Top Founders

Latest Episodes:

840: Ad Tech: $400m from Apple? Deal! FlashTalking Doing 15-40b Impressions/month Nov 11, 2017

Show notes

John Nardone. He's the CEO of Flashtalking, a first generation adtech pioneer. He served as the founding board member of the Internet Advertising Bureau. He's known for his groundbreaking work at Pepsi, Modern Media and Marketing Management Analytics and received the Adtech Industry Achievement Award in 2012. As CEO at [x+1], he helped transform that business into a top-rated data management platform or DMP. Rocket Fuel acquired the company for $230M in 2014.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Getting Naked
What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs
Favorite online tool? — Amazon and eBay
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 7
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I might have started having kids a little bit sooner"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:52 – Nathan introduces John to the show
02:40 – Flashtalking was a partner of [x+1], currently known as Rocket Fuel
02:45 – Days after the acquisition, John got an offer to work with Flashtalking
03:23 – John decided to give-in to the offer and saw Flashtalking as an opportunity to stay in adtech
03:39 – John joined Flashtalking in 2015
03:53 – Flashtalking had been around since 2000 and it was bootstrapped by the founders
04:25 – Flashtalking came to the US in 2010
05:36 – John joined the company, mainly because of his vision and excitement for innovation and marketing
06:43 – John has bought a part of the company
07:03 – Flashtalking uses real-time data to personalize the communication with each consumer
- 07:10 – A simple example is retargeting
- 08:04 – Retargeting can happen on multiple devices
08:27 – One of Flashtalking's clients is Walmart
08:56 – Flashtalking analyzes the customer's behavior on a website
- 09:54 – Smartphone and current devices have changed the way we consume digital marketing
- 10:50 – Location data is included with the data that Flashtalking gathers
- 11:13 – Flashtalking makes the decision for what kinds of ads to show to the customers
11:30 – Flashtalking charges per CPM
- 12:05 – There are discounts for those with bigger volumes
13:01 – Flashtalking is not currently using AI technology
14:10 – Flashtalking currently has 40 clients that account for 80% of the revenue
- 14:26 – Flashtalking focuses on their big, global clients
15:20 – Average volume of impressions is 15B to 40B a month depending on the season
17:00 – Flashtalking focuses on helping their clients improve and get the experience that will drive their success metrics
17:50 – Team size is 280 globally
17:56 – Flashtalking hasn't raised any capital aside from the buyout and it has been profitable since Day 1
19:10 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Your vision will lead you to the companies that will help you grow, and eventually change the world.
Technology has significantly affected how we consume advertising.
There are specific markets where AI technology can be used well.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

839: Marketplace: Zola Wedding Registry Passes $120m GMV Run Rate Nov 10, 2017

Show notes

Shan-Lyn Ma. She's the CEO and co-founder of Zola. Launched in October 2013, Zola is an online wedding registry for millennials. In just three years, it has become the fastest growing wedding registry in the country, seeing 10x revenue growth year-over-year and 3x growth in 2017. Over seven million guests have attended a Zola wedding and 350 million in gifts have been added by Zola couples.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – How to Create Products Customers Love
What CEO do you follow? – Sheryl Sandberg
Favorite online tool? — Headspace
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "That stressing out about things do not make them better"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:47 – Nathan introduces Shan-Lyn to the show
02:32 – In Q4 of 2016, Zola reached $120M in GMV runway
- 03:30 – GMV is reflective of the number of wedding gifts that are given to couples when using Zola as a wedding registry
03:56 – Zola is an ecommerce business, it's a typical retailer
04:40 – Most of the items offered in Zola are what the couples want as wedding gifts
- 04:50 – Zola has added Airbnb as this was requested by couples
- 05:20 – Zola takes a percentage from an Airbnb gift card purchased on Zola
06:14 – Zola goes after the brands that are usually requested by couples and some brands have reached out to Zola for their products to be on Zola's website
06:54 – Since 2013, 300K couples have registered with Zola
07:25 – The number of new couples signed-up in 2016
08:10 – Over time, more and more couples are using Zola as their ONLY wedding registry
09:40 – More guests will buy from Zola if the couples are using Zola exclusively as their wedding registry
10:02 – Zola incentivizes couples by adding the gifts that they want
- 10:24 – There's an additional feature where couples can bring any product to Zola
11:12 – First year revenue
11:38 – Zola had a seed round of funding of $500K in a convertible note
12:17 – Zola has raised additional capital with a total of $40M in VC funding
12:36 – Zola has passed through the typical startup life-cycle
14:14 – Paid ads spend is more than $100K
14:41 – The hot KPI that investors are looking for is the LTV:CAC ratio
15:51 – CAC depends on the channel and historical data of the channel's performance
17:42 – "We are not trying to create more lifetime value"
18:30 – The challenge for Zola is getting newly engaged couples to find out about their services and sign-up for them
19:49 – Zola currently has over 50K products
20:22 – Zola just launched their new product, Zola Weddings, a free website for couples to manage their whole wedding
23:25 – The Famous Five

Key Points:

Listen to your customers desires and needs and respond accordingly.
LTV:CAC ratio is what investors are usually looking for in a company.
Create more products that could be an extension of your existing products—this will encourage your clients to use your products more.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

838: SaaS: Conga Passes 9,000 Customers, $77m Raised for Documents, Contract, and Data Management Nov 09, 2017

Show notes

Matthew Schiltz. He's an experienced, senior executive with a proven track record in building successful, high growth technology and cloud companies ranging from the private startup stage to public companies. He's responsible for his current company, Conga, and its growth strategy which includes financing, driving global sales and expanding product offerings. His extensive executive management and leadership experience is driving strong company growth which has resulted in several Inc 500, Fast 50 and Top 100 Places to Work awards. Past CEO successes include Insightful Corporation, CourtLink, DocuSign, Tier 3 and Blue Box Group. He has received several industry accolades in recognition of his past successes and is considered an expert on software, technology, and cloud business practices.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
What CEO do you follow? – Dan Springer
Favorite online tool? — Email
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 6-7
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Matt would let others know that SaaS technology is about the people

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:58 – Nathan introduces Matt to the show
03:07 – Matt is the first professional CEO hired for DocuSign
03:38 – Matt was also recruited by the board of Conga as their CEO
04:41 – Matt has worked with founders who are great in product and technology, but were not able to grow their company as a CEO
05:25 – The partnership with DocuSign's founder was a successful experience
06:18 – Conga is one of the top 5 global ISV (Independent Software Vendors) in the Salesforce ecosystem
06:44 – Conga specializes in data and electronic contracts
- 06:57 – They take live, Salesforce data and turns it into dynamic documents that are automated
07:21 – Conga is pure SaaS play
07:45 – Renewal rate is astronomically high
08:08 – Conga has a negative revenue churn
08:44 – Conga has a mix of mid-market and enterprise customers
10:30 – The customers pay directly on the number of seats
11:05 – Customers can start with one product, then expand to five products
11:55 – Conga's customer base is two thirds midmarket and one third enterprise
12:33 – Conga's document generation product pricing starts at $200 monthly for 10 seats
- 12:59 – "It's a pretty low risk threshold"
13:30 – The Salesforce AppExchange is the number one customer vehicle for Conga
16:06 – 80% of Conga's customers regard them as offering a critical tool that they need to use
17:00 – Conga has over 9000 customers globally
17:30 – Conga is growing quickly
18:03 – Conga grew 200% last year and another 100% this year
19:59 – Conga is in a typical gross margin rate
20:10 – The majority of Conga is owned by Insight Venture Partners of New York
20:46 – Conga has announced Salesforce Ventures as a strategic investor in May 2017
21:15 – Matt shares how they decide which companies to acquire
- 21:50 – Is it a good strategic fit for Conga?
- 22:02 – Is it a great people fit?
- 22:30 – Conga has 250-500 employees
23:53 – Matt shares his thoughts on Conga taking the IPO route as a funding event
25:05 – DocuSign just announced their intention to go public
27:35 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Not all founders can grow their business; the right CEO can be the answer.
The growth of a company isn't based solely on the product, but the people who are behind it.
The IPO route for funding is a fantastic place to start.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

837: SaaS: A Good Reason to Have Flat Growth at $200k MRR Nov 08, 2017

Show notes

Aseem Badshah. He's the founder and CEO of Socedo which is a twenty person, B2B, social media demand generation company backed by Techstars Ventures, Vulcan Capital and Divergent Ventures. Before this company, he was the founder of Uptown Treehouse, a social media marketing agency working with brands like Uniqlo, Nike, Western Union and Lenovo.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Good to Great
What CEO do you follow? – Satya Nadella
Favorite online tool? — Outreach
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 6
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Be patient and focus, above all, on people"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:34 – Nathan introduces Aseem to the show
02:06 – Socedo helps B2B marketers find the relevant prospect on social media
02:37 – "The last 9 months have been all about efficiency"
02:47 – Socedo now has $4K in MRR per month per AE
03:42 – Socedo is now moving away from the outbound and ABM model
03:47 – Socedo targets SMB companies now
04:03 – Socedo has free trials on their website
- 04:18 – The point is to become a pipeline for their AEs
04:58 – Socedo is helping Pendo's growth
05:08 – Socedo is looking at moving up their ACV
05:57 – Socedo helps B2B companies cut through the noise
06:24 – On the sales side, Socedo is more focused on selling to B2B as opposed to B2C companies
07:00 – Average MRR
07:23 – Aseem ties employee count to growth
- 07:45 – The idea of scaling too quickly isn't really healthy
08:40 – Aseem wants to make sure that their focus is on the right segment of the market
10:00 – Everywhere in SaaS is crowded these days
10:21 – The outbound path is where Sodeco will bump into their competition
10:54 – Sodeco is specifically serving the B2B social media marketers who are underserved individuals
- 11:20 – Sodeco helps them grow their presence
12:34 – Hootsuite is great for marketers who are managing their content for their audience
13:00 – Sodeco finds and grows the audience by targeting the right prospects on social media
14:44 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Scaling up does NOT necessarily mean growing your team.
Even though your market may be crowded, you can find a way to stand out.
Managing your audience is a very different process from growing your audience.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

836: Crypto: $94m Raised to Be Enterprise Blockchain for Global Payments Nov 07, 2017

Show notes

Stefan Thomas. He's the CTO of Ripple. He's also the producer of the popular "What is Bitcoin?" video and the founder of the largest website for novice bitcoin users, WeUseCoins.com. He created a set of open-source bitcoin libraries called BitcoinJS, which today are maintained and used by Bitcoin businesses of all sizes including BitPay, Blockchain.info, BitAddress, Coinpunk and others.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Draw to Win
What CEO do you follow? – Thomas Mcleod
Favorite online tool? — StumbleUpon
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 3 or 8
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Schedule your blocks of time. Clean up and separate your spaces. Tell yourself to stick to what you should be doing.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:38 – Nathan introduces Stefan to the show
02:15 – Stefan got into crypto 7 years ago
02:22 – "What is Bitcoin?" video now has 10 million views and two versions
02:52 – Bitcoin is different from how current financial institutions work
03:27 – Blockchain has a lot of definitions and for Stefan, blockchain is a shared ledger
04:03 – With any technology, it is about how it can make a change that is beneficial to everyone
05:43 – Stefan currently focuses on their project, Inter Ledger, which is essentially a protocol that can tie different ledgers together
- 05:54 – It is an open project and Ripple is a contributor
06:44 – Some of the crypto users have gotten a little too mainstream
07:18 – People are now looking at the possibility of getting what they want without having to rely on clunky, shared ledgers
07:41 – Stefan sold WeUseCoins to a company who has invested in bitcoin
- 08:20 – Stefan didn't make much from the exit
08:36 – Stefan is responsible for the technical vision of Ripple
09:00 – Ripple's customers are mostly banks
- 09:05 – Banks license Ripple's technology and software
09:33 – You can get the most from bitcoin technology without changing how financial institutions work
- 09:53 – Small banks can interoperate with other banks without going through huge hubs
- 10:04 – "Creating that efficiency by creating competition"
10:20 – Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand is one of Ripple's customers
10:30 – Siam Commercial Bank and SBI Remit in Japan have partnered to license Ripple's technology
- 10:40 – Thailand expats staying in Japan can now send money to Thailand through their partnership
12:18 – Shared ledgers are growing smaller and smaller with these new coins coming out and by private blockchains
12:27 – Stefan believes that the next interesting technology will be the interoperability of the blockchains and central ledgers
13:02 – Ripple has only been focused on payments, but there are hundreds of use cases for blockchain
- 13:28 – Payments is the underlying thing for any kind of asset movement
- 13:55 – Ripple is also focused on the crossing borders advantage to it
15:21 – Licensing fee of Ripple depends on their customers
16:21 – Team size is 170
16:36 – Ripple has raised $94M and has sold some digital assets
16:55 – Stefan joined Ripple before it was incorporated and he has equity
18:31 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Changes in technology are intended to make life better for the collective.
With bitcoin technology, payments have become more efficient and convenient.
The vision that you had years ago will definitely change overtime.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

835: $3m+ in Revenue, How to make a SaaS and Professional Service Model Work Together Nov 06, 2017

Show notes

Scott East. He founded his company MSIGHTS in 2004 to help marketers make better decisions with better data and reporting. His experience includes global ads and digital agencies of Fortune 20 telecom and AOL prior to founding MSIGHTS. He understands how to engage marketers as he has 20+ years in this area. His new book, The Cuttlefish Marketer: The Five Essential Traits of a Modern Marketer, focuses on helping marketers transform themselves into modern marketing leaders.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – E-Myth
What CEO do you follow? – Jason Fried
Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn Sales Navigator
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 7
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Scott wished he had focus more on "pull goals", not "push goals"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:54 – Nathan introduces Scott to the show
02:38 – Scott wrote a book because it was on his bucket list
- 03:00 – Scott's publisher is Advantage Media
- 03:46 – The book is now available on Amazon and Apple
- 04:06 – It has sold around a couple of hundreds of copies
- 04:20 – Scott worked on his book for 10 solid months
05:05 – MSIGHTS provides data management and performance reporting services for large marketing departments
05:21 – MSIGHTS' primary model is a SaaS model and they charge based on the data they integrate
05:38 – "We giveaway licenses for free in our platform"
05:58 – Scott wants as many enterprise companies as possible to use their reporting for decision making
06:18 – MSIGHTS charges based on the volume that they're integrating onto the system (in bulk)
07:00 – MSIGHTS' professional service is a recurring service
07:40 – Scott shares why the SaaS model is different from a professional service, even if both services are recurring
08:24 – ACV is $250K per client
08:47 – MSIGHTS has 35 people
09:20 – Scott shares how the data they receive needs to be analyzed
- 10:15 – MSIGHTS integrated the data and added the translation key, but it took the founders more than an hour to decide if they would take it
11:03 – Scott self-funded the company
11:33 – MSIGHTS was officially launched in 2003
12:00 – First year revenue is around $150K
12:10 – 2013 revenue
12:31 – 2016 revenue was $3.21M
13:04 – Churn is less than 5% annually
13:30 – Some of their clients have been with MSIGHTS for five years plus
13:50 – MSIGHTS is still bootstrapped
14:15 – Blended gross margins is a low 85%, platform side is 80% plus and 70% on professional service
15:05 – Last month total revenue is around $264K
15:30 – CAC
15:54 – Payback period is around a month
17:53 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

If you want something and it's within your reach, GO for it!
Having a great product could mean you're bootstrapped for years, even a decade.
Professional services can be a recurring service.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

834: SaaS: He Hit 5x YoY Revenue Growth in Performance Marketing Space Nov 05, 2017

Show notes

Oscar Nelson. He's the CEO of Musqot, the marketing technology and SaaS company he co-founded after spending 12 years in various marketing roles in small and large companies. Industry-wise, he's had a mixed background from consulting, media, telecommunications and enterprise software. He considers himself a business generalist more than a specialist.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
What CEO do you follow? – Jason Lemkin
Favorite online tool? — DocuSign
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – It is more important to focus on your cofounder than your business idea

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:52 – Nathan introduces Oscar to the show
02:18 – Musqot is a marketing performance management app
02:24 – Musqot helps their customers increase their marketing effectiveness and efficiency, enabling their marketing ROI
02:44 – ACV is around $25K annually
02:55 – Some customers pay 6 figures
03:04 – Musqot was founded in 2014
03:16 – On their second year, Musqot launched their beta product and just a year ago, they launched their real product
03:40 – Musqot was bootstrapped. They were able to sustain their first year without revenue through personal financial support and savings
04:05 – Oscar and his co-founder have initially put in around $100K for the company
04:47 – First year revenue
05:37 – 2017 target is $3M in ARR runway
06:12 – Musqot just recently passed their $100K MRR mark
07:06 – Musqot currently has 60 customers
08:14 – Musqot's expansion is due to their support and onboarding efforts
09:13 – Team size is 25 with 20 full-time employees and 5 consultants
- 09:30 – 5 are in sales, 2 are in presales and onboarding, 1 in marketing and the rest are in development
10:45 – Musqot gets customers from different sources
- 11:00 – Musqot is on the Salesforce AppExchange
12:14 – Full weighted CAC
13:31 – Payback period is roughly a year or more
14:10 – Paid ads spend is around $20K monthly
14:50 – The bigger customers are happy and tend to stay longer than the smaller customers
15:32 – Logo churn is around 2% and revenue churn is negative
16:27 – Musqot has raised $1.2M
16:44 – Musqot's HQ is in Stockholm, Sweden and Bangalore, India
17:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

A startup can thrive through personal savings and financial support if need be.
Share your business ideas with your business partner and make sure that your thoughts and visions for the company are aligned.
Plan carefully where you will place your paid ads.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

833: SaaS: Almost Broke, Pivots 2013, Now $5m+ in ARR in Social Hashtag Tracking Space Nov 04, 2017

Show notes

Tim Sae Koo. He's a 26-year old, LA-based native residing currently in San Francisco, California. He's dreamed to become the first Asian American president of the United States to solve impactful problems with a purpose. He found his legacy rules to be inefficient. He studied entrepreneurship at University of Southern California and graduated early to naively start a company and fulfill his original life mission. His company is TINT.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Delivering Happiness
What CEO do you follow? – Mark Cuban
Favorite online tool? — Wunderlist
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "It's okay to make mistakes because that's how you're going to learn"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:53 – Nathan introduces Tim to the show
02:26 – TINT is a marketing software platform that works with B2C brands
- 02:37 – They help source the best customer content on social media
03:11 – TINT is SaaS based
03:19 – ACV is from $1K to 5K a month or $12K to $60K a year
03:31 – The variations in price depend on different options including the number of hashtags to track
- 03:58 – They have a high base price
04:14 – The moderation feature can also be included using manual moderation or machine-learning
04:41 – TINT was launched in 2013
04:48 – TINT is completely bootstrapped
05:00 – Tim raised $370K for the previous company before pivoting to TINT
05:18 – The initial product was a consumer application and the market was quite saturated—this led to the pivot to TINT
05:55 – The initial company was getting zero revenue with 5K users and 3 team members
- 06:35 – Tim and the founders were paying themselves $36K a year
- 06:54 – Tim worked while he was still in college
- 07:35 – Keep your expenses low
07:44 – TINT's team size is around 30
07:52 – TINT currently has 700 customers
08:23 – Average MRR is around $700K
08:50 – 2017 goal is to get around $7.5M in revenue
09:15 – 2016 ARR is around $5M and cash basis is around $6M
10:08 – Current ARR is around $5.5M
10:30 – Tim hasn't raised capital yet because he thinks he won't be a good CEO if he does that
10:36 – Tim identifies himself more as a founder than a CEO
11:32 – TINT has always been profitable
12:16 – CAC is around $2K
- 13:00 – TINT is still figuring out the best channel for them to invest more
- 13:38 – Paid ads is $10-15K a month
14:10 – In the beginning, Tim used to acquire more customers by offering to draw any animal
- 15:20 – The main idea is to make something that can bring a smile to someone's face and that will help them remember Tim
15:35 – Team members are based in different states and other countries like Dubai, Brazil and London
- 15:50 – There's now a big push for a technology investment in Dubai
16:23 – Tim is now paying himself something modest, but nothing too grand
16:39 – Tim has two co-founders and half of the company is owned by the team; the other half for investors
17:35 – Tim shared how he started entrepreneurship and his plans for the future
18:20 – Tim might consider a $30M acquisition at the moment
20:10 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

The most successful in the entrepreneurial world are not the ones who know how to expand their revenue; they are the ones who know how to reduce their expenses.
Think about how you can make people happy—this will make you memorable.
Be the leader, not the boss.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

832: SaaS: Machine Learning and AI for Re-Engaging Customers, $250k ACV and $1.5m Raised Nov 03, 2017

Show notes

Victor Szczerba. He's the co-founder and CEO of Yeti Data, solving big data problems for customers. Prior experience includes running product strategy at the data division at SAP. He was a McKinsey consultant and sales VP for Tadpole Computer and Utopy.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Zero to One and How to Win Friends and Influence People
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — Slack
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "How to be patient"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:44 – Nathan introduces Victor to the show
02:14 – Yeti Data makes virtual data warehouses
02:30 – Yeti Data's model is an enterprise SaaS model
02:45 – An average customer pays Yeti Data $250-500K a year
03:02 – "We love universal usage of our data with inside of the customer"
03:19 – Clients get data from their customers' behavior
04:24 – AI is a blanket term and machine learning is something very specific
05:08 – Victor shares how machine learning works and they put in details manually
05:52 – In digital marketing, there are ways to understand the customer and their purchasing behavior, but it still can be tricky
06:47 – Yeti Data currently has around 5 customers
07:07 – Yeti Data is close to reaching an $800K, ARR mark
07:31 – Yeti Data was launched 3-4 years ago and was in development mode for the first few years
07:50 – Yeti Data raised capital for RND and they've been really lean
- 08:07 – It was a convertible note
- 08:31 – 4% interest and 10% discount with a teaser for the second round
09:18 – On pre-revenue, Yeti Data has 3 core people and some consultants
10:03 – Amazon and Walmart have a software that is similar to Yeti Data
10:39 – Some companies that are in competition with Yeti Data are IBM and HP
11:08 – Yeti Data created a way to virtualize their data connections
12:00 – It is still too early for Yeti Data to have their metrics
13:00 – A good ARR of a million bucks can get Yeti Data to a good series A
14:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Regardless of how congested your market is, you can still find a way to stand out.
Use your competition as motivation to push harder.
Focus in on what you're good at.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

831: You Have $10k, Should You Defer or Deduct? Nov 02, 2017

Show notes

Garrett Gunderson. He's the chief wealth architect at Wealth Factory and author of the New York Times' bestseller, Killing Sacred Cows. Wealth Factory helps entrepreneurs optimize cash flow, streamline their finances and keep more of their hard-earned money so they can make more powerful investments in their best wealth sector—their business.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Scaling Up and The War of Art
What CEO do you follow? – Rich Christiansen
Favorite online tool? — OmniFocus
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 6
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "It will be okay and I don't mean to stress as much as I did"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:40 – Nathan introduces Garrett to the show
02:10 – It took Garrett two years of contemplating before writing Killing Sacred Cows
- 03:26 – Garrett worked with a publisher and the promotion firm Green Leaf
- 04:30 – Garrett is earning higher royalties for his book deal than the usual
- 05:00 – The possibility for bigger redistribution impacted the book deal
- 05:35 – Garrett was able to sell copies of the book even before it came out
- 06:10 – Garrett decided to have a publisher because it was more relevant than to self-publish
- 07:10 – Garrett self-published The Rockefellers last year
- 08:22 – Garrett co-published New Rules to Get Rich with Nightingale
- 08:45 – Garrett has self-published a few books which are more profitable than the one he made with the publisher
09:30 – Just because you're starting a business doesn't mean you know about investing
10:00 – For investing, investor DNA needs to be considered
- 10:04 – The core values, drivers and diversification
10:43 – There's no magic product or magic investment
11:40 – Nathan shares how he deals with his real estate investments
12:10 – People think they need to invest because the money is there
12:40 – It is more important to invest in the RIGHT opportunity and something that we KNOW
13:50 – There are good, bad and lucky investors—but don't rely on luck
14:37 – In terms of taxes:
- 14:42 – Never confuse deferral with deductions
- 16:00 – Garrett shares his stance on deferrals
- 16:54 – Tax should be a secondary consideration
18:00 – Garrett shares how he makes money
- 18:14 – Garrett works with entrepreneurs with $1-10M in ARR
19:10 – Garrett doesn't offer asset management, they're more on financial and cash flow management side
19:40 – Garrett's co-founder passed away in 2006 from a plane crash
20:20 – Wealth Factory's income is steady and they've raised their fees substantially
- 21:20 – "We're the very best people"
21:31 – 2017 revenue goal
22:27 – Wealth Factory has 10 new customers monthly
22:37 – Team size is 20
24:04 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Investing and starting a business are two very different things.
Deferrals are different than deductions.
Billionaires don't have the best financial advice.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
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
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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