SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Darren Pierce. He's the founder and CEO of eTailInsights. Prior to launching the business, he has spent many years working with B2B companies specializing in leadership, strategic development, client relationships, and maximizing revenue growth. Darren was the Director of Sales for First Research which was acquired by Hoover. Darren helped Bronto Software accelerate their revenue market share to become the leading email service provider in the ecommerce industry. He's a graduate of The Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University with 2 BSBAs in Management and Marketing. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hockey Stick Principles What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Buffer Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Darren wished that his 20-year old self could have been more patient Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:50 – Nathan introduces Darren to the show 02:35 – Darren didn't want to leave Bronto Software, but he came up with the eTailInsights' idea and couldn't let it pass 02:53 – Darren joined Bronto, in 2008, to help sell their email marketing and make offers to online retailers 03:25 – One of the early problems in Bronto was how to find the companies/retailers 03:47 – eTailInsights is a database that indexed the e commerce companies 04:03 – eTailInsights is a SaaS business 04:10 – Average MRR/ARR 04:43 – The pay is manual upfront 04:48 – eTailInsights was launched in 2011 04:51 – Total 2015 revenue 05:15 – 2016 goal 05:50 – Average MRR 06:18 – Average churn is adjusted 06:50 – CAC 07:29 - eTailInsights' average pay per click 07:48 – LTV 08:25 – eTailInsights has been tracking hundreds of thousands of retailer globally 08:36 – eTailInsights will start indexing next year 08:58 – Number of current companies is 3000 09:09 – The three biggest competitors of eTailInsights 10:08 – Exit is not Darren's priority at the moment 10:16 – Darren's dream number is $100M 11:18 – Darren wants to know how far his business can go 11:30 – eTailInsights is completely bootstrapped and they have $100K in it 12:06 – Current head count 12:20 – Average compensation 12:36 – eTailInsights' location 12:52 – eTailInsights sourced their own data and they built their own tech 14:38 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you become predictable, you lose SO much leverage. If the idea of a business strikes you, go with that passion and just do it. Be patient—it takes patience to be a successful entrepreneur. 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 Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

James and Larry of Nexd.io. James is the founder and the Chief Stratgey Officer of Next.io and has previously worked with IBM, Socialware, SailPoint Techologies. He has studied at Berkeley and now builds softwares that help people everyday. Larry is the President and CEO of Nexd and is highly experienced in leadership and operations. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Peopleware (James) What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Miller (Larry) Favorite online tool? — Clearbit (James) Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes (Larry) If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – James wished he built a network. Larry would tell himself that the most important thing is execution. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces James and Larry to the show 02:10 – Larry just joined Nexd and he's the new CEO 02:26 – Larry helps James build a business around the idea 02:34 – Larry's background is multiple CEO 03:35 – James shares why he brought Larry in 03:59 – Nexd was founded 14 months ago 05:23 – Nexd's space is analytics 05:45 – Nexd analyzes which emails are effective 05:55 – Nexd is currently on pre-revenue 06:00 – Nexd raised a million dollars on a seed round 06:10 – It is a convertible note 06:12 – Nexd did 2 convertible notes 07:10 – Larry discusses what he thinks about CEOs and founders not being on good terms in a company 07:20 – Larry has been an advisor to VCs 07:30 – Larry shares his advice to entrepreneurs 07:56 – Founders and CEOs should agree on who is going to drive the steering wheel 08:43 – Larry shares how he and James would represent the company in a sample article with TechCrunch 09:15 – Larry shares how they would resolve a possible disagreement in a seed round 10:17 – It was James' own decision to get a CEO 10:48 – On the technical side, there is another co-founder 11:10 – "What Nexd is doing is going to be a game changer" 11:32 – Nexd targets sales manager and sales reps 12:58 – James and his co founder's background is enterprise integration problems 13:20 – "We're trying to be a system of engagement for multiples systems of work" 13:43 – Target for Series A is $6-7M 14:08 – A minimal viable product is needed to step forward—a pilot that has been tested 15:50 – Nexd is not interested on a quick exit and they are going to be the next great company 17:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Choose someone who can do something you're not good at and who you respect. Founders and CEOs should agree on who's going to drive the steering wheel – if issues come up, own your mistakes and deal with it. You need a minimal viable product with validation from potential customers to move forward with your business. 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 Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Justin McGill. He's an entrepreneur and owned a startup in 2008 when he started a digital agency. After he scaled that out, he launched LeadFuze – a B2B lead generation platform. He's also the co-host of Zero to Scale Podcast which gives us a behind the scenes look at growing a startup with 200K per month in MRR. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Ultimate Sales Machine What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — ZenPayroll which is now Gusto and bench.co Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Justin would've told himself that entrepreneurship was a path in life he could take Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:50 – Nathan introduces Justin to the show 02:15 – LeadFuze is a software platform 02:21 – LeadFuze allows to you to search for contact information and automate the outreach to ideal and prospective customers—turning them into possible sales opportunities 02:35 – LeadFuze is a subscription-based company 02:55 – Average MRR is $175 03:08 – Early stage companies are using LeadFuze 03:25 – Average number of customers 03:45 – LeadFuze started off completely bootstrapped and had a small raise of $150K 03:56 – Two of three investors are Rob Walling of Drip and David Hauser of Grasshopper 04:26 – Justin shares why he decided to take capital 04:43 – Justin did a small equity round 06:10 – If you're trying to grow your sales, LeadFuze can help you 06:43 – LeadFuze is web-based 07:00 – LeadFuze wants to focus exclusively on lead generation 07:24 – LeadFuze is a software with a service 08:14 – Gross customer churn and revenue churn 08:35 – "Customers stay for 6 months or so" 09:15 – Why not just charge $175 upfront? 09:31 – LeadFuze is currently a product company without engineering help 09:47 – Justin is trying to look for a CTO 10:58 – Justin shares why his CTO left 11:57 – Current team size on remote 12:18 – About to open an office in Phoenix, AZ 12:30 – LeadFuze has 3 co-founders, one who was Justin's sales coach 13:55 – CAC 14:05 – Around $300 14:28 – Justin invested in content and that is what driving the signups at the moment 14:50 – LeadFuze offers 20 leads for free 15:02 – 8.5% of the signups convert from free trial to paid 15:10 – Free trial doesn't require a credit card 15:40 – Total 2015 revenue 15:50 - LeadFuze started totally free 16:11 – Average total cash flow by the end of 2015 is around $250K 16:45 – Some of the sources where LeadFuze pulls data are from ClearBit, Full Contact, and Tower Data 17:23 – Hit Justin up on Twitter 18:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: As a startup, the pay-as-you-go model may be more beneficial than subscription plans. Entrepreneurs need to be more open about their people leaving. Don't waste time and TAKE the leap as early 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 ClearBit, Full Contact, and Tower Data Where LeadFuze pulls its data @Jus10McGill – Justin's Twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Mark Godley. He has held leadership positions at technology companies of all different sizes from pre-revenue to publicly traded. He's best known for driving revenue and outpacing industry growth while rejecting herd mentality. Outside of work, Mark finds time daily to read, work-out, and cook—all the while, being an engaged father, spouse, and citizen. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Devil in the White City What CEO do you follow? – Henry Schuck and Yonatan Stern Favorite online tool? — Flipboard, Stitcher, GaggleAMP and Lead Forensics Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Living below your means gives you tons of options. Think about the life you want at age 50 and work backwards. We're running a marathon not a sprint, and it takes planning, sacrifice and resilience and then, don't define success and happiness by your paycheck" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Mark to the show 02:25 – HG Data is in a competitive and intelligent space 02:35 – HG Data build data sets, used by sales and marketing teams, to do precision targeting at scale 03:05 – The founder founded HG Data in 2012 after an exit 03:43 – Mark is the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at HG Data 04:02 – Mark handles all the market phasing for the company 04:31 – When HG Data was founded it served the enterprise space 04:49 – Last year is when they started to go down market 04:58 – Number of enterprise clients is 15-20 with 6-figure ARR 05:15 – HG Data had traditional customers, as well, that totaled 50 05:58 – HG Data transitioned from a data company to a product company 06:12 – Total ASP 06:50 – HG Data wants to increase the customer base, but lower the RPU 07:56 – HG Data created a use-space specific databases 08:19 – HG Data tries to keep the balance of enterprise and down market pricing 08:34 – 50% of the revenue is from direct clients and 50% is from the partners 09:22 – Mark shares what he is worried about in regards to their target 10:09 – Mark shares how their partners use their data 10:55 – Average pay per user annually 12:05 – There are 10-50 OEMs in the customer base 12:37 – Average number of customers 13:00 – Mark only follows ARR and not MRR 13:27 – Mark shares that they are focused on building the new space—they are currently spending and losing money by design, but hoping for a positive cash flow 14:00 – Gross annual customer churn is less than 10% 14:30 – "We've had one 6-figure churn in the last 4 years" 14:40 – CAC 15:23 – "We're looking for a more high-velocity sales model" 16:13 – The company is based in Santa Barbara, where they have 80 employees 16:42 – Connect with Mark through Twitter and LinkedIn 18:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: "We're running a marathon, not a sprint, and it takes planning, sacrifice, and resilience." Be mindful of your partners BEFORE making decisions. Live without regrets. 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 @Mgodley21 – Mark's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Mark's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Dominik Vacikar. He is currently an Associate at Hummingbird VC, but was previously the co-founder of Spaceship and some other startups, including Growth at Nestpick. Listen as Dominik gives us an inside look at the workings of Spaceship and why he was chosen by Hummingbird for a very specific task. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Stripe Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Dominik wishes he wasn't so hard on himself, so long as he was progressing Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces Dominik to the show 02:00 – Spaceship started as a side project when Dominik had their lead generation tool in social media 03:02 – Dominik shares how Spaceship works 03:18 – Spaceship searches your entire target audience and provides you with prospect data 03:35 – Spaceship is pay-as-you go 03:51 – 10% of Spaceship's customers are on a monthly plan 04:10 – Spaceship was launched in October 2015 04:30 – 2015 revenue 04:55 – Current total revenue 05:12 – Dominik shares why he turned to Hummingbird 06:33 – Spaceship was bootstrapped 06:52 – Spaceship's current team size 07:20 – Dominik has been with Hummingbird for 2 months 07:30 – Hummingbird wants Dominik to build a radar for startups 07:54 – The radar will track interesting companies and identify them 08:29 – Dominik shares how their product is different from Crunchbase 09:31 – Dominik shares the variables they use to identify the startups 10:30 – The current biggest problem is updating the data as frequently as possible 11:45 – Hummingbird is good at identifying the funders' DNA 12:08 – Hummingbird's main area of expertise 13:00 – Hummingbird might be interested in a Series A 13:21 – Hummingbird's ARR target 14:05 – Nathan asks Dominik about Spaceship's founder 14:37 – Dominik is active on Twitter and LinkedIn 16:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Growth comes in many forms—sometimes from within your own company or from the help of others. Develop your expertise by drawing knowledge from other fields and markets. Your progress determines your future and YOU set the pace. 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 @chichikid – Dominik's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Dominik's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Darian Shirazi. He's the CEO and co-founder of Radius. He was an early employee at Facebook and worked on the" Sell Your Item" Team at eBay. He's founded, invested, and advised many successful technology companies. Prior to starting Radius, Darian studied Computer Science and Philosophy at UC Berkeley. He's also a prominent keen speaker at Top of Technology Innovation. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Essays of Warren Buffet What CEO do you follow? – Marc Benioff Favorite online tool? — Yesware Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "How much harder building the business is than you originally thought and how once you get to scale how amazing it feels." Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Darian to the show 02:15 – Darian shares about his time with Facebook 02:30 – Darian's favorite project on Facebook was Facelift 02:45 – Darian shares what he thinks of Mark Zuckerberg 03:30 – Darian can't think of a time when Mark was at odds with another team member 03:58 – Radius is about growing pipelines for B2B marketers 04:08 – The customers are typically enterprise and mid-market businesses 04:15 – Radius fixes data 04:30 – Radius' services 04:48 – The whole foundation of the product starts with the Radius business graph 05:17 – Darian shares how they help the client 05:40 – Darian shares how Radius is different with CB Insights 05:50 – Radius' data is powered by their customers which allows them to access their CRMs 06:20 – The activity data allows Radius to improve their data 06:50 – Radius doesn't rely on publicly available data 07:30 – Radius was founded in 2011 and launched in 2013 08:00 – Average number of customers 08:30 – It is not really a seat model 09:10 – Radius has a used cased expansion 09:41 – Team size is currently 150 people 10:00 – Radius has currently raised $100M 10:25 – Radius still has a lot of net capital left 10:42 – Radius' retention for enterprise customers is around 93% 10:50 – Gross monthly customer churn 11:24 – Darian shares what drives their revenue 11:48 – Radius's implementation day is only 18 days so customers see the value quickly 12:11 – Radius' pricing 12:23 – ACV 13:00 – First year revenue 13:25 – Darian has 2 co-founders 14:07 – Radius requires a team 14:28 – Darian hired people from enterprise companies 15:00 – Darian shares Radius's CAC to LTV ratio 15:36 – Radius's sales cycle 15:52 – "Customer trust is our number one value" 16:50 – It is difficult to measure CAC to LTV when enterprise companies rely on big events for marketing 17:53 – Radius's growth rate 19:14 – Radius' marketing budget 19:29 – The amount Radius spends on Dreamforce 20:27 – Dreamforce is an incredible way to grow a pipe 20:40 – Is Radius going to be the next Benioff's acquisition? 21:48 – Darian shares how Microsoft has been an incredible partner for Radius 22:36 – The last funding 23:05 – Darian discusses Radius' future 23:40 – Follow Darian at Twitter and email him 25:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: It takes a great team to create a great product. Take what you've learned from your last employer, be grateful for it, and leave graciously. Acquisition requires planning, an exchange of ideas, and thorough researching. 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 Ceo@Radius.com – Darian's email address @Darian314 – Darian's Twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Tim Saumet. He is the CTO of the company called Tilkee – a SaaS solution software for business proposals, follow ups, and sales process tracking. It is a super hot space. Before that, he was involved with OXFOC Technologies as the CEO. He is also a Manager of General Services in another company and a Project Manager at Travel Due. Famous Five: Favorite Book? –100 Conseils Pratiques Pour Couler sa Boite What CEO do you follow? – Bruno Bonnell and Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Zapier Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— "Yes" for Kate and "No" for Tim If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Tim would have focused more on personal development Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:37 – Nathan introduces Tim to the show 02:13 – Kate is developing the European market 02:30 – Tim used to be a salesman and it was difficult for him 03:03 – Tilkee is a simple SaaS software to analyze a prospect's behavior 03:30 – Tilkee works with any kind of document 03:50 – Tilkee started as a side project 3 and a half years ago 05:00 – First year revenue was $20K 05:15 – Tilkee is currently serving 800 customers 05:41 – Average customer pay per month 06:20 – December 2015 MRR 07:30 – Tim started with small companies, then progressed to enterprise companies 08:05 – Tim pivoted the product and customer base 08:12 – Tim raised, 2 years ago, a million and a half dollars 08:34 – Tim is thinking of raising more next year 09:08 – Tim won't go to a typical Series A round 09:35 – Employees have a part of the equity 10:15 – Tim wants a raise, but would still want more than 50% of the company 10:37 – Typical valuation in Europe 11:15 – Gross monthly customer churn 12:00 – Kate shares how they find their enterprise deals 13:22 – Tilkee is not doing an e-signature but a u-sign from the European market 14:14 – A customer lifetime value 14:45 – Average CAC 15:45 – Tilkee has an advertisement in one of the biggest French radio stations 16:20 – Current team size is 20 and 15 from them are salespeople 16:42 – Tim shares the stack they have built Tilkee on 17:15 – Kate is currently using Pipedrive to drive Sales 18:35 – Find Tilkee on Twitter and Facebook 20:19 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: You CAN solve your own problems—you just need to do the work of finding solutions. Raising capital is always an option to take that next step forward for your business. Meditation is a great avenue for personal development. 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 kept his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it at the airplane's back seat pocket @TilkeeUs – Tilkee's Twitter handle Facebook – Tilkee's Facebook account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Steve Richard whose mission in life is to help as many sales professionals as possible to become wildly successful. He has been featured in numerous publications including The Harvard Business Review, The Washington Business Journal, and The Washington Post. Outside of work, Steve enjoys scuba diving, skiing, running, and people-watching. He's from Arlington, VA, with his wife Ellen and their 4 kids all under the age of 7. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – RSVP Selling What CEO do you follow? – Tony Bates Favorite online tool? — Owler Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "You got to start with the technology company in the beginning because you're going to create much more impact on people's lives" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:58 – Nathan introduces Steve to the show 02:45 – Steve shares the idea of ExecVision 03:17 – ExecVision is a SaaS business 03:20 – There are 50 organizations who are currently using ExecVision 03:34 – ExecVision allows you to access, analyze, and share call records 04:20 – Average pay per user per year and how it ranges per sales person 04:54 – Average MRR 05:24 – Sales professionals love ExecVision 06:04 – ExecVision has coaching requests for their customers 06:37 – Every month there's a high volume of requests for coaching 07:13 – ExecVision has voice recognition 07:52 – Richard shares how their customers find valuable keywords in ExecVision 09:15 – Richard was running Vorsight before ExecVision 09:50 – People pay per meeting 10:02 – Richard used the profitability of Vorsight to fund ExecVision 10:15 – Richard has raised capital for ExecVision 10:58 – Richard shares what drives them 11:38 – They have raised around $1M 11:50 – Richard acquired ExecVision in April, 2015 12:07 – None of the original people from ExecVision are still working with the company, but they have equity 12:26 – Retention is 90% annually 13:38 – CAC 14:42 – Total head count is 15 14:55 – ExecVision is based in Arlington, Virginia 15:27 – First year revenue 16:08 – Connect with Richard through Call Camp 18:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Use your stress to CREATE an idea to relieve that stress. Sales professionals who analyze and assess feedback well WILL improve in their field. Make something that adds value to people's lives. 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 Call Camp – Steve's Call Camp Movement website Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Alex Babin. He's a serial entrepreneur who has more than 10 years of expertise in innovation, product development and artificial intelligence. He started his first hybrid vehicle company at the age of 24 funded by DFJ. He also founded an interactive video software company. Now, he's running an artificial intelligence, communication startup which is building a device-centric, secured, corporate email client called Zero. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs What CEO do you follow? – Mark Daniels Favorite online tool? — HubSpot 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 your intuition" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:45 – Nathan introduces Alex to the show 02:23 – Alex loves listening to podcasts 02:53 – Zero is currently on pre-revenue, but they have a list of pre-sales 03:12 – Zero is focused on the corporate market 03:28 – Zero helps people be more productive with the help of AI 03:38 – Zero charges per user per month on the corporate market 03:48 – Zero was launched 2 years ago, was in self-mode for 1 year, and launched the first version a year ago 04:00 – Zero had a seed round, in May, from angel investors 04:41 – Zero has 3 founders and a total of 6 on the team 05:19 – The one who will win the space in the market is the one who will penetrate the market with the most convenient product for the customer 05:33 – Customers don't want to change anything – they have strict security policies 07:15 – Zero has 30,000 downloads 07:30 – 2,000 active daily customers 07:37 – Alex shares the difference between daily and monthly active customers 08:55 – Zero has recently introduced exchange support 09:28 – Zero currently targets CIOs 09:48 – Zero's pricing 10:10 – Alex shares that they are open to another seed round 10:19 – Target to raise is $1M 10:22 – Convertible note CAP of $5M 11:00 – Some of the customers are converting into investors 11:38 – Find Alex on Twitter 13:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The one who wins the market is the one who penetrates the market with the best and most convenient product for the consumer. Be patient and respectful with your customers when explaining your product. TRUST your intuition—it's often the right direction to follow. 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 kept his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it at the airplane's back seat pocket @AlexBabin – Alex's Twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Shawn Livermore. He's an author and technology consultant and more recently, the founder and CEO of tech startup Ziptask which has generated nearly $2M in revenue. He has raised 4 rounds of funding and closed it down to take on new opportunities. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Tipping Point What CEO do you follow? – Mark Fields Favorite online tool? — Acuity Scheduling Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Calculate risk carefully" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:00 – Nathan introduces Shawn to the show 02:30 – Ziptask is a fully-managed outsourcing with a progressive effort to fix the problem of outsourcing technology projects 03:23 – "We succeeded in the goal, but we failed as a company" 03:31 – Shawn raised 4 seed rounds 04:18 – Shawn also had his day-time clients as a technology consultant 04:50 – Ziptask dissolved in September 2016, and was launched in 2010 05:05 – Ziptask's MRR was $107K 05:30 – Shawn shares why they shut down Ziptask 06:59 – Shawn launched Ziptask prematurely 08:35 – Shawn also did NOT try to sell the business 09:30 – Shawn is now working with Carvana 10:00 – Connect with Shawn through Twitter. Medium and email 10:15 – Shawn is currently working on a book called Obscurity 12:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The time will come when you have to pull the plug – and when it happens, just do it. Reaching your goal is NOT the peak of success. Calculate risk carefully. 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 kept his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it at the airplane's back seat pocket Carvana – Shawn's current employer @shawnypants – Shawn's Medium handle @shawnypants – Shawn's Twitter handle ShawnLivermore@gmail.com – Shawn's email address Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives