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  

Jason Greenspan, the founder and CEO of Whoosh!, a screen-cleaning product that’s on track to make over $5 million in sales this year. Listen as Jason and Nathan talk about creating a start-up with a physical product, what good margins look like, and how to convince people they have a problem. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Purple Cow What CEO do you follow? — Kevin Plank What is your favorite online tool? — Pipedrive 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? — To start a business then! It’s much easier before you have responsibilities. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan’s introduction 01:44 – Welcoming Jason to the show 01:54 – Whoosh! is a best-selling screen-cleaning spray and wipe 03:05 – Was on the Canadian version of Dragon’s Den 03:40 – Founded in 2009 03:50 – Pivoted in 2012 from making car-cleaning products 04:05 – Knocked a cleaning product onto his iPad by mistake 04:30 – Filled one-ounce bottles and handed them out at CES - never looked back 04:55 – Entirely self-funded and currently profitable 05:10 – Looking to raise $5 million this spring to fund growth 05:30 – Wiped over 1.5 million screens over the last year 06:30 – Total revenue in 2012 just under $1 million 06:39 – Total revenue in 2016 will be $5-10 million 07:00 – The formula is proprietary - they manage a supply chain 07:40 – The Whoosh! Go sells for $10 - what are the margins on that? 07:55 – Retailer takes a 25-50% gross margin 08:20 – A good gross margin on a physical product is 40-50% 09:02 – A good net margin is around 5% 09:35 – Spending very little on acquisitions 10:00 – We’re building through the wholesale channel - probably 90% of sales 10:24 – 10 full-time employees 10:40 – How do you value a product company? 10:50 – Valuation is on topline revenue and growth 12:30 – Whoosh! is a sticky product once people try it 13:20 – Biggest growth opportunity is convincing the market that there’s a problem 15:40 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Grab opportunities when you see them. Whoosh! was founded by capitalising on an accident. Start your business now. Waiting longer isn’t going to make it easier. If you’re dealing with physical products, you should be making better than 5% margins. 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  

Ben Williamson. Ben went from teaching himself to code, to working with Steve Jobs. After 10 years at Apple, Ben’s building Yoshirt - a custom apparel tool that’s priced at $5 million after just two years. Listen as Ben and Nathan talk through fundraising, insecurities, and building an incredibly successful startup. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Way of the SEAL What CEO do you follow? — Nathan Latka What is your favorite online tool? — Periscope Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Recently, no If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — You don’t need anyone else’s permission. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan’s introduction 02:17 – Welcoming Ben to the show 02:25 – Ben’s second time on the show - he was here in episode 23 02:53 – Yoshirt was founded in 2014 03:00 – “Custom, on-demand apparel from your iOS device” 03:08 – Last year ran an over-subscribed fundraising round that closed at $1.1 million 03:30 – Priced round at a post-money valuation of $5 million 04:10 – 13 full-time employees 04:25 – They make money from the physical product - $36 per shirt 05:30 – Cost of goods is $15-18; gross margin of 50% 06:12 – Unique point: Yoshirt prints image on a single piece of fabric before they cut and sew 07:02 – Running Facebook ads and retargeting current customers 07:30 – Over 3 million people have downloaded the app 07:43 – Over 100k paying customers 08:30 – Focus on delivering fantastic customer experience 08:50 – “We make garments so unique that no one can walk by without saying something” 09:20 – Topline revenue was $3 million in 2015 09:25 – Shooting for $10 million in 2016 09:55 – Working with bands to generate growth - partnered with Fall Out Boy 11:00 – Sold over 1,000 units from the Fall Out Boy activation 11:30 – The goal is to see how far they can push the idea 12:00 – “We really look at ourselves as a technology company” 12:50 – Wouldn’t sell Yoshirt for $10 million in cash today 13:30 – People are looking for attention: we’re building a company around that 14:00 – Connect with Ben through email, Linkedin and Twitter 17:55 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Satisfied customers are your best growth tool. Deliver a fantastic product and people will return and refer. Deal with your own insecurities. You don’t need to seek permission or validation from the people around you. Get the best data you possibly can. Successful entrepreneurs need facts, not stories. 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  

Laurie Lane-Zucker, founder and CEO of the Impact Entrepreneur Centre. Laurie’s created a network of 10,000 entrepreneurs who are chasing the triple bottom line: making a positive social and environmental impact as well as a profit. Listen in to hear how Laurie funds his dream to make a difference; why you need to expand your bottom-line thinking, and how to get started as an impact entrepreneur. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Way of the Wizard What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk Favourite online tool? — Linkedin Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?— I wish I knew about entrepreneurship earlier. I wish I had the opportunities that millennials have now to pursue their own goals. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan’s introduction 01:53 – Welcoming Laurie to the show 02:07 – An ‘Impact Entrepreneur’ is someone who wants to create companies that do good in the world, and to nurture a network and ecosystem that support these values 03:10 – Website is Impact Alchemist 03:40 – A ‘triple bottom line’ that considers social and environmental impact 04:21 – Over 10k members in the network right now 04:40 – Laurie makes money from consulting. He’s recently worked with water purification companies, nutrition research companies, and companies making biofuel from landfill 06:00 – “I gravitate to companies that are working on the UN development goals” 07:15 – Laurie often match-makes between companies and impact investors 08:05 – Takes a ‘success fee’ when they secure funding 09:20 – Currently creating an incubation and acceleration hub in the Berkshires 10:25 – Laurie generates revenue through speaking, consulting, and taking fees on securing funding 11:20 – “Look at the sustainable development goals of the United Nations - and see what strikes a chord with you” 12:20 – Connect with Laurie on Linkedin 13:52 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Chase the triple bottom line. You aren’t really adding value to the world unless you’re looking at your environmental and social impact as well as finances. There’s a lot to do in the world. Look at the UN’s sustainable development goals and see what strikes a chord with you. Make the most of all your 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  

Troy Sultan, founder and CEO of Resource, a company that’s trying to automate the recruitment process. Troy was the first recruitment officer at Grooveshark, and later left Google to return to his passion: startups. Listen as Troy and Nathan talk about Troy’s career path, managing co-founders, and why you shouldn’t rely on venture capital. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The War of Art What CEO do you follow? — Gary Swart What is your favorite online tool? — Mixmax Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Slow down to speed up. And think about what you’re really good at. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan’s introduction 01:30 – Welcoming Troy to the show 01:47 – Troy founded a startup out of college, then joined early Grooveshark 02:10 – Grooveshark got sued for $17 billion 02:40 – Troy went into hiring at Google in 2013 03:00 – Built a startup in the last year of college - “we made every mistake” 04:00 – Decided to work with Grooveshark to learn about startup success 04:30 – Google was the next stage: seeing how a big company worked 05:00 – Lessons from Google? - “A lot of delegation is happening” 05:13 – The quality of your experience at a big company depends on your manager 05:26 – Troy then started Resource 05:54 – Part of the 500 Startups accelerator 06:06 – 5% equity; $125k investment 06:20 – 3 team members 06:33 – Trying to split equity equally, but people came on at different stages 07:00 – If everyone’s going to provide equal value, try to keep it equal 07:30 – “I don’t want to co-found a company with someone who’s not picking up where I’m weak” 08:05 – Charge a monthly flat rate of $5-8.5k for services. Month-by-month opt-in model 08:38 – Doing tens of thousands in revenue per month 09:10 – Customers “in the low double digits” 09:30 – Creating a hiring solution that’s part-human, part-software 09:54 – Most acquisitions are coming through social credibility 10:20 – No spending on marketing at the moment 10:40 – Not a SaaS company - they’re not looking at churn 11:00 – MRR varies depending on when people are hiring 11:50 – “If we do a good job, we get rid of customers...but hopefully they come back” 12:25 – Troy’s trying to hack his way to the next checkpoint 12:50 – In a good month Resource makes $50k in revenue 13:00 – Operating profitably - margins are good 13:30 – “We don’t want to rely on venture capital early on” 13:50 – Connect with Troy on Twitter or through his blog 15:20 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Slow down to speed up. It can be worth putting your short-term goals on hold to go corporate for a while and learn from the masters Be certain that your business can make a profit on its own terms. If you rely on venture capital early on, you can go a long way with a bad idea. Choose your co-founders carefully. If they’re not going to bring serious value, they’re probably not who you want to start a company with. 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  

Zander Adell, co-founder and CEO of Doorman. Zander’s aiming to solve the frustrating problem of finding a note on your door, instead of your Amazon or FedEx package. He left his job as technical director at Pixar to go to business school, and wound up solving one of the stickiest problems in e-commerce. Listen as Zander and Nathan talk logistics, changing a business ecosystem, and dreaming big. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? — Jeff Bezos What is your 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? — To focus on the big dream, not the little pieces along the way Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:26 – Nathan’s introduction 02:00 – Welcoming Zander to the show 02:20 – Zander left Pixar in his early 30s to go to business school 02:50 – He wanted to understand how to get a business off the ground 03:10 – Fascinated by the logistics element of apps 03:40 – Worked in the gaming industry briefly before starting Doorman 04:10 – Doorman aims to solve the e-commerce problem of getting your stuff delivered 04:40 – It lets customers schedule when a package will come to their house 05:10 – We’re still in a transitional period between shopping in person and online 05:30 – The existing logistics infrastructure isn’t ready to interact with consumers 06:00 – Revenue comes from both retail partnerships and consumer customers 06:40 – Items are delivered to Doorman’s warehouse; customers then choose a delivery time 07:10 – Warehouses in San Francisco, Chicago and New York 07:20 – Working with retailers is currently more profitable 07:50 – Launched in 2014 08:00 – One co-founder and a team of 10 people 08:15 – Raised a little over $3 million through 500 Startups 09:00 – Around 10-20% growth of users per month 10:40 – Delivered over 100,000 packages 11:10 – “We’ll deliver pretty much anything” - anything under 45lb is a normal package 12:00 – Furniture etc. costs a little more 12:40 – Doorman is currently trying to build economies of scale 14:15 – A big win in 2016 would be hooking up with a large retailer 15:00 – Don’t consider themselves a SaaS business - but use SaaS measures 16:00 – Logistics margins are tight - they can get down to 5% in big companies 16:50 – “We can scale without really owning anything” 17:10 – Delivering 15-20 packages on average for top-quartile customers 18:25 – People’s buying doubled when they started using Doorman 21:20 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Logistics companies can learn from the pared-down model of SaaS. It’s possible to grow without owning bricks-and-mortar infrastructure, or fleets of lorries. Assess whether what you’re doing right now is serving your long-term goals. If it isn’t: change what you’re doing. When you solve a problem in an ecosystem, you change people’s behaviour. Simply providing an effective solution can make a market develop. 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  

Holly Cardew, a member of the Forbes 30 under 30 list and the founder of Pixc - an online image optimization service. Holly dropped out of college to grow an image editing empire that’s making just short of $1 million in revenue each year. Listen as Holly and Nathan talk about Pixc’s bootstrapping ethic, the importance of revenue over investment, and how to get the most from an affiliate program. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? — Ben Chestnut, though he’s kind of hard to track 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? — I wish my parents had told me to go to Silicon Valley. I should have learnt how to code. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:15 – Nathan’s introduction 01:56 – Welcoming Holly to the show 02:03 – Holly took a corporate job in London after university 02:20 – Tried multiple online businesses before Pixc 02:40 – Pixc is an online image optimization service 02:50 – Sells credit image packages 03:05 – Launched a landing page in 2013; started properly in 2014 03:20 – Largely self-funded; raised $150k in capital 03:55 – ‘At the end of the day, you need to have a business - not just capital’ 04:15 – 16 team members 04:30 – Revenue in the range of $200k - $1 million per year 05:10 – What are the running costs? 05:20 – Semi-automated process with some human input 05:35 – Currently breaking even and re-investing in the business 05:50 – Holly is 28; she dropped out of college to start her business 06:20 – Working with over 7,000 clients 06:40 – Acquisitions through referrals, integration, content marketing and affiliates 07:10 – Affiliate program is very effective. One article brought in 70+ customers in 3 weeks 09:20 – Affiliates make 20% commission on referrals 10:40 – What’s the competition? Largely freelancers. 11:03 – What’s Pixc’s growth strategy? 11:40 – Planning to expand the affiliate program and build partnerships 11:50 – Thinking about what other services they can offer in this niche 12:20 – Connect with Holly on Linkedin, Twitter and at her blog 14:58 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Focus on revenue, not on investment. You have to know that your idea can make money. Learn how to code - it’s a basic skill that will pay you back a hundred times over. If you’re looking at expanding, consider what other services fit in your niche. What else do your customers need that you can provide? 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  

Lance Mysyrowicz, the founder of Boost&Co. Lance is an investment fund manager who specialises in European startups. He currently manages over $150 million in assets. Listen in to hear about Lance’s latest investment, the details of early investment in tech startups, and what interest rates you could expect for your startup. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Behind the Cloud What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk What is your favorite online tool? — Evernote Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —I wish I knew what makes me happy today - spending time with people I love, and the things I love doing Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:08 – Nathan’s introduction 01:36 – Welcoming Lance to the show 01:50 – Boost&Co lends money to companies earlier in the process than banks 02:20 – They sit in between VC and banking as an investor 02:55 – Have loaned $120 million to over 100 business 03:43 – Last company was a SaaS firm called Idio that lets people track what’s being read on a web page 04:50 – Have invested around $1.75 million in Idio 05:00 – Make money in three different ways: a 1-2% fee; an 8-12% interest rate on outstanding capital; and a warrant - a right to buy shares at a specific price 05:50 – The warrant includes a negotiated strike price 07:05 – What happens on a $1 million deal? 08:00 – A management fee comes from the investment fund - it’s 2% of the assets they manage 09:12 – Why charge a fee? 10:31 – Interest rates are determined by the revenue and size of a company 11:25 – Interest is paid every month and a small amount of capital is repaid 13:15 – “I would always prefer to do a smaller deal and have a smaller risk exposure” 13:48 – Is this the same as mezzanine finance? 14:06 – Connect with Lance on Linkedin 16:10 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: There are multiple pathways to getting a loan as a startup - through VCs, banks, or a halfway step like Boost&Co Expect to pay a fee, interest, and to offer a warrant to buy shares As an investment fund manager, Lance tries to limit his exposure to risk as much as possible. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives  

Steve Sims, the colorful legend behind The Bluefish. Steve’s the founder of a luxury concierge company that can arrange anything from singing with Journey to getting married in the Vatican. Listen as Steve and Nathan talk about the secrets of engaging people and making impossible things happen. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Cat in the Hat What CEO do you follow? — Tony Hsieh What is your favorite online tool? — I actually use a pad and pen Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No! If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Everything will be all right. Just keep on going, and keep your word. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan’s introduction 02:13 – Welcoming Steve to the show 03:20 – Steve got into the concierge business after being a club doorman 03:50 – “I don’t lie...like me or don’t like me” 04:15 – 99% of Steve’s clients are entrepreneurs 04:50 – “I psychoanalyse the shit out of them” 05:40 – One guy wanted to meet Journey: we got him onstage singing with them 06:20 – I always know someone who’s got a contact 06:50 – A ‘chain of credibility’ 08:20 – “When I went in based on money, I made bad decisions” 09:00 – I always pay people: a favour is expensive in the long run 09:30 – Journey event raised money for Autism Speaks 10:10 – People never want to think they’ve been sold 10:50 – What engages people is stories and emotions 11:20 – The business-entertainment conference that Nathan’s planning 13:00 – Connect with Steve at Ugly Sims 17:11 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Keep your promises. If you say you can get something done, you’d better get it done. Be yourself. People will like you or they won’t - don’t bother trying to bullshit them. Think creatively about what motivates people. Money isn’t always the answer. Stories, emotions, connections, contacts...there are a lot of ways to make things happen. 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  

Matt Shook, founder of Juiceland: an organic juice business that’s taking over Austin. Listen to Matt and Nathan for insight into a bricks-and-mortar startup that’s becoming wildly successful. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Prometheus Rising What CEO do you follow? — Tim League What is your favorite online tool? — Gmail 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 be so afraid of what other people think Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan’s introduction 01:36 – Welcoming Matt to the show 01:55 – Founded Juiceland in 2011, after making juice for 8 years 02:33 – New location on 4th street sold 2000 drinks in one day 03:30 – Frost Tower downtown store has triple the sales of anywhere else 05:15 – In 2015, 275 employees at 16 locations 05:40 – Net margin of 5% across the company 06:40 – Makes about 40 cents on a $10 drink 08:20 – Business is all bootstrapped 05:25 – Retainer of $50-75k per month 08:30 – First shop was opened for $15k with a friend 08:55 – ‘I’ve never once looked at demographics’ 09:20 – Hoping to have 20 stores by the end of the year 09:50 – Marketing through creating excellent product 11:25 – Connect with Matt on facebook and instagram 12:20 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Focus on creating a fantastic product. It’s the best and most lasting way to get customers. Don’t worry about what other people think. Focus on yourself and what you’re doing. Keep an open mind and connect with the people around you. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives  

Prem Bhatia, CEO and co-founder of Cooleaf. Cooleaf’s a B2B platform that helps companies organise, coordinate and track their engagement efforts. Listen as Prem and Nathan talk about breaking out of the corporate world, getting startup funding, and acquiring customers at no cost. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Alliance What CEO do you follow? — Dharmesh Shah What is your favorite online tool? — LinkedIn Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Do it sooner. You’ll learn on the job. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan’s introduction 02:10 – Welcoming Prem to the show 02:40 – Prem left the corporate world aged 35 to begin a startup 03:20 – Gave up a salary supporting his family 04:40 – Cooleaf is a SaaS platform designed to help businesses with engagement efforts 05:30 – Currently has 25 active customers 06:05 – Average annual contract of $25-30k 06:20 – Acquiring customers through inside sales - personal outreach; a blog 07:05 – Not spending any money on acquisitions 07:30 – Have raised about $800k in funding - in part from 500 Startups 08:10 – Funding is largely in equity 08:30 – Founded 4-5 years ago, but pivoted later into B2B 09:05 – Team of 11 10:30 – Annual churn of around 10% - a little unclear right now 11:30 – Average LTV is around $100k 11:45 – Model right now is to ‘nail it and scale it’ - tighten up what they’re doing 12:50 – Made less than $500k in 2015 13:20 – Aiming to make $88k per month this year 13:30 – Connect with Prem on Twitter 15:45 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Startups don’t come with guarantees. To be an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to give something up. If you’re working with a small number of high-value clients, you shouldn’t have to spend money on acquisitions. Reach out through your networks first. Learn on the job. No one ever feels ready to start something - accept that you aren’t, and jump in anyway. 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  

Qin En Looi, the CEO and CMO of Glints. Before he turned 20, Qin En had published 20 behavioural science research papers in international journals. He’s put his expertise in psychology and growth hacking to good use...He’s now focused on creating the best possible platform to help graduates find jobs they love. Listen in to hear how Qin En’s growing his talent pool by 15% each month with almost no spending; why word of mouth is the best possible marketing tool, and why you should take care with your first seed capital. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Influence What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk What is your favorite online tool? — Google Calendar Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —To spend more prudently. Don’t waste your money. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan’s introduction 02:17 – Glints aims to help young people discover what they love to do 03:00 – “5 years ago I would never have expected to have built a company” 03:28 – Glints makes money through recruitment and development 03:58 – They prepare talent to be ready for jobs: offer training and development 04:34 – Founded in 2013 04:50 – First-year revenue was $7k 05:00 – This year’s revenue was $500k 05:21 – Team of 12 people based in Singapore 05:33 – Raised a seed investment round of $500k in 2014 06:12 – Have placed over 2500 graduates into new jobs - minimum reported number 07:01 – 800 employers have recruited graduates 07:40 – Employers pay Glints for a recruitment plan 08:15 – They charge a flat fee: the average fee is $1000 08:48 – It’s free for students to be listed 09:06 – How are you growing the business? 09:22 – Work directly with students and campuses to bring more students onto the platform 10:04 – Have placed 300 students into jobs in March 2016 10:30 – Talent base is growing by 15% each month and spending less than $1000 each month 11:11 – “Word of mouth has been the most powerful driver for us” 11:40 – Connect with Qin En Looi via email or Twitter [links provided via Skype] 16:28 – Connect to Danielle on Twitter 13:30 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Be open to unexpected experiences. Qin En never expected to build his own company - and now he’s making $500k a year. Word of mouth is your best marketing tool. Create a product that makes people refer you. Spend prudently once you’ve raised money. 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  

Andrew Howlett, Chief Digital Officer at Rain, and a board member at the Society of Digital Agencies. Andrew started a million-dollar cleaning products business online at 26, before moving into marketing consultancy. Listen as Nathan and Andrew talk marketing, strategy, and how to get out of finance. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People What CEO do you follow? — Maurice Levy What is your favorite online tool? — Pipedrive Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —That finance wasn’t the direction I wanted to go - it would have been great to understand computer science more Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan’s introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Andrew to the show 02:00 – At 26, started a website that sold cleaning supplies 02:35 – At 29, started Rain 02:40 – uClean had total revenues of $200k in its first year; almost $1 million the next year 03:30 – Clear around $200k each year from uClean 04:05 – Rain’s latest client is BeachBody 04:40 – Rain is helping them re-imagine their products 05:00 – Revenue model is generally either a monthly retainer or T&M 05:25 – Retainer of $50-75k per month 05:55 – Works largely with 7 major clients 06:30 – First-ever Superbowl ad this year - Campbells Chunky Soup 06:55 – Wanted to focus on online placement 08:10 – 90% of placement is hustle 08:30 – They use People Pattern as a helpful piece of software 09:10 – Ended up with 3.5 million views in 2 weeks 10:00 – Made 3 videos for the Facebook 10-year anniversary 11:10 – Margin on video can be tricky to handle 11:56 – Total revenue in 2015 was $14 million 12:30 – Vision is to keep strategy, design, development and building in-house 14:20 – Happy with the current size of the company - no plans to grow dramatically 14:30 – Connect with Andrew on Twitter or LinkedIn 16:10 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: The majority of marketing is hustle. Automation helps, but to some extent you need to have real people pushing things along. There are benefits to limiting growth. Having a core team that’s small enough to be in the same room at the start of a project is fantastic. You need to understand how technology works. Even if you’re never going to be a developer, educate yourself in the basics. It will pay off. 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  

Anand Kulkarni, co-founder of LeadGenius. Anand left his job as a researcher and teacher at Berkeley to develop a tool that uses automation technology to find effective sales leads. Listen as Nathan and Anand talk over starting an SaaS business and exactly how to run an effective fundraising round. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Only The Paranoid Survive What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk What is your favorite online tool? — Gmail 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 had known how much fun it is to start a company - I would have started sooner! Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:22 – Nathan’s introduction 01:54 – Welcoming Anand to the show 02:10 – LeadGenius is AI for sales - ‘top of the funnel automation’ 02:45 – One client is using it to map out every IT director in every Brazilian telecom company, and obtain their contact details 03:30 – Charges between $2k and $1 million a month 03:50 – Started in 2011 03:55 – Total revenue in 2015 was $8 million 04:20 – Worked with 200 customers in February 2015 04:37 – Annual revenue of $40k per user 05:00 – LTV to CAC ratio of about 10 06:00 – Spending about $15k to acquire a customer 06:30 – Some salary costs associated with accessing certain kinds of data 07:30 – Currently have net negative churn 07:40 – That means that growth from existing accounts offsets any loss of customers 08:45 – About to release a new email product 09:05 – Total MRR in February was about $700k 09:30 – 50 team members locally, plus 500 outsourced 10:00 – Raised $8 million total; the last round was a series A of $6 million 11:10 – How do you make the decision about when to raise another round? 12:50 – Pre-money valuation in the last round was in the tens of millions 13:35 – ‘A good partner pays for themselves’ - think about partners, not valuation 15:34 – Connect with Anand on twitter 18:00 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you’re deciding whether to run an investment round, look hard at the milestones for your business. Is investment right now going to make significant progress toward those goals? Don’t just look at valuations when you’re choosing partners. They should bring something significant to the business beyond investment Whatever you’re planning to do, or dreaming you can do: start. It’ll be fun. 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  

Gil Allouche, the co-founder of Metadata. Gil’s an expert in digital marketing and AI who worked as a marketing consultant for big-name companies before quitting to co-found a startup. Listen as Gil and Nathan talk digital marketing, growth hacking, and how to work with your co-founders.   Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Enders Game What CEO do you follow? — Brian Halligan What is your favorite online tool? — Hubspot Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —That everything is achievable, and that I should set my goals much higher Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:10 – Nathan’s introduction 01:35 – Welcoming Gil to the show 02:10 – Before Metadata, Gil was a marketing consultant for B2B companies 03:00 – Gil’s focus in college was on AI and robotics 03:10 – He followed this with an MBA and focused on digital marketing 03:35 – In February 2016, Metadata had MRR of $35k 04:10 – Currently raising around $2 million in equity in a seed round 04:50 – Would be happy with a $5 million pre-money valuation 05:30 – Metadata amplifies the impact of content marketing 06:30 – Takes initial audience and reverse engineers a profile 07:15 – Targets lookalike audiences on multiple platforms 08:10 – Starts at $10k for a 3-month pilot 08:50 – Takes over landing page, enrichment and targeting 09:15 – A startup: still figuring out a pricing model 10:00 – 3 founders; 8 team members 10:35 – How do you talk to co-founders about splitting equity? 11:10 – Just over 12 customers 11:42 – Churn rate: to date, only one customer has left 12:15 – Launched in May 2015 12:40 – Willing to spend $2-3k to acquire a customer 14:00 – Connect with Gil by email 15:20 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Aim high. Everything is achievable with the right method. Half of content marketing is marketing. The best content in the world won’t help you if no one reads it. If your startup has co-founders, have a serious conversation about splitting equity. It’s too important to not get right. 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  

Danielle Morrill, the technology exec who left Twilio to found Mattermark, a SaaS business that’s aiming to make almost $5 million this year. Danielle’s an ambitious CEO who can’t stand to be bored. Listen in to hear why you should never split equity evenly, why focusing on churn rate will make you lose customers, and the one crucial thing you should think about before you sell your business. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Pyramid Principle What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk 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? —It was all going to be okay. She should stop angsting and just keep doing what she’s doing. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:08 – Nathan’s introduction 01:46 – Mattermark is a SaaS firm that lets customers research private companies 02:20 – Helps people who are looking to sell, buy, or invest in companies 02:41 – Launched in 2013 02:50 – First year revenue was around $200k 03:07 – Left Twilio to start a different startup - an affiliate marketing program 03:43 – Shut down the company completely and started again with the same investors 04:18 – Three co-founders. Danielle is the CEO, her husband codes, and her friend runs sales 05:21 – “We don’t have a 1:1:1 split - because things aren’t ever even.” 06:04 – “I think it’s the CEO’s job to offer equity portions that are fair and make sense” 07:30 – “It’s intellectually lazy to not discuss the equity portions” 08:01 – Topline revenue in 2015 was $2.4 million 08:20 – Monthly recurring revenue is around $260k 08:50 – Around 500 customers 09:07 – Annual customer revenue is around $10k 09:50 – Annual churn is less than 10% 10:11 – “Not everyone has turned over on a year yet - around 80% of customers came on board in the last 11 months” 10:34 – What other metrics measure customer engagement? 10:40 – “By the time they churn, it’s too late” 11:30 – “We think lifetime value will be in the $50k range” 12:10 – Started up an in-house marketing team 8 weeks ago 13:40 – What’s Danielle’s goal with the business? 13:55 – “My goal is to work on interesting things my entire life. If I sold the company for $100 million today, what would I do?” 16:02 – Danielle would be delighted if this year’s revenue hit $4.8 million 16:28 – Connect to Danielle on Twitter 18:08 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Discuss equity portions with your co-founders. All an equal split proves is that you don’t know how to have difficult conversations By the time customers have churned, it’s too late. Look at other engagement metrics to catch them before they leave. Think about your personal goals. Why are you running the business you are? What do you really want out of 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

Aditya Singhal, an education technology entrepreneur who’s hoping to fully automate tutoring in the next five years. Aditya believes in low-cost, high-quality education for all. Tune in as he and Nathan talk automated education, subscription models, and why Silicon Valley is overrated. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Growth Hacker Marketing What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk What is your favorite online tool? — Twitter Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —I wish I knew how to hack growth faster Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan’s introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Aditya to the show 02:10 – There are 21 million college students in the states, looking for help 02:30 – Created TransTutors - an AI teaching assistant 02:50 – Subscription model: $20 each month, 30k customers 03:10 – Not a typical SaaS business model - uses humans assisted by code 04:05 – Revenue is $60-80k per month 04:20 – Business founded August 2014 04:30 – Revenue is 2015 around $1 million 04:50 – Initially self-funded; now raising investment from 500 Startups 05:00 – Hoping to raise $2.5 million by convertible note 05:30 – Making a trade-off: wants to learn from Silicon Valley 06:10 – Are tech hubs overrated? 06:30 – About 40% of customers (12k) are paying monthly 07:30 – In February 2016 had 3k active paying customers 08:05 – Users typically stay 4-6 months (one semester) 08:40 – Team of 10 people, including 8 in India 09:00 – A young engineer in India earns around $30k per year 10:00 – Aditya’s goal is to have a fully automated teaching system 10:20 – Would be happy to sell once he’s achieved his goal 10:50 – Equity split 50/50 between Aditya and his partner 11:30 – Connect with Aditya by email or twitter 14:50 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Create the solution your market are looking for - even if they don’t know it yet Be clear about your business vision Focus on finding social marketing methods to grow your business explosively 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 Rampton: a startup guru who was ranked #3 among the world’s top online influencers by Entrepreneur magazine. John’s recently founded the online invoicing company Due, and is aiming to put Paypal out of business. Listen as John and Nathan break down online influence and how to dominate an incredibly competitive market. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? — Richard Branson What is your favorite online tool? — Buffer Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —To take a lot more risks Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:20 – Nathan’s introduction 01:54 – Welcoming John to the show 02:00 – John’s spending the majority of his time working on Due 02:20 – Due is a platform designed to help businesses get paid faster 03:00 – ‘Every person in the world wants to get paid faster’ 03:30 – Do makes money with a 0.5-1% fee on credit card transactions 04:10 – Launched 9 months ago; self-funded 04:30 – Transaction volume in February 2016 was about $4 million 05:10 – Made a little less than $40k that month 05:40 – ‘I like going into hard-to-enter spaces’ 06:30 – John knows how to rapidly increase page rankings 07:25 – 20-30k people have used the site since it launched 07:40 – Goal is to become “Western Union for the modern world” 08:40 – So much competition: How do you beat Venmo, Paypal and Stripe? 09:30 – We’ve already had a multi-million dollar offer to buy 10:00 – We’re not interested in being bought at the moment 10:40 – John has invested close to $500k in this project 12:00 – John’s company Pixloo was acquired rapidly for over $10 million 12:40 – Patented the process of spinning a camera 360 degrees 15:20 – Sole founder of Pixloo; minor founder of Maplenorth 16:00 – Contact John on Twitter or via his blog 17:50 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: If you know exactly what you’re doing, it’s possible to enter spaces with a lot of competition. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing - don’t try. Take risks when you’re young. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Try things that seem crazy. The worst people can do is say no. 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  

Robin Thurston, the founder of Map My Fitness and senior VP at Under Armour. Robin built a conversation with cycling buddies into a multi-million dollar app. Listen as Nathan and Robin talk about turning a website into an iPhone app, Map My Fitness’ user base, and the process of exiting a company you’ve founded.   Famous 5 Favorite Book? – Career Warfare What CEO do you follow? — None What is your favorite online tool? — I travel so much - it’s a car-sharing service 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 never actually know what’s going to happen Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:25 – Nathan’s introduction 01:45 – Welcoming Robin to the show 02:10 – The process of founding Map My Fitness 02:40 – Came out of a dinner conversation where someone wanted to map their cycle route 03:10 – Robin wasn’t a developer but had a product background 03:30 – Worked with developers who were also cyclists 04:20 – Bought the ‘Map My Run’ website for $5k 04:50 – Moved to Denver and launched Map My Fitness 05:15 – Had 1 million web users before the iPhone launch 05:40 – 2006-2013, became one of the USA’s top 100 apps 06:00 – Made money from ads and subscriptions early on; added a SaaS business 06:45 – Around $17 million in revenue when they exited in 2013 07:30 – Under Armour was interested in the community and user base 07:40 – Revenue of about $4 per month per user in the US 08:20 – Spent almost nothing on acquisition 09:00 – Early 2013 were advised to ‘go big or go home’ by potential investors 09:40 – Had a call from Kevin Plank in the middle of the raising process - and sold 11:30 – Underarmour were keen to acquire a team experienced in e-commerce 12:40 – Time from call to public announcement was less than 3 months 13:00 – Had 103 employees at time of sale 13:30 – Contact Robin on Twitter 16:10 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Know when it’s the right time to sell or exit your business. Even if it’s not what you’d planned, opportunity may come knocking. Dominate your niche. Robin and his partner bought the ‘Map My Run’ site - a potential competitor - and used it to propel their own site forward. You don’t know where you’ll be in twenty years. Keep an eye out for opportunity and let yourself be surprised. 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