SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Bryn Jones. He's the co-founder and CEO of GrowSumo. GrowSumo graduated from Y Combinator in the summer of 2015, and they're building a marketplace for influencer programs. Prior to building companies, Bryn was also a member of a swim team. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – 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? – "To just go for it" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Bryn to the show 01:41 – Nathan found Bryn through Product Hunt 02:42 – There are large enterprise clients who came from GrowSumo 02:53 – GrowSumo builds a marketplace for influencer programs 03:10 – GrowSumo charges a one-time annual fee 03:14 – GrowSumo takes a percentage of every dollar the influencer earns from the brand 03:22 – GrowSumo is an affiliate program on top of an affiliate program 03:33 – An influencer can be anyone 04:19 – GrowSumo has a month over month fee which is $300 a month 04:48 – It is for a new startup with no affiliate program 04:56 – It lets you go in and manage the program yourself 05:16 – For an enterprise account, GrowSumo automates the entire program 05:23 – GrowSumo helps you identify the influencers 05:32 – The enterprise account: $10K annually 05:36 – GrowSumo takes 10% from all payouts to influencers 06:20 – "You have a lot of customers today that are influencers and you just don't know where to find them" 07:03 – Bryn shares how they identify the influencers 07:43 – GrowSumo doesn't have the ability to qualify an influencer based on the list size they have 08:33 – GrowSumo was launched in August 2015 09:06 – GrowSumo has a lot of traction 09:20 – Percentage of customers that GrowSumo is currently working with 10:30 – GrowSumo's biggest competition are Commission Junction and Influitive 11:07 – GrowSumo hasn't raised capital yet, but they're going to soon 11:35 – Current Y Combinator terms 12:45 – Team size is 8 13:03 – Bryn is Canadian 13:50 – Number of unique new customers driven by GrowSumo 14:00 – GrowSumo has driven over $100K recurring monthly revenue 14:20 – GrowSumo still qualifies and chooses the customers 15:20 – GrowSumo is software and there is no need for an internal tool 16:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find new ways to grow your following by leveraging websites that are popular in your niche. Having a feature that your biggest competitors do not offer will give you an edge. There is no clear path to success—the only way to succeed is to START trying. 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

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

K.C. Kanaan. He's the CEO and co-founder of Envoy America – a Scottsdale, Arizona based national company that operates a wide-sharing platform and mobile application that matches seniors and patients that can't drive or don't want to drive themselves with driver companions. K.C. is a senior executive with more than 30 years of general management, operational sales and marketing experience. He's known both for his command of the big picture and ability to execute on short-term strategies. He has inspired teams to strive for and achieve the impossible. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People What CEO do you follow? – Rafe Furst Favorite online tool? — Trello and 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? – K.C wished that he had known how to work more effectively with people Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces K.C to the show 02:33 – Envoy America provides service to seniors and patients that cannot, should not, and would choose not to drive 02:45 – Envoy America makes money on the time spent delivering the service based on hourly rate 03:05 – Envoy America is currently in Phoenix and will expand in Tucson, Arizona 03:19 – The plan is to expand to 3-5 other states 03:30 – Envoy America currently has 30 drivers in Phoenix 03:35 – On an average week, Envoy America delivers 75-85 trips, usually 2 hours per trip 04:01 – Envoy America's based rate is $39 per hour 04:20 – Average weekly revenue 04:25 – In 2016, Envoy America made $180K in revenue 04:55 – Envoy America was launched in 2015 05:15 – K.C. tried to help his parents find a reliable driving service—it was a challenge 06:00 – There are approximately 10M seniors in the US who need a reliable driving service 06:18 – K.C. and his partner invested about $100K in Envoy America and have raised $110K which is convertible note 06:36 – K.C has started a crowd funding campaign with crowdfunder.com and they're trying to raise an additional $500K 06:53 – What K.C will spend the funding on 07:35 – The drivers are all independent contractors 08:10 – Clients can reserve 08:26 – Most seniors rely on phone to make reservations 08:55 – The drivers can stay with the seniors wherever they want to go 09:35 – The drivers are paid $18/hour 09:48 – The drivers are responsible for their cars 10:00 – Envoy America has B2B sales and B2C sales 10:16 – In B2B, they have clinics as key clients 10:44 – Envoy America now leverages social media 11:03 – The keywords people use to find Envoy America 11:21 – Most of Envoy America's clients come from the businesses that they serve 13:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Transportation services for seniors are not very good, causing them to be isolated at home. The most taken for granted problem could be the problem that only YOU can solve. Take the time to grow in working with people more effectively. 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

Lisa Tamayo. She's the CEO of Scollar, an open platform, multi-functional, smart collar for pets. She has over 25 years of experience in entrepreneurship and financial and strategic planning. She's the co-founder of Green Building Studio which was acquired by Autodesk in 2008. She's also the chairman of SoCo Nexus, an incubator accelerator in Northern California. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Pitch Anything What CEO do you follow? – Ben Horowitz Favorite online tool? — Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Trust Yourself" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan introduces Lisa to the show 02:13 – Scollar is a smart collar 03:10 – The first product, Scollar Mini, was designed exclusively for the under-searched cats and small dogs market 03:29 – Scollar is currently on pre-order and has launched a Kickstarter campaign 03:52 – Scollar is like Fitbit for animals 04:10 – The Fitbit engineering team has partnered with Scollar Mini 04:26 – Scollar Mini is currently at $99 for pre-order and will retail at $149 04:35 – The pre-order started in mid-October 04:50 – Scollar is starting to build their following 05:15 – Scollar has negotiated with a bank to get credit 05:23 – Lisa and her partner have self-funded a part of it 06:00 – Lisa and her husband are the first founders of Green Building Studio 06:18 – Autodesk has bought all the assets of Green Building Studio 06:35 – Green Building Studio was Autodesk's market partner for a long time 07:28 – Lisa has almost $600k in Scollar 07:44 – Lisa discusses the spending 08:07 – Finding someone in hardware to help build the product are typically employed elsewhere 08:30 – It took Lisa a while to find the right team to work together 09:08 – Most funding went to the trial and error of the product 09:25 – Team size is almost 40 10:00 – Lisa shares the factors involved in asking for a loan 11:10 – It took the bank months to agree with Lisa and grant her the loan 11:40 – Working Solutions gave them the loan 12:10 – Working Solutions is a great option for quick capital 13:00 – The cost of making Scollar 13:19 – Cost per unit 13:43 – Possible wholesale price 14:50 – They might use the wholesale price in 2018 16:02 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Hardware is a far different process to create than software—it may take time to find and build the right team. There are many options for gaining capital – choose the one that suits your company best. Trust yourself and everything will fall into place. 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

Mikus Opelts. He's the CEO at Giraffe360. He started this company 7 years ago, in February of 2010, when he got involved with Giraffe Visual which provides interactive visualization services. It has now developed into something so much more. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – How Google Works What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Trello Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Everything I'm thinking about and planning for will take three times of the time than what I was hoping for" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:07 – Nathan introduces Mikus to the show 01:40 – Giraffe360 has the best visual tool technology 02:00 - Giraffe360 has a virtual tool that works with virtual reality headsets 02:15 – 6 years ago, Mikus started the company 02:37 – It took 14 months to develop 03:16 – Mikus spent $200K on software development 03:34 – Mikus just raised $500K for their product development 03:39 – It is a convertible note 03:49 – Mikus describes how it's like to raise capital in London 04:15 – Mikus went through a hundred meetings before getting that $500K 04:25 – 90% of the investment is from one company 05:15 – Giraffe360's camera is free for companies who have a large volume of properties 05:31 – Giraffe360 charges per property 05:47 – Giraffe360 has developed their technology and it is on par with professional companies 06:13 – 1 apartment tour costs €67 or $70 06:28 – Minimum is 20 apartments per company 06:45 – Payment is done monthly depending on the properties 07:12 – Giraffe360 has sold their first 10 cameras in the market 07:19 – There are 50 new cameras coming in at the end of February 2017 07:39 – Giraffe360 already had 50 pre-sells who wanted to try the cameras 08:00 – The incoming 50 cameras are almost sold out 08:30 – Average MRR 09:00 – Cost per hardware 09:10 – The hardware is made solely by Giraffe360's engineering team 09:55 – People find out about Giraffe360 through word-of-mouth 11:20 - Giraffe360's only team is the engineering team with 8 people 11:28 – 3 people in the back office 11:50 – No customer churn yet 12:20 – Giraffe360 is similar to a SaaS model 13:13 – 2017 goal is to have 100 subscriptions and cameras in the market 14:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Create something of the BEST quality that will stand out from the rest. Raising capital takes perseverance; it may take 100 meetings before landing what you need. Great things take time—relax, be patient, and get things done. 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

Anders Fredriksson. He's a Swedish, serial entrepreneur who recently moved to San Francisco to build his sales technology startup, ProLeads. He's an engineer with a business mind and currently holds both CEO and CTO titles. Previously, he built and scaled ArrivalGuides.com as the founding CTO. Prior to that, he was the founder and CEO of Tablefinder.com, which he sold. He studied computer engineering and management at Chalmers University of Technology, but dropped out before getting his degree when he got funding for his first startup, Table Finder. Additionally, in 2007, Internet World named him the most prominent entrepreneur in Sweden. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? – Marc Benioff Favorite online tool? — Google Inbox Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I really wished I knew how easy it is to start a business, but also I wish I didn't know how hard it was" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:20 – Nathan introduces Anders to the show 03:25 – Anders got $75K when he started Table Finder 03:50 – ProLeads is a platform that aggregates service data to optimize workflow 04:07 – ProLeads is a SaaS model with annual subscriptions 04:40 – Average customer pay per month is around $75 05:20 – ProLeads was launched in the USA, in 2014 05:40 – Anders was in 500 Startups, Batch 12 05:43 – Anders was turned down 4 times 05:58 – What Anders said to convince 500 startups to accept them 06:10 – ProLeads was doing $5K per month when they were just starting 06:53 – There were 2 co-founders and now they have 3 07:20 – Average MRR 07:50 – The amount ProLeads receives from 500 startups 08:08 – ProLeads also raised funds during the program 08:20 – ProLeads totaled $500K from their fundraising 09:15 – Zesty is a longtime customer of ProLeads 09:38 – Zesty has 50-70 seats in ProLeads 10:45 – ProLeads' lowest pricing is $300 per month 10:55 – ProLeads' focus is mid-sized companies 11:14 – 2017 MRR goal 12:10 – Gross customer churn per month 12:49 – ProLeads was growing their MRR 12:56 – ProLeads had a problem during close demo day churn 13:35 – ProLeads had monthly contracts 13:51 – Average monthly churn is quite low 14:22 – Team size 14:36 – CAC 14:48 – No paid marketing 15:20 – The tools ProLeads uses: 15:30 – Clearbit, Full Contact, and DiscoverOrg 15:41 – DiscoverOrg was on The Top: Episode 512 17:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: BELIEVE in your own product—this will make it easier to convince other people to believe in it as well. Problems arise at the start of any business, learn from it and move on. Starting a business has both its hard and easy moments; either way, it's worth the jump. 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

Devon Wijesinghe. He's the founder and CEO of InsightPool. He co-founded the business in 2012; and, within a short time led the company from 2 to 60 employees. He is currently revolutionizing marketeering and sales across many social platforms. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – Travis Kalanick Favorite online tool? — Pardot Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Try and learn to concentrate on financial metrics and understand finance deeply Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:27 – Nathan introduces Devin to the show 01:53 - InsightPool focuses on the sector of influencer marketing 02:03 – "A brand needs to have an army of people syndicating their content with their own voices" 02:15 - Insight Cool finds influencers for brands that they can work with 02:35 – InsightPool's pricing model 03:10 – Average customer pay per month is $3K 03:33 – What is included in $3K 03:53 – Devin was the solo founder 04:00 – Devin sold a previous company for 9-figures in early 2012 04:50 – "Social became prevalent as the newest data set" 05:11 – Devin seeded a business idea for $250K 05:33 – Devin has a formalized angel group 05:41 – Devin is an advisor and investor 05:58 – David Cummings is Devin's friend 06:17 – David and Devin's companies are the first ones in ATV lean and tech village 06:48 – He currently has 60 people on the team 07:21 – InsightPool is currently serving over a hundred enterprises 07:50 – MRR 08:23 – InsightPool has a sales team 08:49 – CAC LTV 10:00 – Average spending on CAC 10:25 – Gross churn 11:00 – Net revenue churn 11:53 – InsightPool did a series A round and got an investment of $8M 12:35 – InsightPool did a debt round last year 12:50 – The amount InsightPool is burning per month 14:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: A brand needs to have an army of people syndicating their content with their own voices. Go with what you think you are made to do. Learn how to make the metrics and finance dance – understand it deeply before taking that leap. 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

Nick Caruso. He's the CEO and founder of Illumineto. He's the VP of Sales in Eastern US & Canada with Notable Solutions and he was there for 6 years. Before that, he was at Kofax as a federal sales manager and he also served the country in the Marine Corps as a Captain. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Built to Last What CEO do you follow? – Drew Houston Favorite online tool? — API.ai Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Nick wished he knew that starting a company was not as hard as he thought it would be and wished he'd started earlier Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:06 – Nathan introduces Nick to the show 01:45 – Illumineto is a SaaS company and they charge monthly 02:00 – Nick has been in the technology field for 20 years and in sales for 15 years 02:15 – Nick wasn't able to find a tool to help him close more deals 02:34 – Illumineto focuses on the individual sales rep and not the whole company 02:58 – Illumineto has a lot of sales reps from Fortune 500 companies 03:14 – Illumineto has been running for 6 months now 03:48 – Illumineto currently has a thousand of sign ups or users that represent several hundreds of logos 04:25 – Illumineto was founded in mid 2015 04:30 – Beta in 2016 04:50 – Nick has sunk in $700K before starting 05:00 – Illumineto had an Angel round 05:23 – Illumineto has 3 co-founders 05:32 – All of them had successful exits in different companies 05:55 – There are 5 Angel investors 06:15 – Current team size is 4 06:50 – Average pay per user per month is $30 07:00 – Average MRR 08:00 – Nick won't disclose the amount, but Illumineto is profitable 09:00 – Nathan explains why he asks for numbers 10:15 – Illumineto has more than 100 paying customers 10:30 – Gross customer churn 10:52 – 0% churn rate on paying customers 11:31 – Illumineto had paid advertising 12:07 – They had thousands of people coming in for the premium model 12:50 – Illumineto leverages their connections in LinkedIn to get their customers from IBM 13:11 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: It is possible for a startup to be profitable in as early as 6 months. Leveraging your connections can help you engage with customers and increase sales. Start your business as soon as you can, you'll learn as you go. 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

Ken Marlin. He's the founder and managing partner of Marlin and Associates – an award winning mergers and acquisition business focused on investment banking. They are headquartered in New York city with offices in San Francisco, Washington DC and Toronto. Ken is also the author of The Marine Corps Way to Win on Wall Street: 11 Key Plans From Battlefield to Boardroom which was published in September. From 1971-1981, Ken rose in rank becoming a Marine Captain and Infantry Commander. He's applied his Marine Corps principles to leading successful businesses. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-run Companies What CEO do you follow? – Fred Wilson Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn, Salesforce and Morning Star Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Pursue your passion and you'll do well—play to your strengths and not your weaknesses Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Ken Marlin to the show 03:00 – Ken is not doing it for the money 03:13 – Marlin and Associates tries hard to be the trusted advisor to people who want to buy or sell middle-market, technology companies 03:26 – Buyers and sellers pay Marlin and Associates retainers 03:55 – "The bigger the deal, the smaller the percentage" 04:20 – Ken shares their success in 2016 04:42 – Marlin and Associates gets 8-10 clients a year 04:58 – Marlin and Associates is service-oriented 05:45 – Marlin and Associates negotiate with all phases of the transaction 05:54 – Marlin and Associates help buyers understand the strengths and weaknesses of the companies they're planning to buy 06:21 – "We always try to play the role of the honest broker" 07:09 – There are no risk-free transactions, so the question that should be asked is how much risk is there? 07:38 – The average amount of transactions 08:27 – The types of seller and buyers 09:05 – The #1 reason a deal blows up 09:31 – From a seller's perspective, transactions are made from trust 10:00 – It's important that they have a set of financial projections they're going to meet 11:25 – "Perfection is to give people a set of forecasts that you're going to meet and to meet it" 11:52 – Key principle from Ken's book is "take the long view" 13:12 – There are people who buy companies without a clear understanding of how that acquisition helps advance them towards a strategic goal 14:30 – Ken talks about the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft 16:41 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: There are no such things as risk-free transactions—the question that should be asked is how much risk is there? Give your client a set of financial projections that you're going to meet—and, meet it! Work around your strengths, not your weaknesses. 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

Steven Benson. The founder and CEO of Badger Maps – the number one sales app in the Apple app store which helps salespeople become more successful. Badger shows salespeople their customers and leads on the map and connects them with their calendar to build a daily route. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Tools of Titans What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Baremetrics Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Steven wished he had known that he'd learn more working for small companies than big companies Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:27 – Nathan introduces Steven to the show 02:00 – Badger Maps helps salespeople with their jobs 02:37 - Badger Maps is a SaaS model 02:50 – Average customer pay per month is $35 02:58 – Badger Maps was founded in 2012 03:24 – Badger Maps has 3 co-founders 03:50 – Steven and the other co-founders didn't really split the equity 04:00 – When splitting the equity, everyone gets a fair deal 04:44 – Steven shares what to consider in splitting equity 05:58 – Badger Maps has an accelerator clause 06:44 – First year revenue is $70K 07:10 – Number of current customers is 4K 07:40 – Apple ranked Badger Maps as #1 08:50 – There are Fortune 500 companies who use Badger Maps 09:01 – The number of customers is both team and individual sales reps 09:16 – Gross monthly customer churn is 3.3% 09:37 – The customers are finding Badger Maps through word of mouth, SEO, and SMM 10:08 – The amount Badger Maps is willing to spend to acquire new customers 10:46 – Badger Maps spent $12K on paid marketing 11:00 – Average CAC 11:24 – Google is around $300 12:06 – In San Francisco, people are spending 100% of LTV on acquisition 12:53 – Badger Maps is bootstrapped 13:03 – Badger Maps had a loan from Lighter Capital 13:45 – Steven shares how Lighter Capital makes loans for SaaS companies 14:10 – Steven is paying 22-28% for the amount they have loaned and there's no personal guarantee 15:06 – Total revenue in 2016 is around $1.2M 15:20 – Revenue goal in 2017 is $4.5M 17:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Be fair and make sure it is a great deal for everyone when splitting equity. Getting a loan can also be a good option for SaaS companies. In San Francisco, people are spending 100% of LTV on acquisition. 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