SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Craig Fitzpatrick. He's a serial entrepreneur, self-professed child nerd, and CEO of PageCloud. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Biography of Steve Jobs What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs Favorite online tool? — N/A Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Jump in while there's still nothing to lose" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan introduces Craig to the show 01:48 – PageCloud is a SaaS business 02:10 – PageCloud is different from Weebly and Wix, but they are in the same space 03:28 – PageCloud has reinvented the experience for desktop publishing and puts it into your browser 03:56 – Average customer pay per month 04:08 – RPU 04:22 – PageCloud was launched in September 2014 04:48 – Craig started PageCloud as a hobby 04:48 – Craig has been frustrated with desktop publishing in the past 05:20 – Craig shares how he started the planning and creating of PageCloud 06:15 – Craig's previous company 06:45 – Team size 06:52 – The team is based in Canada 07:05 – PageCloud is well-funded 07:17 – PageCloud has raised a few rounds 07:40 – First three rounds are convertible note and the fourth one is a priced round 07:55 – Average number of customers 08:15 – MRR 08:24 – PageCloud was in Kickstarter 09:00 – Below $200K MRR 09:23 – Craig shares how they pre-sell: 10:00 – They built a landing page from TechCrunch's promo video 10:30 – Craig did a lot of marketing before the launch 11:19 – Starting price point 11:30 – Average number of units sold 12:21 – Craig learned how to do effective marketing in 6 months 12:40 – Craig put in $1M in paid advertising 12:56 – The payback was just after a month 13:10 – Gross customer churn 14:30 – CAC 14:50 – LTV 15:32 – 2017 goal 17:01 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to invest in marketing – it shows that you believe in your product. Be innovative—make a change in an industry that is quite stationary. There is no time better than the present to get started. 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

Mats Horn. He's the CEO and founder of the Swedish tech company, Tinitell. Together with a team of Scandinavian industrial designers, telecom experts and engineers, he developed one of the first wearable devices with cellular connectivity for voice and data. Tinitell wrist phone is an ingeniously simple wearable phone for kids with call and smart location features as well as an intuitive, one button, voice guidance interaction. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Sapiens What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Mats would tell himself to not be in a rush and take life as "unseriously" as possible Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:31 – Nathan introduces Mats to the show 02:12 – Tinitell is a simple mobile phone that kids wear 02:20 – It's a smart locator for parents 02:35 – Kids can make and receive calls 02:57 – Tinitell is independent from its smartphone administrators 03:03 – It is like a robot in a simple product 03:13 – The smartphone app is how the parents control what's in it 03:36 – Tinitell needs to have a SIM card and it is already provided 03:50 – Tinitell is partnered with a telco 04:48 – Tinitell was launched in Kickstarter in 2014 04:54 – Shipping started after a year and a half 05:16 – Tinitell has shipped 15K units 05:30 – Tinitell sold 1,102 units in Kickstarter 05:41 – Tinitell has raised $150K in Kickstarter 05:51 – "It's tough making the world's smallest mobile phone" 06:03 – Tinitell has put it in additional $4M for funds 06:18 – "Most money came from VC companies" 06:25 – Tinitell has raised thrice 06:36 – All are equity rounds 06:53 – Mats shares why he raised in smaller rounds 07:35 – In doing smaller rounds, Mats and his team wouldn't dilute themselves 08:03 – Mats was working as a consultant before Tinitell 08:25 – Mats realized that he wanted his own company 08:29 – Mat's idea of Tinitell 09:15 – Team size is 30 09:25 – Average number of customers 09:43 – The critical numbers of Mats 10:12 – Mats looks at the conversion rate and general market activity 10:50 – Tinitell's competition 11:20 – What people should look at in conversion rate 11:40 – Tinitell has 4 colors 12:03 – The bestsellers are the darker colors 12:36 – Markup vs. cost 13:49 – Mats shares about making a physical product 15:15 – Mats shares how he finds his suppliers 15:32 – "I knew I had to go to China" 15:48 – Mats has to have a network of suppliers 16:29 – Mats reached out to everyone he knows who could possibly help him 18:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Know your numbers and track them consistently. Your network can be your advantage in sourcing and creating your product. Enjoy life—take things slow and don't be in a rush. 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

Peter Schlecht. He's the founder and CEO of The SaaS Co whose aim is to change sales through artificial intelligence as they have launched their new product, Lisa. He's a 30-year old from Germany—a poker and e-sports playing, politician who became an entrepreneur. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Der Weg zum erfolgreichen Unternehmer What CEO do you follow? – Felix Staeritz Favorite online tool? — OneTap Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Stop earlier with politicians, don't do your masters and study entrepreneurship earlier" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Peter to the show 01:37 – Peter makes more money in entrepreneurship than being a politician 01:58 – The SaaS Co is an agency for B2B lead generation 01:55 – The SaaS Co is subscription based 02:06 – The SaaS Co's focus is Lisa 02:14 – Lisa is a bot for salespeople 02:18 – Lisa reads and replies to your email 02:52 – Lisa doesn't delete emails and won't reply if she can't find an answer to an email 03:08 – The SaaS Co was founded in July, 2014 03:17 – First year revenue 03:22 – The SaaS Co was selling the service of full-sales for tech companies 03:34 – The SaaS Co specializes in appointment setting for B2B tech companies 03:51 – The SaaS Co was providing 4 services 04:23 – The payment depends on a company size 04:44 – The fee for every qualified lead 05:05 – Current number of customers 05:19 – MRR 06:12 – No charge for Lisa, at the moment 06:20 – Anyone can sign up for Lisa 06:41 – The SaaS Co was bootstrapped until last year 06:53 – The SaaS Co raised €500K from angels and €300K from The European Union funding 07:55 – Peter shares how they get new customers 09:03 – The SaaS Co doesn't buy leads from other sources for verification 09:08 – The SaaS Co uses datavalidations.com to validate their leads 09:38 – Peter uses Full Contact 09:50 – The SaaS Co finding leads process 11:15 – The SaaS Co scrapes data from open sources 11:40 – The SaaS Co tried other sources, but the price point has to be considered 12:10 – Team size 12:16 – There are 17 developers and the rest are on sales 12:30 – No paid marketing, at the moment 12:44 – Customer churn 13:06 – The SaaS Co needs to keep on adding new customers to sustain growth 13:55 – The SaaS Co's big focus is on Lisa and Peter believes she will add more value to the company 14:55 – The SaaS Co is based in Berlin 15:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: There are many things to consider when it comes to subscribing to other sources for leads; price is a major factor. One way to get people to sign up for a new product is to offer it for free. Get into business early as early as possible. 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

Christof Wittig. He's a serial, software entrepreneur and investor. Currently, he's the founder and CEO of Hornet Networks, the world's second largest gay social network and is a managing partner of Strive, based in San Francisco. He's an investor and board member of various companies including Enish, Metago, KeepSafe, VirtaHealth, Black Medicine, Movie Pilot, Box Fish and App Annie. He has been active in the US, Germany, and throughout Asia. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? – Sami Inkinen Favorite online tool? — Capshare.com Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Christof wished he told himself to be bold, that he didn't need a degree, and to follow his dreams Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:19 – Nathan introduces Christof to the show 03:09 – Strive and Hornet came at the same time to Christof 03:32 – Hornet started as a side project 03:50 – Christof exited Servo Software before Hornet 04:00 – Hornet is Christof's first consumer business 04:10 – Servo Software was launched in 2004 05:02 – Christof sold Servo software in 2010 05:20 – Hornet's capital came from that exit 05:48 – Christof is now 48 05:58 – Nathan had Sean Howell, Hornet's co-founder in Episode 440 06:20 – Sean focused on marketing 06:50 – Sean and Christof are running it together 07:10 – Hornet had a subscription model and premium option 07:50 – Hornet's revenue is 2/3 from subscription and 1/3 from ads 08:00 – Hornet's future revenue model 08:28 – GHI 09:02 – Hornet raised their $8M in their Series A 10:05 – Hornet's focus is the advertising revenue 10:46 – "Our focus is to get more engagement" 10:57 – Engagement is measured through sessions 11:12 – Peak days 11:30 – User base 11:41 – 3M monthly active and 1.5M daily active 12:09 – The key metrics to track the number of sessions 12:30 – Christof shares about Tinder 13:16 – Hornet sells CPM and provides premium exposure 14:00 – Hornet has a feed model to drive more organic traffic 14:34 – Hornet has the following features 15:20 – Hornet's published price for CPM 15:56 – The number of advertisers currently working with Hornet 16:28 – Hornet uses TFP for their ads 17:10 – Hornet has the largest gay media newsroom in the USA 17:30 – The story feed makes the interaction in the gay community easier 18:05 – Christof shares where they spend the $8M 18:25 – Hornet also spends in marketing 18:39 – Christof wants users to understand that Hornet isn't just about dating 19:00 – User growth 19:30 – Hornet takes the new concept of the gay app to the next level 20:14 – Hornet is about creating a new digital space for the gay community 21:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: They gay community needs a place where it's not just about dating, but having interactions with the whole community. The focus isn't always on the number of users, specially if you're driving traffic well. A degree isn't as important as just following your dreams. 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

Chris Golec. He's the CEO and founder of Demandbase. Chris is an entrepreneur and prior to starting Demandbase, founded one of the most successful B2B software and data solutions in the late 90s called Supplybase. With previous positions at GE and DuPont, Chris uses his wealth of experience to position Demandbase as one of the most rapidly expanding B2B marketing companies in the space. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – N/A What CEO do you follow? – Keith Krach Favorite online tool? — Amazon and Skype Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Go for it sooner" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show 02:10 – Demandbase is a marketing technology company focused on B2B marketers 02:46 – Demandbase sells subscriptions to large enterprises 03:10 – Chris used his experience in GE to find what salespeople need 03:40 – Average customer pay per month 04:09 – Demandbase has raised $90M 04:51 – Demandbase was launched in 2007 05:20 – Demandbase started pushing the account-based marketing technology 05:32 – Chris explains what an account-based marketing technology is 06:03 – Supplybase was in a supply-chain space 06:37 – Chris started as a consultant 07:04 – Chris saw the huge opportunity from his clients' experiences 07:33 – Chris shares how he determines the red flags in revenue plans 09:05 – First year revenue 10:17 – Demandbase had their first round in 2007 for $2.5M 10:33 – It was an equity round 11:00 – Chris shares what he deems important to know before raising a round 11:07 – Have a goal 11:22 – Know that "it's not easy raising money" 12:00 – Demandbase currently has 400 customers 12:23 – Average MRR 12:40 – Team size is under 250 13:44 – Gross customer churn 13:59 – "Even if we don't add any customers this year, we'll still grow by 10% next year" 14:14 – Chris shares how the teams are designated by customers 15:00 – CAC 15:13 – Average contract value 15:40 – Demandbase is in San Francisco 16:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you see an opportunity, go for it! Raising money is not a walk in the park – know your goal beforehand. Don't wait around, go for your dreams as soon as you can. 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

Andy Lürling and his business partner, Menno Bischops. Andy has over 15 years of experience in the startup world and is truly a serial entrepreneur. He has tons of experience in corporate and the corporate environment including strategy, business development and product development in entertaining and series gaming, VR, AR and online applications. He and Menno are working on a company called VRee. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Exponential Organization - Andy What CEO do you follow? – Andy Lürling Favorite online tool? — Google Maps and Google Docs Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Go for it—just do it" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:21 – Nathan introduces Andy and Menno to the show 02:05 – LUMO Labs is a 2-year accelerator 03:30 – LUMO labs is all capital at this point 04:27 – The size of the funds that LUMO Labs has contributed 05:08 – The number of investment rounds LUMO Labs has made 05:20 – Official launch of LUMO Labs 06:30 – Menno shares what VRee does 07:00 – The full-body VR experience 07:26 – The VR suits, headset and goggles are wireless 08:05 – It is like augmented laser tag 08:42 – VRee also offers e-sports 09:18 – The capital VRee has raised 09:50 – The grant is non-dilutive 10:05 – Menno shares how they earn from VRee 10:29 – VRee is currently showcasing what their platform can offer 10:43 – VRee has revenue, but it's not substantial yet 11:11 – VRee is usually used in pop-up events 11:30 – VRee is in current talks with VR arcades for permanent installation 12:42 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Accelerators is a great avenue for startups to get going. You may have to start small and that may mean intermittent revenue. Just go for it, take courage and just do 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 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

Enrico Casati. He is the co-founder and CEO Velasca, a company that specializes in handcrafted shoes. Enrico is based in Milan, Italy. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The 4-Hour Workweek What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Adabra Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Know your audience before doing anything business related" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:43 – Nathan introduces Enrico to the show 02:03 – Velasca is an online brand focused on hand-crafted shoes 02:26 – Velasca was self-funded and had a VC round 02:39 – Velasca had raised €750K 03:01 – It was an equity round 03:18 – Enrico's dad was an entrepreneur but not a shoe maker 03:31 – Enrico shares how the idea of Velasca started 03:51 – It was 4 years ago when Enrico started Velasca 04:34 – Enrico shares about one of their products 04:52 – The source of the raw materials 05:30 – The cost to make the Artista shoes 05:52 – 2.4 markup 06:47 – Net margin 06:52 – Depends on the marketing budget you want to spend 06:59 – High growth pace 07:32 – "We invest so much on marketing" 08:10 – Velasca has spent €20K on marketing in January 2017 08:38 – Enrico had the first idea of Velasca in the summer of 2012 08:52 – The first collection on their website was launched in May 2013 09:25 – The first year was about the testing 09:34 – Since September 2014, Velasca has grown in people 09:43 – Current team size is 10 09:54 – Around 15K customers have bought from Velasca 10:17 – Average check out value 10:50 – Customer repurchase rate 11:52 – CAC 12:00 – LTV 12:10 – "The lifetime is really worth the cost we're spending" 12:45 – Velasca has sold around 20K pairs of shoes 12:56 – Velasca's best-seller is the Black Oxford 13:16 – "Versatility is what makes the shoes' 14:00 – First year revenue is €60K 14:04 - €200K the second year 14:08 - €1.6M the third year 14:43 – Topline revenue 15:25 – Enrico's goal is to reach €4M 16:06 – Enrico spends more on paid advertising 18:08 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Study your product, first, before putting it in public. Invest paid marketing that performs well. Your relationship with your customers will reflect on your customer retention. 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

Gary Fowler. He's the co-founder and CEO of Findo, a smart search across multiple platforms for email, files, and folders. Gary has over 23 years of startup experience and is an award-winning CEO, a senior executive, a speaker with over 7 technologies startup and a successful IPO for the company CKSW. Gary is known as the go-to startup CEO that gets stuff done. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Think and Grow Rich What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Intercom Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Never If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Gary wished he could look back and spend more time getting deeply involved with his first startup Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:34 – Nathan introduces Gary to the show 02:08 – Gary shares what Findo is 02:15 – The challenge that we have nowadays is the large, vast amount of information that we have 02:25 – An average person has around 3000 items 02:58 – "We're an AI tool, so it's learning all the time" 03:15 – Findo has a monthly subscription model 03:23 – Advance is $499/month and ultimate is $999/month 03:48 – Average customer pay per month 04:01 – Findo was founded by David Yang who built 9 startups including ABBYY 04:21 – Gary was the co-founder and CEO for the US corporation 04:36 – Gary shares why they had to spin out ABBYY 05:05 – Gary bought the IP from ABBYY 05:33 – Gary shares how they found the person who did their independent evaluation 06:08 – Average cost of buying the IP 06:19 – Gary shares where they got their capital 06:36 – Gary has raised $7M 06:45 – Gary is currently on seed 2 06:51 – Gary's major seed contributors 07:40 – Gary shares why they call their current round, seed 2 08:38 – Gary had an equity priced round 08:56 – Findo was launched in April 2016 09:06 – Gary started the most successful accelerator, GVA LaunchGurus, in Russia, prior to Findo 09:31 – 60% of the companies have raised money 10:04 – Gary raised capital to fund the accelerator 10:58 – None of the companies have exited yet 11:25 – Gary shares why he left GVA LaunchGurus for Findo 12:00 – Team size is 26 12:22 – Why Gary chose the people from Europe 13:10 – Findo just came out of beta 13:15 – Findo has over 80K customers 13:19 – Percentage of paying customers 14:15 – Average MRR 14:25 – Findo is currently moving into the model of reason strategy 14:50 – Gross customer churn 15:10 – Between 5-10%, but most come back 16:15 – The problem that 12% of the population have 17:13 – CAC 18:58 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a solution to the most common problem. Follow your intuition when it it's time to make a move. Your contributors play a big role to your company's growth—make sure they are suited to you and your company. 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

Shashank Murali. He's a BITS Pilani alumni. He's a co-founder and CEO at TapChief – a platform to seek advice from industry professionals. Previously, he built and sold Edvice, an on-demand tutoring app, to HashLearn. He had a product for Hashlearn before he decided to set on a path to democratize knowledge sharing with TapChief. Apart from startups and tech, Shashank enjoys cricket, psychedelic music, and swears by Pink Floyd. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Everything Store What CEO do you follow? – Vijay Shekhar Sharma 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? – "To persist more" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Shashank to the show 02:11 – Shashank shares what TapChief is 02:25 – TapChief charges from the expert's pay 02:36 – TapChief is similar to Clarity.fm 02:44 – Shashank shares how TapChief is different from Clarity 03:14 – TapChief has a various of offerings 03:25 – TapChief is a marketplace 03:39 – The 2 sides of TapChief: 03:45 – Experts ask for a consultation charge and TapChief gets a fee from that 04:30 – Experts monetize their knowledge using TapChief 05:33 – Average order size 06:14 – Shashank believes that their market would still grow 06:40 – TapChief was launched in a B2C play 07:07 – TapChief takes 20% from the experts' charges 07:21 – Average number of experts in the platform 07:31 – TapChief was launched in February 2016 07:48 – Average number of students who have purchased from TapChief 08:28 – TapChief is giving the experts options to present themselves better 09:05 – 1000 out of 5000 experts in TapChief had conversations already 09:31 – Shashank shares how they measure their growth 09:58 – What Shashank primarily measures 10:16 – TapChief has raised $150K with a team of 10 10:40 – The number of hours TapChief has crossed 10:50 – Average monthly minutes of interactions 11:25 – Shashank shares how they leverage the number of students 12:25 – Revenue goal for 2017 12:42 – Shashank's focus is on the number of minutes of interactions 13:02 – Shashank's plan is to grow the number of minutes 14:10 – Shashank is open to B2B collaborations 14:45 – Shashank explains why a business would pay for collaboration 15:18 – Where the majority of the revenue is coming from 15:46 – 2016 total revenue 16:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: We are experts in our own field and there are platforms where you can monetize your knowledge. You don't always have to focus on the revenue—there are metrics that should be considered. Be more persistent—especially in the things that are most important to you. 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

Sushma Sharma, the CEO of Konversai. She's a lawyer turned entrepreneur. She has law degrees from The University of Oxford and Columbia University and has worked in two prominent Wall Street law firms and set up a department of practical law at City University of Hong Kong. Sushma has taught thousands of students and seen some the most privileged humans as well as some of the least privileged in her life journey spanning 3 continents to where she has lived and worked over the last 15 years. Konversai was born as her solution to the problems facing mankind today. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – N/A What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't doubt yourself and just keep doing what you're doing. There's a time and place for everything" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:30 – Nathan introduces Sushma to the show 03:19 – Konversai is a social conversation platform 03:28 – Sushma shares the types of conversations in Konversai 04:43 – Konversai's focus is the knowledge from personal experience 04:21 – Sushma's philosophy is "nothing valuable is free" 04:25 – Konversai has a credit system 04:33 – The charge is .50 cents for one month for creating a box in Konversai 04:54 – "I want to make people feel accountable for what they're putting up" 05:25 – Sushma shares how they make revenue from a paid conversation 06:09 – Konversai gets 10% from the amount paid 06:36 – The seeker is the one who pays the service 07:02 – There are 2 sides of the business: the seeker and the provider 07:22 – Konversai has under a thousand current providers 08:00 – The number of buyers 08:19 – Sushma's target was to get the providers as well as the buyers, too 08:40 – The traction has been quite slow 09:21 – Sushma explains why they have to use Stripe 09:25 – Konversai is a global company and the currency has to be considered 10:02 – Some users are quite hesitant to fill out the Stripe sign-up form 11:10 – Konversai is only 3 months old 11:40 – Konversai has raised $1.3M in a seed round, in November 12:20 – It is a convertible note/safe 12:42 – Average order value 13:30 – Current revenue 13:46 – "It is growing every month" 15:21 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Nothing valuable is free. The way you win is by doing things consistently. Don't doubt yourself and keep doing what you're doing—there's a time and place for everything. 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