SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

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

Jake Jorgovan, founder of Outbound Creative: an agency that goes the extra mile to help consultants secure their dream clients. Tune in to hear why it's worth spending to acquire your perfect clients; why Jake's sending cakes to top executives; and how he's planning to multiply annual revenue by 10x this year. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – How To Win Friends And Influence People What CEO do you follow? — Aaron Ross Favourite 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? — To enjoy life more along the way. Don't work around the clock. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:12 – Nathan's introduction 01:32 – Welcoming Jake to the show 01:37 – Outbound Creative make money be helping consultants secure their dream clients 01:48 – They create highly personalized outreach campaigns and charge a monthly retainer, plus commission 02:41 – Retainers are $2-4k, with a commission ranging from 0-15% 03:15 – One client is Lighthouse Conferencing: they're sending cakes to Lighthouse's potential clients with a URL to a personalized outreach video 04:21 – "If you're doing deals that are $50k or $100k, you can spend a few hundred dollars to get in front of those clients" 04:55 – They also work on gifting and customer retention 05:30 – Started in July 2015 05:40 – This year's revenue is around $50k 06:15 – First-year revenue was around $25k 06:25 – Hard costs of purchase and postage are passed on to the client 07:05 – One full-time employee and 3 sales reps 07:39 – Highly personalized videos on a landing page are a staple of outreach 08:00 – Have worked with 10 clients in total; currently have 5 clients on retainer and 3 more in the pipeline 08:39 – Averaging $15k per month in revenue 08:55 – They're moving away from project-based work and towards building MRR 10:16 – Revenue goal for 2017? "Half a million" 10:45 – Connect with Jake at his website 13:11 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't work around the clock - enjoy life Go the extra mile to engage with your clients. Those are valuable relationships - invest in them Be ambitious about growth: make a plan and hire fantastic sales reps 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

Dave Nevogt is the co-founder of Hubstaff, has three kids, and gets more than 8 hours of sleep every night. Hubstaff is a SaaS company that helps virtual teams communicate better through online time tracking. They've just broken $1 million in annual revenue. Tune in to hear how Dave's managing disagreements with his co-founder, a tight breakdown of his unit economics, and why you should be taking more risks. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The 80/20 Principle What CEO do you follow? — Hiten Shah Favourite online tool? —Google Docs Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— More If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— That taking risks is okay. Even if it doesn't work out, you'll learn from it. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:03 – Nathan's introduction 01:28 – Welcoming Dave to the show 01:40 – Hubstaff is a SaaS business that helps track time and invoice clients 01:50 – Launched in 2013 - the business is entirely bootstrapped 02:20 – Split the original investment 50/50 with his partner 02:50 – What will Dave and his partner do if they disagree on something big? 03:15 – If there's a disagreement, one person can buy the other one out 04:22 – Currently have 2600 paying customers 04:50 – Services track time and record activity, screenshots, what software is being used 05:35 – Average customer is paying $35 per month 06:22 – MRR in March 2016 was just under $88k 07:26 – 20 employees, with a head-count cost each month of around $46k 08:15 – Adding about 270 new customers each month 08:45 – Customer churn is 3.9% 09:12 – Lifetime value is around $660 09:55 – Founders based in Indianapolis, with a global team 10:50 – Paying around $90 on per-customer acquisition 11:14 – Spread through company to contractor to company 12:30 – Blog gets around 40k unique visitors per month 13:00 – Around a 7% conversion rate to free trial at the Hubstaff homepage 14:20 – Connect with Dave via email or through the Hubstaff website 16:25 – "We just want to build the business up to a healthy annual revenue and then live our lives" 16:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Always take risks. Even if things don't work, you'll learn. Find a partner who's on the same page as you. And even then, make sure you're prepared for disagreements. Have your numbers at your fingertips 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

Kat Loterzo - a content machine who's written 37 bestselling books and generates 3-4 emails for her list each day. Kat built her own 7-figure online fitness business before turning to coaching and writing. She now coaches businesses on how to have the same success she did. Tune in to hear how Kat brings people to her membership site, why she can't get enough of writing, and the importance of listening to your gut. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Big Magic What CEO do you follow? — Grant Cardone Favourite online tool? —None, I'm pretty old school 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?—Listen to your gut and follow what you feel called to do Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:11 – Nathan's introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Kat to the show 02:05 – Kat built Woman Incredible as an extension of her personal training business 03:10 – Started in 2007, became big in 2010 03:40 – She's now dropped the business - but at its height it was making $80k a month 04:20 – Kat currently makes revenue from The Tribe, a coaching membership site 05:17 – First month is $97, subsequent months are $197 05:30 – Around 150 current members 05:50 – Made just over $500k from the site so far 06:20 – Membership gives free access to all of Kat's content, and access to members' community 08:22 – Keeping around 80% of members each month 08:50 – Average customer lifetime is around 5 months - but members will often buy other products 09:40 – Acquisition is mostly from referrals and social media. Kat's only just now setting up a funnel 10:00 – Kat will email her list 2-3 times each day, and always includes links back to The Tribe website 10:55 – Kat also hosts the Success Smackdown podcast 11:20 – Produces several 4 or 5 minute episodes each week 11:40 – Each episode is hitting around 1,000 downloads 12:40 – Not monetising podcasts - just using them as content marketing 13:13 – Kat's an Amazon bestselling author with around 1000 downloads per month 14:30 – "I can't get enough of writing" - Kat's written 37 books 15:30 – Publishing the next book through CreateSpace 16:20 – Facebook is Kat's main source of traffic 16:50 – Connect with Kat on Facebook, Twitter, and at her website 19:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Create the content and people will come Follow your gut and do what you feel called to do It's not the size of your list that matters, but how dedicated your following is. Find people who love what you do. 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

Jake Ducey is 24 years old and he's already written three books with Penguin Random House. Jake's making money from his books - but he's out to make a difference. Last year he raised 345,000 pounds of food for homeless people off the back of his book tour. Tune in to hear Nathan and Jake talk self-publishing, how to launch your writing career, and why patience is everything. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Pitch Anything What CEO do you follow? — Oren Klaff Favourite online tool? —Youtube Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Pretty close If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Patience Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:11 – Nathan's introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Jake to the show 02:00 – Jake wrote a book not expecting to make money from it 02:55 – Wrote his first book, Into the Wind, aged 19 04:00 – Self-published; have now sold 30k copies 05:00 – Made around $100k from that book alone 05:40 – Got a literary agent because he wanted someone with experience and a mentor 06:30 – Founded in 2012 and had only $200 topline revenue 06:25 – Agent's name is Bill Gladstone at Waterside Productions 06:50 – "I would recommend going through Amazon if you're self-publishing" 07:35 – Next book, The Purpose Principles, was published by Penguin Random House 08:50 – Had an advance on the contract - around $30k 09:36 – Jake was starting to pick up momentum by this point 10:03 – "I want to influence people's lives" 11:00 – Took Jake around 4 months to write his 60,000-word book 12:30 – "It's nice to write a book with support and an editor and help" 13:37 – Having a publisher is also a credibility stamp for speaking engagements 14:00 – Jake mostly makes money through speaking engagements 15:13 – Hired Ryan Holiday for book launch strategy sessions 16:05 – The next book, Profit From Happiness, will be published in June 2016 17:40 – Plans to give away his book to underprivileged youth: for every book that's bought, he'll donate one 19:10 – Jake hopes to expand internationally and keep writing books 20:00 – Connect with Jake on Facebook 21:40 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to self-publish. Publishing houses are more likely to pick you up if you've already had some success. Profit has to intertwine with service and fulfilment. Make sure you're helping other people. Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade. Be patient. 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

Warren Jolly, the CEO of Ad Quadrant, a social marketing agency that made $4 million in revenue in its first year. Warren's an expert in leveraging social media and mobile marketing. Listen in to hear why you need to plan obsessively before you launch a business, why focus is the key to success, and how Warren aspires to scale massively...without becoming a SaaS business. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? — Gary Vaynerchuk Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Focus on one business; be great at one thing at a time Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:27 – Nathan's introduction 01:49 – Welcoming Warren to the show 01:56 – Ad Quadrant was founded in 2014 02:05 – It's a managed services agency 02:35 – Ad Quadrant works in the social marketing niche, including social media and mobile advertising 03:12 – They make money by charging a percentage of the ad spend that they manage - if they meet their acquisition targets then the ad spend may be increased 04:00 – "First year revenue was $4 million" 04:23 – Spent a lot of time pre-planning and finding clients before they launched the business 05:14 – "It was a painstaking process...we failed a lot and spent a lot of time working out our niche" 05:25 – Revenue in 2015 was $15 million 05:46 – 33 employees, based in California and New York 06:01 – Take around 20% of ad spend on average 06:14 – Will take more than that if they arbitrage a campaign - and will take less from high-volume clients 07:02 – Have 35 active clients 07:17 – Most revenue comes from percentage fees from ad spend - and some comes from a different model where they take a fixed price-per-action from customers 08:24 – The metrics that are important to Warren's team are new opportunities, growth, and churn and attrition 08:55 – "If you're not carefully focused on churn, you're just filling a leaky bucket with more water" 09:05 – "The two things you can control are flawless quality and fanatical customer service - those are what reduce churn" 10:30 – Ad Quadrant's aspirations are to develop and incubate consumer products 11:05 – "If we can find verticals that are ripe for disruption and a good fit for social, then we want to use our expertise to get into that space" 12:08 – Warren believes in bootstrapping - he's more interested in investing in the business than paying himself a large salary 13:16 – "Reach an inflection point and pay yourself a ratio" 13:45 – Don't try to run 5 businesses at once - find the one that you really want to focus on. Passive investment is an option as well 14:50 – Warren's generated his own wealth from prior exits 08:16 – Connect with Warren on Linkedin or Twitter 17:44 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Focus on one thing at a time. If you're in a service industry, you've got to control churn. Have astonishingly good customer service - otherwise you'll bleed clients instead of growing. Plan. Plan painstakingly and obsessively before you try to launch your business. 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

Nicholas Haase, founder and CEO of Loot and Startup Drugz. Nick's come out of the private equity industry and now wants to change the direction of marketing by tapping into the power of user-generated content. Tune in to hear what Nathan should invest his next million dollars into, why augmented reality is the future of tech, and where to buy a "9 to 5 is for the weak" T-Shirt. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – How to Win at the Sport of Business What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favourite online tool? —Shopify Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No. I'm trying. If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—I wish I knew how important computer science major would have been Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Nicholas to the show 02:20 – Worked in the private equity industry after an internship 03:10 – The people Nicholas worked with loved what they were doing 03:40 – Nicholas would invest $100 million in augmented reality if he had the juice 04:50 – Loot uses incentivised user-generated content to promote a brand 05:30 – People can upload photographs or actions and receive rewards according to their following 06:30 – Founded in 2012 and had only $200 topline revenue 06:50 – Topline revenue in 2015 was $500k 07:30 – Bootstrapped the app's creation and raised capital following proof of concept 08:20 – Augmented reality can be many things - a Snapchat filter is augmented reality 08:46 – How do people value brands in the space that Loot works in? 09:30 – By recurring revenue or by number of contracts 09:55 – What's Startup Drugz? 10:20 – An e-commerce company that sells merchandise based on entrepreneur humour 11:20 – In February 2016, total sales revenue was in mid-5 figures 12:30 – Connect with Nicholas via Twitter 14:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Understand some computer science. Even if it's not your core competency, you'll be grateful for the background. Nicholas thinks that augmented reality is the future of tech and entertainment Leverage your users and fanbase - marketing is effective when it connects users to other user-generated content 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

John Ruhlin, the #1 distributor for Cutco and founder of the Ruhlin Group. John's an expert on high-level gift giving, and accessing CEOs and top executives. Tune in to hear about why gratitude is so important, how to make your relationships work for you, and the secrets of effective gifting. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Give and Take What CEO do you follow? — Gary Vaynerchuk Favourite online tool? —Hatchbuck 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 understood that I didn't have to do it all on my own Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:30 – Welcoming John to the show 01:56 – Interned with CutCo and created their corporate gifting program 03:00 – Made around $10k over a summer aged 20 03:50 – Sold about $35-40k in his first summer 04:25 – Sold over $500k in his best year with CutCo 05:20 – "We help leaders not suck at saying Thank You" 05:50 – John speaks, writes, and coaches on corporate generosity and gratitude 06:20 – Worked with the Chicago Cubs on gifting 07:20 – They were remodelling a stadium - so John suggested using the wood from the old locker room to create 400 custom speakers for their most important relationships 09:20 – 8 people in John's team and a strong relationship with his suppliers 10:08 – "I really try to appreciate everyone in our circle...I don't have a business without those people" 10:40 – Almost lost the business on 2008 because of embezzlement by his accountant 11:25 – Published Giftology through Book in a Box 12:40 – Book in a Box cut down around 90% of the work related to creating a book 13:30 – Execution, launch and publicity are all being managed by John's company 15:00 – Aiming to hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list 15:20 – The best way to sell a book is to create a great book and have a tribe who'll promote it 17:50 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: You are as strong as the people around you. Create strong relationships with your team, your suppliers, and your partners. You don't have to do everything alone. Say thank you. Relationships thrive on gratitude and appreciation Be humble and be honest about your weaknesses, and you'll find people to help you balance them out 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

KJ Singh left $300k a year as an options trader at Wall St to move to Silicon Valley. After leading growth at Union Metrics, KJ's founded Dil Mil - the world's fastest-growing dating app for South Asians. Tune in to hear why some of the country's richest people are unhappy; how KJ's growing his business with no paid advertising; and what the future looks like for Dil Mil. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? — Naval Ravikant Favourite online tool? —Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Don't work on multiple projects at the same time Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming KJ to the show 02:16 – "I think some of the top traders at different firms are miserable with their life" 03:00 – "I think a lot of the hard work in the startup world is meaningful work" 03:22 – KJ left finance aged 24, earning $300k per year 03:58 – He joined Union Metrics because he was attracted to the idea behind the firm 04:30 – Moved to Silicon Valley only knowing one person 05:00 – Worked at Union Metrics for 1 year, in which time it grew from 14 to 23 people 05:40 – Left Union Metrics to create a dating app for South Asians - why? 06:00 – KJ's sister was 28, a doctor and attractive - but had never found time to date 06:17 – 90% of South Asians date and marry within their community 06:40 – "The traditional model of arranged model has broken down" 07:18 – Raised $2.8 million altogether using two SAFE rounds 08:15 – Dil Mil makes money through a premium model. There's a free base service; it's possible to purchase more 'likes' 09:40 – Average income per user is $10 per month 09:55 – Just under 1 million downloads 10:13 – Run rate of around $500k; currently making around $44k per month 10:45 – "A lot of the metrics that SaaS companies use are relevant to us - but obviously, when we're successful people leave." 11:50 – Not using any paid advertising at the moment - growing through referrals 12:40 – Revenue goal for 2016 is $1 million 13:15 – Average customer stays for around 3 months, giving a $40 lifetime value 14:20 – "The point where you have revenue without investors is a great position to be in" 14:50 – Connect with KJ on Twitter 16:44 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Find a niche market with a need you can meet. Generate revenue. So many startups run a fundraising round with nothing but a great idea - then find they just can't monetise. Focus on one thing at a time. Don't try to work on every great idea at once. 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

Kevin Getch, the founder and director of digital strategy agency Webfor. He's running a digital strategy agency that's growing by 30% year on year - tune in to find out why he left his 6-figure job at the height of the financial crisis and how failures have given him the confidence to succeed. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? — Sarah Bird Favourite online tool? — Google Keep Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Get comfortable with being uncomfortable Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:02 – Nathan's introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Kevin to the show 01:50 – Webfor makes money from developing digital strategy, from website design to SEO optimisation 02:58 – Kevin left a 6-figure job in 2009 to found a business 03:50 – What gave Kevin the confidence to leave his job? 04:05 – "I'd had some pretty big failures - and that gave me the confidence" 04:37 – Mix of project-based and retainer-based income 04:50 – Marketing tends to be retainer-based, while design tends to be project-based 05:20 – A project is around $10k, while an ongoing marketing retainer will be around $2k per month 05:40 – Team of 14 people 06:24 – Works with around 60-70 clients per month 06:52 – First year revenue was around $30k 07:12 – Revenue in 2015 was $1.3 million - they're aiming for $1.7 million in 2016 07:35 – Revenue growth has been around 30% each year 08:52 – Biggest cost is payroll 09:20 – Connect with Kevin on Linkedin 11:04 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Get comfortable with being uncomfortable - that's how you know you're pushing yourself. Take confidence from your failures - they help you to learn, and they show you how to get back up again Take the leap. If you hate your job, then find an alternative and go for 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

Peter Awad, host of The Slow Hustle podcast. Peter started an automotor business in college and now runs two startups, as well as hosting an in-depth entrepreneurship podcast that's been featured on the Apple homepage. Tune in to hear Peter talk about entrepreneurship with 4 kids, how he makes money from his podcast, and what you can learn from the way successful people manage their lows. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Bold What CEO do you follow? — No Favourite online tool? —Pomotodo Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—I wish I had more confidence to do what I wanted to do Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:19 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Peter to the show 01:47 – Peter has a background in e-commerce 02:30 – Peter generates revenue from his automotor business 03:07 – Gross revenue in 7 figures, and gross margin of 20-30% 04:22 – Started an unsuccessful startup which he tried to run for 4 years 05:00 – Connections for Mission Meats were made through previous failures 06:05 – Entrepreneurship is full of highs and lows 06:40 – The Slow Hustle looks at the way that successful entrepreneurs manage their highs and lows and live a manageable life 08:30 – Has hour-long interviews that dig into people's lives 09:20 – Show has 15 live episodes, and around 8-10k downloads per month 10:30 – Producing quality relationships with interviewees 11:45 – Just signed their first 2 sponsors 12:45 – Sponsored by a law firm and by the Iowa Startup Accelerator 13:16 – Sell an 8-show sponsor pack for $3k 14:25 – Sponsor pack buys you a 60-second 'sponsor spot' of pre-recorded conversation 14:40 – Around a $10 CPM 14:59 – "It's a labour of love for me...if I can cover costs it's fine with me" 15:20 – Connect with Peter on Twitter 17:03 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid or ashamed of failure. Your failures will set you up for future success. All entrepreneurs - even the most successful - struggle with managing their work and life, with fear of failure, and with emotional lows. You aren't alone. Follow your passions and do what you love 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

Ash is the co-founder of Tradecraft and an authority on entrepreneurship, social media, and branding. Ash has written a bestselling book, spoken to over 10,000 people and been cited in Forbes, TEDx, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Listen in to hear Ash and Nathan break down how to launch a successful business book, the fine art of self-branding, and how to capture an email list of half a million. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Inside Steve's Brain What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favourite online tool? —Hootsuite Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Master the art of being fearless. Stick with your heart. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:19 – Nathan's introduction 02:30 – Welcoming Ash to the show 02:45 – Right now Ash is making money through book sales and speaking engagements 03:08 – TradeCraft is Ash's main business - but he drives traffic through self-branding 03:50 – Confessions From an Entrepreneur was published in 2012 04:02 – Ash makes $2-3 from each book sale; there have been over 150k volumes sold 05:00 – Ash focuses on a very niche market - and speaks to audiences to drive book sales 05:45 – Primarily promoted his book sales through Facebook 06:15 – Currently has a list of over 500k - captures emails by giving away the first volume of his ebook 07:10 – The reason that a lot of people don't see returns on their books is that they don't focus on one niche market 08:10 – Ash has a strong relationship with a lot of colleges through speaking 08:55 – Pushed programs to buy and distribute the book to students 09:45 – Speaking revenue in 2015 was around $90k for around 18 speeches 10:20 – Ash is stepping back from speaking while he works on a new book 10:50 – Works with some startups as a consultant to develop their pitch 12:10 – Ash has equity in 15 startups 13:00 – "Write an authentic book. Let your passion show." 14:10 – Ash builds his by speaking engagements - and takes other people's lists in exchange for co-promotions 14:10 – Connect with Ash on Facebook 17:35 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Promote yourself. Take speaking engagements, write, build authority. All of the self-branding work you do will drive your sales. If you want to write a book that sells - target your niche. Find the influencers there and push distribution through them. Work at being fearless. 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

Vincent Dignan is a growth hacking expert who was voted the best speaker at South by Southwest this year. He's just launched The Growth Hacking Playbook and he's turning marketing upside down by ditching the platitudes and giving people practical advice and tools on how to actually generate traffic. Listen in to hear about how to get to 1 million unique website views per month, how to find anyone's email online, and why networking events are a waste of time. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The 48 Laws of Power What CEO do you follow? — James Altucher Favourite online tool? —Audiense 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 go to networking events. And start public speaking earlier. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:34 – Welcoming Vincent to the show 01:50 – Vincent provides consultancy, coaching, and speaking services that help them to grow their business 03:00 – Use Charlie app - it will find all of the publically available information from someone's email address 03:33 – Email Hunter is a free tool to help you find anyone's email 04:02 – Discover will show common connections on social media 04:30 – Profile Hopper visits people's Linkedin profiles to generate return views to your profile 04:55 – Rebump is a Gmail tool that will re-send emails that haven't been responded to 05:34 – Vincent has a small number of clients who pay him $5-10k per month 06:10 – Magnific is Vincent's agency 06:40 – Vincent employs over 750 writers, editors, and marketers 07:40 – How could Nathan get to 1 million unique website views per month? 07:58 – Optimise his email list, and build his Twitter following 08:30 – Would create a tool to add "You like this, read this next" to the website 09:40 – Which articles do I send to which parts of my list? 11:10 – Start executing things - move your project along 12:45 – Vincent doesn't take equity when it's offered 15:20 – Connect with Vincent on Facebook 15:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Get in front of audiences. Start public speaking and sharing what you know. Use the right tools to build your list and drive traffic. The money's in the list - so have the right tools to work it. Start executing. You can go to a hundred networking events and still achieve nothing. Move your project along. 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

Growth Hacker Marketing and The Obstacle Is The Way. Ryan's an expert on media manipulation, resilience and growth - and his new book Ego Is The Enemy is due out soon. Tune in to hear why 'fake it til you make it' is terrible advice, why Donald Trump won't last long, and what you can learn about business from Angela Merkel, Marina Abramovich, and Kanye West. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:12 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – "I'm fascinated with the accumulation of wisdom over the last thousand years" 02:25 – Ryan dropped out of college, and assisted Tucker Max and Robert Green 02:40 – Ryan was the director of marketing at American Apparel and has since authored 4 books 03:50 – He had a $250k advance on his first book, Trust Me, I'm Lying 05:35 – The economics of books - the advance might not be high, but sales can build 07:42 – The Obstacle is the Way has been used by the NFL, the military, and other competitive areas 09:06 – "If you can build multiple income streams, you can take more creative risks" 10:10 – Why write another book? 10:33 – "Writing is what I love...it's what makes me feel fulfilled" 11:05 – Ryan's latest book is Ego is the Enemy 11:55 – "You want a book to provoke a discussion" 12:30 – Almost every business book is based on the idea that "you're doing great" - Ryan wanted to take that idea down 13:31 – "There's a difference between confidence and ego. Ego is when you lose self-awareness and start living in illusions" 14:54 – "If you start believing in your own greatness, it's the death of creativity" - Marina Abramovich 16:00 – It isn't ego if you have a realistic confidence in your abilities - based on your own track record 16:40 – When ego becomes dangerous is when you act as though you've already accomplished the things that you're really only starting to work on 17:50 – The problem with social media is that you can get credit for things that you haven't yet done 18:43 – "If you tell a kid that they've done well because they're smart, they'll do worse than if you praise them for working hard" 19:28 – What about brainwashing yourself? Nathan: "Sometimes you can only achieve things by convincing yourself that you're better than you are" 21:10 – Kanye West's fashion line has failed because he didn't apply the same work to it that he applied to his music. He made the mistake of thinking that he was successful because of who he was - not the work he put in 23:03 – Successful people aren't successful because of their ego - sometimes it's in spite of their ego 24:29 – "Passion is not a substitute for knowledge, it's not a substitute for a plan or knowing what you're doing" 27:15 – "You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do." Would you want your doctor faking it until he makes it? Would you want a firefighter faking it until she makes it? 28:33 – "As a marketing tactic, talking about things before they happen is great - but don't buy into your own crap" 29:39 – "Fear is a bad adviser" - Angela Merkel 30:58 – Fear of missing out and fear of risk are both bad advisers - focus on the data and you'll make better decisions 32:08 – Donald Trump? "Demigods are successful in the short term - they're very rarely successful in the long term" 3 Key Points: Confidence is great - but once you start believing your own hype, you'll stop working effectively. Don't let fear or ego make your decisions. Look at the data. You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. There's no substitute for sitting down and doing the work. 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

Beth Milligan, a virtual assistant and online strategist who's building her business from scratch. Tune in to learn from Beth about claiming back your time, tools to simplify accounting, and starting a business while looking after a toddler. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Big Magic What CEO do you follow? — Kim Garst Favourite online tool? —Tailwind 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 be more confident, and that she could do anything she put her mind to Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 02:04 – Welcoming Beth to the show 02:50 – Beth helps entrepreneurs gain time back by carrying out the tasks they don't want to do 03:40 – Beth charges a monthly retainer up-front 04:40 – Beth uses Freshbooks to manage her accounts 05:35 – She uses the time tracking feature to log hours and generate invoices 07:00 – Beth's expenses are under $50 per month 08:55 – Beth has one young kid 09:20 – Beth's still looking to build her product into something more scaleable 09:45 – Generates revenue of around $800-$1200 per month 11:12 – Tries to give people time back to focus on what they started their business for 12:00 – Connect with Beth at Milligan Strategies 15:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: You can do anything you put your mind to. Be confident. Your time and focus are valuable - use tools that help you claim back time Charge clients up-front to save problems later. 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

Nathan Chan, founder of Foundr magazine. Nathan's a master of Instagram who generates around 400 leads a day from the channel. He's rocketed the Foundr app to the top of the app store, beating out Entrepreneur magazine and other competitors. Listen in as the two Nathans discuss building an unbeatable list, tips to win at Instagram, and whether Nathan would sell his business for $30 million today. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Ready, Fire, Aim What CEO do you follow? — Vishan Lakhiani Favourite online tool? —SamCart Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Party more Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Nathan to the show 02:30 – Nathan's already been featured on the show 03:10 – Instagram is probably the most valuable revenue driver that Foundr have 03:20 - Their account has around 700k followers 03:40 – Instagram account has generated around 150k email subscribers 05:25 – A VA generates the graphics: they recycle images from 6 months ago 06:20 – Use a tool called Latergram to queue posts 07:04 – The purpose of the Instagram account is to drive traffic and generate leads 07:30 – Capture around 300-400 leads each day from Instagram 08:55 – Nathan teaches an Instagram course 09:25 – The most lucrative funnel appears to be posting about Instagram on Instagram 09:50 – Nathan runs a live webinar every week 10:40 – 3 main revenue streams are from the online magazine; ebooks; and a membership site 11:40 – Courses and digital products are the main revenue generators 12:18 – Over 500k people have downloaded the magazine 13:10 – Nathan found his design team on Behance 14:02 – Foundr magazine is an authority-building product rather than a multi-million dollar product 15:00 – The magazine is making in the high six figures in revenue 15:15 – How does Foundr outrank Entrepreneur in the app store? 15:30 – "Look at keywords - the app name and description" 16:27 – 'A young entrepreneur magazine" - hits multiple keywords 17:25 – Foundr has just started a weekly podcast 17:48 – Had around 70k downloads in April 2016 19:00 – Nathan would take $30 million for Founder magazine 19:58 – Hoping to have a 500k email list by the end of 2016 20:08 – The membership course - Foundr Club - has 400 paying customers 22:13 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Online media isn't just about publishing content. Build a community, build a list, and work social media for all it's worth Optimisation is about paying attention to the small things: Nathan started his app name with 'A+' to be at the top of alphabetical listings Use social media to capture leads, not to push sales 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

Alex Skatell jumped into the incredible competitive online media space and founded the Independent Journal Review. Today it's one of the top 50 websites in the country, with over 20 million unique views a day. Listen in to hear Alex and Nathan break down the future of online publishing, making money through news, and why you shouldn't be afraid to go up against giants. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – David and Goliath What CEO do you follow? — Fred Smith Favourite online tool? — Asana Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—Go with your gut Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:32 – Nathan's introduction 02:11 – Welcoming Alex to the show 02:25 – Why go into online publishing? 02:50 – Alex wanted to create a platform for self-published news in college 03:30 – "People aren't looking at the front page of the paper to find what's news" 03:50 – News is becoming more feed-driven: Alex's company puts out content every 4 minutes 04:20 – 700k people on the email list 05:10 – "How can you reach people online, on your own terms?" 05:35 – Independent Journal Review was launched in 2012 06:08 – The company was initially bootstrapped, and has since raised around $2.5 million from friends and family 06:31 – 20-25 million unique views per day 07:20 – Around 50 people working in the newsroom 08:00 – There's a technology company and a news company under Alex's Media Group of America brand 09:00 – Alex believes in publically available tools like Wordpress and Google Analytics 10:00 – Total expenses each month are around six figures 10:30 – Largely makes money through advertising 14:00 – Nathan: Would you scale your technology into a SaaS platform? 14:30 – Alex: No, that's not our focus 14:18 – Connect with Alex on Twitter and via email 17:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don't be afraid to go up against the big guys. Start-ups can be flexible and take risks, even in spaces full of giants. Go with your gut. Listen to your instincts. The way that people consume and publish news is fundamentally changing - it's becoming more personalised, more immediate, and more feed-driven. 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

Heather Havenwood, CEO of Havenwood Worldwide, and an authority on marketing and online business strategies. Heather's the author of several books including Sexy Boss, and she's making $900 a day from affiliate marketing emails alone. Tune in to hear how Heather's crushing affiliate marketing, why you don't need to build great funnels to be an online marketer, and how to build fantastic marketing relationships. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Game of Life and How to Play It What CEO do you follow? — Jim Rohn Favourite online tool? — Mobit Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Get into online marketing before others do. Start now! Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan's introduction 02:20 – Welcoming Heather to the show 02:30 – In 2015, Heather made the most money from Dating Triggers.com, a product that claims to teach men "how to communicate with women" 03:27 – Heather focuses on email marketing 03:50 – Video is a key part of the funnel - the sale is a one-off $47 04:15 – Heather's sold 1200-1500 of these packages since 2009 04:24 – Makes most of her money from coaching and affiliate marketing 04:53 – $56k from sales since 2009 - but there are multiple revenue streams in the business 05:28 – Email affiliate marketing is the big earner 05:58 – Digital Romance Inc.com is her highest-earning affiliate. 06:58 – 15-25% of her list will open - working out to around 3000 07:22 – 10-12% of total opens will click-through - working out to around 300 07:45 – Heather focuses on EPC (Earnings Per Click) 08:11 – Heather makes around $300 from each email - and sends 2-3 emails per day 08:44 – "I look at email as entertainment" 09:05 – Heather made around $250k from all her revenue streams in 2015 09:54 – "You can either be really good at creating funnels, or you can be good at pushing for the people who've already done that" 10:45 – What's the key to getting other people to push your stuff? "Give first. Never ask first." 11:40 – "I work with people on launches - in this space, people are always launching new stuff" 12:20 – Heather has a team of 3 people 13:10 – She's based in Austin 13:45 – Connect with Heather at her website or text SEXY to 72000 16:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Give first. Approach other people to help them, not to ask for help. In online marketing, you can either be great at building funnels, or great at pushing someone else's funnel. Pick whichever you're better at, and become GREAT at it. Make your emails entertaining. In the digital age, inboxes are where people go when they're bored. 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 Valkin, managing director at General Catalyst partners. General Catalyst have invested in tech startups such as Air BnB, Stripe, Kayak, and ClassPass. Adam's worked with top venture capital firms in Europe and the States, was the CEO of LoveFilm, and has many years of experience investing in startups. Listen in for a fascinating conversation on the future of online gaming, the process of investing in tech start-ups, and why it's better to disrupt than be disrupted. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Good To Great What CEO do you follow? — Jeff Bezos What is your favorite online tool? — GIPHY 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's a young person's world. In your 20s, everything is possible for you. Don't wait. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:33 – Nathan's introduction 02:43 – Welcoming Adam to the show 03:10 – How did Adam get started in venture capital? 03:40 – Got involved with European internet companies, looking for a new frontier 04:17 – After the dotcom boom, he helped incubate LoveFilm in 2003 05:10 – Was asked to be the CEO of LoveFilm, which he did for 2 years 06:40 – After iOS, Android, and social media in 2008, it became possible for entrepreneurs to rapidly develop a global reach 09:45 – "It's difficult to break into content-rich areas like online film, because of the strength of big providers." Companies like FlowSports are doing interesting things 11:00 – Adam worked with Excel, a venture capital firm based in London 11:50 – "I've always had more fun with disruption" 12:30 – Moved from Endemol to Excel after realising he wanted to be on the disruptor's side 13:41 – Working with Hailo, a company trying to help commercial taxis catch up with Uber 16:45 – Moved back to the US in 2012 and began working with General Catalyst 17:40 – Met Payal, founder of ClassPass, in the very early stages of growth. Watched for a year and invested at the end of 2014 - highly successful. 19:45 – Currently investing in Super Evil Megacorp 20:30 - Super Evil Megacorp is a mobile game developer who believe the future of gaming will be driven by mobiles 21:35 - Believes that core gaming will be on mobile devices in the future 23:27 - The CCP investment: What's Adam's take on virtual reality? 24:33 - CCP developed EVE: Valkyrie - one of the most celebrated VR games 25:30 - EVE is driven by a subscription model 27:00 - When did Adam get involved with GIPHY and what's the experience been like? 28:30 – Connect with Adam on Twitter and Facebook 31:30 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you're young, don't wait. Go and make things happen. It's more fun to be the disruptor than the establishment. Know when the party's over; be willing to move to new frontiers. 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

Anshey Bhatia, founder of Verbal+Visual - a platform for optimising e-commerce that's become one of Shopify's top partners. Listen as Nathan and Anshey talk about what growth means, where e-commerce is going, and the importance of focus. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Traction What CEO do you follow? — Myself - I look at everything I'm spending time on during a day What is your favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Very close If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —To focus Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:23 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Anshey to the show 01:44 – Verbal+Visual is an agency that works with e-commerce brands to develop their user experience 02:09 – Recently worked with Uproot 02:20 – Anshey likes working with Shopify because it's simple for both IT and management 03:30 – Worked with Shopify to create the first wine integration on their site 04:30 – Average e-commerce platforms go from an average of $50k to high-end $300k 04:54 – Initial development is on a project fee, after which optimisation services are offered on retainer 06:02 – Founded the business in 2009 06:13 – First-year revenue was around $150k 06:30 – Total revenue in 2015 was in the low 7 figures 06:41 – Team of 7 full-time employees and 5 part-time, based in New York 07:07 – Net margin of around 20% 07:31 – Anshey tries to leave profits in the business 08:28 – Goal is to reach a team of 40 people within 3 years 09:12 - Aim to have 2-3 new clients for each new hire 09:44 - The main area of growth has been partnerships, and building a portfolio 10:50 - Ideal customer is someone making $100k-$1 million; who wants to grow; and who is unsatisfied with their current e-commerce platform 11:20 – Connect with Anshey on Twitter and Linkedin 13:00 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Determine what growth means to you. Is it topline revenue? Team size? Customer value? Choose a measure that's meaningful for your business. Improve the quality of every project you do. Your portfolio is your number one tool for finding work. Focus from the beginning on what you're passionate about. 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

Shawn Freeman, a man who's trying to make IT easy instead of infuriating. Sean's the founder of TWT Group in Canada - a managed IT solutions company that's making a 30% profit margin on its $2 million in revenue. Listen in as Shawn and Nathan talk creating great relationships, where to invest profits, and how Shawn plans to grow to $10 million in revenue in the next five years. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – A Leader Who Had No Title What CEO do you follow? — Dan Price What is your 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? —I wish I had the ambition to quit my job earlier and get started Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan's introduction 01:49 – Welcoming Shawn to the show 01:57 – TWT sells managed IT solutions to businesses with between 10 and 100 employees 02:45 – "You've got to solve problems every day...most of those are to do with people" 03:18 – Started in 2011 03:20 – Revenue in 2011 was $75k 03:40 – Shawn gave up a $115k salary aged 24 04:40 – Revenue in 2015 was $2 million 05:20 – "Our growth has been 90% driven by referrals" 05:40 – Serving 150 customers with a team of 10 people 06:03 – 30% net margin in 2015 06:20 – What's Shawn doing with his profits? 06:48 – Aiming to make $2.5 million in 2016 07:05 – Next investment will be purchasing an office space 08:05 – "We want to keep focused on our niche - small to medium business" 08:30 - "I think we could be a $10 million business within 5 years" 09:46 – Connect with Shawn at his website 11:55 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Build trust. Successful business relies on your relationships with real people. Think big. Make decisions that reflect the business you want to be Stay focused on your niche. Grow by dominating the area you're fantastic at. 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

Bryan Bedera, an artist, business leader and founding partner at Amplify Relations. Bryan's an expert in government advertising and PR strategy who's received multiple awards for his work. Listen in to hear how Bryan started his business using his student loan, what startups can learn from Ted Cruz's campaign, and why you're better off being in the local paper than courting Buzzfeed. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – I don't have one What CEO do you follow? — Steve Jobs Favourite 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? — Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and let things work themselves out Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:12 – Nathan's introduction 02:23 – Welcoming Bryan to the show 02:36 – Bryan started out working for a political ad agency - was laid off when the recession hit but managed to keep a client for himself 03:25 – Has worked for McCain and Glenn Beck 04:17 – "Our speciality is mass-market relations" 04:40 – "First-year revenue was maybe $11k...we used student loan money to fund the entire startup" 04:55 – In 2015, 13 full-time employees and revenue of just under $2 million 05:19 – "We sell a change in public behaviour" 05:33 – Recently worked for a health centre to try to increase the number of people coming for STD testing 06:01 – Charge 15% of advertising spend 06:24 – Currently working for Ted Cruz with a robo-call product 07:11 – $500k would buy phone calls for every voter in Florida - Brian's able to make a 90% margin on that 08:02 – "A political campaign will outsource everything" 08:37 – Our margins vary depending on the product 08:54 – "We can provide all the mass-market services you might need under one roof" 09:21 – Just had a contract with a British beer company ruled out because they didn't want to work with Republicans 10:00 – How could startups take the robocall tool for corporate use? 11:06 – "The startup community overlooks the power of local and regional press. Go to papers in towns with 5000 people in them. They're desperate for stories" 11:56 – It's far easier to build a large library of content in local and regional press than by trying to go straight to Buzzfeed 12:45 – Connect with Bryan on Facebook 14:07 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Be patient. Sometimes you just have to let things work themselves out Build exposure through local and regional media. You'll be amazed at how fast your content library grows Know what you believe in, and why you're doing what you're doing 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

Rob Riggs, founder of Your Design Online: a business that helps non-profits and small businesses use big-brand tools to optimize their websites. Rob took his business from $5000 in revenue to over $1.2 million last year. Listen in as Rob and Nathan talk web optimization, driving growth through referrals, and how to get the most from your investments. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – anything by Marcus Buckingham What CEO do you follow? — Guy Kawasaki What is your favorite online tool? — SEOReview 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 stick with it. The harder you work, the luckier you get. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Rob to the show 01:53 – Works on web development and optimisation 02:25 – "We work on the front end to maximise revenue, or the back end to streamline functionality" 03:25 – Typically work on a project-by-project basis, but have some retainer clients 03:44 – Starts in $6-8k range for a small project 04:05 – Monthly retainers range from $500 to five-figure sums 05:15 – Launched Your Design Online in 2004 05:55 – "I started hiring people better than myself to replace me" 06:00 – Total revenue in 2004 was $5k 06:22 – Total revenue in 2015 was $1.2 million 06:43 – Driving growth through referrals 08:23 – "My strategy is growing to support" 08:46 – Profit was around $400k in 2015 09:45 – Investing some money into commercial real estate for long-term returns 16:57 – Connect with Rob at Your Design Online 12:55 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Your best marketing tool is referrals. Provide fantastic quality and you'll find your business growing. The harder you work, the luckier you get. Keep going and think long-term, even when things are tough. Think seriously about where the best returns are going to be. Don't be afraid to invest in areas other than your business. 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

Aman Advani, a man who's bringing technological innovation to the fashion industry. Aman's the founder of Ministry of Supply, a company that's employing engineers alongside fashion designers to bring performance technology into the wear-to-work clothing space. Listen in as Nathan and Aman talk minimum wage, which numbers to focus on, and just how Ministry Of Supply made 14x their Kickstarter goal. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Good To Great What CEO do you follow? — John Carlson What is your favorite online tool? — Boomerang Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —In building a business, all the easy things are hard and all the hard things are easy Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:58 – Welcoming Aman to the show 02:08 – Ministry Of Supply generates revenue through selling products 02:40 – Company launched on Kickstarter in 2012, raising $429k - 14x their goal 03:34 – Sampler package sold for $150 03:53 – "We didn't factor in packaging or shipping...we joke that we probably lost money" 04:24 – Shipped over 100k units 04:55 – Started with a repeat rate of 10-20% over 22 days - that's now doubled 05:50 – Team of 20 people 06:00 – Taken $7 million in outside financing through 2 priced rounds and 1 convertible note 06:40 – Currently focused on growth: they aren't profitable 07:05 – Hoping to be profitable later this year 07:30 – Made $500k in sales in 2012 07:35 – Nathan guesses around $4 million in topline revenue in 2015 08:40 – Aman would rather focus on numbers like margins and repeat rate than revenue 10:05 – A direct sales model; not subscription 10:44 – Around 50k customers so far 11:00 – Focusing on optimising gross margin 12:00 – "We're infusing technology into a fairly stagnant fashion business" 13:00 – Acquisition: currently investing in podcast advertising and direct mail 13:40 – Currently have two brick-and-mortar stores that are a significant investment 14:15 – "What's your position on $15 minimum wage?" 15:30 – We'll automate certain tasks and re-allocate humans to higher-value tasks 16:10 – Optimising inventory turnover - "A good rate for us would be 4-5 turns a year" 16:57 – Connect with Aman on Linkedin 19:25 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Choose to focus on numbers that mean something to you. Put people in the highest-value positions you can. Make the most of your workforce. You don't need to be immediately profitable - but know when you're going to be profitable 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

Eddie Vaca. Eddie's the founder of Amp Live, a company that can generate thousands of online viewers for your live event. Eddie worked for Youstream before deciding to take over the online live video space on his own. Listen in as Nathan and Eddie talk selling your first company, generating 300,000 viewers for a 20-minute show, and why live video is taking over the internet. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? — Jack Dorsey and Gary Vaynerchuk What is your favorite online tool? — Grope bots Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —You can't do it by yourself. Surround yourself with great people. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:48 – Welcoming Eddie to the show 02:08 – Eddie created his first digital publication aged 24: it was an action-sports lifestyle publication that was published via DVD 02:45 – AOL bought it for $25k 03:20 – Eddie's embarrassed about the price now - but it was a small win that got him some momentum 03:45 – Got involved in a digital out-of-home screens business 05:12 – Moved to Youstream aged 30 to learn everything he could about digital online 06:08 – Youstream raised around $60 million and sold for around $120 million - why didn't it sell for more? 07:30 – "Video is huge - it's taking over the internet. And live is everywhere." 08:04 – "The biggest problem people see today is that driving live channels outside of sport is really tough. Amp Live helps people move into those channels." 09:10 - Amp Live is largely bootstrapped. Have raised a small friends-and-family round of $100k 09:40 - Revenue in 2015 was $1.3 million. Generates revenue by "selling eyeballs" 10:15 – Charges broadcasters to generate viewers for an event 10:50 – Customers include Martha Stewart, Microsoft, runways shows for New York Fashion Week…"If it's live and it's video, we want to be in there." 11:58 – Generated 300k viewers for a 20-minute runway show 13:30 – Aiming to make every broadcaster a direct distribution partner 14:05 – Hoping to make around $3.9 million in 2016 14:44 – Connect with Eddie on Twitter or visit Amp Live 16:20 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Video is taking over the internet. Live video is going to be the next challenge. Not everyone ends up on TechCrunch, selling their first company for millions. Be proud of the small steps you take and the gradual successes you build up. Surround yourself with amazing people and help them to grow. 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

Erica Douglass, a techie-turned-marketer who's started Austin's top-rated chain of phone repair stores. Erica's business is entirely bootstrapped and profitable - they're currently in 7-figure revenue and planning to double their store count in the next year. Listen in to hear how Erica tripled revenue in just one year, why small businesses need to leverage Yelp, and how to tell if your phone repair shop is lying to you. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Seth Books What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favourite online tool? — Light Speed Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — That she had even more self-confidence than she did Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan's introduction 01:38 – Welcoming Erica to the show 02:02 – Austin's top independent repair shop 03:05 – 7 employees at 2 locations - currently making 7 figures in revenue 03:55 – Erika's computer crashed during a conference - her friend repaired it 05:25 – Erica bought into his repair business for $17k in 2014 05:27 – Total revenue in 2014 was $62k 05:36 – Total revenue in 2015 was $380k 05:47 – Erica drove growth by opening a new location targeted at college students 06:05 – On track to make over $1 million in revenue this year 06:31 – Make around 25% gross margin 06:45 – Planning to open two more locations this year 07:16 – Highest margin is on services like data recovery 07:40 – Around 700 jobs per month, at around $100 per job 08:22 – Apple doesn't sell repair parts - there's a whole market linked to China that repairs and recycles parts 09:30 – Erica has the highest Yelp reviews of any store in Austin 09:50 – It's not possible to buy parts from Apple 10:29 – How do you value a business like this? 10:58 – What are the triggers that Erica looks at now she's trying to buy a business? 11:46 – Yelp tries to monitor reviews to stop people gaming the system 13:18 – How do you differentiate a business somewhere that there's not much brand loyalty? 14:22 – Yelp is the main tool that differentiates 1Up from their competitors 15:21 – Connect with Erica on Facebook 17:02 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Yelp is a crucial tool for small businesses. Go the extra mile to make sure you're getting those 5-star reviews. Have confidence in your skills and your abilities. Start your company sooner. You can drive incredible growth by tapping into the right location and market. 1Up took off after Erica found a location to target college students 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

Nathan Klarer, CEO at Bridgecrest Medical. Nathan's building a B2B SaaS company that uses wearable technology to minimise accidents in mines and oil rigs. He's 25 years old and has already raised $1.3 million. Tune in to hear about what's next for wearable technology, how Nathan's driving sales, and why he wishes he'd started sooner. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Influence What CEO do you follow? — Larry Ellison Favourite online tool? — Nova 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 have more confidence in myself and start earlier Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Welcoming Nathan to the show 02:17 – Before Bridgecrest, Nathan worked in equity finance 02:51 – Bridgecrest is a B2B SaaS company that incorporates wearable technology into a platform that helps heavy industries prevent accidents 03:38 – Currently using wearable technology to minimise the fatigue risk of oil rig operators 04:20 – Sell directly to the operations or tech managers of oil and gas companies 04:50 – Annual contracts are in 5-6 figures 05:12 – Customers pay monthly 05:37 – Companies take 3 or 4 year contracts 06:02 – Nathan's background is in engineering - he saw wearable technology being used for health and decided to bring it onto heavy industrial sites 07:10 – Nathan is the sole founder but has given equity to important team members 08:10 – Have raised about $1.3 million in total 08:36 – "We needed to raise that capital to build the product we wanted to build" 09:07 – Most of the costs are engineering for analytic software 09:34 – Launched the product last year 09:48 – Currently have 10-20 customers 09:40 – "We're looking to build deep relationships with our customers" - no one has churned yet 10:50 – Sales can come through a single site in heavy industry - followed by upsales at the corporate level 11:30 – Launched in the last quarter of 2015, and made less than $1 million 12:40 – Keen to be adopted by big industry players in 2016 13:45 – As the CEO, Nathan now spends more time working on sales than engineering 10:30 – Connect with Nathan on Twitter 15:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you're building a product, raise enough capital to get it right Getting the right team around you is all-important. Make sure your founding team complements your weaknesses and buys into the company's vision Have confidence in your skills and your abilities. Start your company sooner. 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

Brian Ley, CEO of Alpharank: a start-up that uses heavy-duty mathematics to analyse brands' word-of-mouth networks. Brian started out studying the spread of diseases - he's fascinated by how everything from ideas to emotions is spread through human networks. Listen in to hear Brian and Nathan discuss how Donald Trump is memetically hacking your brain. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – High Output Management What CEO do you follow? — Richard Branson What is your favorite online tool? — Audible Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Most nights If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Not to drink alcohol, and to take as good care of your body as you can Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:56 – Welcoming Brian to the show 02:10 – Brian started out studying computational epidemiology - the study of how diseases spread. He's fascinated by how anything - disease, joy, decisions - spreads through human networks 03:10 – Alpharank generates revenue by charging a data provider fee 03:40 – Analyse a company's influence and network connections 04:25 – Analysed social structure at a nightclub for multiple weeks: realised that you could see connections by analysing time-series patterns 06:02 – Currently have no revenue: have raised $500k investment 06:40 – Will stay pre-revenue in 2016 06:52 – The network is very tech-heavy - currently have a team of 7 engineers 09:15 – "I have complete faith that someone is going to figure out a way to track network connections directly" 09:45 - Can you explain mathematically what Donald Trump is doing? 10:10 - "Donald Trump is memetically hacking people's brains" 10:40 – Engaging directly with the mammalian centre of people's brains - where emotions are directly processed. And emotion is contagious. 11:55 – "Talking about things spreads them" 12:17 – The viral coefficient: K= Invitations x Conversion Rate 12:50 – "Marketing is being turned to math" 13:46 – Connect with Brian on Linkedin or on Twitter 16:40 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Your body is your limiting factor: take care of yourself Everything spreads through human networks: diseases, ideas, emotions Marketing is becoming mathematical 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

Carlo Cisco, the founder and CEO of Select, a private membership community that offers discount deals with thousands of premier brands. Carlo was an early builder of Groupon. He's also a canny investor who made $75k in stocks by investing during college. Listen in to hear Nathan and Carlo break down the numbers behind Select, discuss Groupon's meteoric growth, and explain Select's unbelievable CAC:LTV ratio. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Intelligent Investor What CEO do you follow? — Mark Zuckerberg What is your favorite online tool? — Intercom Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —To get ready for some crazy stuff Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:43 – Welcoming Carlo to the show 02:00 – Carlo started an events planning business while he was in college 02:20 – Actively invested in tech companies while he was in college 03:16 – Carlo put about $9k into stocks and turned it into $85k 04:11 – Joined Groupon and helped build their operation in Japan 05:30 – Groupon hasn't helped businesses enough...most businesses aren't getting repeat customers from Groupon or LivingSocial deals 07:35 – Started Select in 2013 08:00 – The goal was to work with premier brands in an ongoing, sustainable way 08:50 – Select generates revenue through a $250 annual membership fee 09:55 – Currently have around 9000 members 10:20 – Annual revenue is $725k - average revenues are down because of a discount deal that generated members early on 11:20 – Currently at over $1 million run rate 11:45 – Annual retention rate is around 75% - which is unusually high for the sector 12:20 – Have raised just under $800k in funding 13:00 - Had equity funding from an accelerator programme - "The network is incredible" 14:00 - Currently happy to break even on customer acquisition 14:40 - Current lifetime value is around $900 per customer 15:22 - Currently have a CAC:LTV ratio of 1:7 15:40 - Ideal customer: High-income professionals, 25-45 years of age 17:02 – Connect with Carlo on Twitter and Linkedin 18:30 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Accelerators have value beyond just funding - their networks and support can seriously pay off Invest wisely and early If you want excitement: prepare for it. Life can be crazy if you're only ready. 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

Michael Eisenberg. Michael's a canny investor who's on the cutting edge of the VC scene in Israel. He invested in Wix and Conduit while working with Benchmark - now he's set up his own firm, Aleph. Listen in to hear about Aleph's investments in an AI dashcam, Michael's journey from unemployment to top VC, and why scale-up is the new start-up. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? — Jeff Bezos What is your favorite online tool? — Gmail Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —There's so much to do in this world. Keep working. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan's introduction 02:00 – Welcoming Michael to the show 02:06 – Started Aleph 3 years ago with a partner - wanted to invest in Israeli startups 02:40 – Michael's been a venture capitalist in Israel for over 20 years 03:20 – Started a merchant bank for technology startups in Israel 04:00 – Invested in the first online photo-sharing site in 1994 and sold for over $100 million 05:00 – Worked at Benchmark in Israel for several years - invested in Wix, Conduit, and other startups 06:00 – Raised $150 million for Aleph in 2013 06:20 – Core mantra is: "Different is better than better" 06:50 – Aleph is an equal-partnership firm in terms of return and decision-making influence 08:15 – Invest almost exclusively in Series A 08:40 – The Thing About Cycles - Michael's blog post about cyclical investing 09:10 – Currently investing in Nexar, an AI-powered dashcam 10:15 – Nexar can give you real-time information based on location and the license plates of the drivers around you - it takes information from drivers' speed and location. 11:20 – Have already covered more mileage than Google Streetview 12:10 - Invested $4 million in Series A 13:08 - 15 months in; 9 months since the launch 13:18 - Collecting about 80k license plates each day 13:46 – Connect with Michael on the Aleph website or through his blog 16:20 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Invest in disruption: "Different is better than better" Michael's currently investing in a smart dashcam that has an enormous capacity to collect data. Keep working. The world is full of opportunities. 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

Jill Stanton, co-founder of Screw The Nine To Five - a community that teaches people to take their online business to the next level. Jill's built an incredibly engaged community around her website and online course. Listen in as Nathan and Jill talk engagement, creating multiple revenue streams, and why you need to be all-in or all-out. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Profit First What CEO do you follow? — Denise Duffield Thomas Favourite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—That community is everything Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan's introduction 01:48 – Welcoming Jill to the show 02:10 – Screw The Nine To Five teaches people to take their online business to the next level 02:34 – Had the idea in 2012 when she and husband Josh started their own businesses 03:05 – Launched in April 2013 03:22 – Generate revenue from a membership site called Screw U 04:10 – Subscription is $69 per month 04:40 – Members access strategy sessions, conference calls with experts, Q and A 06:10 – Gone all-in on creating an engaged community 06:40 – Screw U currently has 361 paying members 06:55 – People stay 7 months on average 07:33 – Started as a one-off digital product: wanted to move into community building 08:33 – Over 500 people have signed up since the product started 09:17 – Other revenue comes from one-off courses 09:30 – Uses a series of tripwire offers that generate about $31k per month 11:36 – First live event is coming up - tickets open in May 12:10 – Jill had a podcast but closed it down 12:30 – 30k downloads per month after 114 episodes 13:10 – "It didn't feel right any more...the business has grown hugely since we cut it" 14:25 – Connect with Jill by joining the Screw The Nine To Five facebook group 15:40 – Just over 16k people on their email list 17:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Set up multiple revenue streams that feed into each other. Find ways to package different elements of your product for different consumers. Go all in or all out. Cut what isn't working and focus on what you love Community is everything. Build a community before you do anything else. 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

Guillermo Ortiz, the founder of Geek Powered Studios. Guillermo's an ex-competitive gamer and the force behind a marketing and consulting company that focuses on data to take its clients from good to great. Listen as Nathan and Guillermo talk holistic marketing, investing in data, and why it's good to be young and dumb. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Scaling Up What CEO do you follow? — Will Reynolds Favourite online tool? — SEMrush Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?—I don't know if I'd change anything. I was young and dumb and full of heart. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:49 – Welcoming Guillermo to the show 02:30 – Used to be 6th in the world at Counterstrike 03:05 – Set up strategic partnerships with small businesses 03:30 – "We try to do everything correctly rather than one thing really well" 03:40 – Monthly retainer package from $2k - $5k per month 03:55 – Handle landing pages, graphic design, facebook ads, SEO... 04:50 – Would only say no if they lacked time or resources to make the request happen 05:30 – Have 15-20 team members 05:45 – Based in Austin, Texas 06:08 – Total revenue in 2015 was $800k 06:30 – Biggest expense is subscription services 06:55 – Spent 30-40% of revenue on SaaS 07:15 – Profits last year around $100-200k 08:10 – Founded the company in 2009 while working full-time 08:30 – Left in 2012 to focus on Geek Powered Studios 09:14 – Currently around 55 clients 09:23 – MRR in 2015 about $110k 09:35 – Very high customer retention rates - focus on establishing relationships 10:15 – Optimised the keyword 'deer antler spray' for one client 12:20 – Now focusing on holistic awareness instead of only rankings 13:15 – Goal for 2016 is to clear $250k in profit 13:50 – Connect with Guillermo on twitter 16:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Data is the new oil. Invest in data about your company; invest in analytics. Master exactly what's going on. Work yourself out of a job. Build a successful scalable business that can operate without you. Establish fantastic relationships with your customers. Retention and referrals come from real relationships. 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