SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

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

Chris Brisson, the founder of Call Loop website. Call Loop is a voice and text messaging service that's used by a huge range of clients. Listen as Chris and Nathan talk buying out a co-founder, building a company while working full-time, and how to pivot with an established product. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Stealth Marketing What CEO do you follow? — James Clear Favourite online tool? — ClickFunnels and ConvertFlow 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 being young is an advantage - take the opportunity to make mistakes Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Chris to the show 02:00 – Call Loop is a voice and text messaging service 02:22 – Had the idea in 2009; business was founded in 2011 03:00 – It took 3 years to build the software as a side project 03:55 – Put in $10,000 to kick-start the project 04:12 – Bought out his business partners in 2015 04:50 – Two investors put in $90k total for 7.5% equity 05:55 – How did buying out his co-founders work? 06:20 – One co-founder had a full-time job and didn't want to be hands-on 07:20 – Chris wasn't financially experienced - hadn't put caps of cliffs on the equity 08:10 – Co-founder had 25% 09:10 – Bought out for less than $100k 09:30 – "We have SaaS components but we're not really a SaaS business" 10:00 – Different customers have extremely different needs - they buy credits differently 10:45 – Topline revenue in 2015 was $385k 11:25 – Reinvested $150k in the company in 2015 12:15 – Revenue goal in 2016 is $430-450k 12:35 – Around 1000 unique customers each month 13:54 – Sending around 400k text messages each month 14:34 – Goal is to develop the software behind the product, add features, and scale 15:45 – Chris hopes to pivot towards marketing automation 18:18 – Connect with Chris at the Call Loop website 19:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Youth is an advantage. Don't be scared to act because you're too young. When you're distributing equity with co-founders, by sure to have a vesting schedule. You'll hugely reduce the risk of problems down the line. Look for opportunities to pivot, even when you're an established company. The market changes; technology changes: make sure you keep up. 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

Ilias Tsagklis, co-founder of Excelexis. He's a software developer-turned-entrepreneur who gave up a great salary to found his own company. Ilias blogs about entrepreneurship at Wealth Triumph. Listen in to hear why a developer built an ad company instead of a software company, and just what he's doing to make 85% net margins. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Millionaire Fast Lane What CEO do you follow? — Marcus Lemonis Favourite online tool? — Asana 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 the road to success is only through self-education. Don't expect anyone else to help you. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:14 – Nathan's introduction 01:56 – Welcoming Ilias to the show 02:17 – Trying to monetise platforms like banner display 02:37 – Provided sponsored content for a recent customer - trying to move away from traditional banner displays 03:25 – Own Telecode Geeks, a content site, where they can place adverts 04:02 – Ilias started out as a software developer 04:18 – He quit his job after 7 years, looking for something new 05:02 – "I wanted to build something that could scale" 05:40 – Gave up a salary in the mid 5 figures - a high salary in Greece 06:40 – Started building a community writing technical articles 07:15 – Why monetise through ads using Java instead of building your own software platform? 07:30 – "We were more interested in building a steady income to replace the corporate job" 07:55 – Around 85% net margin in the business 08:22 – Multiple revenue streams: advertising; sponsorship; lead generation and affiliate marketing 08:47 – Total revenue in 2015 was in the mid 6 figures 09:15 – Two co-founders, several assistants, and some freelance writers 09:40 – Ilias' revenue goal for 2016 is $500k 10:30 – Connect with Ilias on Linkedin or at his blog 12:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Success comes from self-education. Start investing time and energy in yourself. Build a community before you try to monetise. Once you have a tribe, everything else will follow. Define your goals as an entrepreneur. Explosive growth? Steady income? Early retirement? Once you know your why, you can worry about the how. 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

Kim Barrett, bestselling author and the founder of Your Social Voice - a marketing and lead generation agency that's gone to $100k per month in sales in just one year. Tune in as Nathan and Kim talk lead generation, marketing, and building a killer sales team. Famous Five: Favorite Book? –Built to Sell What CEO do you follow? — Gary Vaynerchuk Favourite online tool? — Podio Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— Trust what you think and don't listen to what other people tell you to do Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:28 – Nathan's introduction 02:25 – Welcoming Kim to the show 02:35 – Your Social Voice makes money through 'done-for-you' marketing services 03:22 – Focus on lead generation - driving traffic to a landing page 03:45 – Offering different packages 04:20 – Company started in 2013 04:40 – Total revenue in 2015 was a little over $450k 05:02 – Currently making around $100k per month in sales 05:30 – Cash received is 50-60% of sales 05:55 – Aim to be a recurring business: encourage clients to engage ongoing services 06:40 – 80% month-to-month retention rate 07:00 – 25 clients this month 07:10 – Always in sales mode - and aiming to bring ongoing clients on board 07:45 – Base their sales on strategy, not software 09:00 – Challenge of retaining service customers vs. SaaS customers 09:42 – Sales people make 15% commission on cash received, plus targets 10:30 – Kim's also a bestselling author of Winning in Life and Work: New Beginnings 12:30 – Connect with Kim on Snapchat (therealkimbarrett) or through his website 18:58 – Connect with Finn at his website or through Linkedin 15:10 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: The difference between building a customer base in a service business and a SaaS business is that you need a fantastic sales team. Focus on what your own goals and ideas: don't let other people's opinions dictate your life Find 'stretch' heroes to study: people to follow who are several steps ahead of where you want to be 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

Madison Wickham, CEO and co-founder of Grandex - a media and content company that's behind the sites Total Frat Move and Postgrad Problems. Madison's also created two successful apparel companies, and is generating around $10 million in revenue a year. Listen in to hear Madison talk about the secrets of capturing an audience, quitting his job with a 10-day old baby, and how to turn content followers into customers. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Zero To One What CEO do you follow? — Jonah Peretti 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? —That I didn't have to have a definitive plan...I just had to be doing something productive and learning stuff Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:50 – Yuri's introduction 02:30 – Welcoming Madison to the show 02:50 – Started Total Frat Move as a one-liner comedy website with a fraternity buddy 03:40 – "Our business plan did not exist...we were trying to capture an audience" 04:56 – Started with advertisements but starting experimenting with other revenue streams 05:38 – T-Shirts worked extremely well - "We gravitated towards merchandise" 06:25 – At what point did Madison realise his project was a legitimate business? 07:20 – "In 4 months we had $2000 a month from ad revenue" 08:32 – Quit their jobs and dived in full-time 09:32 – Madison had a 10-day-old baby when he quit his job 10:11 – Went full-time in October 2010 11:20 – "It was the most liberating thing I've done in my life" 13:10 – Financing? "We always made more money than we spent - we didn't have experience of doing anything else" 13:50 – About 3 years in, they formed a relationship with an angel investor in Austin 15:15 – Learned from him about the process of raising money to develop a team 16:25 – Raised $2.3 million over 12 months 16:44 – $20 million pre-money valuation 17:16 – 3.5x multiplier on topline revenue 18:00 – Grandex currently runs 5 websites 18:21 – Rowdy Gentleman designs, creates and sells apparel 18:54 – Male Outfitters is a premium online menswear store 19:40 – Grandex generated around $10 million revenue in 2015 21:10 – Revenue from TFM and related sites is through advertising and promotions 23:10 – "The media is the lifeblood of our business" 23:45 – Promote apparel products to their media audience 25:00 – What's worked best for you when promoting online? 27:40 – Things change constantly - it's vital to be tapped into the social media landscape 28:20 – What's next for Grandex? 30:30 – Releasing their first feature-length film this year 31:20 – Connect with Madison at the Grandex website and the Inside TFM podcast 34:42 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Capture an audience. Profit will grow out of having people that follow you. Be hyper-aware of what's happening online: social media changes in an eyeblink You don't have to know what your grand plan is. Just start doing something productive. 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

Finn Kelly, co-founder and CEO of We Love Numbers, a smartbookkeeping and financial advice site that's turning financialservices into SaaS. Finn's been named three times as one ofAustralia's top 30 entrepreneurs under 30, and is about to launchhis first fundraising round. Listen as Finn and Nathan talk goingfrom service to SaaS, the ins and outs of investment partnerships,and why you are what you think. Favorite Book? – True North What CEO do you follow? — Warren Rustand Favourite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No, but pretty close If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what wouldit be?— Look after your body, and focus on your thoughts. You arewhat you think. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:31 – Nathan's introduction 02:00 – Welcoming Finn to the show 02:20 – We Love Numbers - smart bookkeeping and advice forentrepreneurs 02:40 – Revenue is generated by a subscription model to 1 of 4different packages 02:49 – Packages cost $395 to $1695 per month 03:10 – Recent client was a wine importer - We Love Numbers helpedthem to look at different back-end processes and interpret thenumbers they needed to focus on 05:14 – What, strategically, can We Love Numbers help with? 05:35 – Answer questions to help optimise pricing models, salariesetc. 06:20 – They work with multiple clients so have a sense of what isindustry standard 06:30 – Currently work with 50 clients; have over 900 in thepipeline 06:57 – Started in March 2015 07:16 – Average customer pays about $1000 per month 07:22 – MRR in February 2016 was around $50,000 07:55 – Started out in wealth management - sold their first companyfor multiple millions 09:13 – About to raise their first capital round 09:30 – Raising because they want to scale quickly 10:00 – "We see ourselves as a SaaS business" 10:25 – Looking to raise $750k via convertible note 10:40 – Aiming for churn of 2% through month 11:00 – Worst churn rate they've experienced was 10% 11:40 – Aiming to pay no more than $1000 per customer acquisitioncost 12:20 – Currently 10 people in the team 12:40 – Head count expenses are about $60-70k per month 13:40 – A pre-money valuation of $6 million would make Finnextremely happy 14:20 – Looking for strategic partners, not just VCs 18:58 – Connect with Finn at his website or through Linkedin 16:54 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Look for strategic partners who can add value beyond money. Find a way to make your business scale. How can a service businessbecome a SaaS business? Focus on your body and your health. Look after yourself, and you'llbe prepared for anything. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices andaccounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names andhosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly createhis webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to SanAntonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Beate Chelette. Beate went from being a single mother in debt, to selling her image licensing business to Bill Gates for millions. She's a successful coach and speaker, and the author of Happy Woman, Happy World and The Women's Code. Listen in to learn why equality and diversity are good for business, how to build a million-dollar company without owning any assets, and the hard story behind success. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Compound Effect What CEO do you follow? — Marc Benioff Favourite online tool? — Infusionsoft 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 take it so personally. And it takes time. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:11 – Nathan's introduction 02:20 – Welcoming Ilya to the show 02:40 – Biyathe cornered the market in architecture and interiors photography 03:40 – Acquired by Bill Gates' business Corbis 04:40 – Were at around $1 million in revenue from licensing 05:02 – "You can build a business where you don't own any assets...we just had the rights to assets" 05:40 – Sold for a multiple on the gross margin 06:38 – "You come to the point where you ask: 'What did I do it for? What drives me?' 07:25 – Success comes with an obligation to share information 08:08 – When successful people tell their stories, they tend to gloss over the tough parts 09:12 – Co-founded the publishing company that published her book 09:44 – Happy Women, Happy World has sold in the low 1000s so far 10:14 – "I didn't want to manipulate the system to get a bestseller" 10:55 – Published in September 2015 11:20 – It's designed to be easy to consume in short chunks - "a purse or bathroom book" 12:40 – Started building an email list before her book - has around 17k engaged list members 14:30 – Beate's started training and speaking on why gender equality and diversity is good for business 15:24 – Connect with Beate Chelette on Linkedin at the Creative Entrepreneur Forum or at her website 17:33 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Understand yourself. Understand what drives you. Equality and diversity are good for business Success does not come until you're clear who you are, what you're doing it for, and how you can sell yourself Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Todd Tresidder's a serial entrepreneur who retired at 35 afterbuilding millions as a hedge fund manager. He's the creator ofFinancial Mentor, a hugely successful financial coaching service,which is soon to become an online course. Listen as Todd and Nathantalk asset allocation, risk reduction, and how to createwealth. Favorite Book? – Essentialism What CEO do you follow? — Steve Jobs Favourite online tool? — None Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— It varies If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what wouldit be?— Buy more income-producing real estate Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 01:35 – Welcoming Todd to the show 02:18 – Lasted about 6 months at Hewlett Packard - then he wasfired 03:20 – "Everything is quantitative" 03:45 – Invested $20 million through a hedge fund set up with apartner 05:00 – "One of the keys in investing is knowing what you don'tknow" 06:30 – Made a 3% management fee 07:20 – "It's completely a numbers game" 07:55 – Why move to teaching others? 08:30 – "You reach a point where you've learned what you're goingto learn" 09:03 – "I would have been repeating life over and over" 09:35 – Sold the hedge fund and travelled through the Middle Eastand Europe 10:45 – Todd's currently working on his courses at FinancialMentor 11:00 – Started as a boutique coaching site 12:10 – "I'm trying to develop the one-on-one coaching intocourses" 13:00 – Nathan spends 10% of what he earns and spreads the restacross different equities 13:55 – "The top 12 asset allocation formulas essentially performthe same over 30 years" 15:00 – "The variance in return is to do with risk exposure" 16:00 – There are limits to growth in conventional assetallocation 16:20 – "Entrepreneurial strategies will blow the doors offconventional allocation" 17:30 – "Set yourself up so 'heads you win, tails you win' 18:15 – Play smart - risk can be unexpected 19:25 – The solution to risk management is "higher highs, higherlows" 21:00 – "I sold all my real estate in 2005 or 2006 - I waslambasted, but I didn't want the risk" 22:00 – "Knowledge leverage has no downside" 18:58 – Connect with Todd at Financial Mentor - and receive a freeebook and course 24:18 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Know what you don't know. Be aware of the areas you aren't anexpert in - and either learn, or leave them to someone else. Manage risk. Unexpected things happen all the time - you need to bethinking about how to not just make your high returns higher, buthow to minimise your lows and losses. Know your numbers. Investing is absolutely a numbers game:everything is quantitative. Understand the numbers and you'llunderstand how wealth works. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices andaccounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names andhosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly createhis webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to SanAntonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Kim Kaupe, a Forbes 30 under 30 and co-founder of custompublishing company Zinepak. Zinepak creates fan packs andmerchandise for artists and sports teams. They've worked withJustin Bieber, Katy Perry, and the Boston Red Sox. Listen as Nathanand Kim talk googling your way to success, making good investmentdeals, and Kim's stint on Shark Tank. Favorite Book? – Rework What CEO do you follow? — Jim O'Shea Favourite online tool? — Pipedrive Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I am If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what wouldit be?— Eat more chipotle and dance more, it's all going to beokay Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 02:15 – Welcoming Kim to the show 02:30 – Started Zinepak in 2011 - found a fantastic niche 03:05 – Latest clients include Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes 04:04 – Work as an agency - they'll create the product and sell itwholesale 05:00 – Order size varies from 500 units to 200,000 units 05:20 – Average order would be around 5,000 - 20,000 units 05:41 – Packs sell to the client from $3-5 06:05 – Aim for a 30% gross margin - though sometimes work withartists for less 07:01 – Total revenue in the first year was $600,000 07:31 – Started the business after working in corporate for twoyears 07:50 – "It was pretty much a googling game" 08:50 – "Know what you're good at and what you're not so goodat" 09:11 – Total revenue in 2015 was $2.8 million 09:20 – On Shark Tank in April 2015 09:40 – "For us it was about moving into fanbases outside the musicindustry" 10:20 – "We wanted to get 5-10 solid business leads from theshow" 10:55 – "You'd be surprised how many CEOs and CMOs watch SharkTank" 11:45 – Ask on the show was $725,000 for 17.5% 12:30 – Due diligence starts a couple of weeks after theshoot 13:40 – Ultimately didn't go through with the deal 16:10 – If Nathan and Lisa created a product together, what wouldit be? 17:05 – Maybe a product to do with goals and structure 18:10 – Maybe exclusive data - delivered at a live event 18:58 – Connect with Kim at her website, or on Twitter andInstagram 21:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Know your strengths and weaknesses...and outsource yourweaknesses. Be clear on what you want from an investment partnership. Is yourpartner bringing anything to the table apart from money? Don't beafraid to walk away. Look after yourself and your health. You need to be on top form totake over the world. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices andaccounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names andhosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly createhis webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to SanAntonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Subbu Rama, co-founder of BitFusion, a service that gathers unused processing power to create a decentralised supercomputer. Subbu's hoping to create something as big as VMware. Listen as Subbu answers the hard questions about splitting equity, raising capital, and building sales at the beginning of a big idea. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs What CEO do you follow? — Steve Jobs, posthumously. 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?—I wish I'd started a company Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:45 – Nathan's introduction 01:50 – Welcoming Subbu to the show 02:35 – BitFusion grabs unused processing power to speed up clients' processing 03:23 – Started in February 2015 03:36 – Based in Austin, Texas 03:50 – Subbu gave up a $250k salary at Dell to create BitFusion 04:20 – "The world is moving beyond CPUs...big computation is becoming more complex" 04:30 – "I thought - how do we bring hypercomputing to the normals?" 04:45 – Subbu's co-founders quit Samsung and Intel 05:15 – The co-founders split their equity equally - 33% each 06:01 – "People don't put the same energy in all the time...but in the end it all evens out" 06:45 – "I would recommend doing whatever you're comfortable with" 07:26 – Raised $1.5 million in a seed round 07:42 – Went through the TechStars incubator 08:00 – Debt round via convertible note 08:40 – Nathan: "Are you making sales?" 09:05 – Have around 6 customers 09:40 – Customers pay $10-100k per year 09:55 – Looked for customers they could close with in 1-3 months 10:20 – Gained 6 customers in 2 months 10:40 – Revenue in the last year has been $100-500k 11:11 – Losing less than $100k per month in salaries - team of 9 people 11:50 – Hope to have enough customers in 2016 to run a Series A 12:25 – "I look at strategic investors, not valuation" 12:55 – "We want investors who will help us" 13:29 – Subbu wouldn't sell for $20 million right now 13:50 – "We think this could be as big as VMWare" 14:18 – Connect with Subbu on Twitter 15:45 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Look for strategic investment partners who'll bring something besides money to the table Sales are everything. Start bringing in customers as quickly as you can. Computation is becoming more complex: services that capitalise on super-fast processing are going to succeed 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

Ilya Semin, creator of Datanyze - a sales intelligence platform that's the only thing Hubspot and Marketo will use. Datanyze has reached an ARR of $6 million in just two years - and they're growing incredibly fast. Listen in to hear why Ilya took his first round of funding, how to have the tough conversations about equity, and why emotional intelligence is crucial for tech entrepreneurs. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Alchemist What CEO do you follow? — None Favourite online tool? — Manny [link skyped to Nathan] Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — I wish that I'd started working on my EQ skills and learned how to communicate with people Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:09 – Nathan's introduction 01:58 – Welcoming Ilya to the show 02:12 – Datanyze is a sales intelligence platform that's offered as a subscription service. Customers include Hubspot and Marketo 02:30 – 500 customers, with an average annual contract of $20k 02:55 – Founded the business in 2012 - launched officially in 2014 03:20 – First year revenue was around $50k 03:40 – Mostly serve B2B companies and enterprise companies 03:58 – Raised $1.8 million in July 2014 04:20 – "We were profitable even then...but enterprise customers don't like dealing with small companies" 05:00 – VCs included Google investments and Mark Cuban 05:30 – Total revenue in 2015 was $4 million, and by December 2015 there was a monthly run rate of $500k 07:21 – Churn is less than 1% per month 07:44 – Customer Acquisition Cost is around $9k 08:20 – "Almost all our customers pay up front" 08:55 – Have about 60 people based in San Martel, California 09:18 – How does a typical customer use Datanyze? 09:30 – If a sales rep is making a call, they can use Datanyze to access information about a company 10:07 – Datanyze can also help to generate potential leads and their contact details 11:00 – Have an inside sales team who set up around 15 demos per month 12:57 – Current revenue growth is 7% month-over-month 13:30 – Team salary costs are close to $500k per month 14:16 – "We're close to break-even all the time" 14:38 – One other co-founder. They had the difficult conversation and didn't split equity evenly 15:01 – Connect with Ilya through Linkedin or his blog 17:12 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Zero in on the market you want to serve - and find partners or investment to help you in that market Learn to communicate. 85% of your success is down to emotional intelligence and 'soft' skills Have the tough conversations about equity. All that an even split proves is that you aren't communicating well enough 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 Mogill, president of Crisp Video - a company that bridges the gap between video production and video marketing. Michael started the business on his own three years ago, and now has 15 employees and clients including Coca Cola and Red Bull. Listen as Nathan and Michael talk return on investment, finding a marketing edge, and focusing on progress. Favorite Book? – Delivering Happiness What CEO do you follow? — Gary Vaynerchuk Favourite online tool? — Dropbox 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 stop doubting myself, and not apologise for the standards I hold people to Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:14 – Nathan's introduction 01:35 – Welcoming Michael to the show 01:45 – Generate revenue from video production and implementation 02:10 – The clients Michael's most proud of are the small businesses 02:48 – One attorney in Nebraska doubled his business by using marketing videos 03:45 – He went from an average case value of $1,000 to an average case value of $10,000 04:00 – Created a brand video for him, as well as a series of educational videos 04:25 – A brand video costs around $10,000, a series of 26 videos over a year costs around $4,000 per month 05:40 – The firm has trained cinematographers in every market in the US 06:10 – Business founded in 2012 - originally just by Michael 06:20 – First year revenue was $100k 06:40 – 2013 revenue was $200k 06:50 – Crisp Video now has 15 employees in Atlanta, plus around 25 contractors 07:10 – Total revenue in the last year exceeded 7 figures 07:40 – Current goal is around $5 million for the end of the year 08:25 – Michael reinvests profits in the business 09:10 – "You have to consider the time you're putting in, versus the salary you're taking out" 10:01 – "If you can get to the point where you have a team, then there's a higher return on investment than in a salaried job" 10:50 – "It's not about the money - it's about the next goal" 11:00 – Connect with Peter on his site or on twitter 14:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you start a business, be prepared to go from a 40 hour week to a 100 hour week. Once you build a team, those numbers will improve. Fulfilment doesn't come from achievement - it comes from pursuing the next goal. Don't apologise for the standards you hold people to, or the accountability you demand. 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

Tim Ray, the founder and CEO of Carnivore Club, a speciality meat subscription business. Tim sold his first company, Foodscrooge, within 4 months of starting it. He's currently the CEO of two companies and is hoping to double Carnivore Club's profits this year. Listen as Nathan and Tim talk earning out and buying, bootstrapping a business, and how to get the most from podcast advertising. Favorite Book? – 48 Laws of Power What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favourite online tool? — None Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Almost If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— Swing for the fences. Be bold and swing big. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:01 – Nathan's introduction 01:42 – Welcoming Tim to the show 01:58 – Tim started his first company, FoodScrooge, to allow consumers to buy bulk frozen food surplus 02:40 – Revenue in the first year was $150k - they were bought within 4 months 03:07 – Sold for $2.1 million on an earn-out scheme 03:45 – Tim acquired Broquet for $150,000 04:25 – Broquet's a premium curated gifts company 05:30 – Carnivore Club has a subscription model, whereas Broquet is more traditional e-commerce 06:40 – Carnivore Club was launched via Indiegogo 07:10 – Crowdfunding raised $22,000 08:15 – First monthly order was 175 orders in the US and 250 in Canada 08:41 – The business is seasonal - in December 2015, they shipped around 8,000 boxes 08:51 – March 2016, sent just over 5,000 boxes 09:25 – Subscription is $55 per month - people often give gifts of a multi-month subscription 09:50 – Paid up-front and don't have to ship for the next few months 10:40 – Around ⅔ of sales are fixed-term gifts - the other option is a rolling subscription 13:00 – In 2015, total revenue was $1.3 million 13:01 – Business was bootstrapped from an initial $100,000 13:24 – 35% average margin - currently investing all profits in the business 13:50 – 4 full time employees 14:15 – Currently focusing on podcast advertising 15:00 – The most successful podcast advertisement has been a 30-second midroll on Drinkin' Bros. Pay around $270 per episode. 17:34 – Connect with Tim on Linkedin 19:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Your consumer base might not be who you originally expected. Accept them and see how you can understand and serve them best. Think big. Timidity doesn't serve anyone. You'll benefit from creating a payment model that gives you cash up front. Traditional e-commerce requires sunk costs in inventory and storage - try being more creative. 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 Mogill, president of Crisp Video - a company that bridges the gap between video production and video marketing. Michael started the business on his own three years ago, and now has 15 employees and clients including Coca Cola and Red Bull. Listen as Nathan and Michael talk return on investment, finding a marketing edge, and focusing on progress. Favorite Book? – Delivering Happiness What CEO do you follow? — Gary Vaynerchuk Favourite online tool? — Dropbox 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 stop doubting myself, and not apologise for the standards I hold people to Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:14 – Nathan's introduction 01:35 – Welcoming Michael to the show 01:45 – Generate revenue from video production and implementation 02:10 – The clients Michael's most proud of are the small businesses 02:48 – One attorney in Nebraska doubled his business by using marketing videos 03:45 – He went from an average case value of $1,000 to an average case value of $10,000 04:00 – Created a brand video for him, as well as a series of educational videos 04:25 – A brand video costs around $10,000, a series of 26 videos over a year costs around $4,000 per month 05:40 – The firm has trained cinematographers in every market in the US 06:10 – Business founded in 2012 - originally just by Michael 06:20 – First year revenue was $100k 06:40 – 2013 revenue was $200k 06:50 – Crisp Video now has 15 employees in Atlanta, plus around 25 contractors 07:10 – Total revenue in the last year exceeded 7 figures 07:40 – Current goal is around $5 million for the end of the year 08:25 – Michael reinvests profits in the business 09:10 – "You have to consider the time you're putting in, versus the salary you're taking out" 10:01 – "If you can get to the point where you have a team, then there's a higher return on investment than in a salaried job" 10:50 – "It's not about the money - it's about the next goal" 11:00 – Connect with Peter on his site or on twitter 14:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: When you start a business, be prepared to go from a 40 hour week to a 100 hour week. Once you build a team, those numbers will improve. Fulfilment doesn't come from achievement - it comes from pursuing the next goal. Don't apologise for the standards you hold people to, or the accountability you demand. 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

Kenny Hawk, the CEO of Mojio. Kenny made millions from iGo, a company he started in his dorm room in the 1990s. He's now turning his expertise in wireless technology to good use at Mojio - a company backed by Amazon and Deutsche Telecom that uses cloud-based tech to link your car to the internet. Listen in to hear lessons from the dotcom boom, how Mojio can slash your garage fees, and why Kenny's expecting to sell almost 2 million units in the next 2 years. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Built to Last What CEO do you follow? — Larry Ellison Favourite online tool? — Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — The most important choice in life is the people you choose to be around you Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:09 – Nathan's introduction 01:37 – Welcoming Kenny to the show 01:45 – iGo was Kenny's first CEO gig - he started the business in his dorm room before graduation 02:30 – iGo created universal charging adaptors for mobile devices 02:50 – Started in 1993 and bootstrapped, followed by angel investment and VC rounds 03:30 – Raised $10 million and went public in 1999 03:50 – Acquired 3 companies and were then acquired themselves 04:40 – Moved from Silicon Valley to northern Nevada 05:20 – Top market cap was almost $1 billion 05:40 – Market cap was below $100 million - but they came out on the right side of the bubble 06:25 – Revenue was around $80 million when they sold 07:15 – Gross margin was around 30-40% 07:20 – iGo was profitable when it started, but VC investors were focused on growth rather than profit 08:30 – People who came in late in the dotcom boom tended to suffer 09:30 – Kenny did well out of his company sale 10:00 – People went bankrupt by paying tax on optioned gain - then losing everything 11:00 – The people who lost the most were the public market 11:26 – Mojio was launched in 2012 in Vancouver, backed by Amazon and Deutsche Telecom 11:50 – Kenny started in late 2015 12:05 – Mojio provides a cloud service to connect cars to the internet - track drivers and know where a shared car is at any time 12:53 – "When you're not in your car, your cellphone's not in your car" 13:23 – The device connects through the onboard diagnostic port - meaning that you know exactly what's gone wrong 14:10 – Work on a revenue-share basis. Sell units and store data. 15:08 – Hoping to join the autonomous car ecosystem once it takes off 15:30 – Under 30 full-time employees 16:10 – Sales will be within the millions of units in the next 2-3 years 16:35 – Why did Kenny come on board instead of starting a new business? 17:12 – Kenny grew up in Detroit and loves cars - he also knew and respected the VC investors 17:55 – Deutsche Telecom has been a fantastic strategic partner 11:13 – Connect with Kenny through the Mojio website 20:22 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Surround yourself with the right people. The most important choice in building a successful life and business is who you join forces with. Find a strategic investor who brings more than just money to your business. Growth is not everything. The dotcom boom happened when growth outstripped profit - it's important to know that your business can 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

Peter Himler, the man who set up the New York Times' paywall. Peter's an experienced PR and media consultant, and the founder of Flatiron Communications. Listen as Nathan and Peter talk subscription vs. native advertising, the growth of content marketing, and the importance of influencers. Favorite Book? – The End of Big What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I absolutely do If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— How to be more assertive with my boss Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan's introduction 01:30 – Welcoming Peter to the show 01:55 – Peter helped the New York Times launch their first paywall 02:45 – What can agencies do to make sure they retain talent? 03:00 – Large agencies have invested in digital strategies 04:00 – Flatiron create content marketing for their clients 04:35 – Content sites with a paywall are a growing trend 04:50 – How did you execute the NY Times paywall? 05:10 – The first paywall was unsuccessful - 'Times Select' in 2005 05:50 – "It was premature" - focused on driving advertising revenue 06:20 – When they fully embraced the paywall model it became more successful 07:45 – "The Times is a very strong brand in a sea of online content" 08:10 – "The voices of true journalism are fewer and further between" 09:40 – Do content paywalls cannibalise revenue from native advertising? 10:35 – Some paid subscriber sites provide a very targeted market for advertisers 11:40 – Are paywalls feasible for people who aren't big brands yet? 12:41 – A trend of hiring influencers to create branded content 13:31 – A company called Niche matches brands with influencers - bought by Twitter for $20 million 14:24 – Flatiron has a team of 4 people 15:30 – Charges retainers of around $7500-12,500 per month 16:10 – Connect with Peter on his site or on twitter 17:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Subscription models can coexist with targeted advertising: be creative about how you're generating revenue from your content. Be prepared to create a lot of free content in order to build your brand. Be assertive...and once you know what you're doing, be prepared to strike out on your own. 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

Khalid Saleh, co-author of the bestselling book Conversion Optimisation. Khalid's an expert on conversion whose company, Invesp, has grown companies from tiny startups to giant powerhouses. Listen as Khalid and Nathan talk leaving a salaried job, turning a consulting business into an SaaS giant, and running a global fundraising round. Favorite Book? – The Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? — Alex Turnbull What is your favorite online tool?— Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Hell, no! If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— That I need to be laser-focused. There's opportunity everywhere - you just have to focus on it. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan's introduction 02:20 – Welcoming Khalid to the show 02:35 – Invesp makes money by consulting on conversion optimisation 03:00 – Companies pay a monthly retainer for ongoing optimisation services 03:45 – Charge a minimum of $8,000 per month 04:00 – Companies stay 15-24 months on average 04:25 – Invesp was founded in 2006 04:35 – Made around $15-20k in their first year 05:00 – Khaleed was 31 when he left his salaried job to launch Invesp 05:20 – "An amazing employee but difficult to manage" 05:40 – While working for Motorola, Khalid noticed the problem of conversion rates 05:52 – Gave up a $200k salary as one of the top software architects in America 06:30 – Khalid's wife is one of his business partner 07:00 – 4 partners in the company 07:35 – Moving into providing a SaaS platform for conversion optimisation 08:30 – Made close to $700k in 2014 - the year they decided to take fewer projects 09:15 – "It's been a gamble to focus on software development" 09:30 – Initially wanted to make an AB testing platform...but decided to move into other products 10:35 – Several companies are interested in funding - but many are asking for more equity than they want to give up 11:01 – A VC in Russia was willing to give $1.5 million for 45% equity 11:20 – "He said I could probably get the same offer for 25% in San Francisco...but it's a different market in each country" 11:55 – The SaaS business will be a product that's offered by Invesp 12:40 – Connect with Khaleed at the Invesp Blog or on twitter 15:30 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you want to expand, be willing to move sideways and think creatively about where your business can go. Consulting doesn't scale the way SaaS can. Think very carefully about how much equity you're willing to give up in a fundraising round. Interest means nothing without conversion. Optimising conversion rates for your business can boost your growth enormously. 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

Rob Biederman, founder of HourlyNerd - a platform that bypasses traditional consultancies to help companies hire just the experts they need. HourlyNerd serves more than 4,500 companies, including GE, Microsoft and American Apparel. Listen as Rob and Nathan talk about spotting a market gap, dividing equity, and why you should have studied computer science. Favorite Book? – Only the Paranoid Survive What CEO do you follow? — Jeff Immelt 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?— Take some computer science papers Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Graham to the show 01:56 – "Companies use us when they have a pressing need for a solution that can't be provided by their current workforce" 02:00 – HourlyNerd makes money by taking a small percentage of transactions 02:30 – Example: connected GE to a robotics professor who could educate them about commercial robotics 03:30 – Around 80-85% goes to the consultant, the rest goes to HourlyNerd 04:00 – Rob worked in private equity before starting his business 04:34 – Had the idea of bypassing traditional consulting to connect people to talent directly 04:58 – Rob started in private equity aged 21, and founded the company aged 26 05:40 – He gave up a $400-600k salary 06:40 – "I'd saved a tremendous amount...I could mitigate the risk" 07:20 – How did Rob and his founders divide equity? 07:30 – They used a vesting schedule to accommodate any changes 09:15 – Worked with 5,000 customers in 2015 and had 21,000 nerds 09:31 – Nerds actively making money would be "in the low single-digit thousands" 09:50 – "We work with clients from GE down to a woman called Jenny in Massachusetts" 10:40 – Founded in 2013 10:51 – Total revenue in the first year was $150k 11:00 – Total revenue in 2015 was above $5 million 11:20 – Have raised about $10 million in capital 11:25 – "Nobody on our founding team could code...we needed to pay a development firm" 12:40 – Gave up around 20% of equity via convertible note to fundraise 13:30 – Auditioned for Shark Tank: dropped out but ended up with Mark Cuban as an investor 14:40 – Connect with Rob at HourlyNerd or on Twitter 3 Key Points: Be wary of how much equity you're giving up in the early stages of your company. Make choices that minimise dead equity. Don't be afraid to give up a salary to follow your ideas Learn some computer skills as soon as you can 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

Preston Lee, the founder of Millo. He's making $8,000 per month from a website and newsletter that started as a side project. Millo is a business resource and newsletter for creative entrepreneurs. Preston's built an incredibly engaged community and a list that actually thanks him for sending out sponsored emails. Listen in to hear how to make sponsorship deals that your audience love, how to build revenue from a side project, and why it's important to think like a business from the start. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The $100 Startup What CEO do you follow? — Ben Chestnut Favourite online tool? — Trello Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — How to think more like a business Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:07 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Preston to the show 01:43 – Millo is a blog and a newsletter for people who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs, freelancers, or creators 02:30 – Email list of about 30k, and a high level of engagement 03:10 – In 2009, Millo started as a graphic design blog, Graphic Design Blender 03:35 – In the first few years, made less than $500 per month 04:00 – In the last few years, pivoted to become a sponsor-based business that makes around $8k per month 04:50 – Highly tailored sponsorship packages 05:05 – Between 3 and 7 sponsors per month 05:24 – Design Cuts is a long-term sponsor 06:08 – Send out dedicated emails advertising Design Cuts bundles 06:33 – Millo is a side project for Preston and he's happy with that 07:11 – "Right now it's a very exciting side project" 07:35 – Lowest sponsorship package is $400 per month; highest is $1850 08:55 – If Nathan wanted to work with Preston, what could he do? 09:51 – The Freelance Report is a side project in the Millo newsletter 10:51 – Preston's full-time job is content marketing for a magazine website 11:13 – Connect with Preston on Twitter 12:52 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Start side projects and things that you love. You never know what opportunities content will lead to. Once you've built an audience, you can build a business. Think like a business. Focus will connect you to opportunities. 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

Graham Williams, one of the creators of Fun Fun Fun festival and head of Transmission Events. The festival's first year had only 3,000 attendees...now it lasts 3 days and welcomes 20,000 people. Listen as Nathan and Graham talk about building up an event, the economics of festivals, and why you should start building your dream sooner. Favorite Book? – I've never read a business book… 1984 What CEO do you follow? — None 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?— I think I made the right decisions for the most part...I wish I'd started my company a little earlier. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Graham to the show 02:10 – Started Fun Fun Fun festival in 2006 with the head of Alamo Drafthouse 02:45 – Cost around $100k to produce and sold around 3000 tickets in the first year 03:15 – Left Emo's to start Transmission Events, a booking and promotions company 03:20 – How did you get 3000 people to an event that had just launched? 03:40 – "A lot of flyering and street-team work" 04:07 – Now a 3-day festival with 20,000 attendees 04:24 – Now costs $4-5 million to produce 05:50 – Currently run by a local manager 05:10 – What's driven the growth of the festival? 05:40 – "You find your audience and respect that audience" 06:22 – Ticket sales are the bulk of revenue - then sponsorship and bar sales 06:55 – A weekend pass costs a little over $200 07:22 – Around half the total revenue is in ticket sales 08:30 - Sponsors pay more per head because of the opportunity to target an audience 11:00 – The festival feeds into Graham's year-round business 11:20 – Find Graham at Transmission Events or Fun Fun Fun Fest 12:35 – It's aimed at licensing information obtained from defunct websites 3 Key Points: Learn all you can - but you need to put that learning into action. Find your audience and respect them. Cater to their needs. Build your niche. Start sooner. Whatever you're thinking about doing...do it. 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