Top Founders

Latest Episodes:

EP 541: VerticalIQ Hits $175k MRR, Helping 140 Banks Prep for Company Meetings with President Bobby Martin Jan 16, 2017

Show notes

EP 540: Cliently Hits $8k MRR, Aims for $5m Valuation Next Round with CEO Spencer Farber Jan 15, 2017

Show notes

Spencer Farber. He is the CEO and founder of Cliently and he's been in the industry for 10+ years working across many spaces. He discovered one thing—the constant pain for companies is to define creative ways to generate leads and THAT is what he's trying to solve with Cliently.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Marc Benioff's books
What CEO do you follow? – Mikita Mikado
Favorite online tool? — Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – People are going to throw curveballs and you just need to understand how to deal with them

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Spencer to the show
02:12 – Cliently helps a client engage with prospects
02:23 – A lead is only valuable if you're able to do something with it
02:33 – Cliently is a SaaS model
- 02:40 – Cliently's subscription plans starts at $99 to $599 a month
02:50 – Average RPU
03:18 – There are clients who pay annually
03:45 – They currently have 70-80 customers
04:02 – Cliently is bootstrapped with $30K and friends and family with $75K
04:22 – Cliently was launched in February 2016
05:00 – Spencer shares about a client in Australia and how they are using Cliently
- 05:20 – The client is BigReviewTV
- 05:28 – Cliently creates custom campaigns for them
06:10 – "We are not trying to be a CRM but we are trying to put the pieces together that are essentially going to help engagement"
06:45 – Cliently is using different APIs
07:00 – Spencer is looking to partner with Bond.co in the future
07:21 – Spencer shares how Cliently is going to beat the "other guys" in their space
08:12 - Spencer wanted to raise capital
08:54 – Cliently is using multiple sources for their leads
09:49 – Cliently's target MRR
09:58 – Spencer would raise $500K on an equity round
- 10:30 – Spencer would give up 10-15% to get the target MRR
11:06 – Spencer shares how Cliently's system is unique
11:34 – Team size
12:05 – Gross customer churn
13:05 – Team location
15:00 – The Famous Five
17:18 – Connect with Spencer through email

3 Key Points:

A lead is only valuable if you're able to do something with it.
Stand out in your space—give your client more reasons to stick with you.
If you have a dream, pursue it.

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
Spencer@Cliently.com – Spencer's email address
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 539: eTailInsights Bootstrapped, $1.4m ARR Ecommerce Data with CEO Darren Pierce Jan 14, 2017

Show notes

Darren Pierce. He's the founder and CEO of eTailInsights. Prior to launching the business, he has spent many years working with B2B companies specializing in leadership, strategic development, client relationships, and maximizing revenue growth. Darren was the Director of Sales for First Research which was acquired by Hoover. Darren helped Bronto Software accelerate their revenue market share to become the leading email service provider in the ecommerce industry. He's a graduate of The Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University with 2 BSBAs in Management and Marketing.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Hockey Stick Principles
What CEO do you follow? – N/A
Favorite online tool? — Buffer
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Darren wished that his 20-year old self could have been more patient

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:50 – Nathan introduces Darren to the show
02:35 – Darren didn't want to leave Bronto Software, but he came up with the eTailInsights' idea and couldn't let it pass
02:53 – Darren joined Bronto, in 2008, to help sell their email marketing and make offers to online retailers
- 03:25 – One of the early problems in Bronto was how to find the companies/retailers
03:47 – eTailInsights is a database that indexed the e commerce companies
04:03 – eTailInsights is a SaaS business
04:10 – Average MRR/ARR
- 04:43 – The pay is manual upfront
04:48 – eTailInsights was launched in 2011
04:51 – Total 2015 revenue
05:15 – 2016 goal
05:50 – Average MRR
06:18 – Average churn is adjusted
06:50 – CAC
- 07:29 - eTailInsights' average pay per click
07:48 – LTV
08:25 – eTailInsights has been tracking hundreds of thousands of retailer globally
08:36 – eTailInsights will start indexing next year
08:58 – Number of current companies is 3000
09:09 – The three biggest competitors of eTailInsights
10:08 – Exit is not Darren's priority at the moment
- 10:16 – Darren's dream number is $100M
- 11:18 – Darren wants to know how far his business can go
11:30 – eTailInsights is completely bootstrapped and they have $100K in it
12:06 – Current head count
12:20 – Average compensation
12:36 – eTailInsights' location
12:52 – eTailInsights sourced their own data and they built their own tech
14:38 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

When you become predictable, you lose SO much leverage.
If the idea of a business strikes you, go with that passion and just do it.
Be patient—it takes patience to be a successful entrepreneur.

Resources Mentioned:

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

EP 538: Nexd.io Raises $1m Pre-Rev, Aims $6M Series A For Smart Sales Automation with Founder James and CEO Larry Jan 13, 2017

Show notes

James and Larry of Nexd.io. James is the founder and the Chief Stratgey Officer of Next.io and has previously worked with IBM, Socialware, SailPoint Techologies. He has studied at Berkeley and now builds softwares that help people everyday. Larry is the President and CEO of Nexd and is highly experienced in leadership and operations.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Peopleware (James)
What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Miller (Larry)
Favorite online tool? — Clearbit (James)
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes (Larry)
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – James wished he built a network. Larry would tell himself that the most important thing is execution.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces James and Larry to the show
02:10 – Larry just joined Nexd and he's the new CEO
- 02:26 – Larry helps James build a business around the idea
- 02:34 – Larry's background is multiple CEO
03:35 – James shares why he brought Larry in
03:59 – Nexd was founded 14 months ago
05:23 – Nexd's space is analytics
- 05:45 – Nexd analyzes which emails are effective
05:55 – Nexd is currently on pre-revenue
06:00 – Nexd raised a million dollars on a seed round
- 06:10 – It is a convertible note
- 06:12 – Nexd did 2 convertible notes
07:10 – Larry discusses what he thinks about CEOs and founders not being on good terms in a company
- 07:20 – Larry has been an advisor to VCs
- 07:30 – Larry shares his advice to entrepreneurs
- - 07:56 – Founders and CEOs should agree on who is going to drive the steering wheel
08:43 – Larry shares how he and James would represent the company in a sample article with TechCrunch
09:15 – Larry shares how they would resolve a possible disagreement in a seed round
10:17 – It was James' own decision to get a CEO
10:48 – On the technical side, there is another co-founder
11:10 – "What Nexd is doing is going to be a game changer"
11:32 – Nexd targets sales manager and sales reps
12:58 – James and his co founder's background is enterprise integration problems
- 13:20 – "We're trying to be a system of engagement for multiples systems of work"
13:43 – Target for Series A is $6-7M
14:08 – A minimal viable product is needed to step forward—a pilot that has been tested
15:50 – Nexd is not interested on a quick exit and they are going to be the next great company
17:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Choose someone who can do something you're not good at and who you respect.
Founders and CEOs should agree on who's going to drive the steering wheel – if issues come up, own your mistakes and deal with it.
You need a minimal viable product with validation from potential customers to move forward with your business.

Resources Mentioned:

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

EP 537: Raised $150k Then CTO Left, Now He's Cruising $30k MRR with LeadFuze CEO Justin McGill Jan 12, 2017

Show notes

Justin McGill. He's an entrepreneur and owned a startup in 2008 when he started a digital agency. After he scaled that out, he launched LeadFuze – a B2B lead generation platform. He's also the co-host of Zero to Scale Podcast which gives us a behind the scenes look at growing a startup with 200K per month in MRR.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Ultimate Sales Machine
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — ZenPayroll which is now Gusto and bench.co
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Justin would've told himself that entrepreneurship was a path in life he could take

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:50 – Nathan introduces Justin to the show
02:15 – LeadFuze is a software platform
- 02:21 – LeadFuze allows to you to search for contact information and automate the outreach to ideal and prospective customers—turning them into possible sales opportunities
02:35 – LeadFuze is a subscription-based company
02:55 – Average MRR is $175
- 03:08 – Early stage companies are using LeadFuze
03:25 – Average number of customers
03:45 – LeadFuze started off completely bootstrapped and had a small raise of $150K
- 03:56 – Two of three investors are Rob Walling of Drip and David Hauser of Grasshopper
04:26 – Justin shares why he decided to take capital
04:43 – Justin did a small equity round
06:10 – If you're trying to grow your sales, LeadFuze can help you
06:43 – LeadFuze is web-based
07:00 – LeadFuze wants to focus exclusively on lead generation
07:24 – LeadFuze is a software with a service
08:14 – Gross customer churn and revenue churn
- 08:35 – "Customers stay for 6 months or so"
09:15 – Why not just charge $175 upfront?
- 09:31 – LeadFuze is currently a product company without engineering help
- 09:47 – Justin is trying to look for a CTO
10:58 – Justin shares why his CTO left
11:57 – Current team size on remote
- 12:18 – About to open an office in Phoenix, AZ
12:30 – LeadFuze has 3 co-founders, one who was Justin's sales coach
13:55 – CAC
- 14:05 – Around $300
14:28 – Justin invested in content and that is what driving the signups at the moment
14:50 – LeadFuze offers 20 leads for free
- 15:02 – 8.5% of the signups convert from free trial to paid
- 15:10 – Free trial doesn't require a credit card
15:40 – Total 2015 revenue
- 15:50 - LeadFuze started totally free
- 16:11 – Average total cash flow by the end of 2015 is around $250K
16:45 – Some of the sources where LeadFuze pulls data are from ClearBit, Full Contact, and Tower Data
17:23 – Hit Justin up on Twitter
18:55 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

As a startup, the pay-as-you-go model may be more beneficial than subscription plans.
Entrepreneurs need to be more open about their people leaving.
Don't waste time and TAKE the leap as early as you can.

Resources Mentioned:

Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
ClearBit, Full Contact, and Tower Data Where LeadFuze pulls its data
@Jus10McGill – Justin's Twitter handle
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 536: HGData $24M Raised, $10M 2016 Revenue Helping B2B Companies Get Accurate Data with Mark Godley Jan 11, 2017

Show notes

Mark Godley. He has held leadership positions at technology companies of all different sizes from pre-revenue to publicly traded. He's best known for driving revenue and outpacing industry growth while rejecting herd mentality. Outside of work, Mark finds time daily to read, work-out, and cook—all the while, being an engaged father, spouse, and citizen.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Devil in the White City
What CEO do you follow? – Henry Schuck and Yonatan Stern
Favorite online tool? — Flipboard, Stitcher, GaggleAMP and Lead Forensics
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Living below your means gives you tons of options. Think about the life you want at age 50 and work backwards. We're running a marathon not a sprint, and it takes planning, sacrifice and resilience and then, don't define success and happiness by your paycheck"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Mark to the show
02:25 – HG Data is in a competitive and intelligent space
- 02:35 – HG Data build data sets, used by sales and marketing teams, to do precision targeting at scale
03:05 – The founder founded HG Data in 2012 after an exit
03:43 – Mark is the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at HG Data
- 04:02 – Mark handles all the market phasing for the company
04:31 – When HG Data was founded it served the enterprise space
- 04:49 – Last year is when they started to go down market
- 04:58 – Number of enterprise clients is 15-20 with 6-figure ARR
- 05:15 – HG Data had traditional customers, as well, that totaled 50
- 05:58 – HG Data transitioned from a data company to a product company
- 06:12 – Total ASP
06:50 – HG Data wants to increase the customer base, but lower the RPU
- 07:56 – HG Data created a use-space specific databases
08:19 – HG Data tries to keep the balance of enterprise and down market pricing
- 08:34 – 50% of the revenue is from direct clients and 50% is from the partners
09:22 – Mark shares what he is worried about in regards to their target
10:09 – Mark shares how their partners use their data
10:55 – Average pay per user annually
12:05 – There are 10-50 OEMs in the customer base
12:37 – Average number of customers
13:00 – Mark only follows ARR and not MRR
13:27 – Mark shares that they are focused on building the new space—they are currently spending and losing money by design, but hoping for a positive cash flow
14:00 – Gross annual customer churn is less than 10%
- 14:30 – "We've had one 6-figure churn in the last 4 years"
14:40 – CAC
15:23 – "We're looking for a more high-velocity sales model"
16:13 – The company is based in Santa Barbara, where they have 80 employees
16:42 – Connect with Mark through Twitter and LinkedIn
18:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

"We're running a marathon, not a sprint, and it takes planning, sacrifice, and resilience."
Be mindful of your partners BEFORE making decisions.
Live without regrets.

Resources Mentioned:

Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
@Mgodley21 – Mark's Twitter handle
LinkedIn – Mark's LinkedIn account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 535: He's 24 yo Founder, Now VC at Hummingbird Jan 10, 2017

Show notes

Dominik Vacikar. He is currently an Associate at Hummingbird VC, but was previously the co-founder of Spaceship and some other startups, including Growth at Nestpick. Listen as Dominik gives us an inside look at the workings of Spaceship and why he was chosen by Hummingbird for a very specific task.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Zero to One
What CEO do you follow? – N/A
Favorite online tool? — Stripe
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Dominik wishes he wasn't so hard on himself, so long as he was progressing

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:35 – Nathan introduces Dominik to the show
02:00 – Spaceship started as a side project when Dominik had their lead generation tool in social media
03:02 – Dominik shares how Spaceship works
- 03:18 – Spaceship searches your entire target audience and provides you with prospect data
03:35 – Spaceship is pay-as-you go
03:51 – 10% of Spaceship's customers are on a monthly plan
04:10 – Spaceship was launched in October 2015
04:30 – 2015 revenue
04:55 – Current total revenue
05:12 – Dominik shares why he turned to Hummingbird
06:33 – Spaceship was bootstrapped
06:52 – Spaceship's current team size
07:20 – Dominik has been with Hummingbird for 2 months
07:30 – Hummingbird wants Dominik to build a radar for startups
- 07:54 – The radar will track interesting companies and identify them
08:29 – Dominik shares how their product is different from Crunchbase
09:31 – Dominik shares the variables they use to identify the startups
10:30 – The current biggest problem is updating the data as frequently as possible
11:45 – Hummingbird is good at identifying the funders' DNA
12:08 – Hummingbird's main area of expertise
13:00 – Hummingbird might be interested in a Series A
13:21 – Hummingbird's ARR target
14:05 – Nathan asks Dominik about Spaceship's founder
14:37 – Dominik is active on Twitter and LinkedIn
16:10 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Growth comes in many forms—sometimes from within your own company or from the help of others.
Develop your expertise by drawing knowledge from other fields and markets.
Your progress determines your future and YOU set the pace.

Resources Mentioned:

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

EP 534: 29yo Radius CEO Raises $100M, Helping Expand B2B Sales Pipelines with Darian Shirazi Jan 09, 2017

Show notes

Darian Shirazi. He's the CEO and co-founder of Radius. He was an early employee at Facebook and worked on the" Sell Your Item" Team at eBay. He's founded, invested, and advised many successful technology companies. Prior to starting Radius, Darian studied Computer Science and Philosophy at UC Berkeley. He's also a prominent keen speaker at Top of Technology Innovation.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Essays of Warren Buffet
What CEO do you follow? – Marc Benioff
Favorite online tool? — Yesware
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "How much harder building the business is than you originally thought and how once you get to scale how amazing it feels."

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Darian to the show
02:15 – Darian shares about his time with Facebook
- 02:30 – Darian's favorite project on Facebook was Facelift
02:45 – Darian shares what he thinks of Mark Zuckerberg
03:30 – Darian can't think of a time when Mark was at odds with another team member
03:58 – Radius is about growing pipelines for B2B marketers
- 04:08 – The customers are typically enterprise and mid-market businesses
- 04:15 – Radius fixes data
- 04:30 – Radius' services
04:48 – The whole foundation of the product starts with the Radius business graph
05:17 – Darian shares how they help the client
05:40 – Darian shares how Radius is different with CB Insights
- 05:50 – Radius' data is powered by their customers which allows them to access their CRMs
- 06:20 – The activity data allows Radius to improve their data
- 06:50 – Radius doesn't rely on publicly available data
07:30 – Radius was founded in 2011 and launched in 2013
08:00 – Average number of customers
- 08:30 – It is not really a seat model
- 09:10 – Radius has a used cased expansion
09:41 – Team size is currently 150 people
10:00 – Radius has currently raised $100M
- 10:25 – Radius still has a lot of net capital left
- 10:42 – Radius' retention for enterprise customers is around 93%
10:50 – Gross monthly customer churn
11:24 – Darian shares what drives their revenue
- 11:48 – Radius's implementation day is only 18 days so customers see the value quickly
12:11 – Radius' pricing
12:23 – ACV
13:00 – First year revenue
13:25 – Darian has 2 co-founders
14:07 – Radius requires a team
- 14:28 – Darian hired people from enterprise companies
15:00 – Darian shares Radius's CAC to LTV ratio
- 15:36 – Radius's sales cycle
- 15:52 – "Customer trust is our number one value"
- 16:50 – It is difficult to measure CAC to LTV when enterprise companies rely on big events for marketing

17:53 – Radius's growth rate
19:14 – Radius' marketing budget
19:29 – The amount Radius spends on Dreamforce
- 20:27 – Dreamforce is an incredible way to grow a pipe

20:40 – Is Radius going to be the next Benioff's acquisition?
21:48 – Darian shares how Microsoft has been an incredible partner for Radius
22:36 – The last funding
23:05 – Darian discusses Radius' future
23:40 – Follow Darian at Twitter and email him
25:35 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

It takes a great team to create a great product.
Take what you've learned from your last employer, be grateful for it, and leave graciously.
Acquisition requires planning, an exchange of ideas, and thorough researching.

Resources Mentioned:

Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
Ceo@Radius.com – Darian's email address
@Darian314 – Darian's Twitter handle
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 533: $1.5M Raised, $100k MRR Helping 800 Customers Manage and Track Documents with CEO Tim Samulet Jan 08, 2017

Show notes

Tim Saumet. He is the CTO of the company called Tilkee – a SaaS solution software for business proposals, follow ups, and sales process tracking. It is a super hot space. Before that, he was involved with OXFOC Technologies as the CEO. He is also a Manager of General Services in another company and a Project Manager at Travel Due.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? –100 Conseils Pratiques Pour Couler sa Boite
What CEO do you follow? – Bruno Bonnell and Elon Musk

Favorite online tool? — Zapier
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— "Yes" for Kate and "No" for Tim
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Tim would have focused more on personal development

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:37 – Nathan introduces Tim to the show
02:13 – Kate is developing the European market
02:30 – Tim used to be a salesman and it was difficult for him
03:03 – Tilkee is a simple SaaS software to analyze a prospect's behavior
03:30 – Tilkee works with any kind of document
03:50 – Tilkee started as a side project 3 and a half years ago
05:00 – First year revenue was $20K
05:15 – Tilkee is currently serving 800 customers
05:41 – Average customer pay per month
06:20 – December 2015 MRR
07:30 – Tim started with small companies, then progressed to enterprise companies
08:05 – Tim pivoted the product and customer base
08:12 – Tim raised, 2 years ago, a million and a half dollars
08:34 – Tim is thinking of raising more next year
- 09:08 – Tim won't go to a typical Series A round
- 09:35 – Employees have a part of the equity
10:15 – Tim wants a raise, but would still want more than 50% of the company
10:37 – Typical valuation in Europe
11:15 – Gross monthly customer churn
12:00 – Kate shares how they find their enterprise deals
13:22 – Tilkee is not doing an e-signature but a u-sign from the European market
14:14 – A customer lifetime value
14:45 – Average CAC
15:45 – Tilkee has an advertisement in one of the biggest French radio stations
16:20 – Current team size is 20 and 15 from them are salespeople
16:42 – Tim shares the stack they have built Tilkee on
17:15 – Kate is currently using Pipedrive to drive Sales
18:35 – Find Tilkee on Twitter and Facebook
20:19 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

You CAN solve your own problems—you just need to do the work of finding solutions.
Raising capital is always an option to take that next step forward for your business.
Meditation is a great avenue for personal development.

Resources Mentioned:

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

EP 532: $1m Raised, $70k MRR to Record Sales Calls and Coach with ExecVision's Steve Richard Jan 07, 2017

Show notes

Steve Richard whose mission in life is to help as many sales professionals as possible to become wildly successful. He has been featured in numerous publications including The Harvard Business Review, The Washington Business Journal, and The Washington Post. Outside of work, Steve enjoys scuba diving, skiing, running, and people-watching. He's from Arlington, VA, with his wife Ellen and their 4 kids all under the age of 7.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – RSVP Selling
What CEO do you follow? – Tony Bates

Favorite online tool? — Owler
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "You got to start with the technology company in the beginning because you're going to create much more impact on people's lives"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:58 – Nathan introduces Steve to the show
02:45 – Steve shares the idea of ExecVision
03:17 – ExecVision is a SaaS business
- 03:20 – There are 50 organizations who are currently using ExecVision
03:34 – ExecVision allows you to access, analyze, and share call records
04:20 – Average pay per user per year and how it ranges per sales person
04:54 – Average MRR
05:24 – Sales professionals love ExecVision
06:04 – ExecVision has coaching requests for their customers
06:37 – Every month there's a high volume of requests for coaching
07:13 – ExecVision has voice recognition
07:52 – Richard shares how their customers find valuable keywords in ExecVision
09:15 – Richard was running Vorsight before ExecVision
- 09:50 – People pay per meeting
- 10:02 – Richard used the profitability of Vorsight to fund ExecVision
10:15 – Richard has raised capital for ExecVision
10:58 – Richard shares what drives them
11:38 – They have raised around $1M
11:50 – Richard acquired ExecVision in April, 2015
12:07 – None of the original people from ExecVision are still working with the company, but they have equity
12:26 – Retention is 90% annually
13:38 – CAC
14:42 – Total head count is 15
14:55 – ExecVision is based in Arlington, Virginia
15:27 – First year revenue
16:08 – Connect with Richard through Call Camp
18:30 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Use your stress to CREATE an idea to relieve that stress.
Sales professionals who analyze and assess feedback well WILL improve in their field.
Make something that adds value to people's lives.

Resources Mentioned:

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

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