Top Founders

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EP 491: $13M in Funding, Grow.com Hits $300k MRR, Helping 600 Customers w/ Better Dashboards with Rob Nelson CEO Nov 27, 2016

Show notes

Rob Nelson, founder and CEO of Grow – a business intelligence platform. Nathan came across Rob when he was doing research in the intelligence space and Grow provided a lot of good feedback. Rob is a listener of The Top and happily accepted Nathan's invitation to be a guest on The Top.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The ONE Thing
What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Skonnard

Favorite online tool? — Calendly
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't ever quit"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:25 – Nathan introduces Rob to the show
02:00 – Grow is a powerful business intelligence platform and made specifically for SMBs
02:13 – Rob founded Grow in 2014
02:25 – Rob had a software company which was bootstrapped
- 02:34 – Rob struggled pulling up data from different platforms
- 03:29 – Rob sold the company and had a great exit
04:10 – Grow is a SaaS model and has subscription based pricing
04:20 – Grow doesn't charge based on the number of users
05:10 – Grow charges based on the number of metrics used
05:20 – Grow's RPU is $600 a month
05:30 – Users pay monthly but there's a 12-month commitment
- 06:06 – "If we can't get them hooked with the product in the first 3 days, they can walk away"
- 06:18 – 75% of the people continue after the 30-day trial period
07:05 – Rob doesn't know their exact churn
07:29 – Grow's usage stats
- 07:44 – Half of their customers log-in everyday
- 07:50 – 92% of the customers are logging in at least twice a month
08:00 – Grow is currently serving 600 customers
08:08 – Rob started with the concept in January 2014
08:30 – Rob hired a technical co-founder and gave him 20% of the business
09:00 – Rob and his team are based in Utah
09:45 – Team size is 70
09:58 – Grow raised a series A round and seed round
- 10:12 – Total amount raised was $13 million
- 10:14 – Total of $9 million was raised in series A
- 10:25 – Both are priced equity round
10:44 – Rob is a huge fan of bootstrapping during his first venture
11:28 – Rob decided to raise for Grow because bootstrapping just wouldn't work
11:50 – Total 2014 revenue is about $80
12:20 – 2015 revenue is $150,000
13:00 – Goal for 2016 revenue
13:33 – Rob closed the series A in July
14:03 – Fully-weighted CAC is about $3,500
15:00 – Why do you think Dasher didn't work out?
- 15:20 – "It's hard to build a company on $20 or $30 a month"
16:35 – Connect with Rob through his website
18:05 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

USE your experience to IMPROVE your business.
Explore other options—if bootstrapped worked first, that doesn't mean it will work again.
Don't EVER quit.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
Grow.com – Rob's business website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 490: GoldenKey $3.4M Raised, 1000 Units Sold By Agents Using New Technology with CEO Tommy Sowers Nov 26, 2016

Show notes

Tommy Sowers, who worked for McKinsey & Company and was the youngest senate confirmed assistant secretary in the Obama administration. On top of this, he is the founder of GoldenKey.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Getting Things Done
What CEO do you follow? – Yvon Chouinard

Favorite online tool? — Evernote
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I try to
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "There is no risk and don't wait for it to be easy"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:40 – Nathan introduces Tommy to the show
02:01 – GoldenKey is a no-commission real estate network
02:30 – Tommy didn't want to commission a real estate agent 2 years ago
02:50 – "People hack real estate agents in a lot of different ways"
03:49 – GoldenKey's revenue model is a marketplace
- 03:55 – Consumers pay on the services that they need
- 04:22 – "When you buy or sell your home, the commission rebate will go to you"
04:44 – In GoldenKey's platform, the supply are agents
- 04:50 – Agents offer unbundled services
- 04:56 – From zero, GoldenKey managed to have 1798 agents in 47 states, much higher than Red Fin
05:25 – The consumers are the home buyers or sellers
- 05:30 – GoldenKey currently has 1/3 buyers and 2/3 sellers
- 05:39 – Average of 1900 buyers and sellers
- 05:44 – GoldenKey has currently executed over 900 service transactions
- 06:11 – GoldenKey has saved consumers over $100,000 of commission
06:25 – GoldenKey doesn't share the number of monthly transactions publicly
07:30 – They get different fees for different types of services
- 07:45 – "This is not a do-it-yourself real estate and you actually have an agent with you"
08:25 – If I buy a property for $500,000, how much would go to GoldenKey?
- 08:30 – For search services, it is $50 which goes to the agent
- 08:50 – On average the consumers pay $2000 to have agents represent them through the transactions
- 09:07 – "The entire agent commission will be rebated back to you, which is usually 3% of the total transaction"

09:30 – Agents choose GoldenKey because they get something rather than nothing at all

- 09:40 – Agents can still do the traditional real estate commissioning
09:58 – "There are a lot of consumers in the USA who don't want to pay commission but need an agent's help"
10:31 – There are millions of real estate agents but they won't always have a client
11:51 – GoldenKey was founded in April 2015
11:58 – 18 full-time employees
12:00 – GoldenKey raised $3.4 million in venture capital
13:13 – GoldenKey is not a brokerage and CAC is zero
13:59 – GoldenKey is not a big technology company so they need money for the appropriate platform
14:33 – The product design team is based in San Francisco
- 14:54 – Others are distributed to other states
15:13 – "Rule of thumb is when you don't need to ask for money when you need money"
15:35 – GoldenKey spends around $100,000 a month
16:14 – GoldenKey joined NFX guild which is for companies building network and network effects
17:01 – Connect with Tommy on Twitter and his website
19:25 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Rule of thumb is you don't need to ask for money when you need money.
A LOT of consumers in the USA want an agent's help, but DO NOT want to pay commision.
There is NO risk. Don't wait for it to be easy—just jump right in!

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
@Sowers – Tommy's Twitter handle
GoldenKey.com – Tommy's business website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 489: $200k Shark Tank Deal, Cuban/Sacca, 30,000 People Booked $12M Worth of Sports Weekend Housing from RentLikeAChampion CEO Mike Doyle Nov 25, 2016

Show notes

Mike Doyle, CEO of Rent Like A Champion, a vacation rental platform for sporting events. He has hosted 50 thousand travelers and made over $12 million in sales. Mike is a Shark Tank survivor who received an investment from Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca and both Mark and Chris are still very involved in the business.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

Favorite online tool? — Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Not now
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Start earlier and take advantages of those resources"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:30 – Nathan introduces Mike to the show
02:00 – Mike took a total of $200,000 from Mike and Chris for 10% of the company's equity
02:10 – Shark Tank was their first round of funding
- 02:27 – Mike wanted to get the deal and the exposure
02:38 – Rent Like A Champion's valuation during Shark Tank
02:52 – Rent Like A Champion is currently in the market for raising
02:59 – Rent Like A Champion's episode was filmed in June 2013
03:18 – In Rent Like A Champion's platform, the sellers are the homeowners who own properties around stadiums
- 03:29 – Buyers are the sports fans who are travelling to watch the games
03:33 – Rent Like A Champion is focused on non-urban destinations
- 03:33 – The focus is smaller towns where there are not enough hotels for fans to stay
03:46 – Rent Like A Champion was founded in 2012
04:07 – Since 2012, Rent Like A Champion has hosted under 60,000 fans
04:18 – Total booked destinations: 7500 different places to rent
- 04:24 – An average of 8 fans per rental
04:28 – Rent Like A Champion's market is families and groups
04:46 – Rent Like A Champion has over 3000 homes
- 04:51 – Rent Like A Champion has properties in over 100 towns in the USA
- 04:56 – About 25 towns are considered their core market
05:16 – 2012 total bookings equated to $630,000 and Rent Like A Champion kept 22%
05:29 – Rent Like A Champion is about to reach $4.5 million this year
05:58 – In 2015, Rent Like A Champion made under $3.3 million and kept $720,000
06:15 – Rent Like A Champion is getting a fee both from the seller and buyer
- 06:25 – 15% from the seller and 9% from the buyer
06:47 – Rent Like A Champion is seasonal
- 06:54 – Most of the bookings come from college football
- 07:05 – Rent Like A Champion is now partnering with 6 PGA tournament events
- 07:15 – Rent Like A Champion is also partnering with NASCAR races
07:55 – Most bookings come 68 weeks in advance
08:23 – In September, total of 750 groups booked
- 08:39 – Gross sales for September is about $1.35 million
09:05 – Average order value:
- 09:08 – $1600-2000 for a 2-night rental
09:36 – Team size is 5 full-timers and 5 part-timers
09:57 – Total transaction volume since 2012 is a little over $12 million
10:13 – How do you beat Airbnb?
- 10:17 – Rent Like A Champion considers non-hotel destinations
- 10:52 – "On the demand side, we're able to be so targeted with our advertising towards sports fans"
11:13 – If Sacca didn't miss out on the Airbnb deal, do you think you are going to be as aggressive as you are on Shark Tank?
- 11:28 – The night before Mike is going to film the episode, they still didn't think that Sacca was going to be one of the sharks
12:00 – Did we accurately see everything that went down on Shark Tank?
- 12:05 – "It's super condensed on what you see on TV"
- 13:03 – Schedule suddenly changes
13:14 – Average reorder rate is 50%
- 13:53 – Buyers book once a year
15:10 – How do you expand market shares after the sporting events?
- 15:14 – There's a ton of green space around college football
- 15:20 – Graduation is already big for Rent Like A Champion but they're still pushing it more
- 15:30 - Rent Like A Champion is starting to working with wedding planners for reunion weekends
16:08 – Rent Like A Champion is doing instant booking where list houses can put the availability of their houses depending on a scheduled game
- 16:53 – The pricing depends on the homeowners
- 17:08 – Rent Like A Champion can give homeowners guidelines in pricing
17:20 – Depending on the game, the amount of buyers vary
18:00 – What is it like working with Chris Sacca?
- 18:30 – "Chris and Mark have been incredibly involved and been receiving weekly updates"
- 18:45 – Chris and Mark are very responsive and prompt in replies
- 19:00 – Mike threw a big marketing event and Chris and Mark came to talk about an update segment in Shark Tank
19:39 – Connect with Mike through his business' website, Twitter and Facebook
21:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Your business will being to DEFINE itself as you keep moving forward.
EXPAND your niche. Don't stay seasonal—continue to think bigger.
Start as EARLY as you can and take advantage of those resources.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
@RentLikeAChamp – Mike's business Twitter handle
RentLikeAChampion.com – Mike's business website
Facebook – Mike's business Facebook account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 488: Hireology $26M Raised, $1.2M MRR, Helping 4000 Customers Hire More Effectively with Hireology CEO Adam Robinson Nov 24, 2016

Show notes

Adam Robinson, CEO and co-founder of Hireology where's he's on a mission to help business owners make better hiring decisions using data and processes. He's known in the recruiting industry, an expert speaker, and author with over 20 years of experience in the field of hiring and selection management.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Crossing the Chasm
What CEO do you follow? – Phil Knight

Favorite online tool? — Evernote
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Take more risks"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:35 – Nathan introduces Adam to the show
02:03 – Hireology is a talent technology platform built specifically for owner/operators
- 02:14 – Hireology helps the owner with the technology they need in their hiring and employment process
- 02:30 – Hireology has a monthly subscription plan
- 02:36 – Hireology is a SaaS business model
02:46 – Hireology is different from Toptal and Upwork
03:03 – Hireology was founded mid 2010 and the product was launched in January 2012
03:13 – Adam had a recruitment and outsource business before Hireology
- 03:28 – Adam learned from this business that their clients had terrible interviewing skills
- 03:32 – Adam created an interviewing system and clients started asking to buy it
- 03:44 – Adam sold the business
04:13 – Hireology first customers were from Adam's personal and professional network
04:40 – Hireology is currently working with under 4000 individually owned businesses in USA
- 04:50 – Around 100 brands
06:20 – How Adam sees Hireology's future
07:15 – Adam had a client who was responsible for 40% of their revenue for 3 years
- 07:35 – Hireology ended up doing 4000 hires for the company
08:00 – Average RPU per month is $300 per location
08:14 – Kickers Hireology is using to increase RPU
- 08:18 – Based on employee count per location
- 08:39 – Hireology doesn't increase the price of modules but increases its numbers
08:50 – Most of Hireology's system is proprietary technology
09:15 – Hireology has 7 close partners that they white-label and sell through their platform
09:30 – Average MRR is $1.2 million
09:47 – Gross monthly customer churn
10:35 – Hireology is an all-inside sales operation for up-selling
11:05 – Team size is about 100
- 11:11 – Based in Chicago
11:27 – CAC
- 11:40 – Between $7-10 depending on the client's industry
12:22 – Lifetime value
12:45 – Adam wants a business whose name is on a sign and whose personal balance sheets are invested in the business
13:15 – "There are 7 million employers in the USA that nobody is talking to and that's the market we want to be in"
13:27 – Find Adam in Twitter, LinkedIn and his website. Shoot him an email at arobinson@hireology.com
16:00 – Hireology was bootstrapped for the first 2 years and did an institutional raise in 2014
- 16:12 – Raised $26 million in 2 round from 2014-16
16:45 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Find your target market and tap into that market.
Don't rely on a client to stay with you forever—the sooner you accept that it's part of the business, the better.
You need to TAKE more risks!

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
@Adrobins – Adam's Twitter handle
Hireology.com – Adam's business website
LinkedIn – Adam's LinkedIn account
ARobinson@Hireology.com – Adam's email address
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 487: $8M in Agency Revenue, 12% Target Net Margin with BeFoundOnline.com CEO Dan Golden Nov 23, 2016

Show notes

Dan Golden, a veteran digital marketing executive and speaker who still spends time diving into analytics and making strategic recommendations for his clients. He has spent a lot of time on the client side with large agencies. Dan co-founded the digital agency "Be Found Online (BFO)" and has led the BFO team from his roots as a paid search agency to a full service performance digital marketing agency. Listen as Dan talks about how he turned his side project, BFO, to a now, successful agency, making a 6-figure revenue.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Great Game of Business
What CEO do you follow? – N/A

Favorite online tool? — Nudge
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Enjoy the journey"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:28 – Nathan introduces Dan to the show
02:30 – Be Found Online is a digital marketing agency
- 02:36 – BFO's focus is to drive traffic and help their clients make money through that traffic
- 02:45 – BFO's processes have evolved over time
03:15 – BFO was a side project for Dan and was called Be Found Local
03:26 – Dan and his co-founder merged their businesses and started in January 2009
03:40 – First year revenue for BFO was $200,000
03:51 – 2015 revenue: $7 million
04:15 – Dan shifted their goal from profitability to finding the right clients that fit BFO
04:50 – Dan aims for 12% net revenue
05:35 – Team size:
- 05:37 – 50 full-timers in the USA
- 05:43 – Total of 70 employees
- 06:02 – The BFO army has grown considerably
06:40 – BFO spends $50,000 a month on their software
07:10 – "A lot of technology we do is client-specific"
07:45 – "Many of the largest SaaS companies came from an agency model because an agency sees all the client-specific tools being used in the agency" – Nathan
08:43 – "I don't want to build something that is slightly a better version of something out there" – Dan
09:50 – BFO has 60-80 active clients
10:00 – BFO has served over 100 clients since they started
10:14 – BFO has a big project yearly called "Perfect Client"
- 10:20 – BFO is doing research and client analysis for every client they've worked on to figure out where they can do their best work, which client is the best to work with, and where to add value
- 10:29 – BFO has turned down a lot of clients
- 10:45 – "I don't want to double our client base, I want to find the right types of clients."
- 11:02 – BFO wants to focus on enterprise clients
11:10 – Average that the customer is paying BFO
- 11:15 - $10,000 – $15,000 a month in fees
11:50 – How do you calculate lifetime value?
- 12:13 – Clients stay with BFO for a minimum of 12 months
12:48 – BFO is making a minimum of $600,000 a month
13:11 – Get in touch with Dan through Twitter, LinkedIn and BFO blog
15:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

GREAT things can turn out unexpectedly.
Business goals can change from time to time—be OPEN and FLEXIBLE for these changes.
Make sure to ENJOY the journey.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
@TheGoldenDan – Dan's Twitter handle
LinkedIn – Dan's LinkedIn account
BFO blog – Dan's business blog
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ep 486: Agency Hits $2M In Revenue, 49 Employees, $36k ACV with RapidBoostMarketing CEO Ali Salman Nov 22, 2016

Show notes

Ali Salman who heads Rapid Boost Marketing where they exclusively work with professional service providers. Rapid Boost has grown to over $2 million in annual sales over the last 2 years with a goal of $25 million by 2020. They have generated over 120,000 ideal client inquiries for service firms and practices in the last 12 months.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk and Nathan Latka

Favorite online tool? — Ninja Outreach
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Sometimes more than that
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Get out of school faster"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:38 – Nathan introduces the show
02:09 – Rapid Boost Marketing is an agency
02:17 – Average contract size is anywhere between from $1500 to $6000 and majority of the contracts are from $2000 - $3000
02:28 – Rapid Boost Marketing has a big lead generation
02:53 – The revenue for 2015 is $800,000 and end of 2016 is more than $2 million
03:10 – Average monthly retainer is $2000 - $3000 and the average contract is from 18-24 months
03:30 – Average RPU
03:53 – Currently, Rapid Boost Marketing is working with 72 customers
04:45 – Rapid Boost Marketing can help a lawyer increase his revenue but it will also depend on the area and how salable the lawyer is
06:09 – Rapid Boost Marketing has 4 packages and it includes the paid media
- 06:15 – 30% of the packages goes to paid media
- 06:36 – They are focused on content and search engine optimization
06:50 – Team size
- 07:13 – Monthly headcount expenses equate to about 50% of their revenue
07:36 – Revenue in September 2016 is $857,000
08:22 – January, February, and March are their down months
- 08:29 – Average revenue for 3 months is $80,000 - $90,000
09:05 – Rapid Boost Marketing's clients are described
10:17 – How Ali priced his own salary
10:50 – Connect with Ali through his Twitter and LinkedIn
13:16 – Ali founded the company in 2012
13:33 – First year revenue in 2013 is a little over $130,000
13:46 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Start AS EARLY as possible in business.
Know your niche client and market WELL so you can grow quickly.
Your people--both your employees and your clients--contribute to your company's success, without them, there is no success.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
@CanadianLMPro – Ali's Twitter handle
LinkedIn – Ali's LinkedIn account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 485: $2.5M Foot Doctor Revenues, Launches InfoProduct, Does $750K with Dr Dan Margolin Nov 21, 2016

Show notes

Dr. Dan Margolin, a practicing Podiatrist with over 27 years of experience and a practice that ranks from the top 3% in the country. Dan's second and current practice is widely successful compared to his first. Listen as Dan talks about podiatry and his new business which he co-founded, Effective Management.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The 10x Rule
What CEO do you follow? – Tony Hsieh

Favorite online tool? — Testing Academy
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish I knew to look for mentors a little bit more"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:35 – Nathan introduces Dan to the show
02:15 – A podiatrist deals with health issues concerning the feet including sprains
02:32 – Dan generates revenue from his patients and sometimes, from insurance companies
02:39 – Dan's ultimate goal is for the patients to be well
02:51 – In the long-term, Effective Management will be the bigger stream of revenue
03:10 – A podiatrist earns $ 300,000 to $ 500,000 a year
03:26 – The Podiatry Survival Blueprint – a video of Dan's job description
03:47 – Dan generated $2.4 million in podiatry in 2015
03:55 – Effective Management earned $300,000 in its first year
04:14 – Dan loves helping people so he launched the Effective Management program
04:50 – Expenses hindered Dan to just give away the program
05:25 – Team size
05:43 – Go to BasicStaffTraining.com to find Dan's info product
- 06:41 – He provides 4 different products
- 07:27 – There is an initial fee and monthly recurring fee
- 08:04 – 2016 revenue is a bit over $400,000
- 08:12 – There are 300 different companies in their system
08:30 – The Podiatry Survival Blueprint is sold at $6500
09:15 – Dan uses Schoox to run the membership page
09:44 – Current MRR
09:58 – Dan contacted his own patients as prospective clients
10:35 – Connect with Dan through his website and get a free copy of his book Fast Tracking Your Prosperity
12:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

There are TONS of ways to help people, be it in your field or not.
Find people who will help you run the business, ESPECIALLY in the areas where you struggle.
Have a mentor and be involved. Be a sponge and absorb everything.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
DrDanSpeaks.com – Dan's website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 484: $7M Raised with StartEngine CEO and CrowdFunding SnapWire CEO Nov 20, 2016

Show notes

Ron Miller, CEO of StartEngine,who was in Episode 40 of The Top and Chad Newell, CEO and founder of Snapwire. Listen as Ron and Chad explain how the new rule of SEC in equity crowdfunding helped their companies.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Ron: The E-Myth

What CEO do you follow? – Chad: Sean Malarkey
Favorite online tool? — Ron: Internal Email / Chad: Google Sheet
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Ron: No
If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "It's all about confidence." – Ron Miller

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:40 – Nathan introduces Ron and Chad to the show
02:30 – StartEngine is the nation's leading platform that allows entrepreneurs to directly connect with potential investors to raise capital
02:45 – The new law opened up the possibility for everyone to become an investor
- 03:11 – It allows companies to advertise broadly
03:24 – StartEngine was launched in June 2015
03:30 – Total amount invested is $20 million
- 03:42 – 60,000 unique users have joined their community
04:00 – StartEngine charged 5% of the total capital from the proceeds raised
04:20 – Entrepreneur can raise up to $50 million a year in the online public offering and StartEngine charges $50 per investor
05:10 – "We are currently focusing on the US market and there's no SaaS in there"
05:30 – What made Chad decide to use StartEngine
06:40 – Why StartEngine is ground-breaking
07:00 – The congress' limitation on investing in a company
07:31 – "Real wealth is made by being an early investor"
07:54 – The new law is a radical shift
08:51 – Nathan believes that the best investors are customers
09:10 – Snapwire has 300,000 photographers in the platform
- 09:22 – Buyer ratio is much smaller than the photographers
09:45 – Snapwire has pay-as-you-go and a SaaS model
10:08 – Snapwire's revenue is 50% from pay-as-you-go and 50% from SaaS
10:20 – 9,000 images have been bought in Snapwire since their launch
- 10:30 – Snapwire was founded in 2014
10:34 – Snapwire has raised $2.8 million
11:15 – Snapwire raising in StartEngine opened up a lot of opportunities
11:45 – Can you use StartEngine after a price round?
11:52 – The main advantage is that companies can set their terms
- 12:03 – Some companies have to essentially create a second priced or non-priced round
12:58 – The good thing about equity crowdfunding is you have to disclose everything
- 13:08 – Disclosure statement is clear
13:41 – Lawsuits and CAP table
- 14:10 – There's a disclosure and subscription agreement that investors sign
- 14:30 – "I think there's an immersion of risk"
16:14 – There are limits to investments and to returns
16:28 – During crowdfunding, there's also a limit on the amount of investment that a company will accept
17:00 – "As far as information rights, you can be very clear in the disclosure"
18:00 – It is not allowed to give out public information even if it is unintentional
18:15 – Upon investing, you will get a shareholder report that is in compliance with security exchange commission requirements
18:40 – "Competition can't reverse engineer your strategy in execution"
19:06 – StartEngine has 12,000 – 14,000 investors
19:20 – Total of 15-18 companies have raised in StartEngine
19:30 – 14 team size in StartEngine
19:36 – StartEngine raised capital through seed round and Series A
- 19:47 – Total of $7.7 million raised
- 19:54 - Ron didn't use their platform to raise
20:25 – Average value of an investment is $1400
20:40 – StartEngine's biggest competitors are Seed Invest, Next Seed, WeFunder and Flash Funder
21:11 – What should people look for in the marketplace?
- 21:23 – If certain companies are establishing themselves in a specific niche area
- 21:43 – Success rate of the companies
- 21:57 – Support the companies can provide to entrepreneurs
22:13 – Connect with Ron through his email
22:34 – Contact Chad at Chad@Snapwi.re
24:53 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Real wealth is made by being an early investor.
The good thing about equity crowdfunding is the disclosure.
Be confident in yourself.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
Ron@StartEngine.com – Ron's email address
Chad@Snapwi.re – Chad's email address
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ep 483: Pipedrive Passes $10M ARR, Helping 30,000 Customers w/ CRM with CEO Timo Rein Nov 19, 2016

Show notes

Timo Rein, CEO and co-founder of Pipedrive, a provider of sales CRM software that gives sales teams control over their selling processes. After spending $15,000 on a CRM for his own business that ended up being a total waste of money, Timo brought together a few engineering friends to create a better CRM solution for his own needs. This was the genesis of Pipe Tribe, which now has over 30,000 small business users worldwide and has reached $13.4 million in VC funding.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Turning Pro
What CEO do you follow? – Stephen Curry and Gregg Popovich

Favorite online tool? — Slack and Viber
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— "No, still trying."
If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Take action. It is important to work hard first. Discover who I am and know where my energy flows."

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:47 – Nathan introduces Timo to the show
02:31 – It was in 2002 when Timo spent $15,000 on a business
- 02:41 – It turned out that the business wouldn't have much return
02:56 – Pipe Tribe helps small businesses around the world control their complex processes
03:23 – Pipe Tribe was founded in June 2010 and the product came out March 2011
03:30 – Current team size
03:48 – They have an office in Estonia and Manhattan
04:28 – Timo is based in California
04:50 – In 2010, revenue is zero
05:30 – 2015: total revenue
06:16 – Current ARR
06:30 – They are doing about a million dollars per month
06:48 – They have 30,000 paying customers
07:00 – Pipe Tribe's pricing
- 07:07 – They have 3 plans at the moment
07:25 – Average customers' pay per month
08:21 – They are doing cohort tracking
08:30 – Monthly customer churn
- 08:37 – Churn tends to be quite high
- 09:32 – The churn depends on the tool and business size
10:45 – CAC will depend on the company's growth
12:00 – 25% of new sign-ups are paying annually
12:28 – How do you drive the company?
- 12:45 – Timo and his co-founders built the company from the ground up
- 13:22 – They have an internal goal
13:33 – They raised $9 million from Series A
13:53 – Some of the money they raised was from seed investors
14:13 – Timo won't sell his business for $90 million or even $150 million
14:49 – Timo sees the company as a work undone
15:11 – "When you build a startup, it seems like you're building an airplane while you are on air"
16:22 – They have a revenue goal and customer goal
16:45 – Connect with Timo through his LinkedIn
18:25 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

The world around us changes—the economy goes up and down.
When you build a startup, it seems like you're building an airplane while you are on air.
Take action. It is important to work hard first. Discover who you are and know where your energy flows.

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
LinkedIn – Timo's LinkedIn account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 482: Snip.ly $50k MRR, 1000 Customers For Lead Gen on Social Media Sharing with CEO Michael Cheng Nov 18, 2016

Show notes

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