Top Founders

Latest Episodes:

EP 452: 70k MRR, CSTOREPRO, Data play, <1m Raised, <5% monthly churn Oct 19, 2016

Show notes

Arif Momin, CEO and co-founder of CStorePro technologies – the leading provider of mobile and cloud based operations management for retail businesses. He has an MBA from University of California. Berkley and BS in Computer Engineering from Michigan State University.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Innovator's Dilemma
What CEO do you follow? – Mark Zuckerberg

Favorite online tool? — JIRA
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Move fast and willing to fail a little quicker. Don't regret the old stuff"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:40 – Nathan introduces Arif to the show
02:05 – Arif used the network that his MBA provides
02:16 – What is CStorePro and how it generates revenue
- 02:22 – CStorePro modernizes the operation of a single-operated store
- 02:50 – Customers pay CStorePro $ 59 a month
03:02 – Arif was from a different company
03:40 – Raise under $ 1 million
- 03:45 – All convertible note
03:48 – Number of unique customers as of September 2016 is 32,000
- 04:09 – Number of paying customers is about 15,000
04:20 – MRR
04:30 – CStorePro was founded in 2011
04:44 – Arif's first business turned into a lifestyle company
05:04 – Zero first year revenue
05:33 - $ 350,000 revenue in 2015
05:40 – Revenue goal in 2016
06:07 – CStorePro clients are store owners
06:17 – Gross monthly customer churn
- 06:33 – Current churn is 5%
07:25 – Lifetime value
- 07:41 – Calculated lifetime is 3 years
08:40 – Best number to quantify CStorePro's data
- 09:00 – Number in August is 13 million
09:10 – Team size and based in Houston
10:25 – Current customer acquisition cost
- 10:31 - $ 180 to get a trial customer
- 10:45 - $ 360 per paying customer
11:04 – Currently not in a capital raise
11:11 – Not raising funding and not selling
- 11:25 – "We don't need it and the time is not right"
- 11:33 – There's a huge opportunity in the business
11:50 – Total head count cost per month
12:24 – They've got access to financial resources
12:40 – Connect with Arif through CstorePro.com
14:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Give your business more time to grow.
Tracking your churn has its advantages.
Be prepared to fail – the earlier you fail, the earlier you learn.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
CstorePro.com – Arif's business website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 451: 5000 Smart Jewelry Units Sold, $5.1M Raised with WiseWear CEO Jerry Wilmink Oct 18, 2016

Show notes

Jerry Wilmink, a recovering bio-engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Wisewear.com. Listen how Jerry fuses fashion and technology to keep people safe.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Startup CEO
What CEO do you follow? – N/A

Favorite online tool? — Strategyzer
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Go for it. Don't be scared"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:13 – Nathan introduces Jerry to the show
01:33 – Jerry was connected with Nathan through Twitter
01:51 – Jerry is a startup junkie
02:16 – What is Wisewear and how it generates revenue
- 02:29 – Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe
- - 02:41 – A fusion wearable product
  - 03:00 – Develop a jewelry product that transmits Bluetooth through metal
  - 03:15 – Iris Apfel is the designer of Wisewear
  - 03:35 – Each piece is priced at $ 295 - $ 345 depending on the collection
  - 03:59 – Currently sold online but will be available at Saks
04:05 – Wisewear was founded in 2013
04:15 – They just started selling this year
04:20 – Current sales is close to $ 4 million this year
- 05:04 – Started shipping late March
05:19 – No problems with P.O
05:55 – There's more risk in international market with P.Os
06:00 – Wisewear demands 30% upfront payment for bulk P.Os
06:22 – Average number of devices sold
07:40 – They are initially bootstrapped but raised a little over $ 5 million from friends and families
- 08:03 – Note from friends and families and they're doing equity now
- 08:15 – Raising $ 10 million from equity
08:40 – Fashion brand is not a traditional tech-play
- 09:05 – Retailers that can potentially pull down the brand
09:49 – Expenses per piece of jewelry is quite expensive
10:55 – Retailers are selling the jewelries at the same price with them
11:05 – Distributor price
11:25 – 8 people in the team from San Antonio and New York City
11:45 – They can track online orders easily
12:08 – Goal for 2016 revenue
12:34 – They have multiple products
12:48 – The initial product was a medical device
- 12:56 – Jerry's grandfather was suffering from a type of dementia
- 13:13 – When Jerry's grandfather passed away, that's when he started Wisewear
- - 13:15 – Developed a hearing aid device
13:50 – 65% of their sales is from college women
- 14:35 – Biggest market is 20 – 35-year old women
- 14:49 – There's a lot of burglary and sexual violence on college campuses
- 14:58 – There's a panic button on the jewelry
15:14 – There's a big market on realtors too
- 15:25 – Most realtors show homes and there's a safety concern
15:51 – Connect with Wisewear through Instagram and Facebook. Jerry is more active on Twitter
17:15 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

You can take inspirations from the people around you.
Fashion retail brand is not a traditional tech-play.
Choose your business partners wisely.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
@Wisewear – Jerry's business Instagram account
Facebook – Jerry's business Facebook account
@GeraldJWilmink – Jerry's twitter handle
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 450: 14 Ag Companies Raise $32M Using AgFunder.com with CEO Rob Leclerc Oct 17, 2016

Show notes

Robert Leclerc, co-founder of Agfunder – an online investment market place for global agriculture industry. He is a Forbes contributor and has five degrees including a PhD from Yale. Listen as Rob talks about the global agriculture industry and how important Agfunder is for the investors.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Mini MBA
What CEO do you follow? – N/A

Favorite online tool? — MailChimp
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely not
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – N/A

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:44 – Nathan introduces Robert to the show
02:24 – Agriculture represents about 10% of global GDP
02:40 – Agfunder's idea is to create an online investment platform that made this space mainstream
- 02:53 – Like AngelList in agriculture
03:28 – Agfunder focus is food and agriculture technology
- 03:40 – Eventually, they will be able to offer farm lands and agri-business
03:55 – Technology is needed to centralize management and scale the opportunities
04:10 – Started as a pure market place
- 04:28 – Taking the transaction fees
05:00 – Revenue in the first quarter of 2016
- 05:11 – Raising capital funds
05:35 – Total revenue In 2015
05:43 – They are on venture-funding
06:10 – Business was founded late 2013
06:20 – $0 revenue for the first year
- 06:40 – "We just need to know that the market works for the first year"
06:58 – Number of investors
- 07:38 – Investors seek them out
07:56 – Number of sellers/companies
- 08:10 – They are series A companies
08:30 – Take 5% transaction fee to make money
- 08:48 – Nathan's sample scenario how to get the 5%
- 09:45 – They we're not taking any transaction fees for the first year
10:07 – "In August 2016, how many investors put money into how many companies?"
- 10:25 – There's a deal timeline
- 10:50 – Average raise size
11:05 – Notes and actual equity funding
- 11:18 – The companies set the market rate term
11:45 – What's so special with Agfunder?
- 12:10 – When they started Agfunder, it was the dark ages of food and agriculture technology
- 12:30 – Built a very progressive business model
13:18 – 17 team members based in SF
13:23 – Connect with Robert through Agfunder.com
15:33 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

It is important for customers to know things about your company – transparency is the key.
Agriculture is as important as food.
There's always a trial period – you either make or break it.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
Agfunder.com – Robert's business website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 449: SMB SaaS <3% Churn, $5M Raised, $200k MRR Helping SMB's Manage Relationships with Hatchbuck CEO Don Breckenridge Oct 16, 2016

Show notes

Don Breckenridge, a life-long entrepreneur and the founder of Hatchbuck. Listen as Don shares how he made Hatchbuck a successful company and the struggles he endured to bring it to life.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Good to Great
What CEO do you follow? – N/A

Favorite online tool? — Lean Canvas
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 had mentored earlier"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:41 – Nathan introduces Don to the show
02:00 – What is Hatchbuck and how it generates revenue
- 02:05 – Sales and marketing software that helps small businesses grow their revenue
- 02:11 – CRM + email marketing
02:39 – Price point starts at $59 a month
- 02:50 – Subscription model as recurring revenue
- 02:55 – Discount for semi-annual and annual subscriptions
03:17 – Price increase is based on number of users and contacts
03:55 – Average revenue per customer per month
- 04:10 – When customers see results, they'll start to use more of the product
04:23 – Launched in 2012
04:40 – Don had a SaaS company prior to Hatchbuck
- 05:10 – The business was running smoothly
- 05:20 – Don saw the need for SMB apps that could actually help businesses
06:04 – Number of current users
- 06:20 – Average number of users per customers
06:40 – First year revenue
06:58 – Self-funded before raised capital
- 07:10 – Raised over $5 million
07:28 – Series A or series B
- 07:45 – Their investors are great supporters
08:18 – The market of SaaS is an attractive business to invest in
08:30 – Under $2M revenue in 2015
09:00 – MRR computation
09:32 – Churn
- 09:59 – Have a product customer fit
- 10:16 – "We tried to focus on who our customer is"
10:51 – Gross customer monthly churn
- 11:15 – Around 3% churn
- 11:34 – In SMB, there's an average of 3-4% churn
- 12:00 – Hubspot 0% revenue churn
- 12:25 – Companies that has negative churn that are not MSB
13:00 – Fully inbound marketing
- 13:10 – Produce a lot of content on the web
13:40 – CAC ratio
- 13:50 – "If your MRR churn rate bounces around, it starts to be really difficult"
- 14:25 – Healthy ratio
14:44 – Lifetime value
14:48 – Acquisition cost
15:00 – Paid media
- 15:10 – Marketing courses, Google Adwords
15:29 – Don is based in Missouri
15:34 – Team size is 30
- 15:40 – Some remote employees
15:55 – The $5 million funding
- 16:06 – "We're always raising funds"
16:32 – Goal for the company
17:10 – Monthly revenue growth
17:35 – Connect with Don through Hatchbuck.com
19:05 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Find a space to fill.
Aim for positive results – that is what will make customers hold onto your product.
It's never too late to learn.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
Hatchbuck.com – Don's company
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 448: "Day of Glass" Comes To Life, $1.8M Raised, $1.2M Revenue with Nobal CEL Pieter Boekhoff Oct 14, 2016

Show notes

Pieter Boekhoff, the 2016 Startup Canada Entrepreneur of the Year and one of Calgary's top 40 under 40. He's also Mount Royal University's Horizon Winner and one of Canada's 10 Mentor Rock Stars. Listen as Pieter talks about the company he founded, Nobal Technologies, and the success of their flagship product – iMirror.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Lean Startup
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

Favorite online tool? — Wave Accounting
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I do
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish that entrepreneurship and startups was more of a thing and I'd known where to get into it"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:44 – Nathan introduces Pieter to the show
02:25 – What is Nobal Technologies and how it generates revenue
- 02:28 – Software company based in Calgary, Canada
- 02:40 – Selling iMirror for retail and hospitality
03:03 – 70% revenue from the one-time cost of the iMirror
03:27 – Launched in 2014
03:44 – The idea was inspired by the video made by Corning in 2011
- 04:02 – Started to build prototypes
04:23 – First year revenue is around $75,000
04:37 – Total of 10 units sold
- 05:15 – Each unit cost about $15,000
05:38 – They're looking into a sustainable monthly recurring business model
06:05 – 40% gross margin
06:23 – Net margin
- 06:28 – Low overhead on the backend
06:28 – They raised a $1M 2 years ago and $800K in grants
06:50 – Process of government funding
- 07:03 – Partner with NRCIRAP
- 07:12 – They need to know you're legit
07:44 – 9 people on the team, based in Alberta
08:00 – Pieter made $1.2 million in 2 years
08:20 – Pieter's focus now is only iMirror
08:36 – 2016 revenue goal
09:34 – Some clients have more than 1 mirror
09:44 – Pieter wants to expand on the retail side
- 10:10 – Long sales cycle
10:40 – This is Pieter's second business
- 10:53 – Pieter saw the need for the iMirror from his previous business
11:14 – Connect with Pieter through his Twitter and Instagram. Visit his website at Nobal.ca
13:23 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Be willing to jump outside the box—ideas are everywhere.
Expanding doesn't always mean adding more people.
Learn from your experiences and find ways to share them.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
@pieterboekhoff – Pieter's Twitter handle
@pieterboekhoff- Pieter's Instagram account
Nobal.ca – Pieter's business website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 446: $200k In Branded Placement Deals, How To Monetize Your Creative Brain with Ben Uyeda Oct 13, 2016

Show notes

Ben Uyeda – a respected architect and creative genius. Listen to hear how Ben makes money off YouTube, earns serious subscriber numbers, and acquires some pretty sweet assets.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Accidental Billionaires
What CEO do you follow? – N/A

Favorite online tool? — Steller
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— About 6 and a half
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Just to be nice and patient with people"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:38 – Nathan introduces Ben to the show
02:21 – What Ben does on Youtube and how he is monetizing it
- 02:28 – Ben wanted to give affordable design to the masses
- 02:43 – Started to make videos of how to make affordable modern furniture
- 03:00 – Product immigration into the video content itself is how you make money
- 03:20 – Producing a video product is more difficult
- 03:45 – First branded deals
03:55 – Homemade-modern.com
04:15 – DIY concrete design deal
04:30 – Home Depot is Ben's biggest client
- 04:40 – Created a series of content packages
- - 04:50 – Step by step video instructions and social media posts
- 05:10 – Creating a bunch of products at once
05:18 – It is often rare for big brands to have a real YouTube presence
05:38 – Ben started in this field in 2013
05:45 – First year revenue
- 05:50 – First 6 months get Ben 10-15,000 subscribers in Youtube
06:00 – Brands that gave Ben donations
- 06:10 – Ben made a deal of 10 videos per brand after getting 20,000 subscribers
- 06:38 – "You can't get paid cash until you have 100,000 subscribers"
- 06:48 – Making a whole package of content
- 07:00 – Ben's deal on brands versus traditional commercial
07:40 – Total 2015 revenue
- 07:50 – Adsense money
08:15 – Ben buys his own equipment
08:44 – Long format video is what Youtubers doesn't usually do
- 09:00 – Long format video is an over 20-minute video
- 09:09 – Youtube to TV
- 09:45 – Offering brands full-length videos
10:05 – Person to contact if one needs a full length videos
- 10:10 – Brands have agencies that they work with
- 10:20 – Do reverse engineering to find a person
- - 10:30 – Message on Instagram
11:20 – Show the brands that you can do it
- 11:33 – Put their tools in the video and get positive response
11:45 – Projected revenue this year
- 11:55 – 68 clients
12:05 – How to scale a business?
- 12:20 – Scaling would be finding the right people
- 13:07 – Find 2 to 3 brands that are compatible
- - 13:16 – You can get promotional ad even if the brands didn't pay you
  - 13:43 – Collecting and acquiring assets
- 14:26 – Ben's content is instructional
14:55 – Connect with Ben through Instagram
17:44 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

If you know you can do it, just do it – approval isn't always necessary.
There's a right recipe for everything.
Be creative – it can get you somewhere.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
@benjaminuyeda – Ben's Instagram account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 447: $0 to $13M Agency Revenue in 10 Years with RaizLabs CEO Greg Raiz Oct 13, 2016

Show notes

Greg Raiz, founder of Raizlabs – a technology innovation firm for design custom applications, web platforms and other cutting-edge software. Listen how Greg earned the respect of startups and Fortune500 companies through his business.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Blink
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

Favorite online tool? — Invision
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Just make sure to stop and smell the roses"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:41 – Nathan introduces Greg to the show
02:10 – What Raizlabs does and how it makes money
- 02:14 – It is a software design company
- 02:21 – Build iphone and android apps
02:45 – Average project size and price
- 03:10 – Raizlabs as a product business service
- 03:22 – Raizlabs helps with the technology side of the business
03:35 – Greg started Raizlabs in 2003
03:47 – Greg was making $ 60-70,000 when he was working with Microsoft
- 03:57 – Greg was 23 when he left Microsoft
04:11 – First year revenue in 2013
- 04:25 – Greg was living off his savings
04:55 – Total revenue in 2015
05:10 – 80 people in team
05:35 – Business has been cash deposited for more than a year
- 05:44 – Margin and business capital
06:09 – "Paying yourself as a CEO has always been a challenge"
- 06:23 – Reasonable salary
- 06:58 – Total annual personal expenses
07:37 – Total savings back then
07:53 – Greg had a day job when he was just starting his company
08:20 – Total monthly headcount expenses on an average
08:55 – Greg uses Basecamp and other tools
- 09:24 – Spending on tools
09:47 – How Greg feels when their client earns more than them
- 10:00 – They did some good stuff for HubSpot
10:25 – Just released an interesting product for The Perkins School for the Blind
- 10:35 – Challenge for micro-navigation
- 10:50 – How to get people to the bus stop
- 11:10 – Launched earlier this week
11:30 – RunKeeper as a client
- 11:37 – Fitness mapping idea
- 12:10 – Design development of the product with the iphone GPS
- 12:40 – Success to take in-house
13:04 – Equity with the companies
13:25 – How much RunKeeper pays Greg
- 13:40 – Charged 15K early on
14:20 – Exploring apps that can help the employees betterment
- 14:41- Methodology on how to facilitate feedback
14:48 – Product exploration and incubation
15:05 – Connect with Greg on his website and Twitter
16:40 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

As an entrepreneur, you have to manage your stability and your company's.
It is not about how much other companies earn – it is about how you become a part of their success.
You can never turn back time – pause and enjoy the beauty of the present.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
@graiz – Greg's Twitter handle
Raizlabs.com – Greg's business website
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 445: $20M in 2015 Infoproduct Revenue With "Degenerate" Customers with Timothy Sykes Oct 12, 2016

Show notes

Timothy Sykes – the Penny Stocks Guru.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Losing My Virginity
What CEO do you follow? – N/A
Favorite online tool? — Business Insider

Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—"I wish. I really wish"
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't be so cocky"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Timothy to the show
02:05 – Tim trades penny stocks and people attack him for doing it
- 02:12 – Most people in a company fail
02:53 – Tim was 17 when he got into business
- 03:00 – Turned $12,000 into nearly $2 million
- 03:30 – He's getting more conservative now
03:58 – First splurge
05:00 – The price was $ 17,000 per share
- 05:20 – Crazy volatility
05:40 – ISCO stock price now
05:50 – Causes of stocks going down
06:03 – Tim is a short-seller
06:25 – Tim defines short squeeze
- 07:00 – "In order to cover your short, you have to buy it back"
- 07:10 – Shorts are getting squeezed when the stock goes up too quickly
07:25 – The stock market is not always logical
08:25 – Penny stocks
09:10 – Stocks are not scalable
09:25 – Shorting requires a loan from a broker
- 09:40 – "If there's a scam, everybody wants to short it"
09:45 - Tim's strategy is ideal for people with small accounts
- 10:05 – Stock of sponge company
- 10:40 - HUSP
11:07 – Research that Tim is doing to find out things about the scams
- 11:17 – Created a tool StocksToTrade.com
11:35 – Playing the volatility
11:57 – Tim was on a TV Show that led him to start teaching stocks
12:41 – First year revenue
13:10 – Total revenue is 2015
13:40 – How Tim uses the people who attack him to his benefits
- 14:01 – Tim attacks companies and scam
14:48 – Tim's blog
15:50 – Tim's list size
- 16:00 – People have to learn how to read the materials
16:30 – Total number of unique customers since 2007
16:41 – Selling DVDs and streaming DVDs
17:31 – Tim made an apology posts
18:05 – Tim's parents work with him
18:30 – Tim is giving to charities and foundations
19:15 – Tim made $27M in 2016
20:16 – Connect with Tim through his Twitter and Instagram
21:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

It's not always about the money – sometimes, imparting your knowledge is more important.
Don't let people bring you down.
Try to find the good in the all the negativities. Make impossible, possible.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
@Timothysykes – Timothy's Twitter handle
@Timothysykes – Timothy's Instagram account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 444: $1.5M in MRR, SaaS, Helping Studios Render Film Faster with GridMarkets CEO Mark Ross Oct 11, 2016

Show notes

Mark Ross, a man who's spent 20 years working in senior level global technology management, and owns board-level experience with Fortune 500 financial services companies. He's the co-founder of GridMarkets and senior level advisor for a number of startups. Listen as Mark discusses why he jumped into entrepreneurship and how it differs from big-time corporate life.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Tipping Point
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — Slack

Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— "Never"
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – "Startups are a whole lot harder than you think"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Mark to the show
02:07 – What is GridMarkets and how does it generate sales?
- 02:18 – Power extensive engineering applications
- 02:40 – Serve studios that make animations and simulations
03:33 – Similar with dark-power concept
04:08 – Agreements with the suppliers
04:20 – GridMarkets has their own grid
05:00 – Idea of GridMarkets started in 2011
- 05:47 – SaaS in the sense of push-button
06:39 – Give credits to new customers
- 07:20 – Offering credit hours at $ 1.60
- 07:30 – Credit numbers per month is over a million at the moment
07:57 – GridMarkets is self-funded and 10 people invest in the company
09:46 – Valuation of GridMarkets
- 10:15 – Investors' different valuation
10:40 – Number of current customers
- 11:00 – Fantastic feedbacks from customers
11:20 – MRR
11:48 – Team size
- 12:26 – There's a lot specific skills and knowledge needed
- 12:50 – The demand would justify having our own machine
13:10 – Amount a computer can handle per month
- 14:00 – Millions of computer hours needed to serve studios
- 15:00 – Spinning up machines
15:45 – Connect with Mark through his email
18:06 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

It won't hurt to give your customer something for free to start off.
Invest in your people.
Value your customer's feedback and learn from it.

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 quality of Toptal developers.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for 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.
Mark.Ross@gridmarkets.com – Mark's email address
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

NathanLatka.com/private Oct 10, 2016

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