729: Will Edelman Digital Creator Lead New AI Marketing World?

David Dunne. He's the CEO and co-founder of Velocidi, a marketing intelligence company that harnesses data for leading brands and agencies. In the 7 years since founding Velocidi, it enables marketers to make data-driven decisions that optimize marketing spend. David is currently leading the firm's next chapter into artificial intelligence.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Selling the Invisible
• What CEO do you follow? – Richard Branson
• Favorite online tool? — Tidal
• How many hours of sleep do you get?— 5-6
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Hurry up, things are changing fast, you have to move faster"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:07 – Nathan introduces David to the show
• 01:41 – Velocidi focuses on how AI can speed up insights
• 01:48 – Velocidi's technology has always been enabling the process of analysts driving the insights
• 02:22 – The analysts are Velocidi's customers
• 02:39 – Velocidi is a SaaS business selling licenses
• 03:01 – Pricing starts at $3K a month
• 03:23 – Average monthly RPU is around $6K
• 03:44 – Velocidi charges by the amount of data streams
• 04:20 – Velocidi uses API calls to bring in the data
• 04:42 – Velocidi was launched in 2010
• 05:19 – There are people who are with David in building Velocidi
• 05:44 – David was a part of a global business
• 06:11 – David was happy with Edelman, but he wanted to reinvent himself
• 07:46 – David was 43 when he started Velocidi
• 09:26 – Every entrepreneur takes risks
• 09:51 – David has always separated personal assets with work
• 10:15 – Velocidi was capital intensive for the first few years
• 10:56 – Velocidi has initially raised $3M from friends and families
• 11:01 – Velocidi just closed a $12M round
• 11:18 – David has ambitious plans for growing the business
• 11:49 – More capital allows you to have more options
• 12:10 – CAC
• 12:21 – Most of Velocidi's customers are large global agencies
• 12:31 – Velocidi is expanding into other industries
• 13:45 – LTV to CAC ratio
• 13:58 – David tries to look at some of the classic businesses for comparison
• 15:19 – Velocidi focuses on what they can give to customers
• 16:04 – Velocidi keeps their customers for at least 5 years
• 16:54 – Some of Velocidi's customers have thousands of customers and there's a lot of room to grow
• 17:39 – Velocidi is innovating their product at a much faster rate
• 17:55 – The innovations depend on the customer's' needs
• 18:21 – Velocidi is expanding their automated self-serve platform this year
• 18:40 – Velocidi has hundreds of customers
• 19:19 – Self-service means different things
• 20:08 – Analysts have been using excel and powerpoint
• 20:42 – Velocidi delivers the core-data and the clients tailor the data
• 21:11 – The quality of the data alongside a creative makes Velocidi's clients standout
  • 23:01 – David believes that data with creative is a better creative
• 23:55 – Average MRR
• 25:36 – David won't sell Velocidi
• 26:53 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

1. Entrepreneurs will always take risk—what matters is how big of a risk you're willing to take.
2. Focus on what you CAN commit to your customers.
3. Things change faster than you think; so KEEP moving and don't get left behind!

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