SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

Kenneth Lee, founder of TravelFlan. Kenneth has a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and has developed a business that makes travelling easier. TravelFlan has partnered with major airlines as well as thousands of individual customers to give them a personal digital travelling assistant. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Quit school faster. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan introduces Kenneth 01:30 – TravelFlan 01:55 – Customers pay on average $15 02:30 – Three sources of revenue 03:05 – History of the business 03:30 – He and his partner loved to travel 04:14 – First-year revenue in 2015 $120k 04:50 – They have a free service and a premium service 05:15 – 2000 customers 05:25 – May 2016 revenue from commissions from airlines was $25k 06:00 – Two large airlines use their data 06:30 – May total revenue was $50k 06:55 – Fundraising 07:30 -- $5 Million valuation 07:40 – Most of the team is in Asia 08:25 – Churn is not as applicable in this type of business 09:30 – Customer acquisition 09:57 – Team of 11 people 10:10 – travelflan.com or [email protected] 23:40 -- The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Start with a very focused business and then expand as you see success. If you have a good idea, pursue it immediately. Find different ways to make revenue. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Evernote – Kenneth's favorite online tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Peter Voogd. Peter helped several millennials make six figures and realized he could make a business out of it. His Gamechanger's Academy helps promising entrepreneurs become successful within months. Under 30 himself, Peter is a best-selling author and a recognized leader for entrepreneurs and millennials. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Millionaire Fastlane What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Infusionsoft, ScheduleOnce, Kajabi Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Stay strategic and intentional. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan introduces Peter 02:05 – Gamechanger's Academy 02:30 – Launched in 2013 02:45 – Connections for young entrepreneurs 03:10 – His past experience 03:30 – "Built a culture of excellence" 04:20 – He helped several young professionals become successful 05:00 – "I wanted to shift the culture for millennials." 05:15 – gamechangersmovement.com 05:25 – Payment system 06:05 -- $297/month for the Platinum plan 06:50 – About 70% are on a yearly plan 07:10 – The Rookie plan 07:30 – Churn 08:00 – People typically stay for 7 to 8 months if they're not on the yearly plan 08:50 – A focus beyond just the numbers 10:10 – Good retention for the industry 10:30 – How to get new people to find the site 10:50 – Podcast, book, content 11:05 – Referral program 11:20 – Biggest expenses 11:30 – Affiliate costs 11:45 – Organic traffic 12:30 – 6 Months to 6 Figures 13:00 –Self-published 13:15 – 135000 books sold, plus audio books 13:30 – Marketing 14:45 – Bulk purchases 15:25 – Peterjvoogd on Instagram and peterjvoogd.com 17:45 – Peter's email list 18:00 -- The Famous Five 3 Key Points: It starts with your own effort and drive. Consider how you can improve your own culture. Make a business out of what you are good at. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Infusionsoft -- Peter's favorite online tool ScheduleOnce -- Peter's scheduling tool Kajabi – Peter's membership site portal Gamechanger's Academy – A top source for millennials and entrepreneurs Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jodie Fox, a woman who has solved the problem of constantly hunting for the right pair of shoes. Her company Shoes of Prey has raised over $24 million for its system that allows every pair of shoes to be completely customized. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Getting Things Done What CEO do you follow? — Tom Ford 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? — Do everything before you're ready. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan introduces Jodie 01:50 – Shoes of Prey—Women can design their own shoes 02:20 – Peer play 02:55 – Women wanted a physical interaction with their shoes 03:15 – First offline store 03:40 – Costs for stores 04:14 – Launched in 2009 04:20 – Funding to date is $24M 04:35 – Every pair is custom made 04:58 – Their website has a gallery for inspiration 05:10 – It's a social interaction about shoes 06:05 – Customization can start with an inspiration shoe or from scratch 06:40 – Customers have complete freedom 07:25 – How much time people spend making a shoe 08:15 – Acquisition costs 09:45 – Mass-produced shoes are cheaper to produce 10:30 – Pairs of shoes sold 10:55 – Some people design and never buy 11:15 – Their investors 12:00 – Competitors 12:25 – Average sale is $225 13:03 – Team of over 220 13:30 – Production in China 13:40 – They built their own factory there 14:15 – A video of the process at their factory 14:40 – First-year revenue was less than $50k 15:00 – Jodie was not in the fashion industry when she started her company 16:40 – She was brainstorming with friends on the beach 17:15 – Her cofounders are her ex-husband and their groomsman 18:10 – Shoes of Prey wants to eventually grow to other clothing 19:20 – Pay per customer 19:40 – 75% is word of mouth 20:05 – Campaigns 20:50 – Testing offline methods 21:25 – youtube.com/jodiefox 21:35 – jodieannfox on Instagram or @jodiefox on Twitter 23:40 -- The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a niche and you'll have a business with no real competitors. Don't let complicated relationships get in the way of your business's success. Make your business a unique experience for the customer. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Slack – Jodie's favorite online tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Frank Ricotta, CEO of BurstIQ, which helps professionals and businesses in the healthcare industry connect. Frank has been through the grinder as an entrepreneur. Huge crash-and-burn businesses have gotten him to this point. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Executive in Action What CEO do you follow? — PayPal 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? — Trust your instincts, and don't lose your balance. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan introduces Frank 01:44 – BurstIQ is a platform service 02:00 – They help their customers create a network 02:53 – Founded in April 2015 03:05 – Frank had been working in health and saw an issue 03:24 – There are three founders 03:52 – First-year revenue was $150k 04:05 – Involvement in several other startups 04:25 – His "crash and burn" story 05:29 – The cofounders 05:55 – May 2016 customers: 10 06:20 – Average pay per customer is $250k to $1M 06:35 – A focus on the base plan 07:00 – $75k/month 07:35 – No patterns yet for churn 08:45 – Customer acquisition cost 09:00 – Inside sales and partners 09:15 -- $150k to $200k 09:40 – 12 team members 10:00 – What ratio Frank likes to see 10:40 – "Work to keep your head above water" 11:09 – The company's capital 11:37 – Valuation for BurstIQ 12:40 – They want to raise $5M 13:10 – Based in Denver 13:55 – Techstars 14:25 -- @fricotta or Frank Ricotta on LinkedIn 16:26 -- The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Come up with a business that makes something simpler. Being an entrepreneur means experiencing failure along with success. If you don't stretch yourself to reach high goals, no one will believe that you can ever achieve them. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Slack – Frank's favorite online tool to connect with coworkers and customers Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ari Meisel, host of the Less Doing Podcast. Ari's book Less Doing, More Living has sold over 30,000 copies and has been translated into six other languages. Even with four children, Ari stays on top of his consulting business that continues to bring in more revenue every month. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Art of War What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Inbox by Google Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Test ideas before you jump into them. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan introduces Ari 02:00 – Ari is a productivity consultant/coach 02:20 – Virtual company has brought in the most revenue 02:35 – They offer on-demand project managers 03:00 – Customers pay a membership fee and then an hourly fee for service 03:30 – First-year revenue was $200000 04:15 – 170 current customers 04:40 – They find customers through Ari's following and the podcast 05:50 – Ari is involved with his customers 06:10 – It's an expensive service because of the quality and variety of what they can do 06:45 – Ari likes connecting resources for other businesses and finding talent 07:15 – They are really involved in all of the businesses that hire them 07:35 – "An easy-bake oven for a business" 08:40 – Average customer pays about $1150/month 09:20 – In May they had $46000 in revenue, and they are growing every month 10:00 – His business takes care of a lot of the daily tasks for business owners and companies 10:50 – The company is self-funded 11:05 – They decline anyone who wants to invest in the company 11:58 – Less Doing Podcast 12:10 – 30000 downloads per month 12:20 – A weekly show 12:35 – Average downloads per episode for the first couple months: 3000 13:30 – Sponsorship revenue for the podcast 14:08 – Ari's books, Less Doing, More Living and The Art of Less Doing 15:00 – He got an advance with Random House/Penguin for Less Doing, More Living 15:15 – How he got an advance as a first-time author 16:20 – 30000 copies sold 18:00 – Lessdoing.com 20:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Create the best service and business that you possibly can. Find your specific talent and put yourself in that industry. It is possible to balance a busy life with your business. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Inbox by Google – Ari's favorite online tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Nick Kullin of Second Flight Consultancy. Nick started his first business at just thirteen years old. As he continued with tons of other jobs after high school, he realized he wanted to go back to how he felt as a thirteen-year-old. He wanted to be an entrepreneur again. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Think and Grow Rich What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Yesware Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Instead of working for people, just start your business at a young age. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan introduces Nick 01:35 – He started his first business at age 13 02:15 – He connected people to new music artists 02:45 – He automated his system 03:05 – He got around $100 to $150 from each band 03:30 – He made over $20k with that business 03:50 – Then he worked for a golf resort doing marketing and sales 04:50 – He helped the resort get a lot more publicity and better marketing 05:25 – Then about a year later he went into health and fitness 04:45 – He wanted to surround himself with successful people 06:30 – He got an opportunity with Time Warner Cable 06:40 – Later, he got out of corporate and worked with a small business 07:10 – His next job paid him $120000, but he realized he wanted to get back into entrepreneurship 07:55 – A lot of money does not make you happy. 08:40 – Marketing was his passion, and people saw the value of his skills 09:20 – His business was called Second Flight Consultancy 10:00 – First-year revenue was $12000 10:40 -- $175k in 2015, and projected to be over a million in 2016 11:13 – Nick developed a "sales robot" that works with LinkedIn 12:00 – Ten team members 12:25 – Profit is usually 70% of the revenue 13:10 – He started out doing a lot of the work on his own 14:00 – You need to do really great work with proven results 15:10 – He has a variety of customers 15:40 – Nick's academy is a coaching product 16:00 – 30% of their revenue 16:15 -- secondflightacademy.com 18:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to start your own business from a young age. A large salary doesn't necessary buy happiness. Make your passion and your skills into a business. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Yesware – Nick's favorite online tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Lillie Cameron, a brand new mom who also runs her own business. She started EcoSafe Spaces with her now husband. The company provides design and building services for green, eco-friendly construction. She also works with Rackspace, which has recently revamped its policies for maternity and paternity leave. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Advantage, with its six-question model What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk 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? — Surround yourself with people who lift you up. Don't be afraid to fail. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan introduces Lillie 01:50 – Green construction 02:10 – They had a friend who lost a child during pregnancy because of construction chemicals 02:30 – EcoSafe Spaces 02:40 – Design and building services 03:10 – Their recent project in downtown Austin 03:50 – Around $500000 jobs 04:15 – "The most energy efficient homes in the city" 04:30 – The sales pitch 04:50 – People in Austin understand sustainability 05:35 – Opened in 2007 05:45 – Margins vary – fixed rate vs. cost plus contract 06:10 – Fixed rate 06:45 – The contract is much more flexible 07:20 – Fixed rate deal that went bad 07:35 – Now they do mostly cost plus contracts 07:50 – Up to 7 projects at a time 08:30 – The plan for EcoSafe 08:55 – There are benefits to being a small business 09:20 – Lillie also works with Rackspace 09:25 – Recruited in 2009 by a former boss 09:55 – She did project management work, but wore multiple hats 10:45 – It is utility-based computing 11:10 – How this type of service was first received 12:30 – There are many different types of customers 13:20 – They have a unique angle 13:35 – Rackspace is a great place for new parents to work 14:10 – Maternity leave in this country 14:45 – Canada does a year of leave 15:00 -- Paternity and maternity leave needs awareness 15:55 – ecosafespaces.com and Lillie Cameron on LinkedIn 17:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a business idea that solves an important problem. Consider maternity leave in the US and how it needs to improve. You can balance it all, as a business owner and a parent. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Trello – Lillie's favorite online tool for staying organized Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

James Turner, of Turner Creative. James started his business after the company he worked for picked up and moved five hours away. He didn't want to make the move, so he took his skills and created his own conversion rates optimization company. Now he's starting out another company, called Snap. He has caught the entrepreneurial bug and is making more money now than when he was working in the corporate world. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Influence What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Airstory Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — "I am trying really hard, but I also have a toddler." If you could let your 20-year-old self know one thing, what would it be? — "You're not going to miss out if you stay home to work on yourself." Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 01:36 – What is conversion rate optimization? 02:05 – Turner recently worked with Conversion Sciences 02:45 – Getting more signups for a free trial 03:45 – Good and bad conversion rates 04:50 – "People have a hard time putting themselves in the heads of their customers." 05:25 – The value of customer research 06:20 – How to collect data 06:30 – Talk to your customers 07:04 – Using testimonials and reviews 08:05 – Find which problem is most common in your reviews 08:20 – How Turner Creative got started 09:00 – First-year revenue was $36000 09:30 – 2015 total revenue was about $45000 09:40 – Payment per project: $10000 for 3 months 10:00 – He will revamp/renew a company's website 10:45 – Currently 2 customers 10:55 – "I only want to do two retainers at a time." 11:05 – James is starting a new company, Snap 11:25 – Focusing on quick copy 11:50 – His partner is Lianna Patch, of Punchlinecopy.com 12:00 – "Conversion optimized copy on demand" 12:20 – Contact him at turnercreative.ca or snapcopy.co. 14:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Take your skills and find a way to be financially successful. Take time to consider customer reviews and testimonials—utilizing this information will make your company better. Set aside time to take care of yourself and better yourself. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Airstory – A new online tool for content writing Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Sieva Kozinsky, founder and CEO of StudySoup. The online marketplace now has over 5000 buyers and 1000 sellers. These sellers provide their notes and study guides for college courses. StudySoup helps their sellers learn how to be entrepreneurs and provides a unique service to college students everywhere. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Elon Musk's biography What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — "I get 6.5 to 7.5 hours." If you could let your 20-year-old self know one thing, what would it be? — "Pay attention to the signs. If something isn't working, ditch it and move forward." Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:05 – Nathan's introduction 02:25 – StudySoup is "an education marketplace for college students" 01:55 – It's a monthly subscription 02:25 – Sellers take notes, and the buyers use those class notes 03:10 – Students get "karmas" to access notes and study guides 04:10 – the "karma" system 05:10 – The backstory 05:45 – StudySoup was tested at a few schools and took off 06:10 – Year-one revenue was $45k 06:25 – Now they have over 5000 subscribers 06:45 – 1000 note takers 07:09 – Funding is over a million 07:35 – They used convertible notes 08:15 – Team size 08:30 – The team is distributed and remote 09:05 – Slack, Google Hangouts 09:25 – Trajectory 09:55 – They will hit almost $4 million this year 10:05 – A focus on getting more note takers 10:40 – The revenue is seasonal according to class schedules 11:15 – Revenue February to May is pretty consistent 11:45 – About 4000 buyers used the service in March 12:25 – All buyers and sellers are very active 12:45 – Average purchase size is $42 13:15 – A study guide is the best-selling item 13:40 – What happens after a student graduates? 14:15 – Expanding into grad school and high school in the future 14:40 – Buyers pay 15 to 20 dollars each month 15:25 – Churn is 8% to 12%, lower than the average for the industry 16:20 – Acquisition cost 16:30 – Training sellers to be entrepreneurs 17:10 – It's too early to see lifetime value of a customer 17:40 – Contact Sieva on Twitter: @SievaKozinsky 19:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you find an idea that works, go for it. Distributed, remote teams are very doable with today's online tools. Look for the signs that tell you the direction your business is headed. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Slack and Google Hangouts – The online tools that StudySoup uses to stay in touch with a distributed team. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Anant Kale, cofounder of AppZen. Anant had a job that paid him $200000 a year when he decided to go off on his own and start a business. Hear the success story of his artificial intelligence software which has "transformed the back office" for companies everywhere. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Who Says Elephants Can't Dance What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favourite online tool? — Rapportive and Calendly Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Start a business earlier than you think you should. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Anant Kale 01:55 – AppZen uses artificial intelligence software in offices 02:45 – It detects information on employees and statistics automatically 03:30 – Founded in 2013 04:00 – 2015 revenue was just under $1 million 04:45 – They have 22 customers 05:00 – Average contract price is $150000 05:20 – Capital raised is $14 million 06:10 – 14 people on the team 06:40 – No churn so far 07:15 – Average customer acquisition cost is very low 08:15 – Too early for lifetime value 09:05 – Evaluation for the company 10:15 – Goal is to double revenue in 2016 13:00 – Anant is a cofounder 13:50 – The company was split according to responsibilities and contributions 14:40 – He always wanted to really build a company on his own 16:00 -- The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't put off starting your own business. A large salary doesn't mean that you will be satisfied with your job. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, follow that desire. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks – The online tool Nathan uses to keep track of receipts Hostgator – The program Nathan uses for his website Rapportive and Calendly – Anant's favorite online tools Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Rand Fishkin, who calls himself "The Wizard of Moz." He founded Moz in 2007, and they made $39 million in revenue in 2015. Join us as Rand shares his unique journey with Moz and his own insights to what makes businesses like Moz successful. Listen as he tells hid difficult experience of deciding to handover the reigns of CEO for his own company. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Billionaire Who Wasn't What CEO do you follow? — Heather Brunner Favorite online tool? — Buzzsumo Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Not quite. If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Software engineering. Stick with the girl you're dating—she'll be a great wife. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan introduces Rand Fishkin 01:35 – Moz is a software company that assists with SEO 02:05 – Founded in 2007, but first existed as a blog 02:35 – The blog was an advertising tool for Moz 03:20 – They had 400 people sign up in 6 months 04:00 – 2007 revenue was $850k 04:25 – Rand admits to being an amateur at the beginning of Moz 05:20 – Great marketing and retention are super important to consider 06:25 – 2015 total revenue is $39 million 06:40 – Churn was 6.3% in April 2016 07:30 – The logic behind good and bad churn rates 08:00 – Churn is not the only thing that matters 08:45 – It's ok to start out with a higher churn 09:15 – Different types of churn 09:35 – Upsell revenue 10:08 – They have not hit net negative revenue churn. 11:00 – Customer churn and revenue churn 12:10 – Average customer cost is $119/month 12:33 – Customer acquisition is more complicated because Moz has several different products 13:25 – Lifetime value 14:20 – They want to be conservative with marketing 15:00 – They want to lower churn 16:05 – The Costco example 16:48 – Rand replaced himself as CEO 17:05 – His own decision due to issues with his mental health 17:45 – It was a painful experience 18:00 – Now he is feeling much better 18:15 – He now runs a couple of their products and does promotion and content creation 19:05 – moz.com/rand or @randfish on Twitter 20:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: A churn rate is much more complicated that one month's percentage. Find ways to have conservative marketing costs. Let your challenges take you to new and more fulfilling places. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Buzzsumo – Rand's favorite online tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ep 2 Kim Garst Listen to The Top if you want to hear from the worlds TOP entrepreneurs on how much they sold last month, how they are selling it, and what they are selling - 7 days a week in 20 minute interviews! Join the Top Tribe at NathanLatka.com/TheTop The Top is FOR YOU if you are: A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4) STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7) An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1) The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14). Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries. Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at NathanLatka.com/TheTop

George Arison, founder and CEO of Shift, an online marketplace that has transformed the experience of buying and selling a car. George saw a problem with the process of buying a car, and he wanted to make it simpler. He utilized virtual technology to create a completely unique service for buying and selling a vehicle. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – I don't really have one. What CEO do you follow? — Tim Cook Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn 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 I should learn how to code. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces George 01:44 – Shift is a new way to buy or sell a car 02:05 -- There is no physical lot, everything is virtual 02:35 – They will sell cars locally, to people in that car's area 03:20 – "Car enthusiasts" 03:38 – Great design and transparency 04:10 – How they make money 04:25 – They agree on a minimum price with the seller, and they make money on any higher price that they sell the car for. (They split the difference) 05:00 – The buyer pays a fee 05:45 – They help buyers with car insurance and warranties 06:10 – Founded in 2013 06:30 – They started selling cars in 2014 06:45 – They are selling hundreds in a month 07:25 – Capital has been successful 08:05 – Their service is unique 09:15 – They offer cars that are several years old, because people can test drive them 09:55 – First-year revenue involved car inspections for sellers 10:45 – That revenue was $2000 11:00 – $150k in 2015 11:20 – Pricing cars is complicated and takes a lot of trial and error 12:00 – Mispriced cars effected their revenue in the beginning 12:30 – They are growing quickly and have focused on increasing revenue 13:35 – 20% growth month to month in 2015 14:15 – Team of 270 people 14:50 – Why he got into this business 15:05 – He started with Taxi Magic 15:25 – He had to get a green card, so he moved to a bigger business, Google 15:55 – He then left Google to start Shift 16:30 – He had a leased car, and when he wanted to buy it he found that financing a car is very complicated 17:50 – Find George Arison on LinkedIn 19:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you see a problem in a particular industry, find a solution and make it your business. Offer a service that is unique. Use today's technology to redefine industries with an up-to-date approach. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. LinkedIn – George's favorite tool to find the best people to work for Shift Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Kendall Antonelli, who started a cheese shop with her husband. Antonelli's Cheese Shop has taken off, and last year their revenue was $1.9 million. Kendall and her husband have found that they secret to their success is storytelling. They share the personal stories behind their cheeses and other products. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Good to Great, Uncontainable, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits Favorite online tool? — QuickBooks Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Keep an adventurous spirit. Do something every day that betters yourself. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan introduces Kendall 01:40 – Kendall and her husband got the idea on their honeymoon 02:25 – Her husband wanted to find a better job, in cheese 03:00 – He decided to look into the business 03:40 – Kendall was working in social work 04:20 – They always wanted to work together 04:45 – She grew up in a farm town, and they "fell in love with the story of cheese." 05:10 – They looked at their strengths 05:35 – Antonelli's Cheese LLC 06:00 – Their rent 07:10 – Multiple business models 07:20 – Her and her husband have separate roles 08:25 – Open-book management 08:40 – $1.9 million in 2015 09:05 – "Passion with Purpose" 09:25 – Their retail is the most successful 10:00 – Cost is per pound 11:00 – Making cheese is a labor-intensive industry 12:15 – They decided to not be cheese makers, but be out of the kitchen and "storytelling" 13:15 – All the costs behind a wheel of cheese 13:40 – Team of six or seven people 14:05 – An artisanal journey 14:30 – Telling the story of the cheese 14:45 – Skews were as high as 2000 15:15 – Most lucrative products 16:15 – Wholesale in 2015 was about half of their revenue 16:45 – Cheese of the Month Club 17:15 – Parties and catering 17:45 – Their wholesale market is more flexible for clients 18:25 – Dealing with a perishable item/shelf life 19:00 – They are looking into investors 19:25 – What they pay themselves 20:20 – They travel to cheese conventions around the world 20:55 – They want to be in control of their business 21:30 – Professional and personal life can coexist 24:00 – Antonellischeese.com 26:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Make your passion your business. Design a career that lets you accomplish your life goals. Your professional and personal life can coexist. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. QuickBooks – The accounting tool for Antonelli's Cheese Shop Good to Great, Uncontainable and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits – A series of great business books that Kendall recommends. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Amit Kothari. He spent ten years in London dealing with some of the largest companies and organizations in the world and helping them with collaboration technology. After seeing a lot of failures in that industry, he realized he needed a very structured process with unstructured, human conversations to make his business succeed. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Innovator's Dilemma What CEO do you follow? — Jack Welch and Warren Buffett Favorite online tool? — DropBox, Xero Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — "Never confuse movement with action." –Hemingway Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan introduces Amit 01:45 – Tallyfy 02:05 – The company's program helps remove routine processes throughout the day 02:30 – They started in Chili with a grant in 2014 03:00 – Then they got a grant from the US 03:30 – First year had no revenue 03:45 – $300k in 2015, with $600k total 04:15 – Paying customers 04:50 -- $39/month is the average that customers pay 05:15 – Monthly revenue 06:00 – They have several different services and processes 06:35 – Pure MRR in April -- $4000 07:10 -- Professional services is a huge chunk of revenue 08:20 – Starting out with professional services brings in a lot of revenue 08:50 – Team size is 5, with a few freelancers 09:05 – Total capital $500000 10:10 – Amit and his wife are cofounders 10:25 – They have a rule to stop talking about work after 6 pm 11:00 – They believe in their business 11:45 -- tallyfy.com and @tallyfy on Twitter 12:00 – Consistency is the secret to a growing company's success 14:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Start a business that you believe in. Look for grants and funding opportunities. If you want to scale your business, you have to put effort into consistency. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. The Innovator's Dilemma – Amit's favorite business book DropBox – One of Amit's favorite online tools, that allows businesses to share files online Xero – Online accounting tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Amit Kothari. He spent ten years in London dealing with some of the largest companies and organizations in the world and helping them with collaboration technology. After seeing a lot of failures in that industry, he realized he needed a very structured process with unstructured, human conversations to make his business succeed. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Innovator's Dilemma What CEO do you follow? — Jack Welch and Warren Buffett Favorite online tool? — DropBox, Xero Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — "Never confuse movement with action." –Hemingway Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan introduces Amit 01:45 – Tallyfy 02:05 – The company's program helps remove routine processes throughout the day 02:30 – They started in Chili with a grant in 2014 03:00 – Then they got a grant from the US 03:30 – First year had no revenue 03:45 – $300k in 2015, with $600k total 04:15 – Paying customers 04:50 -- $39/month is the average that customers pay 05:15 – Monthly revenue 06:00 – They have several different services and processes 06:35 – Pure MRR in April -- $4000 07:10 -- Professional services is a huge chunk of revenue 08:20 – Starting out with professional services brings in a lot of revenue 08:50 – Team size is 5, with a few freelancers 09:05 – Total capital $500000 10:10 – Amit and his wife are cofounders 10:25 – They have a rule to stop talking about work after 6 pm 11:00 – They believe in their business 11:45 -- tallyfy.com and @tallyfy on Twitter 12:00 – Consistency is the secret to a growing company's success 14:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Start a business that you believe in. Look for grants and funding opportunities. If you want to scale your business, you have to put effort into consistency. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. The Innovator's Dilemma – Amit's favorite business book DropBox – One of Amit's favorite online tools, that allows businesses to share files online Xero – Online accounting tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jonathan Gillon, the founder of Roost. His unique business costs almost nothing to run, and is taking over the nation. Though he has experienced failures along with success in his business endeavors, Jon is a self-proclaimed optimist. He sees the potential growth of his business and wants to be the one to take it to its full potential. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing about Hard Things What CEO do you follow? — Andy Dunn Favorite online tool? — Geckoboard Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes If you could let your 20-year-old self know one thing, what would it be? — Don't get kicked out of college. Stop getting in trouble. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:25 – Jonathan explains Roost 01:45 – Profits come from a percentage of transaction fees 02:55 – They focus on storage and parking spaces 03:15 – Mostly garages 03:45 – His first-year revenue was zero 04:10 – He found an opportunity with a storage unit that was closing 05:45 – Numbers of buyers and sellers 06:55 – He has a team of 17 people in San Francisco 07:30 – His rent in San Francisco 08:25 – $4.9 million in capital 09:35 – Roost uses a "targeted approach" working with car-share companies 10:55 – Total revenue 2015 - $80000 11:25 – Revenue is now 25k/month 12:10 – Reasoning behind the company's evaluation 12:50 – Potential of the company 13:30 – Jonathan sees great value in Roost 14:00 – They are still in "beta mode" 15:00 – They have virtually no competitors 16:10 – Jonathan prefers to "build something big and fail" than build something small 17:05 – His experience with Droperty Tax 17:40 – He lost everything he earned from that company 18:30 – He wants to grow revenue and get Roost to its potential 19:25 –Jon's blog about his experiences as an entrepreneur 21:20 – Average revenue per buyer – about $41 22:20 – "We've got almost no churn." 23:10 – Cost to find a new space is almost nothing 23:30 – Money is spent on marketing 24:35 – He pays himself $64k 25:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Look for a business opportunity that requires low upfront costs. Don't be afraid to stand behind your business and be optimistic about its potential. If your company gets bought, don't go on a spending spree. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Geckoboard – Jonathan's favorite online tool Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Douglas Lusted, the CEO and co-founder of Linkett. Douglas is an incredible individual who earned his way onto the Forbes' "30 Under 30" list at the age of 19! He's taken his company, which specializes in out-of-home advertising, from an idea on paper to an unstoppable force that's taking on big-time enterprise clients. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Lean Analytics What CEO do you follow? — Kurtis McBride Favorite online tool? — Calendly or Prospect.io Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Absolutely not. If you could let your 20-year-old self know one thing, what would it be? — Keep on doing what you're doing. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan's introduction 01:45 –Linkett is an analytics platform 02:20 – It is sold as an annual subscription 02:35 – Company was founded in 2013, and it was his first business venture 03:05 – First-year revenue was $100000 03:50 – Money and capital raised 05:00 – Their team now 05:20 – Growth for the company over the past year and a half 06:10 – Monthly recurring revenue (about $25k) 06:50 – The company's churn 07:40 – Advertisers' pricing systems 09:35 – The future of billboards 10:18 – What Douglas would do as a billboard owner 10:45 – Customer worth 11:40 – The company is focused on growth 12:00 – Connect with Douglas Lusted on LinkedIn 14:010 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to redefine an industry and how it operates When you have a great idea, go for it. Create a product that improves an industry's integrity. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Prospect.io – Douglas's favorite online sales tool based out of Canada Lean Analytics – Douglas's favorite business book. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Tony Leonard, founder and president of nurseVersity—a company that uses next-generation tools, cutting-edge research, and adaptive, personalized learning structures to help nurses and physical therapists prepare for the respective industry exams with maximum efficiency. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Who Moved the Cheese What CEO do you follow? — Bill Gates Favorite online tool? — There are several Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20-year-old self know one thing, what would it be? — Sleep more; eat less. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:09 – Nathan's introduction 01:25 – Tony's company operates under a monthly subscription format 01:45 – He helps people pass their qualifying exams the first time 02:15 – 10,000 customers, with $152,000 in revenue last month 03:00 -- $35.50/month per customer 03:30 – Scholarship program 05:00 – One-time payments 05:40 – How they manage churn 07:30 – Cost to get a customer 08:40 – Company is based in Louisville, Kentucky 09:00 – Churn for their company 10:15 – Lifetime value is about $300 per customer 10:30 – They are looking to raise capital 11:00 – Capital to date is $4 million 11:15 – Connect with Tony Leonard on LinkedIn, or at Nurseversity on Facebook, or [email protected] 13:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Show your customers you care. Think of ways you can increase capital and scale your business. Sleep more, and eat less. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Who Moved the Cheese – Tony's favorite business book Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Sam Caucci, founder of Sales Huddle, a training and development team using gaming technology to help organizations better prepare their people for the workforce. With work delivered across North America, Europe, and Asia, Sales Huddle has impacted people across organizations in a wide array of sectors and clients, that include professional sports teams, politics and government, hospitality, retail, colleges, and many more. They're applying an innovative approach to people preparing for the workforce, and Sam is over the creation of the training game platform. It is the first game-based platform that transforms the way an organization on-boards, trains, and develops team members. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Emotional Intelligence What CEO do you follow? — Someone who's not living right now Favorite online tool? — Rapportive and Mixmax 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 think I knew everything. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:09 – Nathan's introduction 01:55 – Training that isn't boring 02:50 – Money is made from a license fee 03:22 – Company was founded in 2010 3:55 – It went from consulting to a product 4:15 – First year's revenue was $250000 4:45 – They are self-funded 5:15 – Total customers is 61 5:45 – Learning-based vs. game-based competition 6:35 – The product requests annual pay 7:05 – Pay is upfront 07:30 – Average pay per year is $15000 per customer 07:55 – 100% retention and why 10:05 – Customer acquisition costs 11:00 – They have just started raising capital 11:50 – How to get more people and scale the business 13:20 – How much money they want to raise 13:40 – Team is six people 14:00 – Saleshuddlegroup.com, Twitter - @saleshuddle or @samcaucci 16:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Businesses and progress run off of incentives. Consider the most efficient and cost-effective way to provide your service. Learning and training systems shouldn't be boring. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Rapportive and Mixmax – Sam's favorite online tools for organization and productivity Sales Huddle – A training program that uses gaming technology Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Cam and Akin, founders of Baby Mori. Their business was started in 2015, and it is already seeing 50% growth each month. Learn about Cam and Akin's recipe for success as we discuss their products and how their business is run. They are showing incredible numbers for their startup, so let's take some notes on how these two single guys saw financial success in the baby industry. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? – Google Hangouts 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, in terms of entrepreneurship Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:26 - Nathan introduces Cam and Akin, founders of Baby Mori 01:44 – Cam and Akin target gifters 02:20 – Cam and Akin explain the company 02:51 – Revenue came mostly from parents and gifters buying directly 03:22 - They talk about their multiple skews and how they manage them. 04:43 – Their sleep suits are their best sellers. 05:25 – Margins are 1:4 or 1:5 06:35 – They talk about their other expenses and their net margin, which is very low. 07:32 – Sales and marketing are limited costs. 08:21 – Their shipping is free to the UK only, but they are finding other ways to get to the US and other countries with low shipping costs. 09:15 – The business was launched in 2015, and is a very new startup. 10:21 – Their goal for this year is about $600000 10:51 – The business has strong numbers and statistics 11:23 – They discuss their number of buyers. 12:00 – The business owners talk about their subscription system. 13:20 – Their latest success is to have raised $1 million in priced equity. 14:50 – Their growth is 50% each month. That and other characteristics make them appealing to investors. 15:29 – Nathan discusses data in the baby business. 16:44 – People can connect at babymori.com 19:04 – Nathan goes over the Famous Five 3 Key Points: Cam and Akin have low costs to produce their products. Baby Mori focuses on getting the product to the client in an affordable manner. A company with significant monthly growth, like Baby Mori, is appealing to investors. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Brendan Candon, cofounder and CEO of SidelineSwap, a community market where athletes buy and sell their sports gear. Most of their users are middle school, high school, and college athletes selling online for the first time. They've got revenue and traction with gross sales running close to $2 million. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – High Output Management What CEO do you follow? — Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour Favorite online tool? — Slack and Appear Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— 7 – 10 If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —"Be sure, with whatever you're doing, that you can do it for five years." Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:22 – Nathan introduces Brendan 01:40 – SidelineSwap makes it easy for athletes to buy and sell sports gear. 02:25 – SidelineSwap was launched in 2012, and really took off in 2015 03:22 – The company takes 12 percent from the seller to make money. 04:33 – They didn't make any money for the first couple years, but in 2015 they did $400000 in sales. 05:04 – They are now on track to do $2 million in sales 05:25 – The site is transactional and social. 06:15 – Average order value is $75 before shipping 06:30 – They have been growing about 15 percent each month, but they started growing by 50 percent 07:15 – Users are accustomed to the conditions of used sports gear, and it's a smart route for parents. 08:30 – The site is for usable gear, but we also get gear sold for charity or signed gear. 09:47 – Instagram is their main account, and they have separate accounts for different sports. 10:34 – They get new followers by finding great content that kids enjoy. 11:39 – Their goal is to be the marketplace for athletes. 12:50 – Follow Brendan personally on Twitter @brendancanden or contact him through email at sidelineswap.com 15:18 – Nathan does the famous five 3 Key Points: Be sure to look ahead for the next five years with your business. Up your Instagram followers by finding great content for your audience. Start a business that fills a niche, like SidelineSwap, which is an online marketplace specifically for athletes. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Khuram Hussain, founder of Inbox 2 and now Fileboard. The two companies reached multi-million-dollar worth, and Khuram provides insight into his two businesses and how they have succeeded. He gives us an idea of Fileboard's revenue and what factors go into his company, which has grown to be worth millions in just a few short years. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? —Elon Musk 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? — Not to go and run for corporate Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:16 – Nathan introduces Khuram Hussain 01:44 – Khuram started Inbox 2 in his twenties. 02:31 – Khuram explains the history of how Inbox 2 started 03:15 – Inbox connects everyone from one single platform (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) 03:44 – Inbox grew to 60 million users 04:22 – Inbox was bought by MyLife 04:44 – Khuram valued the business by user base and engagement 05:05 – Inbox was a team of 12 people and self-funded when it sold. 05:46 – Inbox was a 6-figure sell 06:20 – Then Khuram moved to starting a new business, Fileboard 08:44 – Fileboard is a sales tool to improve the sales process of a company. 09:40 – It was launched in 2012. 10:03 – First year's revenue was $0, and they grew over the years to about $10 million 11:06 – Khuram shares about a typical process with a company that purchases File Board 11:54 – Khuram explains their customer base. 12:35 – Average business pays $20k to $30k per year 13:14 – Khuram explains Fileboard's investors 13:52 – Customer worth is two to three years 14:56 – Customer acquisition cost. 15:50 – Nathan talks with Khuram about MRR 17:30 – The company is based in Europe. Khuram discusses his team. 18:00 – You can connect with Khuram on LinkedIn 19:22 – Nathan goes over the Famous Five with Khuram 3 Key Points: Khuram had decided that the money from his first business would not mark the end of his business endeavors. Fileboard's profits increased from nothing to millions within just a few years. The company's customer acquisition cost is extremely low compared to what each business will pay to use Fileboard. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Hank Leber, founder and CEO of Vytamin. Vytamin is a marketing technology software that provides an end-to-end marketing solution. The business made $460,000 the first year and is excelling in its industry. Hank will share his insights from failing with his first business to succeeding with the next. He is a great example of an entrepreneur who has persevered to create a service that works. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – The Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? —Jason Lemkin Favorite online tool? — Google Apps Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No way If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Cheat a little Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan introduces Hank Leber, founder and CEO of Vytamin 01:55 – Hank worked with Travelocity before Vytamin 02:16 – Vytamin is marketing technology software for an end-to-end marketing solution 02:47 – The service starts at $1000/month 03:24 – Vytamin is a SAS company 03:54 – Hank's first business was founded at the beginning of 2015, because Hank wanted to move to greater things beyond his original goals 05:14 – You can get out of the corporate world, but it is a leap of faith 06:45 – Hank quickly exhausted his life savings with his first startup, Gonnabe, and the company failed 09:14 – His cofounders found outlets at other successful companies. 09:52 – Hank then took a year in the agency world to make back the money he lost and get on his feet again. 11:05 – First year revenue for Vytamin was $460,000 11:30 – They now have 85 paying customers, with $102,000/month coming in. 12:41 – Gross churn is about 4% per month, but at first it was over 20%. 13:48 – Their goal is 4% annual churn 14:49 – They don't have to spend on marketing because they use their own software. There is no real inside sales team. 16:08 – There are nine on the team now, with $650,000 revenue last year. 18:26 – Monthly headcount is about $10k 18:53 – Revenue is 18% 19:30 – Hank does the Famous Five 3 Key Points: Even if a business idea fails, use your new knowledge to continue seeking a concept that works. Starting a business will require savings or funding as well as a big leap into the unknown. Give appropriate value to your employees and they will work harder and stick around. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Adam Lee, cofounder and CEO of Bohemian Guitars. The business sells guitars made out of recyclable materials, and the majority of its sales in through the website bohemianguitars.com. Nathan and his brother are now making over $1 million per year, and their initial marketing strategy focused on crowdfunding. Their marketing strategy has found the secret to making money through these crowdfunding sites. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Tribes by Seth Godin What CEO do you follow? — Nick Woodman Favorite online tool? — Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely not If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — I wish I wasn't caught up in saving for the future Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:16 – Nathan introduces Adam Lee, cofounder and CEO of Bohemian Guitars 01:40 – The company is a retail brand and manufacturer, with guitars made out of recyclable materials 2:20 – A guitar costs about $250, with $50 cost to produce 02:48 – Most sales go through the website 03:05 – They started in 2012 and have over 100 skews, for all custom guitars 03:22 - They have partners in China and a facility in Atlanta 04:07 – The first year, their revenue was $16000 04:55 – Their 2015 revenue was just under $1 million, due in part to success with a ukulele 05:58 – There are a lot of players, and they are new to the space, so they try to draw people in with accessories. 06:55 – They do a lot of crowdfunding to raise funds and test the crowd 07:31 – Kickstarter and Indiegogo were both used, and are fairly comparable 08:24 – They did a soft launch on Indiegogo with a party and low price initiative as well as an official launch online the next day 10:39 – Their campaign was run for 30 days, with a goal to manufacture 1000 guitars. 12:04 – An online campaign requires a lot of work and preparation—you need a story to tell. 13:03 – You can pressure people to still buy after reaching the Kickstart goal by adding incentives. 14:00 – When you agree to purchase, Indiegogo and the company will email you, and you will be invited to an exclusive online community. 14:44 – They will now try to run a campaign on their own website. 15:21 – Follow Adam on Twitter 17:19 – Adam does the Famous Five 3 Key Points: Nathan and his brother came up with a unique idea and are now making over $1 million per year. Bohemian Guitars focused a lot on crowdfunding, and is continuing to try out new online marketing methods. The company gets buys with incentives that have short deadlines. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ryan Levesque, author of business methodology book Ask. Ryan wrote his book as a unique type of "business card." It was a marketing tool for his "Ask Method" for businesses. After putting $1 million into his book, Ryan is now seeing the benefits, with tens of thousands of copies sold and a viable business in the education industry. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things 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? — Don't be so afraid, man Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:16 – Nathan introduces Ryan Levesque, author of Ask 01:55 – Ryan wrote the book as a business tool, "a business card." 02:40 – The first half of the book tells his personal story, a polarizing element for the book. 04:08 – more than 55,000 copies have sold. 04:35 – He was introduced to a publisher with no royalty, and his second book will have an advance 05:18 – He spent $1 million of his own money 05:42 – The biggest expense was advertising 06:28 – "If you're writing a book to make money on the book, you're going to be disappointed." 07:16 – His advance for his next book is a six-figure advance--around $250,000 to $500,000 would be ideal. 08:15 – One mistake was to use partners to sell the book. 09:00 – Podcasters were the one group that understood giving out free books. 09:30 – He met with several podcasts each week. 10:20 – Ryan originally wanted to drive traffic to the "Ask Method" 11:30 – They are now exclusively an education company. 12:05 – He made over $1 million a year on his different platforms, and eventually a business hired him for $50,000 up front and 5 % royalty. 13:00 – He shifted to focusing on larger businesses. 14:00 – He works with different markets and learns about how to refine his business. 14:50 – Today they help students apply the methodology to their business. 15:28 – The book and the program work hand-in-hand. 16:28 – Go to askmethod.com for articles and downloads. 18:36 – Ryan does the Famous Five 3 Key Points: Make your story personal. Don't write a book to make money—if you do, you'll be disappointed. Considering using a book as a promotional or marketing tool. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Alex Berman, cofounder of Inspire Beats, a B2B lead generation company that focuses on cold emails to help businesses succeed. The business took off quickly and is now worth about 1.3 million. With no money raised, Inspire Beats's secret recipe is clearly working. Listen to Alex and I discuss a few ingredients in his recipe for success. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – 10X Rule What CEO do you follow? — Chris Hardwick Favorite online tool? — Streak Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Almost 4 hours of sleep at night If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Power emailing Time Stamped Show Notes: 1:20 -Nathan introduces Alex Berman, cofounder of Inspire Beats 01:54 – Alex explains Inspire Beats, a B2B lead generation company 02:39 – Form Stack used Inspire Beats to reach people in the US 03:15 – Alex talks about their different price packages 03:55 – They have over 700 clients 04:20 – Revenue is about 1.3 million per month 05:35 – There are thousands of companies who do the same thing. 06:34 - They have an advantage with higher quality and an American base. 07:26 – They are growing about 20% to 25% per month 08:33 – Gross customer churn is sporadic. They will stay for a long time or leave quickly. 09:42 – Numbers are different in every industry. 10:10 – Customers mostly come from cold emailing. 10:44 – The cost is about $40 per customer. 11:25 – Most customers stay indefinitely. They move to different models in Inspire Beats. 13:20 – They are bootstrapped, with nothing raised. 13:57 – Emailers are paid on salary. 14:30 – 150 emails are sent per day. 14:57 – Their first year the company took off quickly 15:50 – They don't need to raise money--they want to increase cold emails and marketing. 17:10 – People can connect at inspirebeats.com or youtube.com/alxberman 19:28 – Nathan does the Famous Five with Alex 3 Key Points: Inspire Beats is a leading business in its industry. It is bootstrapped, with no money raised. The company hires cold emailers, and they pay very little for each new client that they take on. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Amanda Newman, who opened her first store in high school. She became a realtor, and went on to create Park Bench - a SaaS business that creates neighborhood-focused websites for realtors who want to connect to their community. She and her partner made $880k in revenue last year and this year they're shooting for a million. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Predictable Revenue What CEO do you follow? — Grant Cardone Favorite online tool? — Unbounce Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Take some computer programming and design courses Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:23 – Nathan's introduction 02:22 – Park Bench creates neighborhood-focused websites 02:47 – Amanda wanted to create value for the communities that she worked in - so she built a neighborhood website 03:34 – Local businesses put deals and promotions on the website 04:15 – "After the first one, it was easier to create the second one" 04:40 – Amanda sells neighborhood sites to realtors so that they have the opportunity to build relationships 05:20 – Realtors pay between $3000 and $6000 per year 06:15 – "Realtors want to be known as the neighborhood realtor" 06:57 – Started in 2014 - first-year revenue was $450k 07:11 – Revenue in 2015 was $880k - they're on track for over $1 million this year 07:30 – 215 unique customers 07:53 – Customer Acquisition Cost? 08:44 – Facebook marketing is paying fantastic dividends 09:20 – 80% of realtors who buy their product buy it on the first call 09:35 – MRR in May is around $70k per month 10:00 – Revenue per user per month is $350 10:25 – Customer Acquisition Cost is around $400 10:50 – Customers sign on for a year - many sign on for a 2nd year as well 11:15 – Around half of realtors dropped out last year - but they're immediately replaced 12:22 – The average realtor stays around 1.5 years 13:04 – Team of 8 people based in Toronto 13:50 – Park Bench sells directly to real-estate agents 15:20 – "Being bootstrapped, we have to move fast" 15:40 – $70k monthly run rate 15:45 – Connect with Amanda on Linkedin 18:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find the customers that fit with you Understand your market and what they want Everything starts with creating value for the people around you Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Mike Wilner, the co-founder and CEO of Compass, a web design marketplace for small businesses. Mike's a Venture For America fellow and has secured funding for his startup - a platform which handles marketing and project management for web designers and connects them to small business clients. Listen in to find out why you should forget the startup hype and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – The Servant What CEO do you follow? — None. I prefer following athletes. Favorite online tool? — Asana Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Close If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Don't believe all the hype in the startup world. There are just as many falls as there are success stories. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:18 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Compass works with network of freelance web designers - they connect small businesses to designers, manage projects, and take a cut 03:23 – Compass takes a 40% cut of everything that comes through 04:07 – People who need a project completed come to Compass - they take the details and then invite designers to the project 05:15 – Designers make around $40-60 per hour, after the 40% cut 06:24 – Started in late 2014 and have been launched full-time for just over 1 year 06:46 – First-year revenue in 2014 was $4k 07:40 – Total 2015 revenue was $40k 08:00 – 4 people in the core team, plus 40 designers on contract 08:30 – Around $250k worth of projects processed 09:15 – Designers have a lot of flexibility on how many projects they take on 09:43 – Growing 40% month over month 10:30 – Compass manages standardized rounds of revision to prevent scope creep 11:10 – "The technology is the easy part - the harder part is managing humans and expectations" 12:08 – Raised a $300k angel round via convertible note last year 13:20 – "There's still a huge need in the marketplace for people who need a professional web designer" 13:40 – Connect with Mike on Twitter or at Compass 15:38 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't believe the startup hype The hard part of startups is managing humans and expectations: work on having great soft skills Leadership is about service Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Anh Vu, the founder and CEO of Avocode - a tool to connect front-end designers and back-end developers and make fantastic collaboration simple. Anh's background is in design, but he's building a SaaS business with negative churn and great profits by being totally on top of his numbers. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – The Startup Playbook What CEO do you follow? — Hiten Shah Favorite online tool? — Chart Mogul Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Measure everything, be really data driven, and focus on retention Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Avocode makes it easy for front-end designers to share information with back-end developers 02:50 – The designer uploads the design into Avocode, where all the team can access it, leave notes, and make revisions. Then the developer can access all the design assets through Avocode 03:25 – As of May 2016, $50k MRR 03:57 – Launched in February 2015 03:54 – $250k annual revenue in 2015 04:20 – Currently working with the 500 Startups accelerator 04:53 – 2800 customers on one of two plans 06:00 – Average revenue per customer is $27 06:40 – Some users were on boarded in a pre-order process and pay less than average 07:17 – User churn is 7% monthly 07:28 – Net revenue churn is -1% 07:50 – Some users stay and purchase more and more seats - so revenue churn is negative 08:40 – Upselling more seats to your current customer base is a KEY SaaS strategy 09:23 – There are 14 people in An's team, based in the Czech Republic 09:43 – Monthly expenses are $35k 10:10 – They're profitable 11:20 – Currently spending nothing on customer acquisition 12:01 – The average business-plan customer stays for 18 months 13:12 – Most of the customer base is startups and enterprise businesses 14:00 – Growing at 15% month over month 14:18 – Planning to start their first capital raise in August 2016 15:20 – Discussing partnerships with companies like Adobe and Sketch 16:07 – Follow Anh on Twitter 18:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Upsell your current customer base Plan partnerships and exit strategies - early Measure everything Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Amanda Parker, the founder of Simply Insight - a high-end data analysis service that's six months old and making $30k in MRR from just 10 clients. Amanda previously ran a successful marketing agency whose clients included Pepsi and 20th Century Fox, and she's leveraging that experience to build her SaaS business incredibly fast. Listen in to hear how Amanda's managing her first angel investment round, how she signed her first client before even having a software platform, and how she's getting unbelievable return on CAC. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Predictable Revenue What CEO do you follow? — Jason Lemkin 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? —Relax and stop worrying: do the work, but stop stressing about it Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – "We found that data was a huge problem for our clients, and a huge opportunity" 02:54 – Amanda shut down her growing marketing company to focus on Simply Insight 03:09 – They make money from monthly subscription of $2.5-5k 03:57 – Simply Insight started 6 months ago - they got their first client before even building their platform 04:53 – Clients are on annual contracts that pay monthly 05:14 – Currently cash flow positive 05:35 – Growing over 20% month over month 06:07 – Currently at an MRR of $25-30k 06:20 – Hoping for an MRR of $50k by the end of the year 06:50 – They have around 10 clients 07:01 – CAC? Currently paying one sales rep salary and commission - 'He's almost paid for himself for the year and he's been around for 6 weeks" 07:43 – Amanda's been able to sell to her old client list from her agency to keep her CAC low 08:40 – Paying less than $5k to acquire a $30k contract 09:13 – "We currently have no churn at the higher levels" 09:43 – Revenue in 2015 was $7k from deposits 10:12 – Team of 6 people based in Toronto 10:45 – Doing an initial round of angel investment 11:01 – "You're married to angel investors - so you need to find people that you really want to work with. It's all about the team." 11:52 – Finding a lead investor is the hardest part 12:12 – Raising $500k via convertible note 14:00 – "It's never been a better time to start a company" 15:05 – The risk of convertible notes? 15:56 – Hustle, drive, and personality are everything 16:07 – Follow Amanda on Twitter or connect with her at Simply Insight 18:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a pain point. Test the market to see if other people feel it. Market your solution. Don't be scared to do what you really want. If you're going into a changing market, you'd better understand how it's going to change. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Pavan Boob, the founder of Fuel Panda, a weekly subscription service that means you'll never have to hunt for a gas station with an angry fuel light again. Fuel Panda refuels commuters' cars while they're parked. It's in the early stages of the 500 Startups accelerator - but Pavan has big ideas. Tune in to hear how he plans to keep up with the Tesla, how he bootstrapped from the bottom up, and why it's crucial to give your ideas 100%. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Crossing the Chasm What CEO do you follow? —Mark Zuckerberg Favorite online tool? — Trello Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Go for what you want. Pick something and give it 100% Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:12 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Fuel Panda is a weekly gas refueling service 02:15 – They're a SaaS business that charges a subscription fee plus a margin on the gas 02:40 – Started in January 2016, working with over 100 customers and doing around 80 refuels per week 03:10 – Close to 1,000 refuels 03:24 – Made close to $15k 03:36 – Originally bootstrapped - they're now in the 500 Startups accelerator 03:57 – Investment from 500 startups - $125k for 5% of the business 04:21 – Why go into the refueling business? 05:00 – "I had an 80 mile commute...I was stuck in traffic and I didn't want to take 20 minutes to refuel when I saw the dashboard light" 06:44 – How do you prevent people from stealing gas when the lid is left open? 07:31 – Nathan: "I'm skeptical...I think that very soon the asset of a car is going to live on the balance sheet of a company" 08:00 – "Well, anything that moves on the road is going to need refueling...I think it will be possible to adapt" 09:11 – What does the business look like when people switch to autonomous electric vehicles? 10:00 – They're investing in mobile charging stations that could carry anything from gasoline to batteries to hydro fuels 10:10 – Pavan's invested around $25k in the business himself 10:20 – Less than $200k total investment - and the company is cash flow positive 10:45 – Monthly RPU is $20 per month plus fuel margin - around $50 total 11:00 – MRR is around $6k 11:34 – Churn is around 4% - though the company is so new that it's hard to tell 12:13 – CAC is $5 12:26 – Targeting consumers, and also building managers and company managers 14:17 – Connect with Pavan via email and at the FuelPanda website 14:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a pain point. Test the market to see if other people feel it. Market your solution. Don't be scared to do what you really want. If you're going into a changing market, you'd better understand how it's going to change. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Blake Smith, CEO of Cladwell - a SaaS business that helps you to dress exceptionally well with the smallest possible wardrobe. Blake and his team tried over 20 different revenue models before they perfected their business - and they're hoping to hit $1 million in revenue this year. Listen in to hear how to stay friendly with ex-co-founders, why you need to test and test your ad channels, and why Blake wishes he'd bootstrapped his company. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Anything in the HBR series What CEO do you follow? —Sheryl Sandberg Favorite online tool? — Google Calendar 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 it was okay to follow my curiosity Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:47 – Cladwell helps you do more with fewer items of clothing 02:11 – They sell a tool that helps you to dress each day and cut down your wardrobe 03:19 – Founded 2 ½ years ago 03:20 – Over 200k people have filled out their initial questionnaire 03:42 – A B2C SaaS business - women's side pays $15 per quarter and men's side pays $21 per quarter 03:55 – Launched as a men's business but women now make up 60% of business 04:15 – 11,500 customers in March 2016 04:46 – Customer Acquisition Cost is about $17 05:05 – Almost profitable - currently spending $30k per month on marketing 05:30 – Monthly Revenue Per User is about $6 05:40 – MRR is about $70k per month 05:57 – Have raised $1.8 million in funding 06:22 – Started with 3 other founders, and ended up with 1 other 07:00 – "My closest co-founder...we both realized that we were made to lead companies. We're still really good friends" 07:55 – "If I could do it over again, I would have started bootstrapping" 08:54 – First year revenue was $1000 09:12 – Started out trying affiliate marketing and drop-shipping 10:00 – "We tested 22 different permutations of a business model until we came up with one that worked" 11:04 – First year revenue was really about $10k; second year $100k; "We're planning to hit a million this year" 11:24 – They advertise in places where people are looking for advice 12:00 – Monthly churn is 5% - 'It's our worst number at the moment' 12:43 – Based in Cincinnati, Ohio 13:10 – 6 employees 14:16 – What valuation would Blake want for his first priced round? "Around $10 million" 15:37 – Blake doesn't want to scale ad spend until he's seriously tested each channel 16:13 – "We killed it on YouTube last summer by doing revenue shares with all the influencers in men's fashion" 14:17 – Connect with Blake via email 18:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Spend smart. Don't put more money into ad spend until you really understand every channel you're using. Test and test and test and pivot. It's okay to follow your curiosity and see where you end up Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Alex Taub, the co-founder of Social Rank. He and his co-founder created an algorithm to identify the 'Most Valuable Follower' on Twitter and other social media - and it went viral. Now they're making over $50k each month from their social media analytics software. Listen in to hear why businesses are leaping on the chance to curate their followers, how Alex built his business so fast, and why you should work for someone else before you launch your big idea. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – I like blogs more - but I guess my book, Pitching and Closing 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? —Go to a medium sized startup and work there before you do your own thing Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 02:06 – Social Rank is primarily for brands and agencies 01:50 – "We found out that in many cases, the most valuable followers are public figures" 02:56 – Social rank allows brands to analyze their followers 03:00 – They generate revenue through a premium subscription model 03:50 – Social Rank Premium is $50 per month, while the Market Intelligence model allows organizations to view the whole ecosystem and costs from $100 to several $1000 dollars 04:20 – Over 250,000 users, and over 50,000 paying customers on the Market Intelligence model 04:40 – Social Rank doesn't focus on user growth - they look at MRR and customer growth 05:34 – Revenue has grown by 30% each month in 2016 05:40 – In early 2015, MRR was under $7k per month, while it's now $50k per month 06:55 – How many basic subscribers upgrade to the premium model? 07:20 – "We're more interested in using it as a potential leads generator" 07:56 – "It's a non-traditional SaaS model...we're using the premium model as a loss leader to find leads" 08:50 – Premium model has only been out for 2 weeks 10:00 – "Most Valuable Follower", "Most Engaged Follower", and "Best Follower" metrics 10:33 – "Those metrics are a very small piece of what we do" 11:00 – It's a way to rank more valuable, in-demand, and interactive followers 12:25 – How is it valuable to curate followers? 12:45 – People use it to find the right people for events in specific areas 13:20 – The primary use case is finding the right people for the right things 13:54 – Raised a little over $2 million in seed rounds 14:17 – Connect with Alex on Twitter or via email 15:47 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Work for someone who knows what they're doing before you strike out on your own Curate your social media followers and find the right people to promote your events If an idea works - run with it Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Brett Hagler, the founder of New Story a charity that's transforming slums into sustainable communities worldwide. Brett and his team are determined to change the way charities work, and they've created their own software platform to maximize transparency, accountability, and user experience. Listen in to hear how Brett plans to build 1000 communities in the next 10 years, why he chose charity over social entrepreneurship, and why it's crucial to follow your own path. Famous 5: Favorite Business Book? – Insanely Simple What CEO do you follow? — Brian Chesky Favorite online tool? — Audible 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 do what everybody else is doing. Spend time learning about the world and have an open mind. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan's introduction 01:23 – New Story transforms slums into sustainable communities 01:50 – They created a platform to crowdfund homes and public buildings for communities in the Third World 02:29 – 100% of crowdfunded donations go to the people on the website - there's a separate group of 'Angel Donors' who have invested philanthropically in their operations 04:30 – "Venture capitalists 05:00 – New Story is 17 months old and has already generated $3 million in donations 05:50 – "We don't measure success by what's in our bank account, but by the impact we're having on the world" 06:26 – Brett went to Haiti after the earthquake...and couldn't find a charity to work for that he was excited about 07:36 – "We took our frustrations and made a better product and a better experience" 08:09 – "I never knew where my money was going or where it was helping" 08:50 – Built a database software to be extremely transparent 09:50 – Why go into charity rather than social entrepreneurship? 10:17 – "We're passionate about building a better type of non-profit" 10:50 – Their key metric of success is 4 communities 11:20 – Have so far built 4 communities - over 300 homes at $6000 per home. Aiming to have built over 1000 communities in 10 years' time 11:56 – Connect with Brett on Twitter or at New Story 13:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't do what everybody else is doing. Open your mind. Follow your own journey - make a difference in the way that makes you fired up. Give to the world. Spend time with people who have less than you and work out how to serve them. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Max Nussenbaum, co-founder of Castle and a Venture for America fellow based in Detroit. Max and his co-founders are revolutionizing property management in one of America's most opportunity-rich property markets. Tune in to hear what Max is doing differently, why he defends splitting equity evenly with his co-founders, and why you should be investing in Detroit. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Anything You Want What CEO do you follow? — Henry Ward Favorite online tool? — Instapaper Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Relax a little bit Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:27 – Nathan's introduction 02:04 – Max is based in Detroit 02:20 – Castle manages rental properties for owners - they find tenants, collect rent, and coordinating repairs 02:29 – They make money by charging a flat fee of $79 per month per rental unit 03:00 – They want to simplify the pricing structures associated with regular property managers 05:30 – Founded in late 2014 and launched in 2015 05:47 – Currently managing 530 units, all in the Detroit area 06:10 – "Our target market is the regular-person property investor" 06:43 – First year revenue was around $100k last year 07:14 – The metric Max focuses on is MRR - the subscription model is similar to SaaS 08:12 – Raised around $3 million, most recently $2 million in a seed round 09:17 – Team of 10 people 09:35 – "Structurally we're a lot like a SaaS business" 10:00 – Monthly RPU is $174, as the average customer has 2.2 units 10:35 – Switching costs are very high in terms of time and energy, so monthly churn is only around 1% 11:51 – "The bottom line is that we just don't know lifetime value yet...we haven't even been around for 2 years" 12:18 – They consider acquisition costs on a per-unit basis - and they're willing to spend around $200 to acquire a unit 12:55 – Most customers are investing less than $1 million in property in Detroit in their lifetime 14:30 – There are a lot of cheap properties in Detroit - but generally you can't get a mortgage for them 15:50 – The percentage of properties that have been vacant for more than 30 days is around 5% 17:17 – "There are still 700k people in Detroit and they're regular people who just need places to live" 21:45 – Connect with Max on Twitter 20:04 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't stress too much when you're young. There's plenty of time in life. If you can simplify a complicated process, there's a good chance you'll make money You don't have to be bullied away from splitting equity evenly with co-founders - what each of you brings to the table is less than what you achieve working as a team Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

David Fortino, who discovered NetLine aged 26 and convinced the CEO to hire him. He's now the head of Audience Development and has developed the Rev Response customer distribution network. Tune in to hear the inside story on the net's biggest B2B lead generation and content publishing business. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Traction What CEO do you follow? — Gabriel Weinberg Favorite online tool? — Clearbit Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Focus on developing and refining cadence Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 02:20 – Why did David want to work for NetLine? 02:50 – Being able to monetize a base through contextually relevant inclusions really appealed to him 03:44 – Netline is the world's largest B2B-specific content syndication and lead generation platform 03:55 – They work with large enterprise technology companies to distribute their content to specific audience segments 04:30 – Nathan: "If I gave you a finance eBook, how would you generate leads for me?" 05:55 – They have relationships with over 15k web publishers 07:36 – "We're driving the sales funnel for thousands of businesses" 08:00 – A CPL-based model, with an average value of $40-50 per lead 09:01 – There are 100 employees 09:10 – David heads up Audience Development 09:37 – There are around 300-400 active client campaigns at any time 10:00 – Current annual run rate is upwards of $20 million 10:25 – How predictable is revenue? 11:03 – Biggest cost is payout to individual publishers - around 20-30% 11:36 – Netline has various products to handle leads, from simple top-of-funnel generation to lead development 21:45 – Connect with David on Twitter or LinkedIn 14:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Refine your cadence. Find a rhythm and drive that helps you keep going. Lead generation isn't just about volume, but quality. Really refine your ideal customer - and hunt out exactly the people you want to connect to. Don't be afraid to reach out to people you want to work with Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Charles Gaudet, founder of Predictable Profits and author of The Predictable Profits Playbook. Charles is a business coaching and online marketing expert who's made money in real estate, self-publishing, and private coaching. Listen in to find out how he became profitable after going $1 million into debt overnight, why you'll do better if you write a book, and why entrepreneurs should be staying in line. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Losing my Virginity What CEO do you follow? — Marcus Lemonis Favorite online tool? — AdEspresso Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Stick with one strategy and master it Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:55 – Nathan's introduction 01:25 – Predictable Profits is a business coaching and marketing company 01:44 – Started his business on a pay-for-performance model, where he's paid a percentage of the business increase he secures for his clients 03:00 – His pet health insurance company closed down in 2000 when the crash happened 04:10 – Ended up investing in real estate 05:30 –Bought his first property off his father on a financed loan 06:22 – "I found myself over $1 million in debt almost overnight" 07:36 – Attracted buyers with incentives for construction loans 08:38 – Developed affiliate relationships with tradespeople and related businesses 10:40 – "If you're looking to get into real estate, align yourself with a private lender" 11:30 – How do you convince a private lender to invest in your deal? 15:00 – The Predictable Profits Playbook: why? 15:10 – "If you look at the most influential people in the world, they've got things in common, They've written a book, and they're public speakers" 15:45 – If you want to be perceived as someone of influence...well, success leaves clues 16:15 – The book is published as a hybrid - it's a combination of self-published and done through a traditional publisher 17:20 – The book sells for $17 on Amazon 17:44 – Around 1500 books have sold so far 18:24 – Charles sends copies of his book to potential clients as an advertising strategy 19:01 – Charles used a ghostwriter 20:10 – "Give the book away as much as you can. Give it away for free if you have to" 20:20 – Hard costs per book are under $3 per copy 20:43 – Most of Charles's income last month came from private clients 21:45 – Connect with Charles at Predictable Profits 22:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Master one strategy at a time. Focus. Writing a book positions you as an expert - use that influence! Establish multiple income streams - you'll be more financially stable Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Steve Olsher, sometimes called the world's foremost re-invention expert. He's known for the bestseller What Is Your WHAT? - helping businesses and individuals find the one amazing thing they were born to do. Steve writes, speaks, runs multiple businesses, and is the host of Reinvention Radio. Tune in to learn how Steve's crushing it in e-commerce, the secrets behind his bestseller, and the one place where he's generating 400k unique site visitors a month. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Guerilla Marketing What CEO do you follow? — Adam Braun Favorite online tool? — GetEmail Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — These are the golden years Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 02:30 – Steve's working on multiple projects simultaneously 03:12 – Liquor.com is crushing things right now 03:40 – It's a site that connects brands to bartenders and liquor-lovers 04:20 – The site has had its ups and downs - they lost the domain name at one point 05:30 – In 1999, when the site was still an e-commerce business, they were making $3.5 million in annual sales 05:51 – Since then, they've moved to a newsletter and content marketing model, monetised through paid advertising 06:15 – Annual revenue in 2015 was $3 million; this year they're hoping to reach $7.5 million 07:30 – Works with big brands from Bacardi to Jack Daniels 09:12 – One of their biggest sources of traffic is ZergNet, which brings around 400k unique visits per month to the site 12:22 – Steve's books: why's he writing them? 12:57 – "I know people who are getting 6 or 7 figure advances on their books" 13:10 – "It's about platform" 13:45 – Steve knows someone who had a 7-figure advance on their book: their platform is one of the top 250 podcasts, with 850k downloads per month 15:40 – What Is Your WHAT? Was published by Wiley with a $15k advance 17:05 – Sold 25k hard copies between 20/09/13 - 15/05/16, not counting the free eBook 17:24 – Get the free eBook at What is Your WHAT? 17:50 – Steve's email list was 40k when he started marketing 18:10 – He's the sole author 18:55 – Royalty income is $50k 19:40 – Given the income he's made - was it worth spending six figures in book marketing? 20:43 – Most of Steve's income last month came from real estate 21:45 – Connect with Steve at Reinvention Radio 28:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Build your platform. Success comes from having a tribe. Invest your time and money widely. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Want to write a book? Understand why you want to write it before you start. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Cody McLain, the founder of Support Ninja. Cody launched his first business at 15, and sold it 18 months later, having made $150k in revenue. He's an entrepreneur with incredible drive who's been featured in Forbes, Mashable, Entrepreneur and more. Tune in to hear how Cody sold two businesses before he was 24, why he's set up and outsourcing company, and why this relentless entrepreneur thinks that everyone just needs to slow down. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster What CEO do you follow? — Ben Casnocha Favorite online tool? — Droplr 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 not always about making money. Slow down and explore the connections you can make with other humans. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:56 – Nathan's introduction 01:25 – Welcoming Cody to the show 01:30 – Starting your first business at FIFTEEN? 02:01 – His friend proposed starting a hosting company to pay for the new XBox 02:40 – It took several years to move from on-selling HostGator's services to starting their own hosting company 03:17 – At 16 or 17 he merged with another partner, having made $150k in revenue 04:41 – He was in foster care when he started his first business 05:11 – Aged 19, was screwed over by a potential business partner who ended up in a litigation battle 06:00 – Lost customers because the buyer damaged the company's reputation 07:09 – Servers were shut down and customers quit 07:55 – Cody walked away and moved to Seattle 08:29 – He started a new business, PacificHost 09:40 – Put around $30k of his $70k savings into the business before it was profitable 10:11 – PacificHost was making around $650k in annual revenue when he sold it 10:51 – Margins tend to be low in the hosting industry. 12:06 – Sold PacificHost for a little under $1 million aged 24 12:35 – Started an outsourcing business with a partner in India 13:11 – "I always wanted to be a startup...but I'm very risk-averse. So I took the opportunity to work with startups" 13:53 – Support Ninja was founded to provide outsourcing services for small startups 14:09 – 14 months in, they have over $1 million in contracts 15:23 – First-year revenue in 2015 was less than $500k 15:44 – "We didn't even know what we were selling the first few months" 16:01 – "I would say we provide Outsourcing As A Service" 16:37 – Support Ninja uses similar metrics to SaaS and they expect a 40% net margin 18:38 – Cody's eager to use the skills and platform of Support Ninja to launch new projects 19:05 – They currently have 10 clients 19:30 – Average annual contract size is $100k - $400k 19:40 – Team size is 5 in the USA, 100 in the Philippines 20:20 – Follow Cody on Twitter or check out his website 22:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: It's not all about making money. Slow down. Connect with the people around you. Know your own skills. Always be looking ahead. Know where your current project can take you. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Max Coursey, a real estate broker and the founder of Tiger Prop - a real estate brokerage company that's giving its buyers their money back. Tune in to hear about Max's innovative brokerage model, how to create an insanely successful co-working space, and why you should be having more fun. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The E-Myth Revisited What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Paperless Pipeline Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — How to bite my tongue Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:04 – Nathan's introduction 01:25 – Welcoming Max to the show 01:34 – Tiger Prop is a residential real estate brokerage in Boise 01:55 – They credit 20% of brokerage fees back to the buyer 03:22 – Why do people choose Tiger Prop over other brokerages? 03:25 – They standardize professional photography, signs, flyers, and videos 04:20 – They don't take any money unless they move the property 05:30 – Tiger Prop was launched in 2013 06:04 – First-year revenue was around $200k 06:39 – Now have 39 agents 07:22 – 2015 total revenue was around $800k 08:20 – "We're starting a new co-working space in downtown Boise" 08:45 – Sharing space with a designer furniture gallery 09:16 – All agents are on the same split - Tiger Prop takes 30% of the brokerage fee and agents take 70% 10:31 – The total revenue figures only include commission charged 12:09 – There are multiple revenue streams in the building: furniture, coffee, and - soon - printing 13:50 – Connect with Max on Twitter or at Tiger Prop 15:29 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you're in the business of selling, then find and pay the best agents you possibly can. The better your people, the better your business. Find ways to make the space you work in, pay. Have as much frickin' fun as humanly possible Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Justin Cooke, the co-founder and CMO of Empire Flippers - a brokerage platform that makes buying and selling websites incredible easy. After experimenting with website creation, Justin and his partner pivoted into brokerage in 2013 - and they're handling millions in sales every year. Listen in to learn how the professionals value a website, how much the average site sells for, and why it's best to be bold. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Built to Sell What CEO do you follow? — Clay Collins 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 should have been bolder. I could have made bigger business moves. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:29 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Empire Flippers helps people buy and sell online businesses and apps 02:05 – Their biggest sale was $550k last month 02:26 – A recent sale was Rave Aid - an Ecstasy hangover cure site 02:56 – Individual sellers are the most common listers 03:25 – $297 listing fee for the first listing and $97 for repeat listings 03:45 – Some users have portfolios of up to 60 websites that they buy and sell on a regular basis 04:15 – The listing fee acts as a filter to keep out scammers and time-wasters 04:40 – The site pivoted to brokerage in 2013 05:00 – First-year revenue was around $275k in total sites sold 05:24 – The charge a 15% fee on sales 05:38 – Use a basic algorithm to help with valuation, then look at subjective factors 06:24 – 95% of revenue comes from the 15% brokerage fee 06:50 – Made $4.56 million in sales on 176 deals in 2015 07:30 – In April 2016, made $1 million in sales - meaning $150k in revenue to Empire Flipper 09:04 – How did Justin start Empire Flippers? 09:56 – "We realised there was a huge market of people looking for mini-businesses" 10:09 – In April 2016, between 20 and 30 sellers listed their businesses for sale 11:05 – About 15-20 of those sites were sold 11:28 – About half of the buyers are repeat buyers and half are unique 11:45 – The average deal size is $76k 12:24 – They've sold well over 1000 sites since their inception 13:35 – How do Empire Flippers value a site? 14:30 – The business is entirely bootstrapped 15:00 – At the beginning of creating an investor program to bring people with lots of money and no time into the site 13:30 – Connect with Justin on Twitter or at the Empire Flippers blog 18:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Be bold. Forge your own path - don't be afraid to ignore what other people are doing. Be willing to pivot as better markets reveals themselves Listing fees and barriers to entry can add value to your business by keeping out tire-kickers and time-wasters Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Michael Gilroy, a tech investor and partner with Canaan investment. Canaan's an early-stage venture firm with $4.2 billion of capital under management. Michael moved there when he realised he wanted to engage with the companies he was investing in. Listen in to hear the ins and outs of technology investment, just how Michael secured an investment deal with Bellhops, and why we should be working less. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Fooling Some of the People All of the Time What CEO do you follow? — Dan Ruch Favorite online tool? — TD Ameritrade Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Try to work less and be in the moment more Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:02 – Nathan's introduction 02:00 – Welcoming Michael to the show 02:24 – Michael started his career working with M&A and private capital investment in Silicon Valley 02:50 – He was involved in the 2012 Oracle deal 03:58 – How did Michael get into technology investment? 04:28 – "I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up" 04:50 – "You genuinely have to be passionate about investment banking...you see a lot of people churn out" 05:25 – Michael worked at GCA for 5 years in New York 06:39 – "The great thing about venture capital is that when you invest, that's just the start of the deal" 07:35 – Canaan is an early-stage investor - meaning that they support the companies they invest in 09:30 – What are the roles in a venture firm? And what's Michael's next step? 10:29 – How can Michael move up the ranks at Canaan? 11:28 – How do you bring in companies like Bellhops for investment? 11:40 – "It's all about your network...And it's important to go deep on a couple of different verticals. You can't do everything" 13:08 – Michael's looking to start making fintech deals 13:30 – Connect with Michael on Twitter 15:15 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Work less. Enjoy life. Making good deals and bringing value to a company is all about your network. Nurture solid relationships with the people around you. If you're looking for early-stage investors, find a partner investor who'll bring more than just money to the table. You're building a long-term relationship! Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Dr Henry Cloud, a psychologist, business consultant, and bestselling author of over 45 books. His most recent book is The Power of the Other - offering powerful insights into how relationships shape our success. Listen in to hear about Dr Henry's enormous experience in writing and publishing, why you need an agent, and exactly what the "power of the other" means for your business. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — OneNote 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 known what's in this book: that I need other people to get me through life and turn me into my best self Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 02:07 – Welcoming Dr Henry to the show 03:10 – Why does Dr Henry write so much? 03:35 – "The books come from the work...when I see an issue that multiple people are having, I write a book" 04:50 – Dr Henry's latest book is The Power of The Other 05:05 – "People only get past the current limit of their performance when they build relationships that take them to that higher level of performance" 06:50 – The last book that Dr Henry published was Boundaries For Leaders 07:30 – Even the highest performers tend to lose control of their lives 08:09 – "If everything's important, then nothing is" 08:40 – Published by Harper Collins 09:25 – "The publisher doesn't sell the book - the author and their platform sell the book" 10:55 – What was the path that Dr Henry took with his publisher? 12:40 – Why it's important to have an agent 13:15 – Agents have specialist knowledge about the business side of books 15:15 – "Ask yourself one question: why am I writing this book?" 16:09 – A book is a way of getting your message out 16:45 – It's a product line, a way of spreading your message, and a calling card 17:00 – When you're just starting out, royalties are probably the wrong reason to write a book 18:50 – Beginning authors will be offered lower royalty percentages than established authors - around 10% would be normal 20:17 – An advance is roughly the royalty percentage for a first year of sales 21:12 – How did Dr Henry sell copies of his first book? 21:50 – Dr Henry sold copies of Changes That Heal at speaking events 23:25 – He got a $10k advance on that first book 24:35 – He took around 12% of the $20 sale price in royalties 25:55 – Publishers are more likely to pay for ideas where they see a market 26:44 – Dr Henry sold around 40-50k copies of his first book before he was offered another deal 27:20 – Self-publishing works well for some people - but if you don't want publishing to be your day job, then it's worth looking at other options 29:02 – Connect with Dr Henry at Power of The Other 32:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The publisher doesn't sell the book: the author and their platform sell the book Other people, and the relationships you form, are absolutely vital to bringing out your best performance Want to write a book? Understand why you want to write it. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Steven Mazur, co-founder and CEO of Ash & Anvil, a clothing company for short guys. Steven co-founded the company last year and he's excited about how many dedicated customers their store already has. Tune in to hear how Steven's getting inventory orders right; the importance of connecting with the entrepreneurs around you; and why everything always takes longer than you think. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – How To Win Friends And Influence People What CEO do you follow? — Andy Dunn Favorite online tool? — Wunderlist Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Everything takes longer than you think it will Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 01:51 – Welcoming Steven to the show 02:06 – "I'm 5' 6", my business partner's 5' 8" - we decided to be the ones to make clothes for shorter guys" 02:56 – Started with an IndieGoGo campaign with a $10k goal, and ended up generating $26k in pre-orders 03:40 – The bestseller is their blue gingham shirt 04:55 – The price of the shirt is $69 - what are the margins on that? 05:20 – Base unit cost at a low volume is around $25 05:35 – Around a 55% gross margin at this point 06:00 – First run of shirts was 1000 units 06:35 – Steven doesn't have a figure for net margin at this point 07:30 – How do you handle the challenge of ordering the right amount of inventory? 07:50 – The company is self-funded 08:31 – "It always takes longer than you think to order" 08:53 – Founded in 2015 09:11 – The team is currently just Steven and his co-founder Eric 09:37 – The most important metrics for them are revenue, number of customers, and re-order rate 10:50 – Close to having 1000 unique customers at the moment 11:24 – The next order is 1,250 shirts 12:10 – Average customer buys 1.5 shirts 12:32 – Total revenue in 2015 was $50k 13:30 – What's Venture For America? 14:00 – It's a startup program that places entrepreneurs in struggling American cities, like Detroit, and helps them connect with investors and other start-ups 16:03 – "It's been a big part of our story" 10:45 – Connect with Steven at Ash & Anvil 18:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: It takes 10 years to build an overnight success: focus on the long-term and be patient Engage with the smart people around you. Be part of your community and your ecosystem Start the company that you want to exist - but check that other people want it too Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Jess Butcher, the co-founder of Blippar. It's a mobile visual browser that lets you search the internet without words, simply by scanning the objects around you. As Chief Marketing Officer, she's led Blippar to over 60 million app downloads. Listen in to hear about the crazy future of augmented reality and why Jess thinks that "blipping", like "googling", will become a verb before too long. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Anything by Seth Godin What CEO do you follow? — Aaron Levie Favourite online tool? —Twitter and Linkedin Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— Fake it til you make it. Stop being so cautious. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:08 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Jess to the show 01:53 – Blippar is a mobile visual browser that can recognise anything in the physical world and search for information on it - "Search without words" 03:15 – "We could play an audio file on the artwork you see - or open a link to buy the handbag that you see someone holding on the train" 03:40 – Currently working with Coca Cola and Lucky Charms to create interactive experiences with their physical products 03:35 – Founded in 2013; went to market in 2014 05:20 – Raised just over $100 million in funding 06:00 – "We've been in the market long enough that we have entrenched relationships with many of our clients. It's a combination of consultancy and technology fixed fees" 07:30 – Mostly 7-figure retained relationships 08:15 – "Increasingly we're moving the creative side onto agencies and focusing on tech" 08:30 – Average annual contract is in the mid 6 figures 08:45 – Currently working with well over 500 brands and asset owners 09:40 – Founded in 2011 09:50 – Around 300 team members in 14 offices around the world 11:40 – In addition to the brands they work closely with, Blippar has self-service tools that let smaller companies access their technology 12:20 – Blipp Builder is an affordable and accessible way into Blippar 13:30 – How do you incentivise users to come on board Blippar? 13:50 – "We've never sold this as people having access to everyone that uses Blippar...the idea is that the partners themselves are getting people to download the app" 16:00 – What's the long term goal? 16:15 – "We want to become a verb in common parlance" 18:02 – Within the year, Blippar will be able to recognise its surroundings with the same level of complexity as an adult brain 18:20 – Connect with Jess on Twitter 21:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Visual search recognition is the next level of engagement with the internet - visual recognition and augmented reality are going to take off rapidly in the next few years Fake it til you make it. Pretend you know what you're doing and you're where you want to be. Have ambitious goals. Know when you're onto a big idea - and chase it. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Saalim Chowdhury, a man who's out to build the future of online talent sourcing. Saalim was CTO at Skillbridge - a premium talent-sourcing company that was acquired last week by Toptal. Listen in to hear Nathan and Saalim talk about why Skillbridge was keen to be acquired, how the human cloud economy works for high-level talent, and why sometimes you just need to keep going. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? — No Favourite online tool? —Thingthing keyboard 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 the value of persevering no matter what Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Welcoming Saalim to the show 02:00 – Skillbridge is an online platform that brings management consultants to people who need them. 02:40 – "How do you make the human cloud economy work for people whose skills can't be broken down into a 5-star rating?" 03:10 – Skillbridge breaks down what a company needs people to do, and then connects them with the people who have those skills 03:35 – Founded in 2013; went to market in 2014 04:30 – Saalim was the second customer of Skillbridge and found the exact person he needed there 05:50 – Skillbridge's peak team size was 7 people 06:35 – Makes money from a 20% flat fee charged to the buyer 07:55 – Have been a total of 7.5k people listed; 1k people looking for skills 08:30 – Raised an angel investment round 10:00 – A typical project involve consulting, for example in the equity space - perhaps a week to 2 week project 11:00 – Typical project size is $5k-10k 11:50 – Deliberately high-quality, curated skills service 12:40 – In March 2016 just under $500k of projects placed on the platform 13:55 – Why sell the business? 14:15 – "We could either raise money and play catch-up, or we could sell to these guys and go in together" 15:10 – "Everybody was very happy with the deal" 16:00 – How is a business like Skillbridge valued? 18:02 – "Toptal are essentially building the future of on-demand talent" 18:20 – Connect with Saalim on Linkedin or via email 20:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Sometimes it's best to join the people ahead of you instead of trying to play catch-up Persevere. Work through the hard times. The human cloud economy is complex - the platforms that manage it and connect people need to be able to handle the complexity of people's skills and histories. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Ethan Appleby wants to get away from a world where everyone has the same Ikea print in their flat. He's the founder of Vango - a startup that connects aspiring artists with novice art buyers. They're currently making $1.6 million in revenue and hoping to grow this year. Listen in to hear Nathan and Ethan talk making art accessible, setting up a successful marketplace, and why Ethan's raised three funding rounds via convertible note. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? — Stewart Butterfield Favourite online tool? —5None 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 take the step sooner to get into entrepreneurship Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:51 – Welcoming Ethan to the show 02:00 – Vango is a marketplace that connects artists and art buyers. It makes money by taking 30% of every transaction 02:50 – "Art is something people are intrigued by, but intimidated by" 03:16 – Before starting Vango, Ethan was a Design Thinking consultant 03:54 – Started in 2013 - first-year revenue was zero 04:23 – As of March 2016, 20,000 sellers have an active profile 05:00 – Targeting new art buyers - around 100,000 buyers on their platform in total 05:45 – "We're hustling every month to get new sales" 06:35 – Currently have a team of 12 06:44 – Raised around $3 million through 500 Startups 07:10 – All raised via convertible notes 07:55 – Convertible notes let you take funding without worrying about valuation 09:10 – "We like to help people engage with art directly" 09:44 – Total revenue in 2015 was $1.6 million 10:10 – Biggest cost is the team 10:45 – In March 2016, about 800 buyers and 320 sellers 11:25 – Once an artist sells 10 pieces, their likelihood to sell increases 12:18 – The benefit to artists comes from higher traffic 13:30 – Average order value on on Vango is $575 14:20 – Connect with Ethan via email or on twitter 16:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Get started. Create your business now. To get sales, you need to hustle. Keep moving and building momentum Art is an area where a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers directly has room to take off Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives