to fill in the gaps when they release a new feature
  • 05:48 – "People are very reasonable when naming their own price"
  • 06:25 – Sniply can still reject customized requests
  • 06:50 – It's difficult to measure the downside
  • 07:06 – There's a dedicated page for Enterprise
• 08:33 – Sniply is currently hitting 12,000 to 30,000 registered users
• • 08:44 – Revenue is $600,000 and about $50,000 a month
  • 09:00 – One thousand paying customers
• 09:12 – Sniply is bootstrapped
• 09:50 – Team size
• • 10:48 – A small team helps Michael to prioritize and be more flexible
  • 11:10 – Some startups invest in wrong features and wrong people
  • 11:30 – They are based in Vancouver, Canada
• 11:37 – Gross customer churn per month is 5%
• 11:45 – Customer acquisition cost on average
• • 11:53 – Michael doesn't do ads
  • 12:00 – Cultivate relationships with bloggers
  • 12:26 – Most of the bloggers are also marketers
• 12:40 – Total customer growth per month is 5%
• 13:46 – Connect with Michael on Twitter or email
• 16:08 – Total 2015 revenue is $400,000 and aiming for $600,000 this year
• 16:23 – Michael is now investing on a new platform that automatically converts blog posts to videos
• 17:07 – Not currently looking at acquisition
• 17:20 – Michael owns 33% of the business; there are two other founders
• 17:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• A small team size has a lot of advantages.
• Business takes time—don't rush it.
• Having a "Name your Price" option gives a company a better idea of the needs and desires of customers together with their preferred price.

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 the quality of Toptal developers.
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the 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.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• 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.
• @Michaelhsc – Michael's Twitter handle
• Mike@Snip.ly – Michael's email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives