EP 563: InsightPool Near $300k MRR Helping 100 Big Brands Find Influencers with CEO Devon Wijesinghe

Devon Wijesinghe. He's the founder and CEO of InsightPool. He co-founded the business in 2012; and, within a short time led the company from 2 to 60 employees. He is currently revolutionizing marketeering and sales across many social platforms.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• What CEO do you follow? – Travis Kalanick
• Favorite online tool? — Pardot
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Try and learn to concentrate on financial metrics and understand finance deeply

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:27 – Nathan introduces Devin to the show
• 01:53 - InsightPool focuses on the sector of influencer marketing
• • 02:03 – "A brand needs to have an army of people syndicating their content with their own voices"
  • 02:15 - Insight Cool finds influencers for brands that they can work with
• 02:35 – InsightPool's pricing model
• 03:10 – Average customer pay per month is $3K
• • 03:33 – What is included in $3K
• 03:53 – Devin was the solo founder
• • 04:00 – Devin sold a previous company for 9-figures in early 2012
• 04:50 – "Social became prevalent as the newest data set"
• 05:11 – Devin seeded a business idea for $250K
• • 05:33 – Devin has a formalized angel group
  • 05:41 – Devin is an advisor and investor
• 05:58 – David Cummings is Devin's friend
• • 06:17 – David and Devin's companies are the first ones in ATV lean and tech village
• 06:48 – He currently has 60 people on the team
• 07:21 – InsightPool is currently serving over a hundred enterprises
• 07:50 – MRR
• 08:23 – InsightPool has a sales team
• 08:49 – CAC LTV
• 10:00 – Average spending on CAC
• 10:25 – Gross churn
• 11:00 – Net revenue churn
• 11:53 – InsightPool did a series A round and got an investment of $8M
• 12:35 – InsightPool did a debt round last year
• 12:50 – The amount InsightPool is burning per month
• 14:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• A brand needs to have an army of people syndicating their content with their own voices.
• Go with what you think you are made to do.
• Learn how to make the metrics and finance dance – understand it deeply before taking that leap.

Resources Mentioned:

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