Top Founders

Latest Episodes:

EP 620: ConversionXL Doing $200k+/Mo With 3 Products, Live Masterclass, Agency, and Self-Serve with CEO Peep Leja Apr 05, 2017

Show notes

Peep Laja. He's the founder of CXL. He was voted as the most influential, conversion rate optimization expert in the world. He helps fast-growing companies grow faster through his services, coaching and CXL Institute's certification programs along with his world-favorite optimization blog.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Used to be Ready, Fire, Aim
What CEO do you follow? – No
Favorite online tool? — Google Analytics and Intercom
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Peep wished that he had thought bigger when he was younger

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:33 – Nathan introduces Peep to the show
02:18 – CXL is an optimization company
- 02:30 – CXL does conversion optimization
- 02:40 – CXL also teaches about conversion optimization and everything a company needs to grow fast
03:13 – CXL has been an agency model for the longest time
03:31 – Conversion XL Institute was launched in 2016
- 03:41 – It also has a monthly subscription
03:52 – MRR as an agency
04:11 – In running an agency, it doesn't make sense to work with small businesses
04:59 – CXL has a minimum engagement of 3 months
- 05:06 – The size of the client determines their length of stay with CXL
05:17 – CXL agency currently has an average of 15 clients
05:26 – Team size is 10
- 05:32 – Agency people are mostly based in Estonia
05:38 – Peep is based in Austin and is mostly working on the institute side
05:54 – Peep only steps into the agency, if needed
06:08 – CXL has a blog where most lead generation happens
- 06:19 – CXL has 2 full-time writers for the blog
06:35 – Average MRR
07:10 – Peep is working on the scaling aspect of the institute
07:32 – "Self-paced is not a good model for learning"
07:40 – Coursera, Udacity and other e-learning platforms struggle with churn
08:16 – CXL Institute added live courses which are happening in real time
- 08:30 – The participation rate is way higher than the self-pace courses
- 08:38 – The reasons why the participation rate is higher
09:01 – Self-pace is priced at $99 a month
- 09:04 – Live courses have a one-time fee per course and there are 2 courses per month which are priced from $299 to $499
10:08 – Average number of students per course
10:41 – CXL Institute has their predominant list
- 10:47 – CXL Institute also uses retargeting
- 10:56 – CXL Institute is now starting to explore affiliate marketing
- 11:09 – List size
11:24 – The blog was launched at the end of 2011
- 11:43 – The pop-up is the most effective CTA that drives more opt-ins
- 12:18 – Peep shares how to make a pop-up for a blog
- 12:33 – CXL Institute is using Bounce Exchange
- 12:50 – "We try not to annoy the users"
- 13:04 – Bounce Exchange CEO was in Episode 253 of the Top
13:27 – CXL Institute does a revenue-share model with the instructors
- 13:34 – The instructors are marketing their classes on their own, as well
14:18 – The live course inclusions
- 15:02 – It is like a one day workshop
15:30 – The big companies are the ones who buy the self-paced courses
15:52 – CXL Institute currently has 1 certification program
- 16:04 – CXL Institute is adding 2-3 certifications quarterly
16:30 – Peep initially thought the self-paced would be for small businesses
17:30 – Annual signup is 20-25%
18:10 – CXL Institute is having a conference called CXL Live
- 18:16 – A whole resort is booked for the conference
- 18:30 – The conference will be at Hyatt Regency Hill Country ,in San Antonio
- 18:38 – A ticket includes a 2-night stay and meals
- 18:50 – The conference will be on April 5-7
- 18:55 – Visit live.conversionxl.com for more details
21:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

As an agency, the amount of time spent working with small and big companies is the same, so it's better to stick with the big ones.
Self-paced learning faces more churn than live courses.
Think big and don't just settle on what you think you can do—aim higher.

Resources Mentioned:

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
Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
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
Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 619: Smartbeat Raises $250K Onboards First Customers To Help Brick and Mortar Track Customers with CEO Paul Trappitt Apr 04, 2017

Show notes

Paul Trappitt. He's currently the CEO and co-founder of Smartbeat. Before Smartbeat, he was the senior business analyst at National Australia Bank and a senior project lead at SignIQ.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Start with Why and The Startup Owner's Manual
What CEO do you follow? – Gary Vaynerchuk
Favorite online tool? — HubSpot
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish I knew smartphones were coming"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:22 – Nathan introduces Paul to the show
01:45 – Smartbeat helps small businesses to navigate the complex omni channel
02:30 – Paul shares how one of their paying customers uses Smartbeat
03:02 – Smartbeat is about the people that are already using your business
- 03:10 – Smartbeat turns customers into raging fans
03:20 – Smartbeat is currently focusing on brick-and-mortar businesses
03:51 – Paul explains how they can help Jim, the café owner
05:14 – Smartbeat provides Wi-Fi to business owners and other technologies
- 05:50 – Smartbeat targets your audience in social media
06:32 – Smartbeat is a SaaS business
- 06:39 – Pricing starts at $250 a month
07:06 – Smartbeat currently has 5 customers
07:12 – Paul had a Wi-Fi company for 3 years
07:38 – Paul's Wi-Fi business did $20K in 2016
07:44 – Paul pivoted because there was too much competition in the Wi-Fi space
08:23 – Smartbeat raised $150K in Australia
- 08:39 – It was an equity round
08:55 – Paul shares how he came up with the valuation
10:10 – Smartbeat started in 2015
10:18 – Team size is 6 and they are all based in Australia
10:30 – Paul shares how they find their customers
10:55 – Smartbeat built their list organically through networking
12:35 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Don't be afraid to pivot—you'll know when it's time.
One way to build your network is by spreading news about your product in social gatherings.
Technology is unpredictable so you have no choice but to adapt.

Resources Mentioned:

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
Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
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
Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 618: Astronomer.io 2 Yrs Old, Hits $60K MRR, $2m Raised Helping Companies Makes Sense of Data with CEO Ry Walker Apr 03, 2017

Show notes

Ry Walker. He's the co-founder and CEO of Astronomer.io, a big data infrastructure company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Astronomer is an AngelPad batch #9 company and has raised $2M from the likes of 500 Startups, CincyTech, Router Ventures and SocialStarts. Astronomer measures, connects and centralizes data—making it super simple for anyone from business users to data scientists to quickly create and monitor their data and pipelines.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
What CEO do you follow? – Dennis Mortensen
Favorite online tool? — Fabricator
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Ry would tell himself to be bold and to be confident

Time Stamped Show Notes:

02:35 – Nathan introduces Ry to the show
03:17 – Astronomer helps companies figure out how to use their data to benefit their business
- 03:22 – Astronomer works with early stage startups and big companies
03:41 – Some companies in the web analytics space are Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics
03:57 – Astronomer helps companies get the right data from their inside companies
04:32 – Astronomer is called data engineering, as a service
- 04:39 – Astronomer does the work for their customer while building the platform
- 04:51 – Astronomer has a flat price of 6K and 10K monthly
05:14 – Astronomer has their private cloud edition for their customers
05:33 – Astronomer was launched in May 2015
- 05:36 – Astronomer was at Collision Conference when they pivoted after the first day
- 06:13 – They realized that their biggest problem was to get companies to send them the data to run the analysis
06:35 – The number one issue in the space is the onboarding
07:03 – Ry explains the type of company they are
08:02 – The Angelpad is one of the most important pivots Astronomer did
08:13 – Angelpad's model
08:46 – What Ry was thinking when they got into Angelpad
09:30 – First year revenue
09:38 – 2016 revenue
09:57 – Team size and location
10:08 – Astronomer has raised $2M in 2 years
- 10:31 – Last round was at $1.1M and a convertible note
10:40 – Average MRR
12:04 – Astronomer currently has 20 customers
12:14 – Customer churn
12:17 – Astronomer currently has a net negative churn of 48%
- 12:46 – Ry explains the net negative churn of 48%
13:33 – CAC
- 13:38 – Astronomer just started with paid CAC this year
- 14:00 – Astronomer started with $600
14:21 – LTV
15:40 – Last round of funding was in August
16:21 – Ry explains the amount they are burning
16:42 – Ry is thinking now of the post-seed round
- 16:52 – It's a $3-5 M upround
- 17:14 – The valuation Ry is aiming for
- 17:40 – "We don't really want to bump our valuation too much"
20:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

The number one issue in data analytics is the onboarding.
Know your valuation and understand the data that had led you to that valuation.
Believe in yourself—be bold and confident.

Resources Mentioned:

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
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
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

EP 617: DataSigns Raises $5.4M, Gives Loans To Indian Credit Borrowers At 1/2 The Rate Money Sharks Do With CEO Monish Anand Apr 02, 2017

Show notes

Monish Anand. He's a banker, a technologist, and a Fintech evangelist. Above everything else, he's a father. He spent 20+ plus years in corporate working for large banks and technology companies only to realize that they were not solving big problems and quite frankly, were often part of the problem. His company, Datasigns Technologies, aims to provide underserved and unserved access to optimal credit.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Calvin and Hobbes
What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Bezos
Favorite online tool? — Google Calendar and Google Task
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish I knew what Internet was"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:35 – Nathan introduces Monish to the show
02:20 – Datasigns Technologies started last year
02:32 – Datasigns Technologies gives credit ratings
02:38 – 400M people in India apply for loans yearly
02:42 – Less than 107 get loans from banks and other financial institutions
03:00 – Datasigns Technologies tries to bridge the gap between the credit givers and credit takers
03:15 – Datasigns Technologies has grade scoring algorithms
03:35 – Monish believes that the calculus used to determine credit worthiness is not good enough
04:03 – Datasigns Technologies calculates data from sources and turns them into algorithms
04:10 – Monish shares his driver's experience applying for a loan
05:18 – Datasigns Technologies relies on mobile data
- 05:48 – Datasigns Technologies has a mobile app
06:06 – Datasigns Technologies' marketing explained
06:35 – Datasigns Technologies has a tie-up with micro-small to medium enterprises
07:00 – Datasigns Technologies does financial literacy for the enterprises
07:21 – There are 75K people who now understands Datasigns Technologies
07:54 – Datasigns Technologies has around 10K app downloads
08:07 – Datasigns Technologies has closed 600 loans
- 08:20 – Loan terms
09:24 – Datasigns Technologies was Angel funded, last year
- 09:31 – They have raised around $400K on an equity round
- 09:39 – Datasigns Technologies is raising another round of $5M
09:50 – Nathan breaks down the math
10:27 – Datasigns Technologies' interest rate varies from 22-26%
- 10:46 – Interest rates, in India, are much higher than in the USA
11:27 – Datasigns Technologies is the only company in India that is mandated by financial institutions to acquire customers
12:00 – Loan sharks charge 3% a month
12:40 – Datasigns Technologies has a processing fee and a basic interest rate
13:03 – How Datasigns Technologies makes money
13:43 – Datasigns Technologies helps banks build their books
14:00 – Why Datasigns Technologies is raising $5M
14:22 – Team size is 17
- 14:36 – All based in Bangalore, India
14:45 – Monish shares why he started Datasigns Technologies
- 15:05 – "There are people who deserve loans, but are not getting loans from the banks"
16:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Be the solution—not just part of the problem.
There are people who deserve a loan, but are not given a chance—Monish wants to change that.
The fintech space is one of the hottest spaces, at the moment.

Resources Mentioned:

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
Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
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.
Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 616: His Coffee Shops Do $1.8M But His Crowdfunding Platform is More Impressive With $550k 2016 Revenue on 486 Projects With $2.5M Funded with CEO McCabe Callahan Apr 01, 2017

Show notes

McCabe Callahan who has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He began with a coffee shop named Mugs Coffee Lounge, which has been operating successfully in Fort Collins, Colorado, since 2002. He began a company called Community Funded, in 2011, out of his passion for providing technology that connects, supports and empowers people.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – E-Myth and Good to Great
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — Slack
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Pay attention to numbers"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:32 – Nathan introduces McCabe to the show
02:33 – Mugs Coffee Lounge is McCabe's first real business
02:43 – McCabe went to Colorado State University
02:50 – McCabe was coming back from Europe when he had the idea of the Mugs Coffee Lounge
- 02:56 – Mugs Coffee Lounge was the first wireless internet café in Fort Collins
03:11 – Building relationships is the key to a successful coffee lounge
03:36 – First year revenue
04:04 – McCabe is 36; but when he was 24, he was already opening 5 coffee shops
04:22 – Total topline of all the coffee shops and restaurants
04:58 – McCabe didn't raise any capital
05:31 – McCabe's credit card debt when he started Mugs Coffee Lounge
05:48 – McCabe also had debt from other sources
06:43 – "Coffee is a good business to be in—there's no recession"
06:58 – McCabe shares where he sells his business to
07:07 – McCabe's income is now generating well
07:16 – McCabe did $1.6M in sales in 2016
07:30 – McCabe shares how he started with Community Funded
- 08:17 – McCabe had to find a way to secure a loan to open up a location
- 08:31 – The amount McCabe wanted to loan
- 08:45 – 2009-2010 was the hardest time for McCabe
- 09:41 – McCabe was about to give up when one of his regulars offered help
- 10:05 – 5 months after the McCabe's next shop opened, he heard about NPR's Kickstarter
- 10:20 – McCabe thought, "What if he could something like Kickstarter, but for communities?"
10:44 – Community Funded started out bootstrapped and just recently raised a round
11:03 – Community Funded first round raised $40K-75K
- 11:29 – Total funding was $2.3M
- 11:38 – Rounds are equity round
11:50 – McCabe shares Community Funded's valuation
- 12:18 – People believed in Community Funded's vision
12:38 – Community Funded's is a SaaS model
13:46 – Sample of fundraising raised in Community Funded
14:26 – Community Funded's focus
14:53 – Current Community Funded's revenue and revenue goal for 2017
15:54 – Total transaction volume in 2016
16:03 – 2016 total revenue
17:21 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Lack of funds is not a hindrance in building a company.
There's nothing wrong sharing your problems with your regulars – you don't know who can offer you help.
Stick and pay close attention to your numbers.

Resources Mentioned:

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
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
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

EP 615: $75M Raised, This $15K Machine Folds Your Laundry, $35M 2016 Revenue with Seven Dreamers CEO Shin Sakane Mar 31, 2017

Show notes

Shin Sakane. He's the founder and CEO of Seven Dreamers. Seven Dreamers is daring to create technology that has never been seen in the world. Shin has a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Delaware.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Path
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — Facebook
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Get global experiences, visit so many different countries, cultures..."

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:44 – Nathan introduces Shin to the show
02:20 – Seven Dreamers creates technology that the world has not seen yet
- 02:30 – First product is the fully automated carbon golf shaft
- 02:35 – Second product is the nascent nasal airway stent
02:58 – There's no connection between the products
03:16 – Seven Dreamers wanted to develop something that is not yet available anywhere
04:00 – Seven Dreamers was launched in 2011
04:20 – Seven Dreamers has raised over $75M
- 04:29 – The money was mainly spent on product development
05:05 – The nasal stent currently has more sales than the golf shaft
05:27 – The golf shaft price is $1200 - $120K
- 05:53 – The most popular model sells for $1800
- 06:10 – The golf shaft was launched in 2014
- 06:30 – 400 shafts/month are being sold
- 07:35 – The way to make a golf shaft
09:06 – Team size
09:45 – 2016 total revenue
10:30 – It took Seven Dreamers 11 years to develop laundroid
- 11:15 – Seven Dreamers has spent $15M for product development
11:33 – Shin shares how they came up with the idea of laundroid
- 12:13 – Laundroid was initially limited
- 12:50 – Laundroid's price is $15K
13:38 – The 3 products are completely different—from the suppliers to the technologies
14:08 – Most of the product ideas come from Shin
14:43 – The last round they raised
15:03 – Shin shares the valuation of each of their products
- 15:30 – "Everything counts"
16:12 – The nasal airway stent is currently their biggest money maker
- 16:25 – Average MRR $1M
16:53 – 2017 goal is $80M
17:07 – Seven Dreamers are working on their sales and marketing
- 17:14 – "We do our own marketing"
- 17:34 – Advertising cost
- 18:40 – Seven Dreamers spent money on sponsoring athletes
19:09 – The number of golf shaft complete sets that have sold
21:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Think outside the box—have a solution to a problem, then create a product.
Study and know your market well so that your product speaks directly to a need.
Be creative and innovative.

Resources Mentioned:

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.
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 614: Pendo Raises $31M Helping 200 Customers With In App Messaging To Drive Usage with CEO Todd Olson Mar 30, 2017

Show notes

Todd Olson. He's the CEO and founder of Pendo, a product experience platform that helps product managers deliver successful products. Before Pendo, Todd served as VP of products at Rally Software Development which he led through its public offering. Todd joins Rally in its acquisition of 6th Sense, the company he founded and served as president and CTO.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Good to Great
What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Levie
Favorite online tool? — 15Five
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 more at 21, than I thought I knew"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Todd to the show
02:17 – Pendo provides a solution that helps companies build an application to improve its experience
03:00 – Optimizely uses Pendo to understand the people who are in their trial and onboarding flow
03:32 – Pendo is different to Intercom's space
04:01 – Pendo is a SaaS company
04:21 – Pendo was launched in 2013
05:11 – Todd experimented with different technologies
05:26 – "Every product has key set features"
05:45 – Todd founded 6th Sense and sold it to Rally
06:24 – First year revenue is zero
06:55 – Todd invested $1.2M to start Pendo
07:11 – Pendo has raised a seed round
- 07:44 – It was a million dollar convertible note
08:15 – Pendo has raised a total of $31M
08:26 – Team size
08:55 – "All of our customers are top-tier"
09:43 – Average customer pay per month
09:52 – Pendo serves mid-market to enterprise companies
10:20 – Todd shares what drives their expansion revenue
10:50 – Pendo increases prices by adding products to existing plans
10:55 – Pendo has tier-prices based on features
11:17 – Todd shares why adding products is their main expansion driver
12:30 – Average number of customers
12:45 – Future target market
13:00 – Average customer churn
13:35 – Pendo has a net negative churn
13:49 – Todd explains net negative churn
14:54 – CAC and LTV ratio is healthy
15:26 – Pendo's expansion plan
15:44 – Average MRR
17:25 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Treat all your customers as if they are top-tier customers.
Expansion drivers will depend on what suits the company.
Be more confident.

Resources Mentioned:

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.
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 613: 16 Year Old Doing $70k MRR Helping You Put Your Ads Inside of Taxis' in India with CEO Sahil Arora Mar 29, 2017

Show notes

Sahil Arora. He's an entrepreneur, author, and a guitarist and defies what you think someone his age could do. Tune in to learn his entrepreneurial story, from creating the Vuzelaa Group to jumpstarting Tabverts—a company that broadcasts ads in taxis all over India.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — No
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "You could get a Lamborghini at the age of 10"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:15 – Nathan introduces Sahil to the show
01:35 – Vuzelaa Group is the parent company which Sahil started when he was 16
- 01:51 – Under Vuzelaa Group, they created Tabverts; a company that broadcasts ads in taxis all over India
02:11 – Tabverts' pricing
02:45 – Tabverts was launched in 2016
03:06 – Sahil is the sole founder of Vuzelaa Group
03:20 – Sahil shares how he found people on Twitter and got them on board
- 03:59 – Sahil shares how he convinced them to join
04:55 – Sahil shows Nathan his sample pitch
06:28 – Sahil is 18 now
06:45 – There are around 10K cabs in India with Tabverts' hardware
06:50 – Sahil shares how he funded Tabverts
- 07:05 – Sahil spent $100K in the early stage of the business
- 07:12 – Sahil raised $500K in an equity round
- 07:32 – The $500K was from a VC based in India
07:50 – The brands that pay Sahil
08:18 – Sahil shares how the brand, Snapdeal, pays him
- 08:40 – Average pay per second
09:45 – Tabverts' customers can track their ads' performance through an app
- 10:14 – The clicks on the tablet can also be tracked
10:37 – Sahil shares how the ads' loophole functions
11:00 – Team size
11:08 – MRR is $70K
11:35 – Sahil shares how his team operates
11:56 – Sahil dropped out of high school and won't go to college
12:26 – Tabverts has a predictive revenue stream
12:35 – Sahil's future plans for Tabverts
13:18 – How Tabverts deals with the cabs
14:05 – The key metrics Tabverts tracks
14:38 – 2017 goal
14:50 – Sahil shares what he does with the revenue he gets
15:23 – Cost per hardware
15:48 – Sahil shares how their tabs work
- 16:16 – Tabverts only shows the ads that may be interesting for the people riding in cabs
16:47 – Tabverts is tied up with Uber
- 16:57 – The amount Tabverts pays Uber
17:55 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Entrepreneurship knows no age.
Continue to grow your company by investing consistently.
You can find your clientele through social media – you just have to have the right pitch.

Resources Mentioned:

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.
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 612: Sauce Labs Raises $130M (At Great Valuation!) Helping 3500 Customers Execute Concurrent and Parallel High Fidelity Testing with CEO Charles Ramsey Mar 28, 2017

Show notes

Charles Ramsey. He's the CEO of Sauce Labs and has been in that position since April 2015, and has served as Chief Revenue Officer from February to April 2015. Prior to that, he's had 25 years of industry experience—he was a venture partner at JMI Equity and held a number of roles at Quest Software, including VP of marketing and sales.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Finding Your North Star
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — No
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'd become a CEO sooner in my career"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

02:27 – Nathan introduces Charles to the show
03:03 – Sauce Labs has just raised a significant amount, $70M
03:45 – Sauce Labs has raised a total of $130M
04:04 – Charles shares how they decide to raise capital
- 04:14 – Sauce Labs checked their ability for an acquisition
- 04:42 – Sauce Labs had great timing
04:54 – Sauce Labs does automated testing in the cloud for web app and mobile devices
06:38 – Sauce Labs' market is about continuous integration and delivery
07:17 – Sauce Labs is SaaS based with an annual subscription and self-service
07:58 – Sauce Labs has invested in pre-sell and technical support
08:30 – Average transaction fee is $50K annually
08:56 – The fee varies from the number of parallel testings the customer wants
- 09:20 – The concurrency of 50
09:45 – Sauce Labs is growing organically
10:11 – Sauce Labs is an 8 year old company
- 10:33 – "The founders started the company with the notion of automated testing from day 1"
- 10:54 – 3 years ago, a number of ISVs realized that they wanted to leverage selenium
- 12:03 – One of the founders is still in Sauce Labs and all of them are still on the cap table
12:41 – Team size
13:20 – Sauce Labs currently has 3500 customers
13:58 – Sauce Labs' 90-day post-transaction clause window
- 14:17 – Depending on the complexity of the environment, it can require professional services
- 14:26 – Charles shares what their technical team does
14:58 – Average ARR
16:00 – Average pay of self-serve customers
16:59 – Valuation
17:46 – Sauce Labs wants to focus on the enterprise companies
19:15 – Gross annual customer churn
19:46 – Sauce Labs is currently at net negative revenue churn
19:54 – CAC
- 20:00 – Sauce Labs is doing paid marketing
21:20 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Do your research—know what your customer wants and needs.
Focus your energy on the strengths of your company.
Take courage, take the leap.

Resources Mentioned:

Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
Toptal– Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 611: VSee Helping 1000 Customers Use Video To Transact Information with CEO Milton Chen Mar 27, 2017

Show notes

Dr. Milton Chen. He's the co-founder and CEO of VSee, and has a PhD from Stanford on the design of video collaboration. Additionally, he was the co-founder of XMPP Video Standard which is now used by Google Talk and Facebook Chat. He has deployed VSee for Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Linkin Park and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Zero to One
What CEO do you follow? – Marc Benioff
Favorite online tool? — Rapportive
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Milton would tell himself not to be as naïve and clueless

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:40 – Nathan introduces Milton to the show
02:20 – Vsee is a SaaS company
- 02:31 – Vsee offers mobile app and call center workflow
03:04 – Price range is $49-499 per medical provider per month
03:30 – Milton explains how VSee provides a service to client, Trinity Health
04:30 – Milton assures their client security and confidentiality
05:05 – Vsee was launched in 2008
05:33 – Milton went to graduate school because he wanted to become a professor
05:46 – Milton now loves everything about startups
06:03 – Vsee's initial investment
- 06:24 – It was an equity investment
06:42 – Milton was clueless about valuations and didn't know what he was doing
- 06:59 – Milton started VSee after graduate school with zero knowledge about business
07:15 – Milton was just grateful that people wanted to invest in VSee
07:35 – Vsee currently had a thousand paying customers
09:00 – Average number of nurses in VSee
09:23 – First year revenue
10:11 – Average amount raised
10:40 – Team size is 52 and they are based in Sunnyvale, CA
12:12 – VSee is currently cash flow mutual
12:51 – Vsee invests in making sure their customers feel secure
13:18 – Milton shares how their technology is built into Facebook Messenger
14:00 – Milton doesn't get royalties
14:40 – Vsee started as a general video conference market
14:50 – Milton shares how they pivoted to the health industry
15:34 – Vsee has an inside sales team
- 15:41 – Vsee has 3 sources for sales
16:22 – Vsee is currently not into paid marketing
17:40 – Vsee has close to 100% customer retention
18:17 – Vsee is on a net negative churn
19:20 – 2017 revenue target
20:56 – Vsee's last closed round was in 2011
21:10 – Milton is just focused on acquiring more customers and is not interested in any acquisition talks
22:47 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Everyone has to start somewhere – even if it means being naïve and clueless.
Getting into a market with less competition could mean more customers and sales.
Paid marketing won't always work so test everything, first, before investing in a certain marketing strategy.

Resources Mentioned:

Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
Toptal– Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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