SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Peep Laja. He's the founder of CXL. He was voted as the most influential, conversion rate optimization expert in the world. He helps fast-growing companies grow faster through his services, coaching and CXL Institute's certification programs along with his world-favorite optimization blog. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Used to be Ready, Fire, Aim What CEO do you follow? – No Favorite online tool? — Google Analytics and Intercom Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Peep wished that he had thought bigger when he was younger Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:33 – Nathan introduces Peep to the show 02:18 – CXL is an optimization company 02:30 – CXL does conversion optimization 02:40 – CXL also teaches about conversion optimization and everything a company needs to grow fast 03:13 – CXL has been an agency model for the longest time 03:31 – Conversion XL Institute was launched in 2016 03:41 – It also has a monthly subscription 03:52 – MRR as an agency 04:11 – In running an agency, it doesn't make sense to work with small businesses 04:59 – CXL has a minimum engagement of 3 months 05:06 – The size of the client determines their length of stay with CXL 05:17 – CXL agency currently has an average of 15 clients 05:26 – Team size is 10 05:32 – Agency people are mostly based in Estonia 05:38 – Peep is based in Austin and is mostly working on the institute side 05:54 – Peep only steps into the agency, if needed 06:08 – CXL has a blog where most lead generation happens 06:19 – CXL has 2 full-time writers for the blog 06:35 – Average MRR 07:10 – Peep is working on the scaling aspect of the institute 07:32 – "Self-paced is not a good model for learning" 07:40 – Coursera, Udacity and other e-learning platforms struggle with churn 08:16 – CXL Institute added live courses which are happening in real time 08:30 – The participation rate is way higher than the self-pace courses 08:38 – The reasons why the participation rate is higher 09:01 – Self-pace is priced at $99 a month 09:04 – Live courses have a one-time fee per course and there are 2 courses per month which are priced from $299 to $499 10:08 – Average number of students per course 10:41 – CXL Institute has their predominant list 10:47 – CXL Institute also uses retargeting 10:56 – CXL Institute is now starting to explore affiliate marketing 11:09 – List size 11:24 – The blog was launched at the end of 2011 11:43 – The pop-up is the most effective CTA that drives more opt-ins 12:18 – Peep shares how to make a pop-up for a blog 12:33 – CXL Institute is using Bounce Exchange 12:50 – "We try not to annoy the users" 13:04 – Bounce Exchange CEO was in Episode 253 of the Top 13:27 – CXL Institute does a revenue-share model with the instructors 13:34 – The instructors are marketing their classes on their own, as well 14:18 – The live course inclusions 15:02 – It is like a one day workshop 15:30 – The big companies are the ones who buy the self-paced courses 15:52 – CXL Institute currently has 1 certification program 16:04 – CXL Institute is adding 2-3 certifications quarterly 16:30 – Peep initially thought the self-paced would be for small businesses 17:30 – Annual signup is 20-25% 18:10 – CXL Institute is having a conference called CXL Live 18:16 – A whole resort is booked for the conference 18:30 – The conference will be at Hyatt Regency Hill Country ,in San Antonio 18:38 – A ticket includes a 2-night stay and meals 18:50 – The conference will be on April 5-7 18:55 – Visit live.conversionxl.com for more details 21:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: As an agency, the amount of time spent working with small and big companies is the same, so it's better to stick with the big ones. Self-paced learning faces more churn than live courses. Think big and don't just settle on what you think you can do—aim higher. Resources Mentioned: 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 Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE 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 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

Paul Trappitt. He's currently the CEO and co-founder of Smartbeat. Before Smartbeat, he was the senior business analyst at National Australia Bank and a senior project lead at SignIQ. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Start with Why and The Startup Owner's Manual What CEO do you follow? – Gary Vaynerchuk Favorite online tool? — HubSpot 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 smartphones were coming" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan introduces Paul to the show 01:45 – Smartbeat helps small businesses to navigate the complex omni channel 02:30 – Paul shares how one of their paying customers uses Smartbeat 03:02 – Smartbeat is about the people that are already using your business 03:10 – Smartbeat turns customers into raging fans 03:20 – Smartbeat is currently focusing on brick-and-mortar businesses 03:51 – Paul explains how they can help Jim, the café owner 05:14 – Smartbeat provides Wi-Fi to business owners and other technologies 05:50 – Smartbeat targets your audience in social media 06:32 – Smartbeat is a SaaS business 06:39 – Pricing starts at $250 a month 07:06 – Smartbeat currently has 5 customers 07:12 – Paul had a Wi-Fi company for 3 years 07:38 – Paul's Wi-Fi business did $20K in 2016 07:44 – Paul pivoted because there was too much competition in the Wi-Fi space 08:23 – Smartbeat raised $150K in Australia 08:39 – It was an equity round 08:55 – Paul shares how he came up with the valuation 10:10 – Smartbeat started in 2015 10:18 – Team size is 6 and they are all based in Australia 10:30 – Paul shares how they find their customers 10:55 – Smartbeat built their list organically through networking 12:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to pivot—you'll know when it's time. One way to build your network is by spreading news about your product in social gatherings. Technology is unpredictable so you have no choice but to adapt. Resources Mentioned: 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 Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE 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 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

Ry Walker. He's the co-founder and CEO of Astronomer.io, a big data infrastructure company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Astronomer is an AngelPad batch #9 company and has raised $2M from the likes of 500 Startups, CincyTech, Router Ventures and SocialStarts. Astronomer measures, connects and centralizes data—making it super simple for anyone from business users to data scientists to quickly create and monitor their data and pipelines. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People What CEO do you follow? – Dennis Mortensen Favorite online tool? — Fabricator Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Ry would tell himself to be bold and to be confident Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:35 – Nathan introduces Ry to the show 03:17 – Astronomer helps companies figure out how to use their data to benefit their business 03:22 – Astronomer works with early stage startups and big companies 03:41 – Some companies in the web analytics space are Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics 03:57 – Astronomer helps companies get the right data from their inside companies 04:32 – Astronomer is called data engineering, as a service 04:39 – Astronomer does the work for their customer while building the platform 04:51 – Astronomer has a flat price of 6K and 10K monthly 05:14 – Astronomer has their private cloud edition for their customers 05:33 – Astronomer was launched in May 2015 05:36 – Astronomer was at Collision Conference when they pivoted after the first day 06:13 – They realized that their biggest problem was to get companies to send them the data to run the analysis 06:35 – The number one issue in the space is the onboarding 07:03 – Ry explains the type of company they are 08:02 – The Angelpad is one of the most important pivots Astronomer did 08:13 – Angelpad's model 08:46 – What Ry was thinking when they got into Angelpad 09:30 – First year revenue 09:38 – 2016 revenue 09:57 – Team size and location 10:08 – Astronomer has raised $2M in 2 years 10:31 – Last round was at $1.1M and a convertible note 10:40 – Average MRR 12:04 – Astronomer currently has 20 customers 12:14 – Customer churn 12:17 – Astronomer currently has a net negative churn of 48% 12:46 – Ry explains the net negative churn of 48% 13:33 – CAC 13:38 – Astronomer just started with paid CAC this year 14:00 – Astronomer started with $600 14:21 – LTV 15:40 – Last round of funding was in August 16:21 – Ry explains the amount they are burning 16:42 – Ry is thinking now of the post-seed round 16:52 – It's a $3-5 M upround 17:14 – The valuation Ry is aiming for 17:40 – "We don't really want to bump our valuation too much" 20:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The number one issue in data analytics is the onboarding. Know your valuation and understand the data that had led you to that valuation. Believe in yourself—be bold and confident. Resources Mentioned: 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 Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE 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

Monish Anand. He's a banker, a technologist, and a Fintech evangelist. Above everything else, he's a father. He spent 20+ plus years in corporate working for large banks and technology companies only to realize that they were not solving big problems and quite frankly, were often part of the problem. His company, Datasigns Technologies, aims to provide underserved and unserved access to optimal credit. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Calvin and Hobbes What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Bezos Favorite online tool? — Google Calendar and Google Task Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish I knew what Internet was" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces Monish to the show 02:20 – Datasigns Technologies started last year 02:32 – Datasigns Technologies gives credit ratings 02:38 – 400M people in India apply for loans yearly 02:42 – Less than 107 get loans from banks and other financial institutions 03:00 – Datasigns Technologies tries to bridge the gap between the credit givers and credit takers 03:15 – Datasigns Technologies has grade scoring algorithms 03:35 – Monish believes that the calculus used to determine credit worthiness is not good enough 04:03 – Datasigns Technologies calculates data from sources and turns them into algorithms 04:10 – Monish shares his driver's experience applying for a loan 05:18 – Datasigns Technologies relies on mobile data 05:48 – Datasigns Technologies has a mobile app 06:06 – Datasigns Technologies' marketing explained 06:35 – Datasigns Technologies has a tie-up with micro-small to medium enterprises 07:00 – Datasigns Technologies does financial literacy for the enterprises 07:21 – There are 75K people who now understands Datasigns Technologies 07:54 – Datasigns Technologies has around 10K app downloads 08:07 – Datasigns Technologies has closed 600 loans 08:20 – Loan terms 09:24 – Datasigns Technologies was Angel funded, last year 09:31 – They have raised around $400K on an equity round 09:39 – Datasigns Technologies is raising another round of $5M 09:50 – Nathan breaks down the math 10:27 – Datasigns Technologies' interest rate varies from 22-26% 10:46 – Interest rates, in India, are much higher than in the USA 11:27 – Datasigns Technologies is the only company in India that is mandated by financial institutions to acquire customers 12:00 – Loan sharks charge 3% a month 12:40 – Datasigns Technologies has a processing fee and a basic interest rate 13:03 – How Datasigns Technologies makes money 13:43 – Datasigns Technologies helps banks build their books 14:00 – Why Datasigns Technologies is raising $5M 14:22 – Team size is 17 14:36 – All based in Bangalore, India 14:45 – Monish shares why he started Datasigns Technologies 15:05 – "There are people who deserve loans, but are not getting loans from the banks" 16:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Be the solution—not just part of the problem. There are people who deserve a loan, but are not given a chance—Monish wants to change that. The fintech space is one of the hottest spaces, at the moment. Resources Mentioned: 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 Organifi – The juice was Nathan's life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE 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. 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

McCabe Callahan who has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He began with a coffee shop named Mugs Coffee Lounge, which has been operating successfully in Fort Collins, Colorado, since 2002. He began a company called Community Funded, in 2011, out of his passion for providing technology that connects, supports and empowers people. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – E-Myth and Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Pay attention to numbers" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:32 – Nathan introduces McCabe to the show 02:33 – Mugs Coffee Lounge is McCabe's first real business 02:43 – McCabe went to Colorado State University 02:50 – McCabe was coming back from Europe when he had the idea of the Mugs Coffee Lounge 02:56 – Mugs Coffee Lounge was the first wireless internet café in Fort Collins 03:11 – Building relationships is the key to a successful coffee lounge 03:36 – First year revenue 04:04 – McCabe is 36; but when he was 24, he was already opening 5 coffee shops 04:22 – Total topline of all the coffee shops and restaurants 04:58 – McCabe didn't raise any capital 05:31 – McCabe's credit card debt when he started Mugs Coffee Lounge 05:48 – McCabe also had debt from other sources 06:43 – "Coffee is a good business to be in—there's no recession" 06:58 – McCabe shares where he sells his business to 07:07 – McCabe's income is now generating well 07:16 – McCabe did $1.6M in sales in 2016 07:30 – McCabe shares how he started with Community Funded 08:17 – McCabe had to find a way to secure a loan to open up a location 08:31 – The amount McCabe wanted to loan 08:45 – 2009-2010 was the hardest time for McCabe 09:41 – McCabe was about to give up when one of his regulars offered help 10:05 – 5 months after the McCabe's next shop opened, he heard about NPR's Kickstarter 10:20 – McCabe thought, "What if he could something like Kickstarter, but for communities?" 10:44 – Community Funded started out bootstrapped and just recently raised a round 11:03 – Community Funded first round raised $40K-75K 11:29 – Total funding was $2.3M 11:38 – Rounds are equity round 11:50 – McCabe shares Community Funded's valuation 12:18 – People believed in Community Funded's vision 12:38 – Community Funded's is a SaaS model 13:46 – Sample of fundraising raised in Community Funded 14:26 – Community Funded's focus 14:53 – Current Community Funded's revenue and revenue goal for 2017 15:54 – Total transaction volume in 2016 16:03 – 2016 total revenue 17:21 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Lack of funds is not a hindrance in building a company. There's nothing wrong sharing your problems with your regulars – you don't know who can offer you help. Stick and pay close attention to your numbers. Resources Mentioned: 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 Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE 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

Shin Sakane. He's the founder and CEO of Seven Dreamers. Seven Dreamers is daring to create technology that has never been seen in the world. Shin has a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Delaware. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Path What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Facebook Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Get global experiences, visit so many different countries, cultures..." Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:44 – Nathan introduces Shin to the show 02:20 – Seven Dreamers creates technology that the world has not seen yet 02:30 – First product is the fully automated carbon golf shaft 02:35 – Second product is the nascent nasal airway stent 02:58 – There's no connection between the products 03:16 – Seven Dreamers wanted to develop something that is not yet available anywhere 04:00 – Seven Dreamers was launched in 2011 04:20 – Seven Dreamers has raised over $75M 04:29 – The money was mainly spent on product development 05:05 – The nasal stent currently has more sales than the golf shaft 05:27 – The golf shaft price is $1200 - $120K 05:53 – The most popular model sells for $1800 06:10 – The golf shaft was launched in 2014 06:30 – 400 shafts/month are being sold 07:35 – The way to make a golf shaft 09:06 – Team size 09:45 – 2016 total revenue 10:30 – It took Seven Dreamers 11 years to develop laundroid 11:15 – Seven Dreamers has spent $15M for product development 11:33 – Shin shares how they came up with the idea of laundroid 12:13 – Laundroid was initially limited 12:50 – Laundroid's price is $15K 13:38 – The 3 products are completely different—from the suppliers to the technologies 14:08 – Most of the product ideas come from Shin 14:43 – The last round they raised 15:03 – Shin shares the valuation of each of their products 15:30 – "Everything counts" 16:12 – The nasal airway stent is currently their biggest money maker 16:25 – Average MRR $1M 16:53 – 2017 goal is $80M 17:07 – Seven Dreamers are working on their sales and marketing 17:14 – "We do our own marketing" 17:34 – Advertising cost 18:40 – Seven Dreamers spent money on sponsoring athletes 19:09 – The number of golf shaft complete sets that have sold 21:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Think outside the box—have a solution to a problem, then create a product. Study and know your market well so that your product speaks directly to a need. Be creative and innovative. Resources Mentioned: 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. 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 Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Todd Olson. He's the CEO and founder of Pendo, a product experience platform that helps product managers deliver successful products. Before Pendo, Todd served as VP of products at Rally Software Development which he led through its public offering. Todd joins Rally in its acquisition of 6th Sense, the company he founded and served as president and CTO. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Levie Favorite online tool? — 15Five 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 more at 21, than I thought I knew" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Todd to the show 02:17 – Pendo provides a solution that helps companies build an application to improve its experience 03:00 – Optimizely uses Pendo to understand the people who are in their trial and onboarding flow 03:32 – Pendo is different to Intercom's space 04:01 – Pendo is a SaaS company 04:21 – Pendo was launched in 2013 05:11 – Todd experimented with different technologies 05:26 – "Every product has key set features" 05:45 – Todd founded 6th Sense and sold it to Rally 06:24 – First year revenue is zero 06:55 – Todd invested $1.2M to start Pendo 07:11 – Pendo has raised a seed round 07:44 – It was a million dollar convertible note 08:15 – Pendo has raised a total of $31M 08:26 – Team size 08:55 – "All of our customers are top-tier" 09:43 – Average customer pay per month 09:52 – Pendo serves mid-market to enterprise companies 10:20 – Todd shares what drives their expansion revenue 10:50 – Pendo increases prices by adding products to existing plans 10:55 – Pendo has tier-prices based on features 11:17 – Todd shares why adding products is their main expansion driver 12:30 – Average number of customers 12:45 – Future target market 13:00 – Average customer churn 13:35 – Pendo has a net negative churn 13:49 – Todd explains net negative churn 14:54 – CAC and LTV ratio is healthy 15:26 – Pendo's expansion plan 15:44 – Average MRR 17:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Treat all your customers as if they are top-tier customers. Expansion drivers will depend on what suits the company. Be more confident. Resources Mentioned: 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. 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 Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Sahil Arora. He's an entrepreneur, author, and a guitarist and defies what you think someone his age could do. Tune in to learn his entrepreneurial story, from creating the Vuzelaa Group to jumpstarting Tabverts—a company that broadcasts ads in taxis all over India. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — No 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 could get a Lamborghini at the age of 10" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Sahil to the show 01:35 – Vuzelaa Group is the parent company which Sahil started when he was 16 01:51 – Under Vuzelaa Group, they created Tabverts; a company that broadcasts ads in taxis all over India 02:11 – Tabverts' pricing 02:45 – Tabverts was launched in 2016 03:06 – Sahil is the sole founder of Vuzelaa Group 03:20 – Sahil shares how he found people on Twitter and got them on board 03:59 – Sahil shares how he convinced them to join 04:55 – Sahil shows Nathan his sample pitch 06:28 – Sahil is 18 now 06:45 – There are around 10K cabs in India with Tabverts' hardware 06:50 – Sahil shares how he funded Tabverts 07:05 – Sahil spent $100K in the early stage of the business 07:12 – Sahil raised $500K in an equity round 07:32 – The $500K was from a VC based in India 07:50 – The brands that pay Sahil 08:18 – Sahil shares how the brand, Snapdeal, pays him 08:40 – Average pay per second 09:45 – Tabverts' customers can track their ads' performance through an app 10:14 – The clicks on the tablet can also be tracked 10:37 – Sahil shares how the ads' loophole functions 11:00 – Team size 11:08 – MRR is $70K 11:35 – Sahil shares how his team operates 11:56 – Sahil dropped out of high school and won't go to college 12:26 – Tabverts has a predictive revenue stream 12:35 – Sahil's future plans for Tabverts 13:18 – How Tabverts deals with the cabs 14:05 – The key metrics Tabverts tracks 14:38 – 2017 goal 14:50 – Sahil shares what he does with the revenue he gets 15:23 – Cost per hardware 15:48 – Sahil shares how their tabs work 16:16 – Tabverts only shows the ads that may be interesting for the people riding in cabs 16:47 – Tabverts is tied up with Uber 16:57 – The amount Tabverts pays Uber 17:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Entrepreneurship knows no age. Continue to grow your company by investing consistently. You can find your clientele through social media – you just have to have the right pitch. Resources Mentioned: 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. 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 Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Charles Ramsey. He's the CEO of Sauce Labs and has been in that position since April 2015, and has served as Chief Revenue Officer from February to April 2015. Prior to that, he's had 25 years of industry experience—he was a venture partner at JMI Equity and held a number of roles at Quest Software, including VP of marketing and sales. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Finding Your North Star What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — No 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'd become a CEO sooner in my career" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:27 – Nathan introduces Charles to the show 03:03 – Sauce Labs has just raised a significant amount, $70M 03:45 – Sauce Labs has raised a total of $130M 04:04 – Charles shares how they decide to raise capital 04:14 – Sauce Labs checked their ability for an acquisition 04:42 – Sauce Labs had great timing 04:54 – Sauce Labs does automated testing in the cloud for web app and mobile devices 06:38 – Sauce Labs' market is about continuous integration and delivery 07:17 – Sauce Labs is SaaS based with an annual subscription and self-service 07:58 – Sauce Labs has invested in pre-sell and technical support 08:30 – Average transaction fee is $50K annually 08:56 – The fee varies from the number of parallel testings the customer wants 09:20 – The concurrency of 50 09:45 – Sauce Labs is growing organically 10:11 – Sauce Labs is an 8 year old company 10:33 – "The founders started the company with the notion of automated testing from day 1" 10:54 – 3 years ago, a number of ISVs realized that they wanted to leverage selenium 12:03 – One of the founders is still in Sauce Labs and all of them are still on the cap table 12:41 – Team size 13:20 – Sauce Labs currently has 3500 customers 13:58 – Sauce Labs' 90-day post-transaction clause window 14:17 – Depending on the complexity of the environment, it can require professional services 14:26 – Charles shares what their technical team does 14:58 – Average ARR 16:00 – Average pay of self-serve customers 16:59 – Valuation 17:46 – Sauce Labs wants to focus on the enterprise companies 19:15 – Gross annual customer churn 19:46 – Sauce Labs is currently at net negative revenue churn 19:54 – CAC 20:00 – Sauce Labs is doing paid marketing 21:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Do your research—know what your customer wants and needs. Focus your energy on the strengths of your company. Take courage, take the 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

Dr. Milton Chen. He's the co-founder and CEO of VSee, and has a PhD from Stanford on the design of video collaboration. Additionally, he was the co-founder of XMPP Video Standard which is now used by Google Talk and Facebook Chat. He has deployed VSee for Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Linkin Park and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? – Marc Benioff Favorite online tool? — Rapportive Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Milton would tell himself not to be as naïve and clueless Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Milton to the show 02:20 – Vsee is a SaaS company 02:31 – Vsee offers mobile app and call center workflow 03:04 – Price range is $49-499 per medical provider per month 03:30 – Milton explains how VSee provides a service to client, Trinity Health 04:30 – Milton assures their client security and confidentiality 05:05 – Vsee was launched in 2008 05:33 – Milton went to graduate school because he wanted to become a professor 05:46 – Milton now loves everything about startups 06:03 – Vsee's initial investment 06:24 – It was an equity investment 06:42 – Milton was clueless about valuations and didn't know what he was doing 06:59 – Milton started VSee after graduate school with zero knowledge about business 07:15 – Milton was just grateful that people wanted to invest in VSee 07:35 – Vsee currently had a thousand paying customers 09:00 – Average number of nurses in VSee 09:23 – First year revenue 10:11 – Average amount raised 10:40 – Team size is 52 and they are based in Sunnyvale, CA 12:12 – VSee is currently cash flow mutual 12:51 – Vsee invests in making sure their customers feel secure 13:18 – Milton shares how their technology is built into Facebook Messenger 14:00 – Milton doesn't get royalties 14:40 – Vsee started as a general video conference market 14:50 – Milton shares how they pivoted to the health industry 15:34 – Vsee has an inside sales team 15:41 – Vsee has 3 sources for sales 16:22 – Vsee is currently not into paid marketing 17:40 – Vsee has close to 100% customer retention 18:17 – Vsee is on a net negative churn 19:20 – 2017 revenue target 20:56 – Vsee's last closed round was in 2011 21:10 – Milton is just focused on acquiring more customers and is not interested in any acquisition talks 22:47 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Everyone has to start somewhere – even if it means being naïve and clueless. Getting into a market with less competition could mean more customers and sales. Paid marketing won't always work so test everything, first, before investing in a certain marketing strategy. 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

Ryan Buckley. He's a serial entrepreneur, a founder and CEO of Scripted and Toofr. He focuses on solving the problems that marketers and business owners deal with on a daily basis such as connecting businesses with writers. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Rework What CEO do you follow? – Josh Pigford Favorite online tool? — HubSpot CRM Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Ryan would tell himself not to be so stressed and just say "yes" as much as possible Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Ryan to the show 01:40 – Scripted is marketplace that matches businesses with writers 01:45 – Scripted has a subscription fee 02:19 – Scripted has raised a total of $15M 02:23 – Scripted was launched in 2011 02:26 – Ryan started in screenwriting 02:40 – Ryan shares how he started Scripted 03:04 – "We just followed the market" 03:12 – Toofr came before Scripted 03:50 – Ryan shares how Toofr came to life 04:17 – Ryan was using Genius software and had a drip campaign 04:35 – Ryan learned about Phyton 05:14 – Toofr is different from the original script 05:29 – Toofr is a SaaS model 05:32 – RPU 05:45 – Ryan put up the paywall in 2013 06:32 – Ryan used Toofr to learn web development 06:37 – Toofr is completely bootstrapped 06:45 – Team size 07:40 – Toofr has a hundred customers 08:00 – Gross customer churn 08:40 – Toofr relies solely on organic traffic 08:55 – Ryan shares why he thinks people leave Toofr 09:20 – Ryan shares the improvements that he can make to reduce churn numbers 10:10 – Toofr has 16K registered users 10:27 – Toofr's competition 10:59 – "Hunter kicks my ass in SEO" 11:30 – Toofr has better data 11:59 – Toofr has multiple sources 13:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Learn as you go — as you build your business, be mindful of all the opportunities to learn. There are great advantages in working with a small team. Use your competition as motivation to make yourself better. 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

Craig Fitzpatrick. He's a serial entrepreneur, self-professed child nerd, and CEO of PageCloud. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Biography of Steve Jobs What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs Favorite online tool? — N/A Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Jump in while there's still nothing to lose" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan introduces Craig to the show 01:48 – PageCloud is a SaaS business 02:10 – PageCloud is different from Weebly and Wix, but they are in the same space 03:28 – PageCloud has reinvented the experience for desktop publishing and puts it into your browser 03:56 – Average customer pay per month 04:08 – RPU 04:22 – PageCloud was launched in September 2014 04:48 – Craig started PageCloud as a hobby 04:48 – Craig has been frustrated with desktop publishing in the past 05:20 – Craig shares how he started the planning and creating of PageCloud 06:15 – Craig's previous company 06:45 – Team size 06:52 – The team is based in Canada 07:05 – PageCloud is well-funded 07:17 – PageCloud has raised a few rounds 07:40 – First three rounds are convertible note and the fourth one is a priced round 07:55 – Average number of customers 08:15 – MRR 08:24 – PageCloud was in Kickstarter 09:00 – Below $200K MRR 09:23 – Craig shares how they pre-sell: 10:00 – They built a landing page from TechCrunch's promo video 10:30 – Craig did a lot of marketing before the launch 11:19 – Starting price point 11:30 – Average number of units sold 12:21 – Craig learned how to do effective marketing in 6 months 12:40 – Craig put in $1M in paid advertising 12:56 – The payback was just after a month 13:10 – Gross customer churn 14:30 – CAC 14:50 – LTV 15:32 – 2017 goal 17:01 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to invest in marketing – it shows that you believe in your product. Be innovative—make a change in an industry that is quite stationary. There is no time better than the present to get started. 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

Mats Horn. He's the CEO and founder of the Swedish tech company, Tinitell. Together with a team of Scandinavian industrial designers, telecom experts and engineers, he developed one of the first wearable devices with cellular connectivity for voice and data. Tinitell wrist phone is an ingeniously simple wearable phone for kids with call and smart location features as well as an intuitive, one button, voice guidance interaction. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Sapiens What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Mats would tell himself to not be in a rush and take life as "unseriously" as possible Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:31 – Nathan introduces Mats to the show 02:12 – Tinitell is a simple mobile phone that kids wear 02:20 – It's a smart locator for parents 02:35 – Kids can make and receive calls 02:57 – Tinitell is independent from its smartphone administrators 03:03 – It is like a robot in a simple product 03:13 – The smartphone app is how the parents control what's in it 03:36 – Tinitell needs to have a SIM card and it is already provided 03:50 – Tinitell is partnered with a telco 04:48 – Tinitell was launched in Kickstarter in 2014 04:54 – Shipping started after a year and a half 05:16 – Tinitell has shipped 15K units 05:30 – Tinitell sold 1,102 units in Kickstarter 05:41 – Tinitell has raised $150K in Kickstarter 05:51 – "It's tough making the world's smallest mobile phone" 06:03 – Tinitell has put it in additional $4M for funds 06:18 – "Most money came from VC companies" 06:25 – Tinitell has raised thrice 06:36 – All are equity rounds 06:53 – Mats shares why he raised in smaller rounds 07:35 – In doing smaller rounds, Mats and his team wouldn't dilute themselves 08:03 – Mats was working as a consultant before Tinitell 08:25 – Mats realized that he wanted his own company 08:29 – Mat's idea of Tinitell 09:15 – Team size is 30 09:25 – Average number of customers 09:43 – The critical numbers of Mats 10:12 – Mats looks at the conversion rate and general market activity 10:50 – Tinitell's competition 11:20 – What people should look at in conversion rate 11:40 – Tinitell has 4 colors 12:03 – The bestsellers are the darker colors 12:36 – Markup vs. cost 13:49 – Mats shares about making a physical product 15:15 – Mats shares how he finds his suppliers 15:32 – "I knew I had to go to China" 15:48 – Mats has to have a network of suppliers 16:29 – Mats reached out to everyone he knows who could possibly help him 18:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Know your numbers and track them consistently. Your network can be your advantage in sourcing and creating your product. Enjoy life—take things slow and don't be in a rush. 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

Peter Schlecht. He's the founder and CEO of The SaaS Co whose aim is to change sales through artificial intelligence as they have launched their new product, Lisa. He's a 30-year old from Germany—a poker and e-sports playing, politician who became an entrepreneur. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Der Weg zum erfolgreichen Unternehmer What CEO do you follow? – Felix Staeritz Favorite online tool? — OneTap Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Stop earlier with politicians, don't do your masters and study entrepreneurship earlier" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Peter to the show 01:37 – Peter makes more money in entrepreneurship than being a politician 01:58 – The SaaS Co is an agency for B2B lead generation 01:55 – The SaaS Co is subscription based 02:06 – The SaaS Co's focus is Lisa 02:14 – Lisa is a bot for salespeople 02:18 – Lisa reads and replies to your email 02:52 – Lisa doesn't delete emails and won't reply if she can't find an answer to an email 03:08 – The SaaS Co was founded in July, 2014 03:17 – First year revenue 03:22 – The SaaS Co was selling the service of full-sales for tech companies 03:34 – The SaaS Co specializes in appointment setting for B2B tech companies 03:51 – The SaaS Co was providing 4 services 04:23 – The payment depends on a company size 04:44 – The fee for every qualified lead 05:05 – Current number of customers 05:19 – MRR 06:12 – No charge for Lisa, at the moment 06:20 – Anyone can sign up for Lisa 06:41 – The SaaS Co was bootstrapped until last year 06:53 – The SaaS Co raised €500K from angels and €300K from The European Union funding 07:55 – Peter shares how they get new customers 09:03 – The SaaS Co doesn't buy leads from other sources for verification 09:08 – The SaaS Co uses datavalidations.com to validate their leads 09:38 – Peter uses Full Contact 09:50 – The SaaS Co finding leads process 11:15 – The SaaS Co scrapes data from open sources 11:40 – The SaaS Co tried other sources, but the price point has to be considered 12:10 – Team size 12:16 – There are 17 developers and the rest are on sales 12:30 – No paid marketing, at the moment 12:44 – Customer churn 13:06 – The SaaS Co needs to keep on adding new customers to sustain growth 13:55 – The SaaS Co's big focus is on Lisa and Peter believes she will add more value to the company 14:55 – The SaaS Co is based in Berlin 15:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: There are many things to consider when it comes to subscribing to other sources for leads; price is a major factor. One way to get people to sign up for a new product is to offer it for free. Get into business early as early as possible. 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

Christof Wittig. He's a serial, software entrepreneur and investor. Currently, he's the founder and CEO of Hornet Networks, the world's second largest gay social network and is a managing partner of Strive, based in San Francisco. He's an investor and board member of various companies including Enish, Metago, KeepSafe, VirtaHealth, Black Medicine, Movie Pilot, Box Fish and App Annie. He has been active in the US, Germany, and throughout Asia. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? – Sami Inkinen Favorite online tool? — Capshare.com Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Christof wished he told himself to be bold, that he didn't need a degree, and to follow his dreams Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:19 – Nathan introduces Christof to the show 03:09 – Strive and Hornet came at the same time to Christof 03:32 – Hornet started as a side project 03:50 – Christof exited Servo Software before Hornet 04:00 – Hornet is Christof's first consumer business 04:10 – Servo Software was launched in 2004 05:02 – Christof sold Servo software in 2010 05:20 – Hornet's capital came from that exit 05:48 – Christof is now 48 05:58 – Nathan had Sean Howell, Hornet's co-founder in Episode 440 06:20 – Sean focused on marketing 06:50 – Sean and Christof are running it together 07:10 – Hornet had a subscription model and premium option 07:50 – Hornet's revenue is 2/3 from subscription and 1/3 from ads 08:00 – Hornet's future revenue model 08:28 – GHI 09:02 – Hornet raised their $8M in their Series A 10:05 – Hornet's focus is the advertising revenue 10:46 – "Our focus is to get more engagement" 10:57 – Engagement is measured through sessions 11:12 – Peak days 11:30 – User base 11:41 – 3M monthly active and 1.5M daily active 12:09 – The key metrics to track the number of sessions 12:30 – Christof shares about Tinder 13:16 – Hornet sells CPM and provides premium exposure 14:00 – Hornet has a feed model to drive more organic traffic 14:34 – Hornet has the following features 15:20 – Hornet's published price for CPM 15:56 – The number of advertisers currently working with Hornet 16:28 – Hornet uses TFP for their ads 17:10 – Hornet has the largest gay media newsroom in the USA 17:30 – The story feed makes the interaction in the gay community easier 18:05 – Christof shares where they spend the $8M 18:25 – Hornet also spends in marketing 18:39 – Christof wants users to understand that Hornet isn't just about dating 19:00 – User growth 19:30 – Hornet takes the new concept of the gay app to the next level 20:14 – Hornet is about creating a new digital space for the gay community 21:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: They gay community needs a place where it's not just about dating, but having interactions with the whole community. The focus isn't always on the number of users, specially if you're driving traffic well. A degree isn't as important as just following your dreams. 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

Chris Golec. He's the CEO and founder of Demandbase. Chris is an entrepreneur and prior to starting Demandbase, founded one of the most successful B2B software and data solutions in the late 90s called Supplybase. With previous positions at GE and DuPont, Chris uses his wealth of experience to position Demandbase as one of the most rapidly expanding B2B marketing companies in the space. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – N/A What CEO do you follow? – Keith Krach Favorite online tool? — Amazon and Skype Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Go for it sooner" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show 02:10 – Demandbase is a marketing technology company focused on B2B marketers 02:46 – Demandbase sells subscriptions to large enterprises 03:10 – Chris used his experience in GE to find what salespeople need 03:40 – Average customer pay per month 04:09 – Demandbase has raised $90M 04:51 – Demandbase was launched in 2007 05:20 – Demandbase started pushing the account-based marketing technology 05:32 – Chris explains what an account-based marketing technology is 06:03 – Supplybase was in a supply-chain space 06:37 – Chris started as a consultant 07:04 – Chris saw the huge opportunity from his clients' experiences 07:33 – Chris shares how he determines the red flags in revenue plans 09:05 – First year revenue 10:17 – Demandbase had their first round in 2007 for $2.5M 10:33 – It was an equity round 11:00 – Chris shares what he deems important to know before raising a round 11:07 – Have a goal 11:22 – Know that "it's not easy raising money" 12:00 – Demandbase currently has 400 customers 12:23 – Average MRR 12:40 – Team size is under 250 13:44 – Gross customer churn 13:59 – "Even if we don't add any customers this year, we'll still grow by 10% next year" 14:14 – Chris shares how the teams are designated by customers 15:00 – CAC 15:13 – Average contract value 15:40 – Demandbase is in San Francisco 16:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you see an opportunity, go for it! Raising money is not a walk in the park – know your goal beforehand. Don't wait around, go for your dreams as soon 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 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

Andy Lürling and his business partner, Menno Bischops. Andy has over 15 years of experience in the startup world and is truly a serial entrepreneur. He has tons of experience in corporate and the corporate environment including strategy, business development and product development in entertaining and series gaming, VR, AR and online applications. He and Menno are working on a company called VRee. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Exponential Organization - Andy What CEO do you follow? – Andy Lürling Favorite online tool? — Google Maps and Google Docs Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Go for it—just do it" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:21 – Nathan introduces Andy and Menno to the show 02:05 – LUMO Labs is a 2-year accelerator 03:30 – LUMO labs is all capital at this point 04:27 – The size of the funds that LUMO Labs has contributed 05:08 – The number of investment rounds LUMO Labs has made 05:20 – Official launch of LUMO Labs 06:30 – Menno shares what VRee does 07:00 – The full-body VR experience 07:26 – The VR suits, headset and goggles are wireless 08:05 – It is like augmented laser tag 08:42 – VRee also offers e-sports 09:18 – The capital VRee has raised 09:50 – The grant is non-dilutive 10:05 – Menno shares how they earn from VRee 10:29 – VRee is currently showcasing what their platform can offer 10:43 – VRee has revenue, but it's not substantial yet 11:11 – VRee is usually used in pop-up events 11:30 – VRee is in current talks with VR arcades for permanent installation 12:42 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Accelerators is a great avenue for startups to get going. You may have to start small and that may mean intermittent revenue. Just go for it, take courage and just do 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 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

Enrico Casati. He is the co-founder and CEO Velasca, a company that specializes in handcrafted shoes. Enrico is based in Milan, Italy. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The 4-Hour Workweek What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Adabra Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Know your audience before doing anything business related" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:43 – Nathan introduces Enrico to the show 02:03 – Velasca is an online brand focused on hand-crafted shoes 02:26 – Velasca was self-funded and had a VC round 02:39 – Velasca had raised €750K 03:01 – It was an equity round 03:18 – Enrico's dad was an entrepreneur but not a shoe maker 03:31 – Enrico shares how the idea of Velasca started 03:51 – It was 4 years ago when Enrico started Velasca 04:34 – Enrico shares about one of their products 04:52 – The source of the raw materials 05:30 – The cost to make the Artista shoes 05:52 – 2.4 markup 06:47 – Net margin 06:52 – Depends on the marketing budget you want to spend 06:59 – High growth pace 07:32 – "We invest so much on marketing" 08:10 – Velasca has spent €20K on marketing in January 2017 08:38 – Enrico had the first idea of Velasca in the summer of 2012 08:52 – The first collection on their website was launched in May 2013 09:25 – The first year was about the testing 09:34 – Since September 2014, Velasca has grown in people 09:43 – Current team size is 10 09:54 – Around 15K customers have bought from Velasca 10:17 – Average check out value 10:50 – Customer repurchase rate 11:52 – CAC 12:00 – LTV 12:10 – "The lifetime is really worth the cost we're spending" 12:45 – Velasca has sold around 20K pairs of shoes 12:56 – Velasca's best-seller is the Black Oxford 13:16 – "Versatility is what makes the shoes' 14:00 – First year revenue is €60K 14:04 - €200K the second year 14:08 - €1.6M the third year 14:43 – Topline revenue 15:25 – Enrico's goal is to reach €4M 16:06 – Enrico spends more on paid advertising 18:08 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Study your product, first, before putting it in public. Invest paid marketing that performs well. Your relationship with your customers will reflect on your customer retention. 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

Gary Fowler. He's the co-founder and CEO of Findo, a smart search across multiple platforms for email, files, and folders. Gary has over 23 years of startup experience and is an award-winning CEO, a senior executive, a speaker with over 7 technologies startup and a successful IPO for the company CKSW. Gary is known as the go-to startup CEO that gets stuff done. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Think and Grow Rich What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Intercom Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Never If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Gary wished he could look back and spend more time getting deeply involved with his first startup Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:34 – Nathan introduces Gary to the show 02:08 – Gary shares what Findo is 02:15 – The challenge that we have nowadays is the large, vast amount of information that we have 02:25 – An average person has around 3000 items 02:58 – "We're an AI tool, so it's learning all the time" 03:15 – Findo has a monthly subscription model 03:23 – Advance is $499/month and ultimate is $999/month 03:48 – Average customer pay per month 04:01 – Findo was founded by David Yang who built 9 startups including ABBYY 04:21 – Gary was the co-founder and CEO for the US corporation 04:36 – Gary shares why they had to spin out ABBYY 05:05 – Gary bought the IP from ABBYY 05:33 – Gary shares how they found the person who did their independent evaluation 06:08 – Average cost of buying the IP 06:19 – Gary shares where they got their capital 06:36 – Gary has raised $7M 06:45 – Gary is currently on seed 2 06:51 – Gary's major seed contributors 07:40 – Gary shares why they call their current round, seed 2 08:38 – Gary had an equity priced round 08:56 – Findo was launched in April 2016 09:06 – Gary started the most successful accelerator, GVA LaunchGurus, in Russia, prior to Findo 09:31 – 60% of the companies have raised money 10:04 – Gary raised capital to fund the accelerator 10:58 – None of the companies have exited yet 11:25 – Gary shares why he left GVA LaunchGurus for Findo 12:00 – Team size is 26 12:22 – Why Gary chose the people from Europe 13:10 – Findo just came out of beta 13:15 – Findo has over 80K customers 13:19 – Percentage of paying customers 14:15 – Average MRR 14:25 – Findo is currently moving into the model of reason strategy 14:50 – Gross customer churn 15:10 – Between 5-10%, but most come back 16:15 – The problem that 12% of the population have 17:13 – CAC 18:58 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a solution to the most common problem. Follow your intuition when it it's time to make a move. Your contributors play a big role to your company's growth—make sure they are suited to you and your company. 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

Shashank Murali. He's a BITS Pilani alumni. He's a co-founder and CEO at TapChief – a platform to seek advice from industry professionals. Previously, he built and sold Edvice, an on-demand tutoring app, to HashLearn. He had a product for Hashlearn before he decided to set on a path to democratize knowledge sharing with TapChief. Apart from startups and tech, Shashank enjoys cricket, psychedelic music, and swears by Pink Floyd. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Everything Store What CEO do you follow? – Vijay Shekhar Sharma 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? – "To persist more" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Shashank to the show 02:11 – Shashank shares what TapChief is 02:25 – TapChief charges from the expert's pay 02:36 – TapChief is similar to Clarity.fm 02:44 – Shashank shares how TapChief is different from Clarity 03:14 – TapChief has a various of offerings 03:25 – TapChief is a marketplace 03:39 – The 2 sides of TapChief: 03:45 – Experts ask for a consultation charge and TapChief gets a fee from that 04:30 – Experts monetize their knowledge using TapChief 05:33 – Average order size 06:14 – Shashank believes that their market would still grow 06:40 – TapChief was launched in a B2C play 07:07 – TapChief takes 20% from the experts' charges 07:21 – Average number of experts in the platform 07:31 – TapChief was launched in February 2016 07:48 – Average number of students who have purchased from TapChief 08:28 – TapChief is giving the experts options to present themselves better 09:05 – 1000 out of 5000 experts in TapChief had conversations already 09:31 – Shashank shares how they measure their growth 09:58 – What Shashank primarily measures 10:16 – TapChief has raised $150K with a team of 10 10:40 – The number of hours TapChief has crossed 10:50 – Average monthly minutes of interactions 11:25 – Shashank shares how they leverage the number of students 12:25 – Revenue goal for 2017 12:42 – Shashank's focus is on the number of minutes of interactions 13:02 – Shashank's plan is to grow the number of minutes 14:10 – Shashank is open to B2B collaborations 14:45 – Shashank explains why a business would pay for collaboration 15:18 – Where the majority of the revenue is coming from 15:46 – 2016 total revenue 16:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: We are experts in our own field and there are platforms where you can monetize your knowledge. You don't always have to focus on the revenue—there are metrics that should be considered. Be more persistent—especially in the things that are most important to you. 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

Sushma Sharma, the CEO of Konversai. She's a lawyer turned entrepreneur. She has law degrees from The University of Oxford and Columbia University and has worked in two prominent Wall Street law firms and set up a department of practical law at City University of Hong Kong. Sushma has taught thousands of students and seen some the most privileged humans as well as some of the least privileged in her life journey spanning 3 continents to where she has lived and worked over the last 15 years. Konversai was born as her solution to the problems facing mankind today. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – N/A What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Slack 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 doubt yourself and just keep doing what you're doing. There's a time and place for everything" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:30 – Nathan introduces Sushma to the show 03:19 – Konversai is a social conversation platform 03:28 – Sushma shares the types of conversations in Konversai 04:43 – Konversai's focus is the knowledge from personal experience 04:21 – Sushma's philosophy is "nothing valuable is free" 04:25 – Konversai has a credit system 04:33 – The charge is .50 cents for one month for creating a box in Konversai 04:54 – "I want to make people feel accountable for what they're putting up" 05:25 – Sushma shares how they make revenue from a paid conversation 06:09 – Konversai gets 10% from the amount paid 06:36 – The seeker is the one who pays the service 07:02 – There are 2 sides of the business: the seeker and the provider 07:22 – Konversai has under a thousand current providers 08:00 – The number of buyers 08:19 – Sushma's target was to get the providers as well as the buyers, too 08:40 – The traction has been quite slow 09:21 – Sushma explains why they have to use Stripe 09:25 – Konversai is a global company and the currency has to be considered 10:02 – Some users are quite hesitant to fill out the Stripe sign-up form 11:10 – Konversai is only 3 months old 11:40 – Konversai has raised $1.3M in a seed round, in November 12:20 – It is a convertible note/safe 12:42 – Average order value 13:30 – Current revenue 13:46 – "It is growing every month" 15:21 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Nothing valuable is free. The way you win is by doing things consistently. Don't doubt yourself and keep doing what you're doing—there's a time and place for everything. 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

Michael Kaplan. He's the CEO and founder of Taivaco which is a media technology company. He's also the former director of marketing at Sanyo and was appointed at San Francisco Water Bay Front Committee. Michael speaks Chinese, French and Japanese. He attended The University of Redlands, Waseda University in Tokyo, George Mason University and Chinese Culture University. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – It's Not My Department What CEO do you follow? – John Cleese and Ken Okuyama Favorite online tool? — Any.do Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "The more you listen to other people, the more success finds you" and "Be a nice person" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan introduces Michael to the show 02:07 – Michael shares why January 20th is a special day 03:15 – Taivaco was set out to solve an invisible problem and ended up solving more problems 03:47 – An archive isn't an accurate description 03:50 – Organizations are struggling to manage their media 04:17 – One of Taivaco's original ideas was to digitize media 05:08 – Taivaco helps companies find their content within their media or discover what DAM (Digital Asset Management) software does 05:50 – Taivaco incorporates both software and manual work 06:01 – "This is not a software that we sell, this is a service that we do" 06:15 – Taivaco is a service-only company 06:26 – Taivaco was launched in 2016 06:33 – Taivaco is currently on pre-revenue 06:49 – Taivaco has done under 10K in pre-revenue 07:00 – Taivaco version 1.0 will be available in April 07:12 – Taivaco was originally self-funded 07:20 – Michael put in 20K in Taivaco 07:27 – Taivaco just closed their "seedling" round for less than 50K 07:43 – Long term plan is to have another round 07:56 – Michael shares how they actually make a sale 08:32 – Sabra Design is one of Taivaco's paying customers 08:39 – Sabra Design came to Taivaco to ask for their service 09:04 – Taivaco got less than a thousand for the job 09:10 – Taivaco has already reached out to potential clients to scale up 10:17 – Michael explains why it is taking them more time to close a deal 10:50 – Taivaco doesn't specialize in digitizing and they do it for a minimal cost 11:23 – Taivaco annotates content which nobody has done before 12:12 – Michael shares their annotation process 12:46 – The charge for annotation will depend on the volume 13:20 – Taivaco will have a subscription model for the annotation 14:10 – Taivaco's goal is to make their service as easy and possible for their clients 15:34 – Taivaco is making money through annotation 16:27 – The metrics that Taivaco is measuring in pricing 17:09 – "We have to provide the whole thing" 18:21 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Try to solve one problem and you might end up solving more problems. Do something that is new in the market to stand apart. Take things at your own pace and don't rush. 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

Olivier Magnan-Saurin. He's the CEO and co-founder of Fidzup which provides innovation retargeting solutions for brick-and-mortar businesses such as retail chains and shopping centers. Olivier founded Fidzup right after school, in between school, and a little bit of freelancing works. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – On M'Avait Dit Que C'Etait Impossible: Le Manifeste Du Fondateur de Criteo What CEO do you follow? – Jean-Baptiste Rudelle Favorite online tool? — Pipedrive Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Create your own company" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan introduces Olivier to the show 01:42 – Fidzup provides marketing platforms for physical retailers 02:04 – For physical retailers, clicks don't have any value 02:25 – Fidzup sells advertising campaigns to retailers 02:38 – Fidzup is a CPC model and gets paid for every in-store visit 03:20 – Fidzup is currently working with 2500 retailers in Europe 03:43 – Fidzup was created in 2011 03:58 – In 2014, Olivier decided to start an advertising platform 04:11 – Fidzup tracks the retailer using Wi-Fi or sensor 04:57 – Fidzup is able to track 80% of the customers entering the store 05:16 – Olivier shares how they get the customer's phone information 05:56 – When a customer opens an online ad, they can track that customer 06:43 – Average online campaign cost per brand 07:20 – Fidzup buys CPM and sells CPE 08:00 – Fidzup has recently raised $3.7M 08:39 – Team size 08:50 – Olivier hopes to double their team size 09:00 – First year revenue 09:50 – 2016 total revenue 10:04 – Average annual pay per customer 11:00 – Ad volume per year 11:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Online advertisement is not always valuable to brick-and-mortar businesses, these businesses still rely on physical advertisement. Be patient with yourself and your company—growth takes time. If you're in stuck between joining a company or creating your own, choose the latter. 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

Will Dinkel. He's the CEO and co-founder of Nova. Prior to founding Nova, Will developed his passion for enterprise sales while working in various technology and sales roles at CloudFlare and HP. Will studied engineering in Harvard Business School. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Presenting to Win What CEO do you follow? – Travis Kimmel Favorite online tool? – Apple Notes Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— "I try" If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "I wish my 20-year old self was more ambitious" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Will to the show 02:08 – Nova AI is a sales product that uses AI to help set appointments more effectively 02:25 – Nova helps sales reps, they don't necessarily get leads 02:52 – Nova creates personalized emails and merged templates 03:08 – Nova charges per seat 03:30 – "What we do is very unique" 03:39 – Nova is a smart, workflow product 04:08 – Average pay per seat is $150 04:28 – Nova started in 2015 05:01 – Nova's co-founder is from MIT 05:15 – Team size 05:40 – Will shares how it's like in San Francisco 06:00 – Nova has raised $2.2M 06:20 – Salesforce Ventures is one of Nova's investors 06:54 – The space is getting bigger and bigger 07:15 – Will shares why he raised and went to YC 07:50 – Nova just crossed 100 customers 08:10 – Average seat number per customer 08:40 – Nova is now looking into a bigger number of seats per customer 08:55 – Nova has around a thousand sales reps using them 09:15 – Will's focus is to make sure the team is functioning well 10:20 – Average MRR 10:45 – Growth rate target in 2017 10:51 – Will is looking into adding additional people to the team, 3 per class 11:51 – Nova uses their own wrinkle for SDR 12:10 – Gross customer churn 12:35 – People are mostly happy with Nova 12:55 – Nova's paid marketing 13:47 – How do you beat a company like Yesware? 14:05 – Focus on what you do best and don't get dragged into trying to do everything that everyone else does 16:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Focus on what YOU do best—you will lose when you focus on what others are doing. Offer something unique and it will make you stand out amongst the crowd. Be ambitious, act sooner than later. 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

Tatyana Mitkova. She's the CEO and founder of ClaimCompass, a company that helps airline passengers submit a claim online for cancelled, delayed or overbooked flights. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – How to Win Friends and Influence People What CEO do you follow? – Kathryn Minshew Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Her life is to become more and more interesting with every decision she makes that takes her out of her comfort zone" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:26 – Nathan introduces Tatyana to the show 01:42 – ClaimCompass get airlines to pay up to $680 for cancelled flights 01:51 – Flights could be delayed, cancelled or overbooked 02:05 – ClaimCompass can help you get paid for your lost baggage 02:13 – ClaimCompass is based on the regulations in Europe 02:29 – More than 90% of airline passengers are unaware of their rights 02:46 – ClaimCompass tries to speed up the claiming process for passengers 02:49 – ClaimCompass has a web app and passengers can submit a claim online 03:03 – ClaimCompass makes money by keeping a 25% success-based commission 03:25 – ClaimCompass is growing 75% month over month, in the last 3 months 03:39 – In January, ClaimCompass will reach a thousand claims 03:43 – Average claim refund is $420 03:58 – Average MRR 04:11 – ClaimCompass has their own internal software for their claims management system 04:36 – ClaimCompass has established relationships with more than 50 airlines 04:55 – Team size 05:24 – ClaimCompass was launched, in 2016, as a side project 05:48 – Tatyana and the co-founders have their own stories about getting frustrated with an airline 06:04 – Tatyana has a legal background 06:24 – ClaimCompass was bootstrapped and got into the 500 Startups program, in Europe, 2 months ago 06:40 – ClaimCompass has raised $150K 07:02 – Plans for 2017 07:10 – "Our goal is to reach as many passengers as possible" 07:50 – CAC 08:20 – ClaimCompass' paid ads expenses are increasing 08:53 – ClaimCompass had their demo day on the 15th of February at the 500 Startups program 09:00 – Tatyana believes they will have their seed round in 6 months 09:51 – Tatyana is looking to raise a million in their next round 10:12 – One of ClaimCompass' biggest competitors is AirHelp 11:00 – Tatyana believes that if they partnered with online travel agencies, they can reach more people 11:18 – Flight Right and Refund.me are some of ClaimCompass' competitors, too 11:31 – Some of ClaimCompass competitors' business models can make you lose money 13:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: More than 90% of airline passengers are unaware of their rights – we should know our rights to make an appropriate claim. Not all business models are the same – study the company first, to be aware of the charges. Every step out of your comfort zone, leads to something far more interesting for you. 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

Nathan interviews Patrick O'Luanaigh. He started as a programmer and designer at Codemasters 20 years ago, working on micro machines V3. Prior to founding nDreams, in 2006, he was a creative director at Eidos where he was responsible for the design and gameplay of all the titles there including the well-known Tomb Raider Legend and Hitman Blood Money. nDreams is now 50 people strong and pivoted to solely focusing on virtual reality 3 years ago. nDreams has launched 6 VR titles to date. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Chimp Paradox What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk and Brendan Iribe Favorite online tool? — Box Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Life is too short to play it safe, you gotta take your risk. It's so much more exciting even though it is scary, you just gotta do it. Be brave!" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:18 – Nathan introduces Patrick to the show 02:07 – The greatest challenge of VR (virtual reality) at the moment is the limited number of hardware available 02:16 – "We are still figuring out how to make the very best games in the experience of VR" 02:36 – nDreams' game that has generated the most income is Perfect Beach 03:02 – nDreams' key metric is the number of units sold 03:18 – nDreams has sold 250K units 03:49 – nDreams has 50 people in the team 03:56 – Ideas come from anyone in the studio 04:05 – They work with the best idea and do an estimate 04:25 – There's a lot of things to learn in VR 04:30 – nDreams focuses on gameplay 04:49 – Perfect can be purchased on Google Play Store or your VR digital store 05:16 – Mobile version currently costs $2.99 05:20 – The high-end version costs around $7.99 05:40 – nDreams has earned 75K from Perfect 05:50 – The challenge of PlayStation VR is the price 06:06 – Patrick has not heard of other competitors who have sold as much VR as they have 06:44 – It's hard to tell the total potential basis for the VR space 07:00 – Patrick started the company 10 years ago 07:36 – nDreams was bootstrapped but they raised capital for VR 08:06 – nDreams has raised around $6M 08:14 – Patrick started the business even before the start of the VR market 08:41 – 2016 top line revenue 09:30 – Patrick can predict which games will do well even when they're still early in the market 09:43 – nDreams is trying out different games and genres 09:53 – "We're in the stage of learning what works well" 10:08 – In nDreams' released games, SkyDIEving is the only one that's for free 10:48 – Perfect Beach was from an experiment 11:08 – Gunner's expenses 11:45 – nDreams is launching more games this year 12:30 – Patrick shares where most people are buying their games 13:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Being in a space that is new can be challenging because of the limited data and resources. You learn in every process you take . Life is too short to play it safe—be brave and take those risks! 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

Allan Wille. He was on The Top on December 12, 2016, Episode 506. His company, Klipfolio, raised $7.9M in the past and has grown to 7000 paying customers. They create dashboard software for companies who want to monitor their business processes. Klipfolio is into something incredible, tune in as Allan shares about it on today's episode. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – What CEO do you follow? – Favorite online tool? — Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:22 – Nathan introduces Allan to the show 02:52 – Klipfolio is an online and cloud based, and they create real-time dashboard software for SMBs 03:03 – There are over 7000 companies globally who uses Klipfolio 03:15 – Klipfolio just had a $12M Series B raise 03:33 – Klipfolio has a total of $19.9M total raised 03:41 – Klipfolio already has good investors in their cap table 03:56 – Allan shares how he came up with the Series B 04:19 – The initial intent was to bring in new investors 04:30 – Things turned out differently from the initial intent 04:47 – RPU 04:55 – MRR 05:02 – 2017 MRR goal 05:52 – Klipfolio licenses per number of dashboards 06:25 – Allan wants customers to see Klipfolio's value first 06:35 – CAC 07:20 – LTV 07:33 – Team size 08:00 – Klipfolio believes in product first policy 08:21 – Most of the investment will go into Klipfolio's product 08:35 – Allan shares where they spend most of their CAC 09:00 – Klipfolio will add more people in sales and support 09:13 – "We're actually gonna put a lot of effort in content strategy" 09:37 – Allan is friends with Craig Fitzpatrick from Pagecloud, who talks about content marketing, too 10:26 – Allan wants the system to be more efficient to maximize user experience 10:44 – Allan was able to get a great valuation 11:06 – Allan shares how things happened during the valuation 12:23 – Allan shares the offer he received 12:55 – The questions Allan had before accepting the offer 13:30 – The first offer was a low-ball 15:03 – "In many cases, terms are probably more important than valuation—multiple or the actual preimposed" 15:54 – "We got to basically where we wanted to be" 16:35 – Allan was happy with the terms 16:45 – One of the terms is 1x multiple 17:14 – The other term includes an anti-dilution clause 18:20 – Nathan closing the episode 3 Key Points: There are cases where terms are more important than valuation. Content strategy plays a big role in marketing – invest in it. Go in the direction you want to be. 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

Mike Cook. He founded XOR Data Exchange to bring privacy and accountability back to data management. Today, his organization works with the nation's largest financial institutions to fight fraud and manage risk. You might have never seen Mike presenting the newest consumer tech, but rest assured every digital entity in America is safer under his watchful eye. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – How to Win Friends and Influence People What CEO do you follow? – Sam Yagan Favorite online tool? — Periscope Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "That you should go to anger management" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Mike to the show 02:10 – Mike mentions how XOR Data Exchange works 02:54 – Mike wanted to create a company where financial institutions can share their data with one another 03:16 – XOR Data Exchange is a B2B model 03:21 – XOR Data Exchange will eventually help consumers 04:04 – Mike shares how XOR Data Exchange will work in between companies 04:31 – Companies like AIG and JP Chase Morgan store data 05:32 – XOR Data Exchange changes the mentality of the pipe 06:25 – XOR Data Exchange generates revenue by building pre-exchanges 07:17 – XOR Data Exchange charges transaction fees based on return data 07:38 – XOR Data Exchange is a pay-as-you-go model 07:43 – XOR Data Exchange is building a new exchange focusing on financial services companies where companies can exchange fraud information 08:10 – XOR Data Exchange was launched in January 2014 08:20 – First year revenue is nothing 08:27 – Mike put in his own money in XOR Data Exchange 08:34 – Mike sold his company ID Analytics to fund XOR Data Exchange 08:40 – Mike sold ID Analytics in 2012, which he started in 2000 08:56 – Mike was 17 when he started ID Analytics 09:15 – Mike had 2 other co-founders 09:26 – Mike tried to work in a big company after his exit 09:56 – Mike has raised $6M and will close $2M, today 10:53 – The last round was in August 2015 11:22 – Most of the money from the current round is from the previous investors 11:36 – Mike shares about his Angel investors 12:40 – "Raising a Series B in this environment is not the easiest thing to do" 12:51 – Mike explains what he means by this 13:20 – XOR Data Exchange is working with big customers 13:45 – "If you work with the top 6, 7, 8 financial services companies, you're really covering 90% of America" 14:05 – XOR Data Exchange has dozens of companies 14:23 – Team size 14:26 – XOR Data Exchange is not yet cashflow positive 15:05 – 2017 goal 15:25 – Most of the XOR Data Exchange employees are tech and based in Austin 17:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Reinvest your money in something that you believe in. The financial service space isn't the easiest environment to raise a Series B. If you work with the top 6, 7, or 8 financial services companies, you're really covering 90% of America. 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

Alex Fishman, the founder and CEO of Bugsee, a bug reporting tool for iOs and Android. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – Henry Worth Favorite online tool? – Gmail Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—I wish If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "You want start playing in the startup ecosystem as early as possible when you have less commitments and less things to worry about" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:18 – Nathan introduces Alex to the show 01:31 – Bugsee is bug reporting tool for iOs and Android 01:51 – Bugsee provides video network and blog, leading out to the event 02:15 – You will not only know that the app crashed, but what led it to crash 02:50 – Bugsee is a SaaS model and they price based on the app size 03:19 – For an app that has 500K users, it will cost $500 03:40 – Bugsee provides different levels of value 04:33 – Average customer pay per month 04:45 – Bugsee started in January 2016 05:01 – Bugsee started charging in December 2016 05:20 – Bugsee has 1100 sign ups and 30% have used Bugsee 06:22 – Alex mentions why he calls users as customers, too 06:40 – Most customers are given free tier to continue using Bugsee 07:11 – New customers use the plan available 07:30 – The limitations of Bugsy's free plan 08:52 – Number of paying customers 09:20 – Bugsee is funded by K9 Ventures 09:33 – Bugsee has raised $1.2M 09:40 – Bugsee had a previous failed attempt 09:53 – The cap table had been reset by Bugsee 10:43 – The previous attempt was in July 2015 10:57 – Team size 11:05 – The team is remote 11:24 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Users are also customers, regardless of whether you sell them on something or not. Having a failed attempt does NOT mean you should give up. Start playing in startup field as early as possible and while you're still free of obligations. 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

Magnus Åström. He's the CEO and founder of Now Interact, a machine-learning, SaaS platform for omni channel optimization. He's also the founder of InLead, a business consultant and operations company which was sold in 2010 and prior to that, he was founder of Primelog, a transportation management SaaS platform which was sold in 2006. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Blue Ocean Strategy What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "It's all about focus" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces to the show 02:17 – Primelog started in 2000 02:29 - Primelog connects transportation providers with transportation buyers 02:57 - Annual revenue 03:10 – Primelog was sold to Swedish group 04:44 – They raised 4.5M 04:57 – Inlead's idea is to help customers sell in C-level 05:39 – Inlead turned out to be too heavy on the consultancy side, so Magnus sold it 05:48 – It didn't turn out as a software play 06:10 – Inlead's annual revenue was $1.5 M 06:27 – Now Interact offers machine-based algorithm software to large businesses 06:40 – The software personalizes how each customer is offered a customer service channel 07:00 – Businesses get less calls from customer service 07:30 – Now Interact tracks the data of how customers behave on a website and how they interact with a customer service 08:06 – Magnus goal is to get telco giants like AT&T and Verizon as customers 09:04 – Now Interact has a group that chooses their customization 09:22 – Now Interact is a SaaS model 09:31 – Average customer pay per month is $10K 09:39 – Now Interact was founded in 2010 09:45 – Now Interact raised $100K in 2012 10:46 – Now Interact has raised a total of $7M 11:20 – Customer churn 11:31 – Team size 11:47 – Headquartered in Stockholm 12:04 – CAC is $30K 12:22 – Now Interact has salespeople and are doing paid content marketing 12:58 – "Sales play a lot" 13:30 – Magnus discusses what they'll do with the capital they've raised 13:45 – Some would go to the expansion in the USA 14:05 – 2015 total revenue 14:30 – 2016 total revenue 15:00 – Magnus shared how he negotiated for the valuation 15:45 – The top 3 most important terms when negotiating 15:48 – The preference structure, the lock-in and the investors you want to have 18:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: You can choose to close your company if it is not going in the direction you intended it to go. Valuation is not always everything—there are more things to consider when negotiating. Stay focused, don't take on more than you can handle. 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

Zach Supalla. He's the CEO and co-founder of Particle, a venture backed startup that's making it easier to build internet connected hardware and other things. Particle is the most, widely used IoT platform with a developed community of a hundred thousand users and is listed as one of Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in 2015, of the Internet of Things. Zach has been featured on CNN, The Wall street Journal, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, Mashable and more. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Lawson Favorite online tool? — Slack and Asana 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 don't have to be an engineer to be an engineer" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces Zach to the show 02:16 – Zach used to be a management consultant 02:45 – While Zach was doing his MBA, he interned in Groupon's sales operation 03:07 – Zach did engineering 03:21 – Particle is an IoT platform 03:44 – Particle helps manufacturers connect their physical product to the internet 04:11 – Particle does the whole communication stack between the physical device and web 04:40 – Particle has raised $10M 04:50 – Particle generates revenue in 4 ways 04:55 – Particle works with large companies and sells them subscriptions, data plans, hardware, and professional services 05:24 – Main revenue stream is from the hardware 05:54 – Hardware pricing ranges from $5-50 06:09 – For Keurig, they added hardware to plug into the back of the coffee maker 06:45 – The hardware volume for Keurig is in the thousands 07:00 – Particle has customers who will be deploying millions of hardware products by 2018 07:28 – Security is part of Particle's story 07:37 – Zach shares about the webcam botnet incident 08:09 – The Mirai botnet in Liberia explained 08:32 – Zach shares how Particle works to secure everything from the device to the in between communication 08:50 – Typical, cheap webcams that are in the market and manufactured in China are not secure 09:23 – There are products that people aren't unplugging and are considered unsecure 09:45 – Particle started in 2012 09:59 – Zach first launched a product in Kickstarter named Spark Socket 10:07 – The product was unsuccessful 10:21 – It was frustrating, but it turned to be a huge benefit 10:51 – Zach relaunched a new product in Kickstarter, in 2013, called Spark Core 11:20 – Zach was inspired by his dad who is deaf to create the first product 12:20 – Zach shares what is important in launching a Kickstarter campaign 12:28 – Zach looks at any Kickstarter campaign as an experiment 12:33 – Zach made sure that they nailed the marketing on their first launch 13:43 – "We're definitely advocates of the lean startup mentality" 14:13 – 2013 revenue 14:41 – 2014 revenue 15:43 – Zach shares where the scale is coming from 15:58 – When Zach launched the product, they weren't targeting enterprise stores 16:28 – Zach was originally creating development tools then shifted to management tools 16:43 – The growth started in selling deaf kits 17:00 – They started making modules, then the software platform 17:26 – One of the challenges a hardware startup faces is going from being a product to a company 17:56 – 2017 revenue goal 18:08 – Team size is 35 18:21 – Half of the team is from San Francisco and the other half are all over 18:50 – Particle is not facing a problem yet with their people who work in China 19:03 – Zach created a program while he was in China, where he lived for 4 months 19:22 – Zach has a deep trusting relationship with their people in China 21:14 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Solve your own problems and make the people around you, your inspiration. See the beauty in a failure – it can be a way for you to create something better. One of the most difficult challenges a hardware startup faces is going from being a product to a company. 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 Mal

Craig McLuckie. He's the founder and CEO of Heptio, a startup focused on making Kubernetes accessible enterprises. Prior to starting Heptio, Craig was a product manager at Google where he founded the Kubernetes project, launched Google compute engine and created The Cloud Native Computing Foundation that he also shared. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Influence What CEO do you follow? – Andrew Grove Favorite online tool? — Lever 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 wished my 20-year old self understood the importance of kindness" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Craig to the show 01:55 – Kubernetes is a technology that is used to run applications in a production setting 02:16 – The idea is to take the collective learning that Google instilled over the last decade of building and running applications 02:35 – Kubernetes is an open-source technology 02:53 – Kubernetes is being widely adopted by enterprises but there are still some gaps 03:16 – Heptio's job is to make Kubernetes more accessible to a broad array of developers 03:47 – Heptio generates revenue through support, training and professional service and consultancy 04:25 – Heptio is currently on pre-product revenue 04:50 – By providing Heptio's professional service, they connect with customers and understand where the key gaps are 05:12 – Heptio has raised $8.5M 05:20 – The people backing Heptio 06:17 – Nathan simplifies Kubernetes' description 07:50 – Craig explains how Kubernetes actually works in applications 09:07 – Heptio wants to present the perfect idea of how machines should be operating 09:23 – Kubernetes provided the steps from thinking about virtual infrastructure to logical infrastructure 09:49 – At Heptio, they bring the idea of logical infrastructure to companies everywhere so they can experience a better way to decode without worrying about the difficult task of configuring 10:22 – Heptio also helps companies organize themselves around the technology 10:53 – It is like helping people stack the bricks of technology 11:58 – John and Craig started Kubernetes in Google and they had successes in the past 12:20 – Craig demonstrated clearly the product market fit for Kubernetes so they were able to raise $8.5M 12:40 – Craig has spent time with the community 13:10 – Craig quantifies the adoption of Kubernetes 13:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Kubernetes is an open source technology that is used to run applications in a production setting. Demonstrating your product's market CLEARLY can lead to investors believing and trusting your product. Remember the importance of being kind. 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

Aner Ravon. He's the co-founder and chief product officer of his new company called Zirra. Zirra's mission is to solve the education and entry pain of the retail investors when it comes to equity investments. Before this company, Aner spent his time at Celltick as a VP of media and head of business unit. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Tipping Point What CEO do you follow? – Steve Jobs Favorite online tool? — Ask Wonder Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Not to worry so much" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:42 – Nathan introduces Aner to the show 02:58 – Zirra steps into the void between data and excel analysis of the companies 03:10 – There's a big void in the data collection and actual decision making of a company for the people who want to invest 03:48 – Zirra is a service 03:52 – Zirra has an a la carte system which is pay-as-you-go 03:55 – Zirra has 2 main products 03:58 – Spotlight reports which costs $49 04:11 – Value packages for corporate investors which is a monthly subscription 04:29 – Average customer pay is $99 monthly 05:05 – Zirra started in August 2014 05:30 – Zirra first offered their services for free 05:45 – Aner shares how they decided to stop the free service 06:01 – Zirra had 150 free users 06:13 – Some of the free users are large equity firms 06:23 – Zirra started in Israel 06:35 – Microsoft was using ZIrra heavily, for free 07:00 – 80% of the free users converted to paid users 07:20 – Zirra managed the free service with free coupons 07:41 – Zirra didn't take away the credits, but started renewing them 07:48 – When users use up their credits, they'll be greeted with a pay wall 08:05 – Zirra's paywall: pay $49 to get the report or buy 10 reports for $299 08:40 – Zirra's revenue comes from pay-as-you-go and monthly subscriptions 09:10 – 15 customers are on monthly subscriptions 09:20 – 40-50 of the customers are habitual users 10:35 – Another product Zirra offers is deep report which sells from $1K-3K 11:45 – Team size is 15 12:39 – Zirra is based in Telavi, Israel 12:49 – Zirra has raised capital and closed almost $3M 13:19 – Zirra is founding new investors without going through another round because of their current Angel investors 13:51 – 2016 revenue 13:55 – 2017 goal revenue 14:28 – There are currently a hundred thousand companies in Zirra 14:55 – Zirra can deliver the report in just a few hours 15:30 – Zirra has 85 different data sources 16:09 – The resources are running through ZIrra's search engine 17:12 – Zirra's vision 18:19 – Aner thinks PitchBook and CB Insights are great services 18:28 – Zirra's ability to storify the data makes them different from their competitors 20:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Having access to and understand the data of the company will help inform that decision to invest. Shifting from a free service to paid is risky move, but needs to be done. Don't worry too much—it won't do very much for you in the end. 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

Martijn de Kuijper, founder of Revue. He's a product guy and his company's focus is to get your thoughts to people's inboxes via newsletters. He previously founded Fosbury and Yunoo. Martijn is also a Techstars alum. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Intercom 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 keep doing what you're doing and don't get distracted by what other people are saying" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan introduces Martijn to the show 02:10 – Revue focuses on personal newsletters like editorial newsletters 02:45 – Revue helps people share their content through newsletters 02:50 – Revue currently has a free and premium model 03:20 – Average customer pay per month is $7 03:45 – Martijn is a listener of The Top 04:10 – Revue was launched in January 2015 04:27 – Martijn started Revue on his own as a side project 04:30 – Martijn was working on the acquisition of Fosbury 04:59 – Martijn shares what Fosbury is about 05:24 – Martijn was in Techstars Texas 05:44 – Team size is 5 06:18 – Fosbury wasn't earning 07:08 – The money that Martijn received from the assets 07:42 – Martijn used the money from selling Fosbury to start Revue 08:12 – Martijn also sold Yunoo when he was 26 08:30 – The buyer is the software company AFAS from the Netherlands 09:20 – Martijn has raised $350K for Revue in convertible note 09:50 – Terms on the convertible note 10:05 – Revue currently has a thousand paying customers 10:23 – Martijn is currently focusing on growth rather than revenue 10:48 – Revue has 20K registered users at the moment with 10% active users 10:57 – Active users are the ones who send at least 1 email a month 11:27 – Monthly churn 11:35 – No paid CAC 11:49 – Revue has a content marketer 12:24 – Revue is currently sending 2M emails, monthly 12:40 – First year revenue 13:00 – Total 2016 revenue 13:26 – Martijn's current side project 14:30 – Where Martijn got his marketing ploy idea 16:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to sell your company if it comes down to it. Study and strategize a marketing plan that works and at no cost. Just keep doing what you're doing and don't let what others say distract you. 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

Charles Thiede. He's the co-founder and CEO of the knowledge network platform called Zapnito. Zapnito helps organizations create privately, branded, expert communications and networks. He calls this "experts as a service". Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Product Hunt 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? – "Do everything with courage" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:11 – Nathan introduces Charles to the show 01:41 – Zapnito is a SaaS platform 02:16 – The idea of Zapnito is to helps brands bring their audience back to the trusted sources of knowledge 02:40 – Zapnito's Slack channel 02:51 – The platform behind the scene that pulls the audience and brands together 03:40 – Each brand has their own slack domain 04:40 – Average customer pay per year is £60K 05:38 – Zapnito started in trading in March 2013 05:48 – Started as a marketplace for experts in 2014 06:38 – First year revenue 07:12 – Zapnito currently has 12 customers 07:57 – Average MRR 08:50 – Team size is 12 09:36 – Charles doesn't batch their sales calls 10:00 – Charles usually takes the calls 10:32 – Zapnito is based in London 10:50 – No customer churn and negative net churn 11:12 – The leverage Zapnito pulls to drive the RPU up 11:30 – "We focus on niche networks' 11:50 – Zapnito has scaled their number of networks 12:10 – CAC 13:21 – Zapnito was bootstrapped and raised angel money 13:40 – Zapnito has raised £650K in priced equity round 14:02 – Zapnito had 3 rounds 14:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Continually pivoting is not a disadvantage to your company, as long as you just keep learning from the experience. Do not hesitate to hire the people that you need. Do everything with courage. 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

Raviv Turner. He's the co-founder and CEO of CaliberMind – the first marketing, technology platform to apply machine learning in human language analysis to build detailed psychographic profiles. He has more than 10 years of experience leading products and development for high growth B2B SaaS companies. His previous roles include Director of UX at FullContact and VP of product at TapInfluence. Raviv is a mentor at Techstars Accelerator and holds a Masters in Interactive Media at NYU. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Hacking Marketing What CEO do you follow? – Bart Lorang Favorite online tool? — Asana, 7Geese and Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Doing my best If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Your network is your net worth" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Raviv to the show 02:25 – CaliberMind analyzes and boosts structured and unstructured data 03:18 – CaliberMind is a SaaS model 03:36 – Monthly billing starts at $2K 03:46 – Average customer pay per month 04:15 – CaliberMind was launched in 2015 04:48 – Raviv adapted the idea from the military 05:05 – Raviv was in product design for the past 15 years 05:23 – The analytics structure data 06:30 – CaliberMind currently has their first 12 customers 06:54 – CaliberMind has bundled packages of services 07:40 – CaliberMind was bootstrapped on their first year 07:55 – CaliberMind had raised their $1.1M seed round after seeing traction from the customers 08:20 – No customer churn yet 08:42 – CAC and LTV 08:56 – The account-based marketing 09:20 – Team size of 8 and based in Colorado 09:39 – Most of the team are developers and data scientists 09:46 – They have Nic Zangre who was a Director of Marketing at AdRoll 10:00 – Raviv shares how he convinced Nic to work with CaliberMind 10:26 – Nic has equity in CaliberMind 10:45 – Some companies that are in the space are Usermind and Pegasystems 12:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Work with people who share the same passion and vision as you do. Taking that leap out of your comfort zone is often risky and also, often, worth it. Find ways to help the people in your network without expecting something in return. 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

Lauren Sullivan. She's the co-founder of Flightfox, a site which Nathan recently used to book multi-country travel. Flightfox helped him understand the best way to leverage his points from his Chase Credit Card for travel purposes. Flightfox helps you search flights, manage your trip, and leverage your loyalty points, to help ease your trip planning experience and it is growing fast. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – John Mackey Favorite online tool? — PocketSmith Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes, currently If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Lauren wished she had stopped working for someone else and started building her own company earlier Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Lauren to the show 02:02 – Flightfox is an online and real-time platform that manages travel for individuals, companies and organizations 02:15 – Flightfox's revenue model is to charge per trip and they make money from commission 02:32 – Flightfox's expert will help match and plan a trip and they will authorize the credit card you use 03:33 – Flightfox books for companies, too 03:50 – The more complex the trip, the more expensive it is 05:10 – If Flightfox can't find you a trip, they won't charge you 05:34 – Flightfox was launched in 2012 05:45 – Flightfox was originally launched as a contest based, cloud source system 06:10 – There were a small number of the majority winning the contest 06:21 – The model was switched to a one-on-one 07:04 – The experts are contactors 07:15 – The experts get a fee per trip 07:40 – Most of them are full-time 07:50 – Flights metrics 08:03 – Flightfox is focused on companies and organizations 08:14 – CAC is a bit high 09:20 – There are at least 50 companies who have booked with Flightfox 09:35 – 5-10 companies are booking at least 30 trips per month 09:50 – Companies usually have 80 people 10:20 – In 2012, Flightfox has raised $850K 10:50 – Four Team members 11:50 – Flightfox has pivoted a couple of times already 13:19 – Lauren has been through alot with her company thus far, and has chosen to carry on 14:14 – 2016 total revenue 14:40 – Flightfox is close to breaking even 14:53 – Average MRR 15:11 – Raising another round will depend on the things that will happen in the future 17:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Changing your business model isn't easy – but, it's very normal to have to do so. Going through the most difficult times will test not just your patience, but your ability to make the best decisions. If it's what you really want, just keep going. 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

Aseem Badshah. He's the founder and CEO of the company called Socedo. Before that, he built his own full-service marketing agency called Uptown Treehouse that leveraged social media and digital channels to reach current and potential customers. He's upgraded and improved that initial business model with his current company, Socedo. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Crushing the Cashman What CEO do you follow? – Favorite online tool? — Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Aseem wished that he would have prioritized building relationships Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Aseem to the show 01:50 – Aseem noticed that there was so much data on prospects for B2B marketers in an agency 02:07 – Socedo's goal 02:13 – Lead generation is what Socedo uses to get more customers 02:45 – Socedo provides behavioral data 02:56 – Socedo makes money from their software license 03:03 – Clients sign-up from 6 months to 1 year of license usage 03:11 – Average pay the company gives to Socedo monthly 03:25 – Socedo started in 2013 03:37 – In social media marketing, everything was setup for B2C marketers 04:25 – Social media is like a big CRM so Aseem leveraged it in a way to help B2B marketers 04:45 – There are 200 paying customers 04:50 – Socedo has raised $1.5M 05:00 – Socedo's revenue has tripled in 2016 05:10 – Average contract price 05:25 – Socedo started with SMB 05:50 – 2016 total revenue 06:05 – Socedo has 25 people 06:20 – 2017 goal 06:30 – Aseem is targeting 2x for 2017 06:41 – Aseem wants to focus on their current customers 07:17 – "It's not necessarily about growth at all costs; we want to focus on the fundamentals, focus on the relationship with customers" 07:35 – All 25 members are in Seattle 07:53 – The round was an equity round 08:32 – Socedo is currently cash flow positive 08:50 – Socedo is willing to take in new capital if they are ready 09:11 – Socedo has almost broken even 09:23 – How Socedo drives new customers 09:37 – Socedo doesn't spend much money on marketing 10:30 – The data source which Aseem thinks is the most accurate 10:39 – "Everyone is accurate in their own way" 10:52 – How Socedo matches data 11:10 – Socedo's goal is to get metrics as high as possible 11:31 – "We don't guarantee an accuracy rate, but our accuracy rate is pretty high" 12:00 – The data sources that are connected to Socedo's API are Full Contact, ClearBit and SellHack 12:34 – Socedo's unique data advantage 13:30 – As a B2B marketer, there's a bigger chance of a higher conversion rate 13:50 – Data sources that have the most accurate revenue numbers are Marketo and Salesforce 14:22 – Socedo doesn't have the marketing budget for each lead 14:45 – Socedo has the company size which can be used as a revenue basis for each lead 15:15 – Gross customer churn 15:36 – CAC 15:45 – LTV 16:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Social media is a big CRM that can be leveraged to build a better marketing space for B2B businesses. Focusing on fundamentals and customer relationships can be more advantageous than focusing on just growth. Each data source out there is accurate in their own way. 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

Calvin Correli. He's the CEO of a holistically focused, multi-million dollar, online, all-in-one solution driven software company called Simplero. This company exists to reduce the stress associated with figuring out software systems and how to join them together. He's passionate about helping online business owners do exactly what brings them the most life. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – There Is Nothing Wrong With You What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — FastMail Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Not every night If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Invest in getting to know yourself, and who you are, and how you're different" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:20 – Nathan introduces Calvin to the show 02:49 – Simplero is a tool that helps people sell online 03:20 – Simplero is a SaaS business model 03:30 – Simplero was launched in 2009 03:39 – Calvin started to charge people in 2010 03:50 – Number of current paying customers is 700 04:02 – One of Simplero's customers is Robin Green, who is an acupuncturist in California 04:25 – Robin decided to teach acupuncture online 04:42 – Robin made around $60K on her first program 05:10 – Simplero automates everything that can be automated 05:27 – Average customer pay per month 05:31 – Simplero charges monthly and takes a percentage of the revenue 05:51 – Simplero's main revenue stream 06:25 – 10% is from the revenue fee and 90% from the SaaS model 07:15 – Average MRR 07:21 – Average ARR per customer 07:50 – Average customer retention 08:25 – Calvin shares how he got their customer LTV 08:58 – Calvin is based in New York, but he has team members in Denmark and on the West Coast 09:56 – Most of the people in the business started 6 months ago 10:20 – Simplero is self-funded 11:25 – Calvin is happy with how his company is doing at the moment 11:40 – Calvin wants to show the world a different way to live 12:01 – Calvin's big dream is to be a presidential adviser for USA 13:00 – How do we measure happiness? 13:07 – Calvin is not a metrics guy 13:19 – There's a sweet spot for every person where they are happy and work doesn't feel like work 14:00 – How do we know if people are really happy? 15:10 – Productivity gains do not directly correlate to happiness gains 15:55 - The source of happiness vs. the thing you do for others or with others 17:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: There's a feeling of contentment you can find in helping others. Invest in yourself, first. There's a sweet spot for every person where they are happy and work doesn't feel like work. 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

Russ Heddleston. He's the CEO and co-founder of DocSend. Previously, he was a product manager for Facebook. He arrived at the B2B acquisition of the product Pursuit.com. Russ also had roles in Dropbox, Greystripe and Trulia. He received a BS in Computer Engineering and MS Computer Science at Stanford along with an MBA from Harvard. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Keith Krach Favorite online tool? — Gmail and Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Do things well and be patient with them—and then, they will turn out well later" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:33 – Nathan introduces Russ to the show 02:03 – Pursuit was a human resources to management referral program for employees 02:22 – Russ shopped their company to Facebook 02:38 – Russ explains why they made this decision 03:38 – Russ was the product manager for Facebook's pages team 03:55 – Russ worked both for the brands and personalities 04:15 – DocSend was launched in 2013 04:24 – DocSend's first version was made in 2010 05:18 – First year revenue was zero 05:27 – "We were focused on growth" 05:50 – DocSend was doing something of very high value; not necessarily for a broad user base 06:40 – DocSend has been approached by a hedge fund 06:59 – Most salespeople are using DocSend long term 07:37 – Average customer pay per month 08:42 – Most deals of DocSend are outbound deals 09:00 – Average enterprise prices: 09:24 – The price varies from $50-90 per month 09:40 – Outbound target for a team of 30 and above 10:10 – Average contract value depends on the size of the company 10:30 – Team size is 25 with 6 sales people 10:42 – Team location is San Francisco with 1 in New York 11:08 – Pricing plan was introduced a year after DocSend launched 11:35 – The current number of DocSend's paying companies 11:48 – There's a mix of logo and seat count 12:04 – Average seats per company 12:45 – Total number of users under paid plan 13:03 – DocSend has raised capital for $10M in VC and $1M in venture debt 14:03 – Venture debt was done post-series seed 15:00 – Average MRR 16:16 – Possible minimum average MRR 17:00 – Russ shares the difference of inbound self-serve and outbound 17:25 – Russ gets excited with outbound 18:25 – Gross monthly customer churn 19:01 – The churn for self-serve is quite high, but not for outbound 19:45 – Net negative churn 20:12 – The expansion would benefit the team 20:38 – As the company gets bigger, the more they need DocSend 20:48 – DocSend closed their last financing last year 21:00 – DocSend doesn't need to raise capital at the moment 21:25 – "We don't need to get acquired" 23:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Focusing on growth rather than revenue is never bad thing. Improve your product until you are no longer expendable to your customers. Do things well and be patient with them—in time, they will turn out for the better. 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

Pietari Suvanto, cofounder of the company, Vainu. Vainu was founded recently and is a tool that defines piles of data from the web and turns into fact check and actionable company information. His vision is to understand more organizations around the world more than anybody else and his company currently has about a thousand customers in Europe, including FedEx and Santander Innoventures. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – How to Win Friends and Influence People What CEO do you follow? – Mike Bloomberg Favorite online tool? — Zoom Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Be a bit more braver" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:12 – Nathan introduces Pietari to the show 01:50 – Vainu is a SaaS business model 02:40 – Pietari shares a company that is searchable in Vainu 03:06 – Salesforce has a lot of organizations around the globe 03:50 – The uses of companies' data in Vainu 04:12 – Vainu gives the company's in-depth data 04:30 – Salespeople are the ones who uses Vainu 04:49 – Vainu's revenue stream is from the subscription per seat 05:05 – Average customer pay per month is €400 05:21 – Vainu was launched in 2014 05:33 – Vainu hasn't raised capital 05:37 – Vainu is based in Hilsinki, Finland, Amsterdam, and New York 06:00 – Number of paying customers is 1000 06:30 – ARR in 2016 €4.5M 06:55 – MRR goal in 2017 07:20 – Vainu is finding their customers through their software 08:07 – Pietari shares how they find the companies 08:50 – Vainu can check the company's' data in preview 09:30 – The number of salespeople in Vainu's team 09:55 – Gross customer churn is 1% 10:05 – CAC 10:24 – Assumed LTV per customer 10:40 – €20K-30K 11:04 – Pietari is hoping to raise capital 11:36 – Pietari would likely to raise €5-10M 12:30 – Pietari shares how they are different from their competitors 13:20 – Vainu hasn't bought any API access to any data providers 13:30 – Everything in their system is owned by them 13:50 – The best asset of Vainu 14:50 – Pietari shares how they access the revenue data 15:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Be the BEST in your market, having an asset that will set you apart from your competitors. Raising capital is always an option, but not always a necessity. Be brave—step out and believe you can do 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 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

Drew Canole. He's a nutrition specialist, transformation specialist, and national spokesperson for the benefits of juicing vegetables for health and vitality. He is the founder of Fitlife.TV where he shares educational, inspirational, and entertaining videos and articles about health, fitness, healing, and longevity. More recently, his company, Organifi, is getting directly into the green juicing space with a physical product. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Think and Grow Rich What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Google Calendar Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "To stay fricking focused on one thing" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan introduces Drew to the show 02:25 – Organifi is sourced from the best farms for their organic ingredients 02:34 – The ingredients are high quality, organic, non-GMO, soy free, and vegan 02:43 – Drew did clinical studies on their product and has sold over a quarter million bottles 03:20 – Drew started getting his audience from Youtube and Facebook, 6 years ago 03:33 – "Influence marketing has been our focus for the past 3 years" 03:48 – Drew has one of the largest, green juice followings online 03:56 – Drew started working on a their own concoction by looking at the gap in the green juice market 04:35 – The green juice that is available in the market is not good for the brain and body 04:56 – Drew recreated the world's most great tasting juice that helps mental cognition, weight loss, and boosts moods 05:14 – Organifi was launched in early 2015 05:44 – Organifi sold around 350K bottles 05:55 – Around 150K people bought the product 06:00 – Average reorder rate is 2.8 06:17 – Organifi's main product is a 30-day canister 06:55 – Organifi costs $79.95 on Amazon 07:08 – 20% of the sales is from Amazon and 80% is from other traffic 07:15 – 65% is from Organifi's website 08:00 – The cost of making Organifi 09:07 – "We're all about congruency" 09:25 – The most important ingredient of Organifi is the Ashwagandha 09:40 – Drew is importing Ashwagandha from an organic farm in India 10:18 – KSM Ashwagandha is the farm Drew chose 10:35 – Organifi's formulator is the one who visits India to check the farm and the farmers 11:25 – Gross margin is around 75% 11:45 – Marketing cost 12:25 – Software that Organifi is using 12:37 – Unbounce, Infusionsoft, Exit Intel, and Shopify 13:02 – Organifi has a subscription model 13:20 – The subscription has a 15-75% discount 13:40 – The subscription cost 14:43 – Organifi's 2015 revenue 15:15 – Net margin is around 15-20% 15:40 – Drew's influence benefits their net margin 17:04 – What Drew is doing with his wealth 17:07 – Organifi has no investors 17:34 – Total list size is around 1.4M 17:45 – Actively opening is 500K 18:15 – Team size is 70 18:45 – 2017 revenue goal 20:04 – Cost of affiliates 22:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Influence marketing is one way not just to increase your online presence, but also sales. A thorough study and being well researched is crucial in order to fill a gap in a field that is quite saturated. Stay congruent with your plans and actions. 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

Andrew Myers. He grew up in Denver, Colorado and recently left Yale before the start of his senior year to pursue Ripple Recruiting, full-time. He now serves as a CEO in a fast growing, 12-person startup. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Anna Karenina What CEO do you follow? – Kevin Ryan and Reid Hoffman Favorite online tool? —PersistIQ and Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Go for it" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:34 – Nathan introduces Andrew to the show 01:56 – Ripple Recruiting allows employers to create their dream applicant 02:32 – The whole revenue model is based on the employers and Ripple Recruiting is subscription based 02:43 – Ripple Recruiting is both a marketplace and a SaaS business model 03:04 – Ripple Recruiting has three subscription packages 03:15 – Average contract size is about $300 a month 03:25 – Andrew shares the differences between the packages 04:25 – Andrew won't sell Ripple Recruiting at this time 04:50 – Andrew and his partner are first time founders 05:05 – Andrew and his partner both have strong opinions regarding their business 05:40 – Ripple Recruiting was launched in 2015 05:54 – First year revenue 06:03 – Andrew's focus is on user engagement, rather than revenue 06:36 – Total debt Andrew has for Ripple Recruiting 07:00 – Ripple Recruiting has raised in a seed round 07:12 – Ripple Recruiting will be in a series A, soon 07:24 – Ripple Recruiting has a syndicate 08:11 – No revenue in 2015 08:20 – Ripple Recruiting has 15 paying clients at the moment 08:30 – Average MRR 09:00 – Andrew shares the pitch to investors 09:10 – Ripple Recruiting currently has over 10K Ivy League students signed up, on the platform 10:36 – Ripple Recruiting's valuation 11:18 – Andrew wants to raise $2-3M is series A 11:30 – Andrew wants the highest valuation possible 12:11 – Andrew already has the strategies to build the syndicate 13:05 – Andrew wouldn't take a $13M deal 13:58 – Andrew has just started focusing on revenue in terms of sales stream 14:42 – The customers are paying for their access in Ripple Recruiting's database 15:52 – Andrew believes that they're doing it better than other competitors in the space 17:07 – Ripple Recruiting doesn't have an official hire number yet 17:23 – Andrew is seeing 20K students being hired on Ripple Recruiting 17:30 – No churn yet 18:58 – The whole Ripple Recruiting team ages between 22-25 20:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Being new to business allows you to be more optimistic, but listening to those who have done it can definitely help. A good pitch can drive good investors. Start early – if you truly feel that you should do it, then NOW is the right time. 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

Aditya Tulsian. He launched and led multiple small business focused software service and mobile offerings at Intuit India. He's also a management consultant at Diamond Consultant which is now PWC. He's a product manager. He's got an MBA and he's doing very big things especially in the SMB SaaS space. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Brad Smith Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— 7 If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Adi just wished that he could have taken the chance earlier Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:07 – Nathan introduces Adi to the show 01:45 – Adi's company is Numberz 02:14 – Half of Numberz' revenue comes from their SaaS model and half is from commission 02:35 – One of Numberz' customers is NH1 Design 03:05 – How NH1 Design uses Numberz 03:50 – Numberz has receivable financing 04:15 – Numberz has 2 pricing plans 05:00 – Average customer pay annually is $185-195 05:26 – Transaction fee is 2% of every transaction that is done in Numberz' platform 07:00 – Adi was a business head in Intuit India 07:18 – Adi shares why he made the jump 07:35 – Adi has a design agency and they're stable financially 08:13 – First year revenue 09:20 – 2016 total revenue 09:33 – Numberz has more than 5,500 customers 10:02 – Average MRR 10:45 – Numberz' paying customers is 1,200 12:15 – Adi shares Numberz' growth 12:50 – MRR starting 2017 13:27 – Numberz has 3 channels of acquisition to get customers 14:20 – Numberz is spending $150 CAC 16:32 – Team size 16:38 – Numberz' location is in India 16:51 – Numberz has raised capital 17:23 – Total is $750K 17:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Taking the leap from corporate is more possible with financial stability. Having 2 streams of revenue for your business can increase your growth faster. Take the chance earlier – opportunities pass you by way too easily. 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

Rode Luhaäär. He's an enthusiast and entrepreneur who has years of experience as an e-marketer and digital strategist. During his career in the digital field, he's been overseeing execution and delivery of activities such as digital concept, e-business concepts, creative solutions design, software development, SEO, social media marketing, and global solutions. Over the last few years, he's been an active member of a startup community and currently manages a large software company called, Paytailor. Famous Five: Favorite Book? — Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? — n/a Favorite online tool? — n/a Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Think faster" Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:30 – Nathan introduces Rode to the show 03:10 – Paytailor is a smart payment solution allowing merchants to get paid the way they want 03:26 – Paytailor gives merchants an app and the users a card wallet 03:45 – Paytailor is a SaaS company 03:50 – Paytailor charges €10 monthly 04:05 – Paytailor's revenue comes from the monthly fee 04:10 – Average number of customers is 40 04:20 – MRR 04:28 – Paytailor has raised €70K in a convertible note 04:45 – Paytailor was launched in 2015 04:55 – Paytailor started as a side project 05:15 – Team size 05:24 – Paytailor's development is based in Estonia 05:38 – Why did you give up good pay in the digital field to start Paytailor? 05:52 – "We see a problem" 06:31 – Paytailor also has a 1.8% per transaction fee 06:58 – Paytailor's payment gateway 07:14 – Rode is 32 07:32 – What Rode is being paid as a founder 08:09 – Rode's plan for 2017 is to expand in Europe 08:30 – "We don't want to be a financial institution" 08:50 – Rode sees that they have to expand as they make adjustments 09:31 – Last month sales is €450 10:50 – Paytailor has 20 taxis as merchants 11:22 – Some of the merchants' usage is once a month 13:14 – Paytailor's focus is to test out different kinds of users 13:24 – Paytailor currently has 4 bars as merchants 14:44 – Paytailor's merchants are not using their service exclusively 16:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you can see a problem then try to create a solution. Expanding helps your company to improve and grow. You have to start somewhere – regardless of how small it is. 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

Laurence Girard. He's the CEO and founder of Fruit Street. He was a pre-med student at Harvard University Extension School for three years before he decided to pursue Fruit Street full-time and move to San Francisco. In high school, he played soccer for the New York Red Bulls Academy as a goalkeeper, which sparked his initial interest in health. Later, he decided to pursue a career focused on social impact and spent a year volunteering in an emergency room unit in Huntington Hospital, Long Island. He's now exclusively focused in Fruit Street. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Science of Growth What CEO do you follow? – Milton Chen Favorite online tool? — eShares Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— 5 out of 7 days If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Laurence would tell himself to put significant emphasis on the team when you are starting a company Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Laurence to the show 02:10 – Fruit Street is a telemedicine software product that is licensed to healthcare professionals 02:19 – Fruit Street allows professionals to do HIPAA compliant video consultations with their client 02:32 – Each patient has their personal info integrated with gadgets like Fitbit 02:48 – Fruit Street uses a SaaS model and the professionals will pay a monthly licensing fee 03:09 – MRR is $15K 03:15 – Fruit Street was launched in May 2014 03:33 – Average customer pay per month is $200 for the software 03:43 – Fruit Street is starting to expand to get enterprise customers 03:57 – Current customer number is around a hundred 04:10 – 2016 total revenue 04:37 – Gross customer churn 05:30 – Current LTV 06:00 – Team size is 9 full time and Fruit Street has a joint venture agreement with Vsee 06:33 – Fruit Street is located in New York, and San Francisco 06:51 – Laurence wanted Fruit Street to be funded by physicians and not VC firms 07:00 – Getting the feedback from the physicians would help Fruit Street to improve 07:17 – Physicians can get Fruit Street more customers 07:29 – "Fruit Street is actually a public-benefit corporation" 08:08 – There is no tax benefit in being a public-benefit corporation 08:26 – Laurence wanted to attract investors that are primarily motivated by social impact and not by the financial outcome 08:54 – Fruit Street reached out to physicians through LinkedIn advertising 09:00 – Fruit Street gave the physicians a one-on-one call using Fruit Street's telemedicine software 09:18 – Fruit Street's lawyer is using eShares to manage their cap table 09:47 – Fruit Street has a structure that allows them to make quick decisions 10:00 – Fruit Street has 180 shareholders that are not in a syndicate 11:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: With new technology comes the advancement in telehealth, making it easier for patients to reach out to their physicians. Choose an investor that shares the same vision as you. Put a significant emphasis on the team you build when you are starting 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 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

Luke Stronach. He's spent the last few years raising money for his farmland fund. He's got one single family office as an investor. He's currently 44, he's taught finance, and most of his background is in low-income housing. He's really looking forward to coming to the show and he's a listener. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Fish That Ate the Whale What CEO do you follow? – Stewart and Lynda Resnick Favorite online tool? — Duolingo Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— 7 If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – If you want to have a meaningful life, you should be doing meaningful things Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan introduces Luke to the show 01:46 – Luke shares what he likes about The Top 02:04 – Luke has raised less than $10M for his farmland fund 02:15 – Luke is currently in the process of moving to Atlanta 02:20 – Luke is about to close his first farm 02:28 – Luke's second orchard is under contract 02:34 – Luke wants to develop a 100 acre orchard in Georgia 03:06 – Luke mentions what farmland investors are looking for in a farmland 03:24 – Luke's first orchard had good irrigation 03:43 – It has 600 acres and was almost $2M 04:41 – 40% of North America's farmland is leased to farmers 04:50 – Investors buy the farmland, lease to farmers who rent per acre or have a revenue share agreement 05:35 – Many farmers are cash flow farmers 06:00 – There are differences across different crops 06:45 – Luke shares the farmer's perspective on crops 07:01 – Average rent per acre 07:40 – The farmers growing rice and corn are renting at $250 per acre 08:00 – Luke's return on his $2M investment 08:50 – The return will always depend on the yield which varies 09:06 – People look at farmland investing as a way to lock value into the land 09:12 – There are people who are after the yield and there are those who are not 10:05 – Luke shares what happened in 2007-2009 10:10 – S&P 500 lost 50% of its value 10:46 – Historically, farmland has done well with inflation 11:00 – Luke's opinion regarding inflation 11:14 – The returns in farmland can be attractive 11:57 – Farmland is not as big as commercial property 12:03 – Farmland investment is a hard space 13:10 – It is a persistence game 13:40 – Luke is currently in Alabama 14:00 – Nathan wants to study Luke's field and work with Luke 17:17 – There are so many things to do in Georgia and Luke will keep Nathan busy 18:08 – Luke makes software for farmers 18:59 – In Episode 450 of The Top, Nathan had Robert Leclerc, the founder of AgFunder 19:23 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The farmland investment industry is a hard space and requires persistency. People look at farmland investing as a way to lock value into the land. If you want to have a meaningful life, you should be doing meaningful things. 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

Sean Moss-Pultz. He's the CEO and founder of BitMark, the property system for the digital environment. It enables an individual to claim ownership of personal data and digital assets akin to how land registrars track land titles or patent offices track patents. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – High Output Management What CEO do you follow? – Andy Grove and Yvon Chouinard Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Luck plays a big role and you just can't quit" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan introduces Sean to the show 01:53 – Anybody that has data coming out of Fitbit can establish ownership over that data and can list it for sale or protect it 02:11 – BitMark's business model is that they earn a small commission 02:31 – Fitbit's data is in your phone 03:08 – We don't have property rights on our data 03:40 – Download BitMark's software to sell your data or protect it 03:58 – BitMark is currently on beta mode and only desktop software 04:09 – BitMark works with IFTTT 04:56 – BitMark's software can generate a link for your data that you can share 05:40 – You can make around $50 a year for selling your data 05:59 – This is for location data alone 06:15 – "Data is the next big asset class" 06:30 – Can I use BitMark's data to sue someone for using my data? 06:50 – Sean has talked to lawyers and his father is a lawyer 07:42 – Sean thinks the court system will understand digital property titles 08:51 – BitMark was launched in 2014 09:00 – Sean's co-founders are from his previous company 09:42 – BitMark just closed a seed round for $1.7M 10:18 – BitMark is based in Taiwan, with 12 people 10:41 – BitMark has raised from WI Harper Group, which is Taiwan-based 11:08 – BitMark is currently on pre-revenue 11:17 – Sean is hoping for revenue this year 11:53 – Sean mentions how part of their expenses go towards his travelling expenses—going to and from New York and Taiwan 12:33 – BitMark will launch both in Asia and USA 13:10 – BitMark is actively recruiting buyers who are interested in health data 14:30 – Sean looks into location data, health data, fitness data, and financial data 14:50 – Nathan proposes a deal with Sean 16:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Our data is as unique as our thumbmark—protecting it isn't a bad idea. Data is the NEXT, big asset class. Luck plays a big role in your success and you just can't quit. 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

Phil Town. He's a two-time New York Times' best-selling author, hedge fund manager, and founder of Rule One Investing. He's teaching individuals how to take control of their financial futures so they don't have to find a fund manager or financial advisors. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Intelligent Investor What CEO do you follow? – Warren Buffett Favorite online tool? — Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – That USA will put us in a war and it will suck Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan introduces Phil to the show 02:00 – What makes you qualified to talk about this? 02:08 – "By New York Wall Street standards, I'm completely unqualified" 02:23 – Most people invest using the concept of modern portfolio theory 02:50 – There are people who Phil follows for 30 years now 02:58 – Ben Graham developed the ideas and values of investing in the 30s and 40s 03:12 – Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger 03:41 – Phil has a principle of picking good companies while they're on sale 03:55 – Phil learned to use other people's money to build up their funds 04:22 – How much outside capital have you raised in your hedge fund to date? 04:32 – Under a hundred million 04:40 – Phil started to manage money through separate, managed accounts 04:58 – Phil can manage other people's money that don't have the investing capital for hedge fund 05:53 – The people who needed their accounts to be managed the most are getting the least attention 06:10 – How do you beat a company like Wealth Front 06:24 – Wealth Front is run by modern portfolio theory math 06:58 – "It's such nonsense and yet, it's the only math there is" 06:57 – A robo-advisor pretends that they can use volatility as a reference point for risk 08:10 – People need to know how to invest on their own 08:23 – Phil mentions the three things that he believes someone should do if they don't want to be an active investor 09:19 – Find a financial advisor who knows what they're doing 09:30 – The gap Phil wants to fill 09:56 – "An active fund cannot be the index" 11:05 – If you're not going to learn how to invest, you'll have fewer choices 11:43 – It is simple to invest correctly 12:00 – It's not true that there are losers and winners in investing 12:46 – "Investing is simply buying something that you understand for less than its worth" 13:20 – Phil started with real estate 14:02 – Warren Buffet is one of the best real estate investors 15:02 – Phil shares the essence of a good investment 16:05 – The essence of speculation or trading 16:40 – Nathan asks Phil for his opinion regarding Bill Ackman's Chipotle Mexican Grill 17:21 – Chipotle Mexican Grill has no leverage 18:40 – The one rule Phil applies to all different investment strategies is don't lose money 18:55 – Rule 2 is to remember rule 1 19:15 – Phil's 4-rule process 19:18 – First, am I capable of understanding this business? 19:22 – Second, does this business have protective characteristics that keeps competition a leg? 19:33 – Third, is this owned by people with integrity? 19:36 – Fourth, am I buying this at a big discount to its value? 20:35 – How do you handle imperfect planning? 21:13 – You have to have a big discount on the value that you're purchasing 22:48 – Phil's first book came out in 2005, second in 2010, and another one in 2018 24:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: People need to know how to invest on their own—if you're not going to learn how to invest, you'll have fewer choices. There is a difference between a good investment and speculation. Investing is simply buying something that you understand for less than its worth. 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

Neil DeSena. He's one of the founders of SenaHill Partners. He was previously at Goldman Sachs, where he really led the creation of a pioneering and institutional training technologies system which has been used worldwide for over 20 years. He was the Managing Director, Global Head of REDI Products at Goldman Sachs from 2000 - 2006. Neil's leadership helped build a leading, global, multi-asset training system that has expanded data centers and global networking through Europe and Asia. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – n/a What CEO do you follow? – Duncan Niederauer Favorite online tool? — Salesforce Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Pay a little more attention to the details" Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan introduces Neil to the show 02:20 – Neil shares how their company is finding businesses to invest in 02:40 – Neil and his partners are all entrepreneurs and have experience running businesses 02:54 – Neil shares why they focus on FinTech 04:25 – Average total transaction volume that they've had in 2016 04:54 – Fintech in 2017 05:40 – Distributive ledger of concept is ready for primetime 06:00 – Symbiont is well positioned in the distributive ledger of concept space 06:24 – Symbiont will be at the point of formation for all other companies 06:34 – Companies can now be registered digitally 06:46 – Symbiont's founder, Mark Smith, was Neil's first advisor 06:50 – Mark also founded Lava Effects 07:00 – Mark teamed up with the most successful open source company 07:45 – Neil's prediction of how people will respond to Wall Street and their new administration 08:08 – "I'm not quite sure how things are going to work out" 08:14 – Banks have to adjust to it 08:55 – Neil discusses the economy of the distributive ledger 09:45 – The company that Neil thinks is well positioned to take advantage of the no churn economy in the FinTech sector 10:10 – Neil is also interested in the retirement sector 10:30 – There is still no new technology to work around retirement money 10:50 – Neil has seen possible companies, but not one from their portfolio 11:00 – Fundamentals being displaced by quantimentals 12:10 – Neil's opinion regarding Wealth Front winning over on the money the people currently have on Vanguard 13:20 – There are companies who are trying to bridge the gap between the Baby Boomers and Generation Y 13:50 – SenaHill hasn't made an investment yet, on an insurance company 14:40 – SenaHill's focus in 2017 14:50 – "We try to find companies that we can invest in and help and be with them for the life" 15:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Pay attention to the details. Wall Street can be unpredictable because of the new administration – regardless, banks will have to adjust. There are companies who are trying to bridge the gap between the Baby Boomers and Generation Y. 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