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

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

Famous Five:

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

Time Stamped Show Notes:

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

3 Key Points:

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

Resources Mentioned:

• Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
• The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
• Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
• Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives