EP 540: Cliently Hits $8k MRR, Aims for $5m Valuation Next Round with CEO Spencer Farber

Spencer Farber. He is the CEO and founder of Cliently and he's been in the industry for 10+ years working across many spaces. He discovered one thing—the constant pain for companies is to define creative ways to generate leads and THAT is what he's trying to solve with Cliently.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Marc Benioff's books
• What CEO do you follow? – Mikita Mikado
• Favorite online tool? — Trello
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – People are going to throw curveballs and you just need to understand how to deal with them

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:42 – Nathan introduces Spencer to the show
• 02:12 – Cliently helps a client engage with prospects
• 02:23 – A lead is only valuable if you're able to do something with it
• 02:33 – Cliently is a SaaS model
• • 02:40 – Cliently's subscription plans starts at $99 to $599 a month
• 02:50 – Average RPU
• 03:18 – There are clients who pay annually
• 03:45 – They currently have 70-80 customers
• 04:02 – Cliently is bootstrapped with $30K and friends and family with $75K
• 04:22 – Cliently was launched in February 2016
• 05:00 – Spencer shares about a client in Australia and how they are using Cliently
• • 05:20 – The client is BigReviewTV
  • 05:28 – Cliently creates custom campaigns for them
• 06:10 – "We are not trying to be a CRM but we are trying to put the pieces together that are essentially going to help engagement"
• 06:45 – Cliently is using different APIs
• 07:00 – Spencer is looking to partner with Bond.co in the future
• 07:21 – Spencer shares how Cliently is going to beat the "other guys" in their space
• 08:12 - Spencer wanted to raise capital
• 08:54 – Cliently is using multiple sources for their leads
• 09:49 – Cliently's target MRR
• 09:58 – Spencer would raise $500K on an equity round
• • 10:30 – Spencer would give up 10-15% to get the target MRR
• 11:06 – Spencer shares how Cliently's system is unique
• 11:34 – Team size
• 12:05 – Gross customer churn
• 13:05 – Team location
• 15:00 – The Famous Five
• 17:18 – Connect with Spencer through email

3 Key Points:

• A lead is only valuable if you're able to do something with it.
• Stand out in your space—give your client more reasons to stick with you.
• If you have a dream, pursue it.

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
• Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
• Spencer@Cliently.com – Spencer's email address
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives