SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Nathan Latka
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Dec 26, 2016 • 19min

EP 520: Agency Hits $6M 2016 Revenue Helping 60 Clients with SEO with PowerDigitalMarketing CEO Nick Bjorn

Nathan interviews Nick Bjorn. He is an entrepreneur by trade and digital marketer by evolution with over 8 years of professional agency experience. He has gained a national and global perspective on the evolving and digital world with an emphasis in search engine optimization or SEO. Nick is the co-founder of Power Digital Marketing which is based in San Diego, CA. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Eric Schmidt Favorite online tool? — Mixmax Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Commit to a skillset early on in life" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:45 – Nathan introduces Nick to the show 02:12 – Power Digital Marketing is a full-service digital agency 02:15 – Power Digital Marketing was created 4 years ago 02:18 – Nick has 2 other business partners who handle finances and team management 02:35 – Power Digital Marketing has 3 employees 02:40 – Power Digital Marketing's types of services described 03:15 – First year revenue was around $500K 03:33 – Power Digital Marketing has humble beginnings 03:50 – 2015 total revenue is $3.2M 03:57 – Estimate 2016 revenue is around $6M 04:10 – Power Digital Marketing typically has 6-month contracts 04:35 – Minimum amount per contract is $5K 04:43 – Retainers are at $50K a month 05:14 – Power Digital Marketing currently has 60 clients 05:25 – Average MRR 06:10 – 2017 revenue goal 06:35 – Power Digital Marketing and what they do for their clients 06:56 – Soccer Loco is one of Power Digital Marketing's clients 07:35 – SEO, organic rankings, paid ad initiatives are important for Soccer Loco 08:17 – Power Digital Marketing uses the keywords "cheap soccer cleats" for Soccer Loco intentionally 08:50 – Power Digital Marketing benefits well from link building 10:30 – Power Digital Marketing has PR professionals that build relationships with the clients 10:50 – Google now tracks backlinking and is reaching out to editors 11:43 – Power Digital Marketing relationship with SoccerNation.com 12:42 – "How do you find terms to target?" 12:47 – Do your due diligence 13:37 – Power Digital Marketing is currently in the process of developing their own page analytics software 14:20 – Connect with Nick on Twitter and email 16:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Creating content for SEO requires an understanding of the technicalities associated with backlinking. Track every campaign's effectivity as you step forward. Do your due diligence when it comes to finding the right terms and keywords that sell. 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 Nick@PowerDigitalMarketing.com – Nick's email address @Nick_Bjorn – Nick's Twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 25, 2016 • 20min

EP 519: GetAccept Hits $44k MRR, Helping 1100 Companies Get Deals Signed with CEO Samir Samjic

Samir Smajic, one of the founders of GetAccept. GetAccept recently moved to San Francisco from Sweden because they are part of YC—a solution where you design, send, track, and market your proposals to get more deals digitally signed. Samir has a bunch of experience in project management, consulting, CRM, IT, computer software, business and more. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Never Split the Difference What CEO do you follow? – N/A 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? – "Doing whatever I felt good to do" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:55 – Nathan introduces Samir to the show 02:25 – Samir chooses skiing over snowboarding 02:35 – GetAccept helps sales reps close more deals by focusing on their sales document workflow 02:58 – GetAccept is a subscription-based SaaS business 03:07 – Average pay per user is $40/month or $200 per business/month 03:42 – GetAccept currently has 1,100 paying customers and 4,400 free customers 04:15 – Average MRR is $44K 04:20 – GetAccept was launched in December of 2015 04:47 – GetAccept already had revenue their first month 05:31 – Samir shares why GetAccept has a high conversation rate from free to paying customers 06:00 – GetAccept calls their customers to give them product information and ask them questions 06:50 – GetAccept helps their customers send their first contract 07:17 – Fully weighted CAC 07:35 – Total headcount expenses 08:28 – GetAccept has 200 new customers monthly 08:47 – GetAccept has paid marketing 09:09 – Spending is around $4000 for paid ads 09:20 – GetAccept's biggest competitors explained 11:00 - Gross customer churn 12:00 – LTV 12:25 – GetAccept is currently based in San Francisco 12:49 – GetAccept had raised capital and is still open 14:20 – Samir's focus is the growth of the company 14:34 – GetAccept has 4 co-founders 14:42 – If DocuSign offered to buy your business, would you accept? 15:30 – Connect with Samir on LinkedIn 17:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Focus on what YOU can do for your customers – assist them in ANY way possible. Doing the work you love and enjoy is more important than the bottom dollar. Let your competitors motivate you to improve what YOU are doing. 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 LinkedIn – Samir's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 24, 2016 • 20min

EP 518: See 20 deals, invest in 2 between $75k-150k pre seed, likes b2b saas for investments

Dinesh Kandanchatha. He's a founder, mentor, speaker, and above all, an entrepreneur. He encourages founders to ask all questions, navigate challenging decisions, and find the right answer that is sometimes difficult to face. He has bought, built, sold, lent, and/or invested in over 13 companies. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Essentialism What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs Favorite online tool? — Asana 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 be the smartest guy" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:48 – Nathan introduces Dinesh to the show 02:32 – Dinesh makes money by investing and capital gains against those investments 02:52 – Dinesh does consulting work too 03:45 – A board member's average retainers 04:33 – Dinesh total revenue as a credit investor in 2015 04:48 – A credit investor is someone who has net assets greater than $5M and earnings in the last 2 years that are greater than $200K 05:35 – Dinesh has built startups; some failed and some are successful 06:04 – Dinesh invests $75K to $150K in a company 06:14 – Dinesh often invests during Pre-Series A or Pre-seed 06:20 – Dinesh takes his capital and amplify it with his network and experience 07:08 – Dinesh's biggest failure happened right after he sold Precise Software Technologies in the late 90s 07:46 – The person that acquired Precise sued Dinesh 08:09 – Dinesh spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal battles 09:04 – Dinesh's most spectacular success is yet to come 09:20 – The business Dinesh is currently proud of 10:50 – Dinesh's equity rate in Protus IP Solution 11:10 – Dinesh has helped Macadamian technology scale up 12:03 – Dinesh has invested in real estate 12:30 – "If you get a few over the fence, you can make up all the difference" 12:45 – Dinesh usually sticks to B2B and SaaS 13:22 – Dinesh is currently working on Patriot One Technologies 14:49 – Dinesh is very passionate about the potential of technology 15:04 – Connect with Dinesh through Twitter and at Clarity.fm 17:27 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: "If you get a few over the fence, you can make up all the difference"—so, don't get discouraged if you lose some. Do what you know and stick to your strengths. When you get an idea that could meaningfully impact the society as a whole—it will not just be an investment, but your baby. 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 @DineshAtWork – Dinesh's Twitter handle Clarity.fm/DineshkAtWork – Dinesh's Clarity account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 23, 2016 • 19min

EP 517: $3.5M Raised, 6m Users Helping 47k Customers Sign Documents with HelloSign CEO Joseph Walla

Joseph Walla, CEO and co-founder of a San Francisco based startup, HelloSign. The company launched in 2012 and it provides the easiest way for businesses to sign and collect legally binding documents online. The idea behind HelloSign was sparked by Joseph's first successful product alongside his co-founder, Neil O'Mara, of HelloFax. HelloFax launched in 2010 after attending the prestigious startup accelerator Y Combinator. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – High Output Management What CEO do you follow? – Bill Walsh Favorite online tool? — Google Apps Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Joseph wished he had moved to the valley earlier Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Joseph to the show 02:30 – Joseph first worked in HelloFax which is an on-the-go fax machine 02:43 – HelloSign has premium products and free products 03:00 – Pricing plans starts at $15 03:12 – API pricing plans differs by bucket 03:40 – HelloSign is cash flow positive in 2014 and 2015 03:50 – Total of $3.5M raised 04:24 – Joseph has been very disciplined with how they spend their money 05:15 – 2016 MRR 05:36 – HelloSign has 47,000 paying customers 05:46 – HelloSign has a 5-6M user base 06:05 – People convert from free to paid because of the volume of their transactions 06:54 – HelloSign team's operation 07:30 – Average salaries in the valley 08:45 – Total headcount expenses with 16 employees 09:35 – Average MRR from Nathan 10:00 – Average customer churn 10:55 – HelloSign is mainly in the SMB space but they also have some big clients 12:20 – Standard gross churn 12:40 – The amount HelloSign is willing to spend for a new user 12:49 – HelloSign doesn't spend much for a new user, but spends for a new paid user 12:55 – Joseph read an article on ForEntrepreneurs.com about SaaS metrics and acquiring customers that was beneficial for him 13:35 – HelloSign's CAC ratio 14:53 – Connect with Joseph through LinkedIn and Twitter 16:23 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't wait for a job or overcomplicate the process of getting started—get out there and figure it out as you go. Make that investment to turn a new user into a paid new user. Don't just sit and wait for something to happen, take action! 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 @JosephWalla – Joseph's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Joseph's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 22, 2016 • 26min

EP 516: SalesHacker $2.5m 2015 Revenue Helping Sales Reps Get Smarter with CEO Max Altshculer

Max Altschuler, CEO of Sales Hacker – a rapidly growing media company focused on the future of B2B sales. Max wrote the book Hacking Sales: The Playbook for Building a High Velocity Sales Machine which was recently published by Wiley. Aside from sales hack and angel investors, Max advises startups all around the globe. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The 48 Laws of Power What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Boomerang Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Max wished he could have studied Psychology a bit more Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Max to the show 02:07 – Sales Hacker is a media company ushering the future of sales 02:35 – Sales Hacker does crowdsourcing of content on their blog and holds conferences throughout the year 03:12 – The conferences are Sales Hacker's main revenue stream 03:20 – Sales Hacker's last conference was in June 2016 04:09 – The sponsored revenue for the last conference was $1.2 M 04:14 – Ticket sales was $300-400K 04:22 – Average ticket price was $400-500 04:28 – Total attendees 04:41 – The cost per conference is less than $1M 04:53 – Max shares how they manage the cost of the conference 05:51 – You need to find venue sponsorship 05:57 – Max helps clients with bigger conferences like Pulse 07:00 – Sales Hacker finds out which businesses are interested in the conference 07:33 – Have prospective sponsors sign up and pay early 09:15 – Sales Hacker's average revenue per event depends on the event 10:54 – Sales Hacker takes a percentage from the total profit of SaaSters 11:30 – 2015 total revenue is $2.5M 11:45 – Team size 12:04 – Max shares why he didn't build a SaaS business 12:59 – Sales Hacker's list size 13:55 – Max's goal for a VC round 14:07 – Max is from Udemy 14:35 – Max had 2 companies before Udemy 15:20 – Max's second business was Last Call 15:45 – Max's 3 favorite investments at the moment 16:50 – The average amount Max is investing in a business 18:00 – Max sets expectations of what he will and will not do for a company 18:36 – Max is trying to invest in B2B companies 19:21 – Connect with Max through LinkedIn, Twitter and his website 21:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Closing a business does NOT mean it was a failure – you gain experience and learn valuable lessons from that process. Take the time to research and know where to invest. Even if you're working with SaaS businesses, that doesn't mean you should or can build one as well. 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 @MaxAlts – Max's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Max's LinkedIn account Sales Hacker – Max's business website Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 21, 2016 • 28min

EP 515: 0 to $300k MRR in 16 Months Helping 300 ECommerce Brands Streamline with Skubana CEO Chad Rubin

Chad Rubin. He builds e-commerce businesses. He owns a direct consumer e-commerce business called Crucial Vacuum and grew it from zero to a $20 million valuation in 7 years. He happens to be a Top 250 Amazon Seller. He co-founded Skubana with DJ Kunovac and built one of e-commerce's hottest operational software. Skubana is the only software that you'll ever need to manage and accelerate the growth of your ecommerce business. It's beautiful, intelligent, and highly intuitive and it also incorporates every feature imaginable to drive your future success, especially in ecommerce. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Virtual Freedom What CEO do you follow? – Gary Vaynerchuk Favorite online tool? — Trello or 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? – Go after passion and change a major in college Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan introduces Chad to the show 02:17 – Chad shares how he made the zero to $20M valuation for Crucial Vacuum 03:48 – Chad shares what he thinks is Walmart's biggest mistake 04:27 – Skubana is making 50,000 orders a month 04:47 – Chad shares a mistake he made and how he lost money 05:08 – Chad had to minimize his headcount from 20 employees to 2 05:40 – Skubana is a SaaS business 06:00 – Number of customers that Skubana is currently serving 06:46 – Skubana's pricing: 07:07 – Minimum of $999 a month 07:10 – Pricing is customized and is based on users 07:34 – Average RPU 08:00 – MRR 08:05 – Skubana did a seed round 08:41 – Raised 880,000 on the first seed round 08:45 – Chad put in $1M 08:59 – James Thompson is one of Skubana's investors 09:43 – Chad messaged 10 people that he looked up himself to try and get them involved 10:10 – Chad starting building Skubana for 3 years and it just went live last year 10:29 – Chad raised the $880K when they had the prototype 11:15 – First year revenue 12:30 – Chad wanted Skubana to be available for everybody 12:40 – When Chad raised their pricing, a lot of their customers churned off 12:53 – Skubana is not an entry level software 13:27 – Chad individually called customers to inform them about the increase in pricing and they got emails too 14:12 – Most of Skubana's RPU growth is coming from new customers 14:27 – Chad shares how people find Skubana 14:48 – Chad wrote a book and hit #7 bestseller 15:22 – Chad has a subscription list from their blog because they're adding value 15:45 – Number of people on their list 16:22 – Skubana is pairing with other companies for a win-win sale 17:30 – Chad cares more about the quality of the customers as opposed to the quantity 18:05 – Chad shares about the successful webinars he held for certain companies 19:00 – Chad spends a lot of time guest blogging 19:25 – CAC is currently zero 21:20 – Team size 21:40 – Total overhead cost 22:00 – Team location is in NYC and New Jersey 22:10 – Chad is still thinking of raising another round 22:29 – Chad wants to raise $1M 23:30 – Connect with Chad through Youtube, Twitter and his email 25:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Mistakes happen for us to LEARN from it. Make your product KNOWN to the public at low costs by INCREASING your online presence. Need direction? Go hard after your passion! 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 Youtube – Chad's business Youtube channel Chad@Skubana.com – Chad's email address @Ecommrenegade – Chad's Twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 20, 2016 • 27min

EP 513: $50M Raised, Helping 50k Customers Get Accurate Contact Data with FullContact CEO Bart Lorang

Bart Lorang, a proven entrepreneur executive and manager in the global technology industry. He's very active in the startup community as an angel investor, strategic advisor, and speaker at many industry events. In fact, he supports entrepreneurs in his co-founder position and is managing director at V1.vc, a $5 million dollar, seed-stage fund dedicated to help crazy entrepreneurs change the world. More importantly, he's an entrepreneur himself. He's currently running FullContact which is responsible for communicating its vision and strategy. He's a visionary technologist with extensive experience conceiving, designing, building, marketing, and selling enterprise software solutions on a global scale. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – Warren Buffett Favorite online tool? – DocuSign Do you get 8 hours of sleep? – No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – It's about how you make people feel. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Bart to the show 02:35 – FullContact is a universal contact management platform 02:50 – FullContact is a SaaS business and payment is based on the number of contacts 03:08 – Developers can pay for a developer platform 03:17 – The developer access is Bart's largest revenue stream 04:00 – FullContact is continually building new features 04:14 – FullContact also offers KPI services 04:37 – HubSpot uses FullContact 05:10 – FullContact was founded in 2010 05:30 – There is no application yet that is focused on contacts 06:01 – First year revenue 06:28 – Bart had a couple of businesses before FullContact 06:56 – FullContact was funded through raised capital 07:17 – How can someone look at that market and tell that it is too big to bootstrap? 07:53 – "It's all about the size of your vision and how fast you want to execute" 08:30 – FullContact has millions of customers 08:55 – FullContact has above 50,000 paying customers 09:03 – Bart shares what's included in the free plan and paid plan 09:40 – Average monthly RPU 10:05 – Bart discusses the type of individuals using FullContact 11:05 – Average MRR 11:40 – FullContact in ARR 12:54 – Gross customer churn 13:18 – FullContact has an inside sales team helping their customers 13:37 – CAC 14:20 – Team location: they have a global presence 14:30 – Team size: 210-220 14:40 – FullContact had their Series C last August 2016 15:08 – How are investors in this space thinking about the SaaS valuation? 15:47 – They are looking at the SaaS business' multipliers 16:00 – FullContact's main competitors 16:35 – The MDM space 16:49 – Connect with Bart through FullContact and his email 18:18 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Analyze your business well and have a goal so you know where you're going to start. Funding is a very important part of business. It's NOT about how smart you are but how you make people feel. 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 Bart@FullContact.com – Bart's email address Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 20, 2016 • 25min

EP 514: $120M Raised, Helping 1m Consumers Get $100m+ In Credit Who Have No Other Choice with KreditTech CEO Alexander Graubner-Muller

Alexander Graubner-Müller. He's the current CEO of Kreditech and started off as their CTO. He was a senior business development manager at Groupon and he was very active in the financial space such as an internship at Equity Derivatives in UBS. Alex is now in the Fintech space and running Kreditech. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk 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? Spend more time learning how to manage and build companies Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Alexander to the show 02:20 – Kreditech is an end-to-end consumer lending company 02:45 – Kreditech has a powerful rating data 03:05 – Alex shares what kind of credit score they'd assign to a customer as opposed to what a bank would 04:15 – Kreditech is focused on consumers 05:28 – Kreditech is a lending company 05:55 – Current total loans outstanding 06:23 – Most of the loans are short in maturity 07:08 – The kind of person Kreditech loans to 08:25 – Kreditech is growing fast—around 100% every year 08:50 – Kreditech made $40M in revenue in 2015 09:30 – Kreditech explains their interest rates 10:15 – Kreditech offers higher loans with lower rates for specific consumers 12:07 – Some people who apply for a loan won't usually be able to pay 12:33 – The fraction Kreditech will assume 15:17 – Total amount raised in funding rounds 16:40 – Loan origination 17:12 – Alex had to make sure to run the company on a fully-funded business plan 18:21 – Connect with Alex through LinkedIn, Twitter and his email 20:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: You can always work your way up – just give your ALL and embrace your company. Lending companies are different from the banks, but both have their advantages and disadvantages. Learn how to manage your company; NOT just how to manage people, but how to have your people work to make it more profitable. 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 Alexander@Kreditech.com – Alex' email address @AGraubnerMuller – Alex' Twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 18, 2016 • 19min

EP 512: $70M ARR B2B SaaS with DiscoverOrg CEO Henry Schuck

Henry Schuck, CEO of DiscoverOrg. He's a leading entrepreneur in sales intelligence and lead generation. Under his leadership, DiscoverOrg built the industry's most accurate, highest quality, contact database through a mix of technology and a team of live researchers who continually call into thousands of IT, marketing, HR, and finance departments. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good Boss, Bad Boss What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Gmail Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I do If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Work harder than you could ever imagine working" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Henry to the show 02:13 – DiscoverOrg provides deep intelligence on the company and the contact information of buyers of 60,000 companies worldwide 02:38 – DiscoverOrg is selling the data on a subscription basis 03:09 – Henry worked for a company similar to DiscoverOrg when he was an undergrad 03:28 – Henry's colleague asked him to build a similar company which is now DiscoverOrg 04:04 – Henry's acquired iProfile 04:40 – DiscoverOrg is owned by TA Associates 04:58 – DiscoverOrg was self-funded in annual contract value in 2014 05:56 – Henry was approached by different private equity firms in 2012-2014 06:26 – Henry shares the reason why they chose TA Associates 07:45 – Customers pay annual access to the platform which is a SaaS platform and they pay for specific data 08:22 – Average annual RPU 08:46 – Average ARR 09:20 – How Henry manages churn 10:46 – CAC 11:16 – Henry and his team are based in Vancouver, Washington 11:27 – Team size is 315 11:40 – Lifetime value 11:55 – Customers stay with DiscoverOrg for 3-4 years 12:23 – What keeps you motivated in doing this? 12:30 – Henry has a 6 month old daughter and he wants her to see that he works hard, he also wants to make it a success for TA 13:29 – Connect with Henry through LinkedIn and Twitter 15:27 – Annual renewal rate is over 90% 15:46 – DiscoverOrg is continually building new data 16:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Teach users not only how to use a platform, but how to utilize it to INCREASE their revenue. Have a business that is profitable. Work harder than you could ever imagine working, that's where you add value. 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 @HenryLSchuck – Henry's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Henry's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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Dec 17, 2016 • 19min

EP 511: How to Pivot $50K MRR SaaS Company with Ian Cullen CEO of Leadiro

Ian Cullen, a demand generation expert and the co-founder of Leadiro, an account-centric data platform designed to enable account based marketing and sales development efforts at named accounts. Ian was previously the co-founder of Internal Results, which was acquired by Madison Logic in May 2016. He started his first business, Target 250 in 2001, grew it to a team of 130 staff and it was a leading B2B technology based, lead generation company which was sold in 2010. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Magic of Thinking Big What CEO do you follow – N/A Favorite online tool? — SimilarWeb Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Work hard because nothing happens overnight and if you really focus and you can achieve anything" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:37 – Nathan introduces Ian to the show 02:25 – Ian says he sold Target 250 for simply "not enough" 02:35 – Ian received investments from bench capitalists for Target 250 02:48 – After 6 months, Ian sold with a soft landing 03:19 – One year, non-compete, Ian set up an another company and sold it 03:48 – Chris is a partner and cofounder of Leadiro 03:57 – What Leadiro does and how they make money 04:00 – New startup, four months old, Leadiro is a B2b service platform that offers account-based marketing 05:19 – You can send cold emails to leads that are relevant 05:41 – Customers pay monthly or quarterly basis 05:55 – Average customer pays $ 20,000-40,000 per year but can be much higher, $ 6-10,000 per month depending on customer's volume 07:00 – Launched July 2016 07:06 – Serving under 20 customers 07:29 – Customers are people we know in the industry 07:57 – Our customers are people that are launching certain products into the market to a specific audience 08:25 – Do they need help in reaching out to a larger audience as opposed to their first party list of possible customers? 08:35 – Why are people buying your data instead of others? 08:41 – Our platform is proprietary, easy to use 08:59 – "You can upload a list of domains within 10 seconds [of using our product] and pull out a specific audience within those accounts" and get their email addresses 09:12 – For example, there are 200 companies you want to target, upload that to our platform, and you have a list of everyone who works in those companies (job title, level, function), and can select what you want 09:52 – Very common product, that people that win are those who market better 10:18 – Like Siftery, but Siftery doesn't get you the leads 10:53 – Leadiro's current revenue: $50,000 11:06 – Leadiro is self-funded 11:09 – Ian does not want to raise 11:19 – Team size: 6 people 11:31 – Hired people to develop full-time, remote, in New Zealand 11:56 – 3 in UK, 1 in Ireland, 2 in NZ 12:56 – 50,000 in MR divided by 20 customers = Monthly RPU: $2500 per customer 13:11 – Early cancellations, because they're in a learning stage 13:25 – One big struggle with this particular product—companies can download everything they need and leave 13:46 – Nathan wonders if these types of companies are SaaS companies or should there be a one-time fee where customers get what they need and leave? 13:55 – Something they are still working out, perhaps a 1-2 month subscription 14:22 – Discussion of competitors and who is doing the same thing well 15:21 – To connect with Ian, go to his LinkedIn 16:53 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Always think of how your product sets you apart from your competitors and SELL to that strength. A startup and any business for that matter is a work in progress—just keep at it. Work hard, focus in on your task, and you can achieve ANYTHING. 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 @Qwil – Johnny's business Twitter handle Blog - Johnny's business blog site Qwil.co – Johnny's business website Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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