SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Tommy Sowers, who worked for McKinsey & Company and was the youngest senate confirmed assistant secretary in the Obama administration. On top of this, he is the founder of GoldenKey. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Getting Things Done What CEO do you follow? – Yvon Chouinard Favorite online tool? — Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I try to If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "There is no risk and don't wait for it to be easy" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Tommy to the show 02:01 – GoldenKey is a no-commission real estate network 02:30 – Tommy didn't want to commission a real estate agent 2 years ago 02:50 – "People hack real estate agents in a lot of different ways" 03:49 – GoldenKey's revenue model is a marketplace 03:55 – Consumers pay on the services that they need 04:22 – "When you buy or sell your home, the commission rebate will go to you" 04:44 – In GoldenKey's platform, the supply are agents 04:50 – Agents offer unbundled services 04:56 – From zero, GoldenKey managed to have 1798 agents in 47 states, much higher than Red Fin 05:25 – The consumers are the home buyers or sellers 05:30 – GoldenKey currently has 1/3 buyers and 2/3 sellers 05:39 – Average of 1900 buyers and sellers 05:44 – GoldenKey has currently executed over 900 service transactions 06:11 – GoldenKey has saved consumers over $100,000 of commission 06:25 – GoldenKey doesn't share the number of monthly transactions publicly 07:30 – They get different fees for different types of services 07:45 – "This is not a do-it-yourself real estate and you actually have an agent with you" 08:25 – If I buy a property for $500,000, how much would go to GoldenKey? 08:30 – For search services, it is $50 which goes to the agent 08:50 – On average the consumers pay $2000 to have agents represent them through the transactions 09:07 – "The entire agent commission will be rebated back to you, which is usually 3% of the total transaction" 09:30 – Agents choose GoldenKey because they get something rather than nothing at all 09:40 – Agents can still do the traditional real estate commissioning 09:58 – "There are a lot of consumers in the USA who don't want to pay commission but need an agent's help" 10:31 – There are millions of real estate agents but they won't always have a client 11:51 – GoldenKey was founded in April 2015 11:58 – 18 full-time employees 12:00 – GoldenKey raised $3.4 million in venture capital 13:13 – GoldenKey is not a brokerage and CAC is zero 13:59 – GoldenKey is not a big technology company so they need money for the appropriate platform 14:33 – The product design team is based in San Francisco 14:54 – Others are distributed to other states 15:13 – "Rule of thumb is when you don't need to ask for money when you need money" 15:35 – GoldenKey spends around $100,000 a month 16:14 – GoldenKey joined NFX guild which is for companies building network and network effects 17:01 – Connect with Tommy on Twitter and his website 19:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Rule of thumb is you don't need to ask for money when you need money. A LOT of consumers in the USA want an agent's help, but DO NOT want to pay commision. There is NO risk. Don't wait for it to be easy—just jump right in! Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. @Sowers – Tommy's Twitter handle GoldenKey.com – Tommy's business website Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Mike Doyle, CEO of Rent Like A Champion, a vacation rental platform for sporting events. He has hosted 50 thousand travelers and made over $12 million in sales. Mike is a Shark Tank survivor who received an investment from Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca and both Mark and Chris are still very involved in the business. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Trello Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Not now If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Start earlier and take advantages of those resources" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan introduces Mike to the show 02:00 – Mike took a total of $200,000 from Mike and Chris for 10% of the company's equity 02:10 – Shark Tank was their first round of funding 02:27 – Mike wanted to get the deal and the exposure 02:38 – Rent Like A Champion's valuation during Shark Tank 02:52 – Rent Like A Champion is currently in the market for raising 02:59 – Rent Like A Champion's episode was filmed in June 2013 03:18 – In Rent Like A Champion's platform, the sellers are the homeowners who own properties around stadiums 03:29 – Buyers are the sports fans who are travelling to watch the games 03:33 – Rent Like A Champion is focused on non-urban destinations 03:33 – The focus is smaller towns where there are not enough hotels for fans to stay 03:46 – Rent Like A Champion was founded in 2012 04:07 – Since 2012, Rent Like A Champion has hosted under 60,000 fans 04:18 – Total booked destinations: 7500 different places to rent 04:24 – An average of 8 fans per rental 04:28 – Rent Like A Champion's market is families and groups 04:46 – Rent Like A Champion has over 3000 homes 04:51 – Rent Like A Champion has properties in over 100 towns in the USA 04:56 – About 25 towns are considered their core market 05:16 – 2012 total bookings equated to $630,000 and Rent Like A Champion kept 22% 05:29 – Rent Like A Champion is about to reach $4.5 million this year 05:58 – In 2015, Rent Like A Champion made under $3.3 million and kept $720,000 06:15 – Rent Like A Champion is getting a fee both from the seller and buyer 06:25 – 15% from the seller and 9% from the buyer 06:47 – Rent Like A Champion is seasonal 06:54 – Most of the bookings come from college football 07:05 – Rent Like A Champion is now partnering with 6 PGA tournament events 07:15 – Rent Like A Champion is also partnering with NASCAR races 07:55 – Most bookings come 68 weeks in advance 08:23 – In September, total of 750 groups booked 08:39 – Gross sales for September is about $1.35 million 09:05 – Average order value: 09:08 – $1600-2000 for a 2-night rental 09:36 – Team size is 5 full-timers and 5 part-timers 09:57 – Total transaction volume since 2012 is a little over $12 million 10:13 – How do you beat Airbnb? 10:17 – Rent Like A Champion considers non-hotel destinations 10:52 – "On the demand side, we're able to be so targeted with our advertising towards sports fans" 11:13 – If Sacca didn't miss out on the Airbnb deal, do you think you are going to be as aggressive as you are on Shark Tank? 11:28 – The night before Mike is going to film the episode, they still didn't think that Sacca was going to be one of the sharks 12:00 – Did we accurately see everything that went down on Shark Tank? 12:05 – "It's super condensed on what you see on TV" 13:03 – Schedule suddenly changes 13:14 – Average reorder rate is 50% 13:53 – Buyers book once a year 15:10 – How do you expand market shares after the sporting events? 15:14 – There's a ton of green space around college football 15:20 – Graduation is already big for Rent Like A Champion but they're still pushing it more 15:30 - Rent Like A Champion is starting to working with wedding planners for reunion weekends 16:08 – Rent Like A Champion is doing instant booking where list houses can put the availability of their houses depending on a scheduled game 16:53 – The pricing depends on the homeowners 17:08 – Rent Like A Champion can give homeowners guidelines in pricing 17:20 – Depending on the game, the amount of buyers vary 18:00 – What is it like working with Chris Sacca? 18:30 – "Chris and Mark have been incredibly involved and been receiving weekly updates" 18:45 – Chris and Mark are very responsive and prompt in replies 19:00 – Mike threw a big marketing event and Chris and Mark came to talk about an update segment in Shark Tank 19:39 – Connect with Mike through his business' website, Twitter and Facebook 21:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Your business will being to DEFINE itself as you keep moving forward. EXPAND your niche. Don't stay seasonal—continue to think bigger. Start as EARLY as you can and take advantage of those resources. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. @RentLikeAChamp – Mike's business Twitter handle RentLikeAChampion.com – Mike's business website Facebook – Mike's business Facebook account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Adam Robinson, CEO and co-founder of Hireology where's he's on a mission to help business owners make better hiring decisions using data and processes. He's known in the recruiting industry, an expert speaker, and author with over 20 years of experience in the field of hiring and selection management. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Crossing the Chasm What CEO do you follow? – Phil Knight 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? – "Take more risks" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces Adam to the show 02:03 – Hireology is a talent technology platform built specifically for owner/operators 02:14 – Hireology helps the owner with the technology they need in their hiring and employment process 02:30 – Hireology has a monthly subscription plan 02:36 – Hireology is a SaaS business model 02:46 – Hireology is different from Toptal and Upwork 03:03 – Hireology was founded mid 2010 and the product was launched in January 2012 03:13 – Adam had a recruitment and outsource business before Hireology 03:28 – Adam learned from this business that their clients had terrible interviewing skills 03:32 – Adam created an interviewing system and clients started asking to buy it 03:44 – Adam sold the business 04:13 – Hireology first customers were from Adam's personal and professional network 04:40 – Hireology is currently working with under 4000 individually owned businesses in USA 04:50 – Around 100 brands 06:20 – How Adam sees Hireology's future 07:15 – Adam had a client who was responsible for 40% of their revenue for 3 years 07:35 – Hireology ended up doing 4000 hires for the company 08:00 – Average RPU per month is $300 per location 08:14 – Kickers Hireology is using to increase RPU 08:18 – Based on employee count per location 08:39 – Hireology doesn't increase the price of modules but increases its numbers 08:50 – Most of Hireology's system is proprietary technology 09:15 – Hireology has 7 close partners that they white-label and sell through their platform 09:30 – Average MRR is $1.2 million 09:47 – Gross monthly customer churn 10:35 – Hireology is an all-inside sales operation for up-selling 11:05 – Team size is about 100 11:11 – Based in Chicago 11:27 – CAC 11:40 – Between $7-10 depending on the client's industry 12:22 – Lifetime value 12:45 – Adam wants a business whose name is on a sign and whose personal balance sheets are invested in the business 13:15 – "There are 7 million employers in the USA that nobody is talking to and that's the market we want to be in" 13:27 – Find Adam in Twitter, LinkedIn and his website. Shoot him an email at arobinson@hireology.com 16:00 – Hireology was bootstrapped for the first 2 years and did an institutional raise in 2014 16:12 – Raised $26 million in 2 round from 2014-16 16:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find your target market and tap into that market. Don't rely on a client to stay with you forever—the sooner you accept that it's part of the business, the better. You need to TAKE more risks! Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. @Adrobins – Adam's Twitter handle Hireology.com – Adam's business website LinkedIn – Adam's LinkedIn account ARobinson@Hireology.com – Adam's email address Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Dan Golden, a veteran digital marketing executive and speaker who still spends time diving into analytics and making strategic recommendations for his clients. He has spent a lot of time on the client side with large agencies. Dan co-founded the digital agency "Be Found Online (BFO)" and has led the BFO team from his roots as a paid search agency to a full service performance digital marketing agency. Listen as Dan talks about how he turned his side project, BFO, to a now, successful agency, making a 6-figure revenue. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Great Game of Business What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Nudge Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Enjoy the journey" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan introduces Dan to the show 02:30 – Be Found Online is a digital marketing agency 02:36 – BFO's focus is to drive traffic and help their clients make money through that traffic 02:45 – BFO's processes have evolved over time 03:15 – BFO was a side project for Dan and was called Be Found Local 03:26 – Dan and his co-founder merged their businesses and started in January 2009 03:40 – First year revenue for BFO was $200,000 03:51 – 2015 revenue: $7 million 04:15 – Dan shifted their goal from profitability to finding the right clients that fit BFO 04:50 – Dan aims for 12% net revenue 05:35 – Team size: 05:37 – 50 full-timers in the USA 05:43 – Total of 70 employees 06:02 – The BFO army has grown considerably 06:40 – BFO spends $50,000 a month on their software 07:10 – "A lot of technology we do is client-specific" 07:45 – "Many of the largest SaaS companies came from an agency model because an agency sees all the client-specific tools being used in the agency" – Nathan 08:43 – "I don't want to build something that is slightly a better version of something out there" – Dan 09:50 – BFO has 60-80 active clients 10:00 – BFO has served over 100 clients since they started 10:14 – BFO has a big project yearly called "Perfect Client" 10:20 – BFO is doing research and client analysis for every client they've worked on to figure out where they can do their best work, which client is the best to work with, and where to add value 10:29 – BFO has turned down a lot of clients 10:45 – "I don't want to double our client base, I want to find the right types of clients." 11:02 – BFO wants to focus on enterprise clients 11:10 – Average that the customer is paying BFO 11:15 - $10,000 – $15,000 a month in fees 11:50 – How do you calculate lifetime value? 12:13 – Clients stay with BFO for a minimum of 12 months 12:48 – BFO is making a minimum of $600,000 a month 13:11 – Get in touch with Dan through Twitter, LinkedIn and BFO blog 15:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: GREAT things can turn out unexpectedly. Business goals can change from time to time—be OPEN and FLEXIBLE for these changes. Make sure to ENJOY the journey. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. @TheGoldenDan – Dan's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Dan's LinkedIn account BFO blog – Dan's business blog Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ali Salman who heads Rapid Boost Marketing where they exclusively work with professional service providers. Rapid Boost has grown to over $2 million in annual sales over the last 2 years with a goal of $25 million by 2020. They have generated over 120,000 ideal client inquiries for service firms and practices in the last 12 months. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk and Nathan Latka Favorite online tool? — Ninja Outreach Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Sometimes more than that If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Get out of school faster" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:38 – Nathan introduces the show 02:09 – Rapid Boost Marketing is an agency 02:17 – Average contract size is anywhere between from $1500 to $6000 and majority of the contracts are from $2000 - $3000 02:28 – Rapid Boost Marketing has a big lead generation 02:53 – The revenue for 2015 is $800,000 and end of 2016 is more than $2 million 03:10 – Average monthly retainer is $2000 - $3000 and the average contract is from 18-24 months 03:30 – Average RPU 03:53 – Currently, Rapid Boost Marketing is working with 72 customers 04:45 – Rapid Boost Marketing can help a lawyer increase his revenue but it will also depend on the area and how salable the lawyer is 06:09 – Rapid Boost Marketing has 4 packages and it includes the paid media 06:15 – 30% of the packages goes to paid media 06:36 – They are focused on content and search engine optimization 06:50 – Team size 07:13 – Monthly headcount expenses equate to about 50% of their revenue 07:36 – Revenue in September 2016 is $857,000 08:22 – January, February, and March are their down months 08:29 – Average revenue for 3 months is $80,000 - $90,000 09:05 – Rapid Boost Marketing's clients are described 10:17 – How Ali priced his own salary 10:50 – Connect with Ali through his Twitter and LinkedIn 13:16 – Ali founded the company in 2012 13:33 – First year revenue in 2013 is a little over $130,000 13:46 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Start AS EARLY as possible in business. Know your niche client and market WELL so you can grow quickly. Your people--both your employees and your clients--contribute to your company's success, without them, there is no success. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. @CanadianLMPro – Ali's Twitter handle LinkedIn – Ali's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Dr. Dan Margolin, a practicing Podiatrist with over 27 years of experience and a practice that ranks from the top 3% in the country. Dan's second and current practice is widely successful compared to his first. Listen as Dan talks about podiatry and his new business which he co-founded, Effective Management. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The 10x Rule What CEO do you follow? – Tony Hsieh Favorite online tool? — Testing Academy Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish I knew to look for mentors a little bit more" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces Dan to the show 02:15 – A podiatrist deals with health issues concerning the feet including sprains 02:32 – Dan generates revenue from his patients and sometimes, from insurance companies 02:39 – Dan's ultimate goal is for the patients to be well 02:51 – In the long-term, Effective Management will be the bigger stream of revenue 03:10 – A podiatrist earns $ 300,000 to $ 500,000 a year 03:26 – The Podiatry Survival Blueprint – a video of Dan's job description 03:47 – Dan generated $2.4 million in podiatry in 2015 03:55 – Effective Management earned $300,000 in its first year 04:14 – Dan loves helping people so he launched the Effective Management program 04:50 – Expenses hindered Dan to just give away the program 05:25 – Team size 05:43 – Go to BasicStaffTraining.com to find Dan's info product 06:41 – He provides 4 different products 07:27 – There is an initial fee and monthly recurring fee 08:04 – 2016 revenue is a bit over $400,000 08:12 – There are 300 different companies in their system 08:30 – The Podiatry Survival Blueprint is sold at $6500 09:15 – Dan uses Schoox to run the membership page 09:44 – Current MRR 09:58 – Dan contacted his own patients as prospective clients 10:35 – Connect with Dan through his website and get a free copy of his book Fast Tracking Your Prosperity 12:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: There are TONS of ways to help people, be it in your field or not. Find people who will help you run the business, ESPECIALLY in the areas where you struggle. Have a mentor and be involved. Be a sponge and absorb everything. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. DrDanSpeaks.com – Dan's website Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ron Miller, CEO of StartEngine,who was in Episode 40 of The Top and Chad Newell, CEO and founder of Snapwire. Listen as Ron and Chad explain how the new rule of SEC in equity crowdfunding helped their companies. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Ron: The E-Myth What CEO do you follow? – Chad: Sean Malarkey Favorite online tool? — Ron: Internal Email / Chad: Google Sheet Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Ron: No If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "It's all about confidence." – Ron Miller Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Ron and Chad to the show 02:30 – StartEngine is the nation's leading platform that allows entrepreneurs to directly connect with potential investors to raise capital 02:45 – The new law opened up the possibility for everyone to become an investor 03:11 – It allows companies to advertise broadly 03:24 – StartEngine was launched in June 2015 03:30 – Total amount invested is $20 million 03:42 – 60,000 unique users have joined their community 04:00 – StartEngine charged 5% of the total capital from the proceeds raised 04:20 – Entrepreneur can raise up to $50 million a year in the online public offering and StartEngine charges $50 per investor 05:10 – "We are currently focusing on the US market and there's no SaaS in there" 05:30 – What made Chad decide to use StartEngine 06:40 – Why StartEngine is ground-breaking 07:00 – The congress' limitation on investing in a company 07:31 – "Real wealth is made by being an early investor" 07:54 – The new law is a radical shift 08:51 – Nathan believes that the best investors are customers 09:10 – Snapwire has 300,000 photographers in the platform 09:22 – Buyer ratio is much smaller than the photographers 09:45 – Snapwire has pay-as-you-go and a SaaS model 10:08 – Snapwire's revenue is 50% from pay-as-you-go and 50% from SaaS 10:20 – 9,000 images have been bought in Snapwire since their launch 10:30 – Snapwire was founded in 2014 10:34 – Snapwire has raised $2.8 million 11:15 – Snapwire raising in StartEngine opened up a lot of opportunities 11:45 – Can you use StartEngine after a price round? 11:52 – The main advantage is that companies can set their terms 12:03 – Some companies have to essentially create a second priced or non-priced round 12:58 – The good thing about equity crowdfunding is you have to disclose everything 13:08 – Disclosure statement is clear 13:41 – Lawsuits and CAP table 14:10 – There's a disclosure and subscription agreement that investors sign 14:30 – "I think there's an immersion of risk" 16:14 – There are limits to investments and to returns 16:28 – During crowdfunding, there's also a limit on the amount of investment that a company will accept 17:00 – "As far as information rights, you can be very clear in the disclosure" 18:00 – It is not allowed to give out public information even if it is unintentional 18:15 – Upon investing, you will get a shareholder report that is in compliance with security exchange commission requirements 18:40 – "Competition can't reverse engineer your strategy in execution" 19:06 – StartEngine has 12,000 – 14,000 investors 19:20 – Total of 15-18 companies have raised in StartEngine 19:30 – 14 team size in StartEngine 19:36 – StartEngine raised capital through seed round and Series A 19:47 – Total of $7.7 million raised 19:54 - Ron didn't use their platform to raise 20:25 – Average value of an investment is $1400 20:40 – StartEngine's biggest competitors are Seed Invest, Next Seed, WeFunder and Flash Funder 21:11 – What should people look for in the marketplace? 21:23 – If certain companies are establishing themselves in a specific niche area 21:43 – Success rate of the companies 21:57 – Support the companies can provide to entrepreneurs 22:13 – Connect with Ron through his email 22:34 – Contact Chad at Chad@Snapwi.re 24:53 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Real wealth is made by being an early investor. The good thing about equity crowdfunding is the disclosure. Be confident in yourself. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. Ron@StartEngine.com – Ron's email address Chad@Snapwi.re – Chad's email address Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Timo Rein, CEO and co-founder of Pipedrive, a provider of sales CRM software that gives sales teams control over their selling processes. After spending $15,000 on a CRM for his own business that ended up being a total waste of money, Timo brought together a few engineering friends to create a better CRM solution for his own needs. This was the genesis of Pipe Tribe, which now has over 30,000 small business users worldwide and has reached $13.4 million in VC funding. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Turning Pro What CEO do you follow? – Stephen Curry and Gregg Popovich Favorite online tool? — Slack and Viber Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— "No, still trying." If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Take action. It is important to work hard first. Discover who I am and know where my energy flows." Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:47 – Nathan introduces Timo to the show 02:31 – It was in 2002 when Timo spent $15,000 on a business 02:41 – It turned out that the business wouldn't have much return 02:56 – Pipe Tribe helps small businesses around the world control their complex processes 03:23 – Pipe Tribe was founded in June 2010 and the product came out March 2011 03:30 – Current team size 03:48 – They have an office in Estonia and Manhattan 04:28 – Timo is based in California 04:50 – In 2010, revenue is zero 05:30 – 2015: total revenue 06:16 – Current ARR 06:30 – They are doing about a million dollars per month 06:48 – They have 30,000 paying customers 07:00 – Pipe Tribe's pricing 07:07 – They have 3 plans at the moment 07:25 – Average customers' pay per month 08:21 – They are doing cohort tracking 08:30 – Monthly customer churn 08:37 – Churn tends to be quite high 09:32 – The churn depends on the tool and business size 10:45 – CAC will depend on the company's growth 12:00 – 25% of new sign-ups are paying annually 12:28 – How do you drive the company? 12:45 – Timo and his co-founders built the company from the ground up 13:22 – They have an internal goal 13:33 – They raised $9 million from Series A 13:53 – Some of the money they raised was from seed investors 14:13 – Timo won't sell his business for $90 million or even $150 million 14:49 – Timo sees the company as a work undone 15:11 – "When you build a startup, it seems like you're building an airplane while you are on air" 16:22 – They have a revenue goal and customer goal 16:45 – Connect with Timo through his LinkedIn 18:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The world around us changes—the economy goes up and down. When you build a startup, it seems like you're building an airplane while you are on air. Take action. It is important to work hard first. Discover who you are and know where your energy flows. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. LinkedIn – Timo's LinkedIn account Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Michael Cheng, co-founder of Sniply, an innovative new marketing tool that helps companies caption the value of content sharing in social media. Sniply links has generated over 150 million clicks and is used by notable brands such as IBM, Salesforce and Greenpeace. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs Biography What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs Favorite online tool? — Google Translate Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't rush it" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:39 – Nathan introduces Michael to the show 02:09 – Sniply is a content marketing platform 02:11 – It allows people to generate ROI from the links they share 02:30 – It is a SaaS subscription model 02:32 – Premium has a customized ability on call to action and other features 02:49 – Sniply was launched in 2014 02:59 – Sniply generates money from the subscription 03:20 – Price range is $39 per month to $3000 per month 03:29 – Monthly RPU is $70-80 03:45 – Most of the users are the social media team of a company 03:51 – Dropbox, Outbrain and Autodesk use Sniply 04:42 – The "Name your Price" option on Sniply's website 05:03 – The "Name your Price" option allows Sniply to gauge the customers' needs and price range 05:20 – It also allows Sniply to make an exception for non-profit groups that can't afford the price 05:33 – It gives them a better idea of how to fill in the gaps when they release a new feature 05:48 – "People are very reasonable when naming their own price" 06:25 – Sniply can still reject customized requests 06:50 – It's difficult to measure the downside 07:06 – There's a dedicated page for Enterprise 08:33 – Sniply is currently hitting 12,000 to 30,000 registered users 08:44 – Revenue is $600,000 and about $50,000 a month 09:00 – One thousand paying customers 09:12 – Sniply is bootstrapped 09:50 – Team size 10:48 – A small team helps Michael to prioritize and be more flexible 11:10 – Some startups invest in wrong features and wrong people 11:30 – They are based in Vancouver, Canada 11:37 – Gross customer churn per month is 5% 11:45 – Customer acquisition cost on average 11:53 – Michael doesn't do ads 12:00 – Cultivate relationships with bloggers 12:26 – Most of the bloggers are also marketers 12:40 – Total customer growth per month is 5% 13:46 – Connect with Michael on Twitter or email 16:08 – Total 2015 revenue is $400,000 and aiming for $600,000 this year 16:23 – Michael is now investing on a new platform that automatically converts blog posts to videos 17:07 – Not currently looking at acquisition 17:20 – Michael owns 33% of the business; there are two other founders 17:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: A small team size has a lot of advantages. Business takes time—don't rush it. Having a "Name your Price" option gives a company a better idea of the needs and desires of customers together with their preferred price. Resources Mentioned: 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 developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. 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. @Michaelhsc – Michael's Twitter handle Mike@Snip.ly – Michael's email address Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives