EP 568: 3,000 Brands Have Discounts on BonusWay, $63M in 2016 Volume, $5m Revenues, 40 employees, $9m raised with CEO Tatu Koistinen

Tatu Koistinen, the CEO of Bonusway. His background is in loyalty and digital marketing and he has many growth stories to share. He's now building the most social e-commerce loyalty platform on earth. He's currently focused on building the leadership and culture of the business and he's also an Ironman triathlete.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Halo Effect
• What CEO do you follow? – n/a
• Favorite online tool? — Asana
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Trust yourself, act quicker, and be brave

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:16 – Nathan introduces Tatu to the show
• 02:00 – Bonusway creates more sales for ecommerce businesses
• 02:09 – Bonusway gets compensated when they create sales for a particular business
• 02:21 – Bonusway inspires consumers by informing them of the newest sales and shopping opportunities
• 02:48 – Bonusway is similar to a marketplace
• 03:15 – The companies that are partnered with Bonusway
• • 03:40 – The biggest partner has the most amount of sales generated by Bonusway
• 03:53 – The sales that Bonusway has generated for Hotels.com
• 04:20 – The ways Bonusway connects with Hotels.com's customers
• 05:15 – Total volume of sales from all the partners combined is €60M
• 05:39 – Bonusway gets commission
• 06:20 – Sample computation of Bonusway's commission
• 07:17 – Bonusway's commission percentage varies per company
• 08:00 – Average 2016 revenue
• 09:10 – Tatu's idea for Bonusway's business model
• 10:05 – Bonusway was founded in 2011
• 10:24 – The number of people who bought in Bonusway's platform
• 10:50 – Bonusway is currently partnered with 3000 companies
• 11:10 – 2017 goal
• 12:00 – Total funding of Bonusway is €6.9M
• 12:20 – Bonusway had a previous capital raise
• 12:39 – Team size is 40
• • 12:50 – Based all in Europe
• 13:10 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Be in the space where you feel most confident and know how things work.
• Having a unique business model equates to less competition in the space.
• Trust yourself, act quicker, and be brave.

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
• Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives