Big Break Software Podcast

Bridget Harris, Co-founder and CEO at YouCanBook.Me talks about inventing the scheduling tool and building a  SaaS to 30,000 MRR. Learn more from the podcast. 

Before launching YouCanBook.me, Bridget was an advisor in government, parliament, and politics. Apart from running her company, she speaks in tech-related conferences and is passionate about various topics like building businesses from scratch, hiring processes, remote working, understanding the company culture, and bootstrapping. She talks to Geordies about her journey. 

• The idea behind Youcanbook.me
• Problems that Youcanbook.me seeks to solve
• How Bridget and her team got their first customer
• What was Youcanbook.me’s pricing process in the beginning?
• The effects of competition on Youcanbook.me
• Challenges Bridget and her team faced during the initial stages of the company.
• Strategies Bridget and her team used to facilitate growth in the early days
• When is the right time for investors to quit full-time employment and focus on their businesses?
• How do Bridget and her team structure their plans?
• Phases Youcanbook.me has undergone to achieve the current growth

Project management tools facilitate the configuration of tasks, milestones, and calendars. With the right scheduling tool, entrepreneurs can cut down waste, save money, and enhance productivity. What makes Youcanbook.me different from other scheduling tools available today?

Bridget says the platform which is one of the oldest in the market is based on a meeting scheduler they had developed in 2007. Development is a continuous learning process, and Bridget says they have worked on multiple projects for many years together with her cofounder. Listen to the podcast to learn about some of these projects and how they have evolved.

Today, scheduling is widespread, and this has led to an influx of tools. To stand out from the crowd, Bridget says their tool is specially designed to ease team management processes. The tool facilitates overall scheduling for numerous people across an organization, allowing them to link, pool, and share their calendars.

The platform has evolved fast over the last few years. Apart from offering educational data through Youcanbook.me, Bridget says they also deal with small businesses. Currently, the platform has become a robust tool with numerous customers and monthly bookings. Find out the actual numbers from the podcast.

Customer feedback plays a major role in the running of a business and often determines its level of success. Bridget says Youcanbook.me is a product built out of customer feedback from their old platform. There are two key types of problems today, Bridget says and illustrates them in this podcast. Listen in to find out.

How has the ongoing pandemic affected Youcanbook.me? Bridget mentions that the pandemic has introduced some of the systems people use today. Learn about these systems from the podcast. Bridget explains the idea of having free and paid versions. She also explains the company’s current pricing model. Get the details from the podcast.

Youcanbook.me is a bootstrapped company and Bridget admits it has not been a smooth journey. Together with her co-founder, they did not receive payment from the business for years. However, they were still working full time which gave them sufficient funds to cater to basic needs. Bridget talks about other strategies they used to survive the difficult financial times which you can find out from the podcast.

Quitting full-time work can be a difficult decision, especially in the midst of financial constraints. Get Bridget’s nuggets of wisdom on this matter. She talks about considerations you should make before quitting. For Bridget, quitting helped her devise a strategy to earn income from the company. Learn about it from the podcast.

Taking risks is critical for success as Bridget explains. However, she mentions risk-taking may not be ideal for everybody and explains the concept further. At some point, Bridget tells the “elves and the shoemaker” story which you cannot afford to miss.

According to Bridget, building software products is easy but managing the business, acquiring customers, retaining them, and guaranteeing their happiness can be difficult. Listen to the podcast to find out what Bridget is doing to facilitate the company’s future growth. The hiring process can be complex and time-consuming, especially when you hire the wrong people who keep on leaving the company.

She explains what Youcanbook.me is doing to make the process much smoother. Bridget shares things she wishes she knew about hiring from the beginning. Aspiring entrepreneurs should listen to this part of the podcast keenly. Bridget concludes the podcast by discussing some of the most important lessons she has learned during her entrepreneurship journey.  Resources

YouCanBook.Me

Bridget Harris LinkedIn

Bridget Harris Twitter

Ertan Can of Multiple Capital talks about his passion for micro funds, investment expectations, and the components that make way for success in his investments. 

A fund of funds is an investment approach that involves investing in a collection of funds instead of directly investing in bonds, stocks, or other securities. Ertan Can has devised a new strategy that facilitates varied access to early-phase technology. He has invested in a collection of more than 500 initial-phase technology companies in Europe. Further, he prides himself on having developed a robust international network of founders and venture capitalists. He chats to Geordie about his journey.  

What You’ll Learn 

• Why investing in tech companies can be a complex idea
• Importance of conducting a market study
• How to become an investor in Multiple Capital
• What are rolling funds?
• Why the Multiple Capital portfolio is less affected by heart downturns, unlike other portfolios
• Reasons why Ertan would choose one fund over the other 

Unlike other VCs and angel investments, Ertan says their strategy does not involve making direct investments into companies. Instead, he says it is a chain that consists of investing in venture capital before getting into the company level.

Ertan has a finance background, and living in the financial center in Germany played a huge role in molding him into the person he is today. After completing his late MBA, Ertan secured a job in a family office, where he was tasked with initiating investments into technology organizations.

Along the way, he realized that to invest in tech companies, one required specialized expertise. Ertan explains more about his realization, and you can get all the details from the podcast.  

It was not long before Ertan approached his employer with a proposal to do things differently, investing with specialists. He would later develop the thesis where he determined realistic specialists. His thesis focuses on investing regionally, and he illustrates his concept in this podcast. Listen and learn.

Ertan says his idea has been working for him since he launched it in 2013 to date. He has invested in numerous micro funds, small funds, and mutual funds. Apart from betting fund managers, Ertan says he is getting pitched by companies and as a VC fund. Listen to Ertan as he explains the lack of transparency in the funds market and how you can achieve transparency as an investor.  

Conducting market study is critical, and Ertan says he does so often in search of prospecting opportunities. However, Ertan mentions that reaching out to startups through LinkedIn and direct mail can be a significant struggle. Find out why from the podcast.

While Ertan sees a need for a match-making SaaS data platform in the fund industry, he says some of the existing platforms are ineffective. How does Ertan go about determining the ideal funds to invest in, or investors he can work with? Listen to the podcast and get his detailed explanation.

Ertan says he has adopted a robust selection concept that involves the fund size when it comes to choosing funds. He only invests in small funds because, according to his experience, they perform better than bigger ones. Ertan describes his opinion of small and more significant funds.

Is there value in what Ertan is doing? He says the team has always anticipated reaching the top quartile, or two to three times the overall money over the fund’s lifespan. In this case, it is 25% of the best-performing funds.

Value, according to Ertan, comes from screening the market and having a thesis to choose his ideal funds. To achieve his goal, Ertan and his team have been sourcing more funds and enhancing their theory. As a result, they are currently at the top decile level.

Ertan explains the top quarter returns concept, which you can learn about by listening to this podcast. Has Multiple Capital been affected by the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic? According to Ertan, some businesses have reaped significant benefits during the pandemic, while others have suffered losses. However, he says their portfolio has not been affected.

Ertan mentions the company has gained from the current influx of capital in the market. Multiple Capital is now experiencing increased ABC rounds that have surpassed their expectations. Ertan says that while the market is now healthy, it is subject to fluctuate. Many markets are correlated; Ertan says and supports these sentiments with extensive details, which you can figure out from the podcast. 

Multiple Capital

Ertan Can LinkedIn

Ertan Can Twitter

James Ontra, founder and CEO of Shufflrr talks about coming up with his presentation management company idea and navigating challenges to build a six-figure SaaS platform 

What began from two phones, a borrowed desk, and cold-calling clients is today a robust sought-after slide presentation solution. Clients can leverage this solution to shuffle, share, and display their content. He talks to Geordie about his journey. 

• How James moved from consultancy to SaaS
• How corporates can leverage video and graphics to create interactive advertisement content that converts
• What James and his team did to keep the business afloat amid advancing technology
• Why having expertise in a specific field is critical for attracting large companies.
• What makes Shufflrr more of a communication management system
• How James got his first Shufflrr client
• The primary content creation tool that Shufflrr uses
• Who is the key Shufflrr client?
• Why every entrepreneur needs a LinkedIn account
• Why a SaaS business is a workflow that needs articulation 

James was passionate about presentation long before the internet blew up. He says he acquired a big chunk of experience working in a tech company that manufactured CD ROMs or content slides, where people discuss issues interactively.

As technology, evolved and the internet became popular, James held on to his passion. Together with his team, they collaborated with big companies to help them integrate video into content to create advertising presentations. However, with the standardization of video production and the evolution of advanced video platforms, their value equation dropped immensely.

Not to be deterred by the turn of events, James and his team would divert their focus into building software. Their clients would use the software to enhance the quality of their presentations. What was the software’s basic function then? Listen to the podcast to find out. With continued technological advancements, the team later converted the software into a comprehensive content management system. James tells the story behind his consultancy job and how it influenced his move into SaaS. Find out all the details from the podcast. James talks about an exciting moment that triggered an instant change in their business model. Do not miss this jaw-dropping section of the podcast.

According to James, they built a piece of software at the time, which they sold and settled some of their bills. However, they later realized they had not done things right, a realization that left James frustrated to the point of not wanting to develop the software further. He then embarked on building Shufflrr from scratch.

Even with their new software development, James and his team were committed to taking in their new clients whenever they (the clients) were ready. James says it took him 13 months before he could sign up his first paying client on Shufflrr. He mentions that presentations have been critical since the advent of time and gives some convincing examples that you should listen to.

James also discusses how companies can use numerous slides to tell their story. He talks about how they got their first client who has been with them to date. Listen to the podcast for the comprehensive details.

James has some advice to give to small SaaS companies that are struggling to penetrate the market. If you are a first-time entrepreneur in the SaaS industry, you cannot afford to miss that piece of advice.

Pricing is a crucial part of any SaaS platform, and James gives a breakdown of their pricing versions. As an entrepreneur, patience is of the essence, and this gets clearer when James explains that they only started experiencing consistent growth four years after signing their first client.

While Shufflrr has salespeople currently, James says most of their sales come from inbound marketing. James talks about a book they have written in collaboration with his sister. He explains the book’s concepts and how they will help readers solve specific problems in this podcast.

James is a firm believer in the grandness of content marketing, and he gives his detailed explanation in the podcast. Do not miss this informational part of the podcast. How has presentation impacted the modern world? James talks about this subject in detail and gives practical examples. He mentions that presentations follow a conversation.

Previously, people read in a vertical format, unlike today when they read in a slide format, James says. As an entrepreneur, he continues, writing a book gives you authority ahead of your competitors. He concludes this insightful podcast by discussing Shufflrr’s conversion rate from their freemium plan to payment plans. 

James Ontra LinkedIn

Shufflrr

Zack Naylor of Aurelius Labs talks about establishing his MVP, co-founding a company, finding the first customers, and building his SaaS product to its current state.

Zack Naylor, Co-founder and CEO of Aurelius Labs, has been assisting entrepreneurs in researching customer insights to facilitate the development of excellent products. He talks to Geordie about his journey. 

• The meaning of research, according to Zack
• How Zack came up with his SaaS company
• How did Zack come up with his MVP?
• How Zack and his co-founder structured the company
• How Aurelius Labs acquired its first customers
• Why word of mouth marketing is an effective strategy
• Strategies that Zack and his team have used to achieve growth
• Importance of remaining active on social media platforms
• Why Zack and his co-founder were against the idea of acquiring venture capital

Market research plays a critical role in helping companies understand the needs of their target customers. Getting feedback from your audience enables you to manufacture the ideal goods that meet customer demands. Zack says his company specializes in user experience, people, product, and market research.

The SaaS Company is often defined as an analysis tool or research repository. According to Zack, Aurelius Labs is an all-inclusive platform that allows entrepreneurs to capture feedback, notes, and data from calls, customers, and usability testing.

Zack and his team help entrepreneurs to evaluate such data and convert it into core insights. Further, you can leverage the Aurelius Labs platform to search, share and reuse the data based on your needs. Zack gives his definition of research which you can learn about by listening to the podcast. 

The ideal Aurelius Labs customer is medium-sized businesses and user experience teams. Zack’s background lies in product strategy and user experience. It is no doubt that he ventured into a related industry. Zack says he spent 15 years of his life working in this industry.

Together with his co-founder, they worked at a consultancy firm and would be hired to work on SaaS projects as a team. Zack says he learned a specific lesson and identified a particular challenge from interacting with different clients. What lesson and challenge was this? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Zack tells the exciting story of how he came up with his MVP. Find out all the details from the podcast. After Zack shared the MVP idea with his co-founder, they started building it immediately.

The platform was bootstrapped for approximately five years, during which they also had full time jobs. They were later laid off at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. From there, they decided to focus on Aurelius Labs full-time.

Building an MVP can be a long time-consuming process, as Zack explains. He says they redesigned and redeveloped their application a record three times. Listen to the podcast to find out why they scrapped the app three times. Launching a company can be a challenging process but acquiring your first customer is equally hard.

Zack recalls how Aurelius Labs got their first lot of customers in this podcast. What started by charging customers per project is today an established company complete with three plans that customers can choose from. Zack gives a detailed explanation of how the payment plans work and how they help customers choose the right plan for their needs. You will get all the details from the podcast.

Zack runs a podcast which he says does not market his SaaS Company. He mentions why he launched the podcast, and you can find the reasons in this podcast. Navigating through the COVID season has not been an easy task for different companies globally.

Zack says they have adopted various marketing strategies to push the growth of their company. However, they have experienced a decline in some of their marketing strategies over the COVID season. Still, he is confident that things will get better soon.

According to Zack, his team has been occupied with product development, leaving minimal time to apply a wide range of marketing strategies. He highlights some of the techniques they have used before to push for growth and you can determine them from the podcast. When did Zack and his team get their big break? Zack has an interesting answer to this question. He mentions that regardless of how good your company is doing, there is always a risk ahead.

Sometimes you may be excited that you are finally making it. However, the feeling doesn’t last as often a cloud of uncertainty engulfs you, and you start wondering where you should go from there.

Zack and Joseph, his co-founder, were against getting venture capital from the beginning. Find out his reasons from this podcast. Zack concludes the podcast by saying you do not have to incur considerable risks to start a business that you are passionate about. 

• Zack Naylor LinkedIn
• Zack Naylor Twitter
• Zack Naylor Aurelius Lab

Curtis Boyd, CEO and founder of Objection Co tells Geordie about coming up with the idea for his SaaS company, getting his first customer, and growing it to 30,000 MRR

As technology grows and many businesses move their operations online, reputation becomes critical. Curtis Boyd, a skilled online reputation management professional, talks to Geordie about his journey. Listen to the podcast for some insights on protecting your business reputation online. 

• What Objection Co does for its customers
• How Objection Co deals with churn
• How much is the Objection Co license?
• Why reviews are critical for business progression and increased profits
• What sets Objection Co apart from its competitors?
• How did Curtis transition from an agency to SaaS?
• Why offering low prices for your product is not a good idea. 

Technological advancements come with challenges and limitations. For example, adopting digital processes for your business helps you reach a wider audience. However, sometimes you will have to struggle with fake reviews, often from malicious competitors. If you have been facing similar challenges, Curtis, formerly a nursing assistant, is here to help. 

Curtis says Objection Co specializes in building technology that helps identify and contest fake reviews on websites like Yelp and Google. The ideal Objection Co customer is the entrepreneur who is struggling with illegitimate or fake reviews written by malicious competitors or customers, disgruntled employees, or even bots.

At what point does Objection Co come in to assist your business? Find out from the podcast. Curtis also explains how they go about identifying fake reviews. 

Churn can be a significant problem, especially for a business like Objection Co. Curtis agrees that they had struggled with churn before, which left him frustrated at some point. However, he had to develop a robust strategy to address this matter, and he talks about it in-depth in the podcast. Listen and find out the technique he used, and whether it was successful. 

Pricing is one of the main factors that customers consider before paying for a service. Curtis talks about their license charges and expounds on what the price covers. If you are considering Objection Co services, you do not want to miss this part of the podcast. 

Many entrepreneurs are willing to pay any amount to maintain a good reputation online if Curtis’s interesting background story is anything to go by. He tells Geordie how a doctor approached and requested that he have his (the doctor’s) negative reviews deleted. Having zero experience, Curtis called every company he knew would assist to no avail.

At some point, he spent nearly half of his savings to travel overseas in search of a solution. You should listen to this part of the podcast to understand the importance of a good review and the impact of a bad review. 

After struggling to get a solution, Curtis finally met someone who took him through the process of removing bad reviews. He later managed to assist the doctor, who paid him a whopping $32,000 and introduced him to other clients. At this point, Curtis quit nursing to venture into the reputation management industry.  

Curtis would later go back to school, where he studied computer science and learned how to code. He then built software, marking the birth of Objection Co. Curtis used the software to read reviews, eliminating the need to do so manually. As Curtis became more conversant with artificial intelligence and machine learning, he realized that fake reviews hurt consumers more than entrepreneurs. He explains this concept in the podcast. Listen in and learn. 

Curtis sought help in writing and building the Objection Co MVP, a team he says was a total nightmare. Find out why from the podcast. He would later find a different great team which he liked. Listen to the podcast as Curtis narrates the exciting details of how he flew to Ukraine and ended up acquiring a development team.

Transitioning from an agency to SaaS can be a daunting task. At some point, Curtis and his team lost some of their clients. Listen to the podcast to understand strategies that Curtis used to facilitate the transition process.

During Covid, Curtis says they lost a chunk of customers, seeing that everything shut down. He explains how they coped with the situation before online reviews became critical. According to Curtis, 2020 was one of their best years. He concludes the podcast by explaining the structure of Objective Co financing.

Curtis Boyd LinkedIn

Objection Co

Curtis Boyd Twitter

David Hollander of Order Desk talks about launching his SaaS platform and leveraging his passion for development to grow the company to over 30,000 MRR

David Hollander is the CEO and founder of Order Desk, a platform that allows merchants to save time in eCommerce order fulfillment. The business that he started as a side-project has since evolved to become an entirely bootstrapped company with more than five employees. He talks to Geordie about his journey. 

• The story behind the Order Desk platform
• How Foxy cart works
• What triggered David to restart his operations?
• How does David’s new platform differ from his old one?
• Did the relaunch help boost Order Desk’s performance?
• At what point did David quit the agency (Foxy cart), and how did he go about it?
• How David’s customers find him
• Why David thinks that word of mouth is more effective than affiliate marketing
• When did David get his big break with Order Desk?
• Importance of teamwork

Order fulfillment is a critical part of the eCommerce industry, and Order Desk strives to make the process smooth for their customers. David says Order Desk is a SaaS platform that mainly deals with merchants.

The merchants bring in their orders into the Order Desk platform from different eCommerce channels. They (Order Desk) then dispatch the orders based on the merchant’s request to their preferred fulfillment locations.

David tells Geordie how the Order Desk idea was born. Listen to the podcast to figure out how David’s association with Foxy cart led him into meeting different customers with varied needs. He also discusses how he leveraged one customer’s needs to come up with an order fulfillment platform. So robust was the platform that some customers advised him to start charging for his platform. David says he was not ready to start charging for his services, but he thought it was a great idea after some time.

According to David, the MVP did not cost him real money, but he spent lots of time building it. David continued working for the agency while building and advancing his SaaS platform. Listen to the podcast to figure out how he added his order fulfillment platform to other main eCommerce channels.

Soon, David says, he started receiving different demands from different people, which forced him to consider going back to the drawing board. Listen to the podcast to find out how David started rebuilding his order fulfillment platform and the effort it took to achieve success. 

During the rebuilding process, David’s old platform was making $1,000 every month, but customers could not wait for the new platform. Often, all you need to take action is one trigger word which is what happened to David. He says a customer approached, and encouraged him to release the advanced platform.

Something then hit him, and he realized he had to release it as soon as possible. David went ahead to launch the platform even though it was not ready. He admits that the platform can be complicated for users and highlights measures he took to make it simpler. Find out the details from the podcast. 

David mentions that the platform kept growing, and he added numerous integrations regularly, which increased his income tremendously. He worked long hours based on how excited he was, a feeling he admits was triggered by customer excitement and satisfaction. David says he built integrations upon request from customers.

He explains how the process worked, and you can figure the details out from the podcast. At some point, Order Desk was evolving fast, and David realized that he needed to hire even though he was skeptical about it. Why did he struggle with hiring? Find out from the podcast. He also explains how he conducted the hiring process.

His first hire turned out to be successful, and by the end of that year (2016), they had significant progress. David would later hire more staff from outside the USA who he says has done a great job. However, he mentions that his first developer left after a few months, which he blames on his (David’s) inability to onboard him accordingly. Did David finally get an effective developer? Find out from the podcast.

Order Desk has experienced a particular trend, which David explains further in the podcast. If you are an aspiring eCommerce platform entrepreneur, you should not miss this part of the podcast.

David says he prefers email support as opposed to phone support. Find out why this is so from the podcast. His big break happened back in 2019 when he and his five employees went for a retreat. He concludes the podcast by mentioning that successful people should work hard towards their goal.

David Hollander Twitter

David Hollander LinkedIn

Aaron Ross of Predictive Revenue talks about his startup adventures, being an author, and an entrepreneur. Listen to the podcast to get the best outbound marketing tips. 

While many people call it an outdated strategy, outbound marketing remains a popular form of persuasive communication for approaching customers. Marketers can use it to inform customers about their services and products. The main idea of outbound marketing is to generate sales: Aaron Ross, an outbound marketing expert, talks to Geordie about his journey.

• Difference between organic growth and proactive growth
• What are the different cold calling techniques available?
• How does Predictive Revenue operate? 
• Importance of targeting the right companies
• Data cleaning strategies
• Why knowing your prospects is crucial

The journey to successful entrepreneurship can be challenging, based on Aaron’s story. He talks about starting a tech company that would later fail despite his engineering background. He later opted to learn sales, out of which he formed a team which he says executed outbound prospecting in a very predictive way.

While he struggled to help his team achieve double growth, something good came out of his effort. Find out about it from the podcast. He would later start a successful consulting company. 

According to Aaron, hitting 30,000 MRR is not proof enough that an entrepreneur has established a product-market fit. He opines there is a difference between organic growth and proactive growth, explains these concepts, and talks about product channel fit. Listen to the podcast and learn.

Aaron says his specialty is outbound selling and prospecting. In the outbound prospecting approach, humans are involved in deciding the companies you want to target. How do marketers identify suitable companies? Aaron mentions three crucial channels, which you can figure out from the podcast. He talks about the process of handling customers from the beginning to the end.

According to Aaron, many clients may not beware that they do not need outbound prospecting in the first place. Listen to the podcast for his explanation of this concept. When it comes to outbound prospecting, getting your target company right is critical.

Aaron opines that what you say on the phone, Email, or LinkedIn does not matter if you target the wrong companies. Are you looking for the ideal strategy of getting your outbound prospecting and marketing right? Aaron speaks about three steps you should follow, which you can learn from the podcast.

To get a good return on investment from outbound prospecting, you must have a specific type of customer. What’s more, that customer must pay you otherwise you will hardly make any money. Aaron gives an illustration in this podcast that you must listen to. 

What tools can you use to understand your customers? Aaron says there are numerous tools in the market today, and choosing the right one can be difficult. He recommends identifying three suitable tools and testing them to see what best meets your needs. Outbound marketing strategies can lead you to find the ideal customer, but you will also need the right tools to build your lists.

To determine the effectiveness of your lists, you will need to send messages through your preferred communication channel. For example, Aaron says you could send 100 emails that do not bounce. If you receive no response at all, that could indicate that the strategy does not work. However, if you receive even one positive response, that would be a good start.

Aaron says that the testing process is more time-consuming than many people realize as he breaks down the process in the podcast. Listen to this section keenly to grasp the details. Getting an outbound prospecting email right is not an easy task. Aaron talks about the different factors you should consider before you can start writing.

He also discusses strategies you should use to figure out the effectiveness of the Email and recognize mistakes before sending it to your target customers. Listen to the podcast for all these comprehensive details.

According to Aaron, an effective cold email should be between 300 and 500 characters. Focus on delivering a short and precise email that the target people will not find boring. Aaron says there are various effective calls to action you can use and gives examples in the podcast. He reiterates that the number of cold emails you send per day varies. However, Aaron recommends between 6 and 8 cold emails, but you can still send more.

Cold calling is another outbound prospecting strategy that marketers can use. However, it takes lots of learning to get right. Listen to Aaron’s cold calling tips on this podcast. Aaron concludes by talking about practical SaaS books you should read.

Fromimpossible.com 

Aaron Ross LinkedIn

Predictable Revenue

Colin Gray, CEO, and founder of Alitu, talks about launching his startup and combining it with SaaS to hit $60,000 MRR. Listen to the podcast and grasp the lessons. 

The popularity of podcasting has been growing rapidly in recent years. Whether you are currently a podcaster or planning to become one, Alitu.com will come in handy. This efficient tool is ideal for podcasters who want to achieve excellent sound without being audio experts.  

Alitu allows you to automate complex audio aspects and features user-friendly drag and drop components to facilitate easy editing. Listen to Colin Gray in this podcast as he tells Geordie more about Alitu.  

What You’ll Learn 

• What does Alitu do for its clients? 
• How did Colin navigate the startup during its earlier stages? 
• How Colin came up with the idea of an automated podcaster maker 
• Importance of content as a marketing concept 
• Why has Colin and his team maintained the same pricing package since they launched?  

• How did Colin acquire customers when they first launched? 
• Importance of affiliate marketing 
• How Colin and his team identifies affiliates and their revenue share 
• How is the conversion rate on Alitu from affiliates? 
• How did the pandemic affect Colin and his team? 

In this Episode:  

Content is powerful, and Colin demonstrates this when he mentions that Alitu grew from the content they produced. Together with his team, they started writing blog posts to teach their readers how the platform worked and how they could create an excellent podcast. They would later venture into assisting people in creating podcasts on their own before developing the software.  

Colin ventured into podcasting through education. He tells Geordie that he was a trainer of lecturers in learning technology at the university for nearly six years. His main goal was to ensure that lecturers understood how to leverage technology to aid their students.  

Podcasting was one of the popular technologies then, and Colin’s team encouraged him to consider it. He would later love everything about it and incorporate it into his curriculum at the university. At the same time, he documented what he was learning on his blog, giving birth to the host.com podcast. Colin admits that podcasting back in the day was not as smooth as it is today.  

Find out his reasons from the podcast. Editing can be a time-consuming procedure that many people detest. Colin explains how the idea of starting Alitu.com crossed his mind, and you can find the details from the podcast.  

Colin says that he spent an entire year developing a plan for his primary business. He also focused on other aspects like content, agency, and affiliate. While Colin had a robust plan for the software at the end of the year, he was yet to start the development stages.  

At some point, he applied for funding to support his MVP, which he got and indulged in building the software. Still, Colin says he had to pay a third of the initial MVP cost and explain how he budgeted for the funding. Listen to the podcast to learn.  

Colin and his team got some regular clients from the MVP but continued growing content, which he says was their main income. Colin explains this concept further, which you can learn about from the podcast.  

What were the components of the MVP? Colin gives a comprehensive explanation of his MVP and the tools behind it, which you can only learn about by listening to the podcast. He says working on the MVP was not only exciting, but it also exposed him to coding even though he had no prior coding experience.  

Colin talks about how the MVP operates, and you can get all the details from the podcast. Platforms evolve with time and based on client needs. Sometimes clients may request specific features. How do Colin and his team handle such a situation? He answers this question in the podcast.  

According to Colin, most of their traffic was going to their blog, but they worked a way to direct it to the podcast. Find out how they did it from the podcast.  

At some point, Colin and his team experienced a surge in traffic on Alitu, and after that, they started growing tremendously. He explains the strategy they used. Every entrepreneur or marketing professional cannot miss the details in this part of the podcast.  

Colin highlights the months of November and December 2019 as the moment when they experienced their big break. There were multiple signups, and their client base grew in the first three months of 2020.  

He mentions that they are considering introducing higher pricing tiers soon. In conclusion, Colin says that podcasting is an excellent way of selling products because it develops trust among clients and entrepreneurs. 

Resources 

Alitu.com  

The Podcast Host 

Colin Gray LinkedIn

Na'ím Anís Paymán of Zeevou talks to Geordie about discovering the Zeevou idea, developing software successfully with zero experience, and funding the MVP.   

Na'ím Anís Paymán is the founder and CEO of Zeevou, a customer relationship management platform. Zeevou allows entrepreneurs and managers in the vacation rentals industry to manage their property with ease. He talks to Geordie about his journey.  

What You’ll Learn 

• What prompted Na'ím to launch Zeevou? 

• What problem did Na'ím experience with his project management software? 
• How Na'ím navigated the problems he faced in his capacity as the property manager 
• How did Na'ím fund his MVP when the company was transitioning into the SaaS model? 
• How the direct booking system works 
• How the freemium package works 

• What outbound marketing strategy does Na'ím and his team use? 

In this Episode: 

According to Na'ím, Zeevou is not an ordinary startup, but what he calls a spin-off startup business. Initially, Na'ím says he had a property management enterprise specializing in managing short-term rentals. Along the way, they faced issues and struggled to determine the right software online.  

After days of searching without positive progress, they decided to develop software to help solve the problems existing in their system. Out of this quest, Zeevou was born. Na'ím says while they launched the business recently, his project management company has been in existence for many years.  

At some point, they had to discontinue their operations because everything was not working accordingly. He gives a detailed explanation in the podcast. Listen in for details on how they spend six months without a system, instructed his developers to replace the entire system, and how the developers misunderstood its core. 

Na'ím says the project management system they were using before was developed for hotels and property managers struggled to make it work effectively. He explains the system in this podcast, and you need to listen to understand. He also mentions a range of issues that hindered the proper functioning of their software. Listen to the podcast to find out how the system Na'ím and his team was initially using operated.  

Today, Na'ím says they have advanced their system to accommodate various features, which you can learn about from the podcast. Unlike their previous project management system built for hotels, their advanced system is specially designed for property managers. Na'ím says the system that they launched just when the COVID-19 pandemic hit has experienced significant growth.  

He mentions that offering direct bookings has been instrumental in their continued growth and explains how it works. Find the details from the podcast. Na'ím notes that they developed the software as a matter of urgency to handle their issues.  

As a result, and seeing that he had not developed software before, they missed some details, which you can learn about from the podcast. He mentions that some of their clients say the software is overly complicated, making it non user-friendly.  

Pricing is a critical part of any business when it comes to conversions. Na'ím says the fact that their paid plan is slightly pricey discourages clients from converting. However, they have decided to maintain their prices without competing with other players in the market.  

Listen to the podcast to understand why Na'ím and his team keep that principle. How then does Na'ím monetize the platform? He gives comprehensive details to explain this concept in the podcast. You can only understand it better by listening.  

Marketing plays a massive role in business continuation. What strategies have Na'ím and his team been using to stay afloat amid the pandemic? Where have they been getting their users? Na'ím says they have done little marketing using funds they received from sponsors. They won most of the sponsorship awards through applications.  

A big part of their marketing has been through word of mouth and ensuring that customers are happy. Previously, many of their customers came from Facebook groups and Instagram. They have recently incorporated content development in their marketing strategy. They also have an outbound marketing strategy that you can learn about from the podcast.  

According to Na'ím, their property management services and software are currently working well together. Startups need lots of support to thrive, and Na'ím is committed to establishing the right solutions. Together with his team, they are currently working on a tool that startups can leverage to manage all their requirements, including development, marketing, and sales. Listen to the podcast to learn more about this tool. 

Resources 

Zeevou.com 

Na'ím Anís Paymán LinkedIn 

Na'ím Anís Paymán Twitter 

Na'ím Anís Paymán Facebook

Alex Zerbach, co-founder of carrot.com, tells Geordie about founding the platform's idea, building the MVP, and growing from 0-800,000 MRR. Listen for more details.

Carrot is a SaaS platform that streamlines property websites' development to help clients manage investor's assets. While Alex and his team deal with larger enterprises, he mentions that they mainly deal with single clients. Listen to Alex as he shares his story with Geordie. 

• The story behind the carrot.com domain
• How Alex and Trevor converted the agency into a SaaS platform
• com pricing plans
• What was the MVP, and how much did it cost?
• How did Alex go about the SaaS marketing process?
• When did Alex and his team get their big break?
• The latest carrot.com development and the story behind it
• How Alex and his team executed their content marketing strategy
• SEO strategies that Alex and his team were using
• Importance of content as a marketing strategy
• Importance of case studies
• Strategies Alex and his team used to achieve success from their cold traffic.
• What strategy did the team use when raising prices?
• How did Alex and his team manage their finances?

When Alex was schooling, a mutual friend introduced him to Trevor, who later became his co-founder, who was launching a SaaS business. According to the mutual friend, Alex needed to contact Trevor for a chance to work together. However, when Alex called, Trevor claimed the project was still in its inaugural stages, but they could still collaborate when everything was ready. 

Trevor loved Alex's ambition and was sure that something good would come out of his expertise. Alex maintained contact with Trevor until one day; he proposed collaboration between them. They would later launch Carrot. Alex tells Geordie the story behind acquiring the carrot.com domain. Listen to the podcast to find out. 

While in college, Trevor had purchased his inaugural rental property in partnership with a family member. This step marked his entrance into the real estate investing world. Trevor had developed a website through which he could generate leads for tenants. He also used the platform to search for discounted properties.

At some point, he became a consultant. Out of sharing about his experience and work on social media platforms, many people became curious, and they started approaching him in search of solutions for their websites. It is from these inquiries that the Rei conversion theme was born. Please find out how Trevor implemented the Rei theme on his customer's websites before Alex joined him.

When Alex later joined Trevor, the business was still an agency seeing that he (Trevor) was running his operations manually. Alex left at some point and rejoined the team later on. During his (Alex's) absence, Trevor was struggling to upload themes and contracted out Chris (the other co-founder) to help him out.

Surprisingly, Chris completed the massive work in less than half an hour. Impressed, Trevor invited Chris to help him automate the agency into a SaaS platform. Find out how the team executed the process from the podcast. Alex would later rejoin the team as a marketing expert, which he has outgrown to become the director of operations.

Alex talks about the platform's pricing plans and the services clients received on placing an order. He gives a detailed explanation about the platform and what set them apart from their competitors then. Listen to the podcast for this informative section. He also talks about the transition period from an agency to a SaaS platform you cannot afford to miss. 

After converting the agency to SaaS, Alex and his team needed to market it to reach a wider audience. He mentions that they did not have a hard time achieving that, seeing that Trevor was already famous on social media platforms.

According to Alex, Trevor played a massive role in marketing the platform to multiple industry partners. He talks about other strategies they used to promote the platform that you can learn about from the podcast. Alex tells Geordie about their big break moment, which you should hear to grab the details.  

Alex talks about navigating their content marketing and the effort they invested in getting things right. Why did the team spend a lot of time on content generation? Did they achieve growth from content marketing? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Alex says they experienced growth from investing in paid ads, affiliates, and adding members to the team. He mentions that a significant percentage of their growth came from organic traffic.

What impact did COVID have on the company? Alex says they were not adversely affected. Listen to the podcast to figure out how they survived the period. Alex finalizes the podcast with some tips for aspiring SaaS entrepreneurs. Listen to the podcast to figure these out. 

Carrot.com

Alex Zerbach LinkedIn

Alex Zerbach Instagram

Alex Zerbach Twitter

Alex Zerbach Personal Website