Big Break Software Podcast

Leslee Cohen of Hershco.com talks about managing startups and explains why safe priced equity is the best option for startup entrepreneurs seeking to raise funds.

Leslee Cohen has more than 20 years of experience working as a securities and corporate lawyer in established law firms. Her firm has set up and managed women’s initiatives at a key Chicago law firm for more than 10 years. She is committed to serving businesses and helping them achieve their corporate legal obligations. She speaks to Geordie about her journey. 

• The three sections of Leslee’s practice
• Why Leslee enjoyed working with startups
• At what phase in their businesses do Leslee’s customers come to her?
• How Leslee deals with different clients based on their individual business needs
• Why Leslee likes the law set up in Delaware
• How to go about finding a co-founder
• What happens in co-owned businesses when one partner wants to buy it out?
• Why co-founders disagree and finally break up, and how to avoid such a scenario
• Common miscommunications that co-founders face
• How Vesting equity works
• How to structure majority ownership
• What it takes for foreigners to set up a company in the USA
• What are convertible notes and safe priced equity?
• How do you determine equity?

Often, where you spend most of your time becomes the source of inspiration for starting and building a successful business. Leslee spent many years on Wall Street, where she specialized in acquisitions, mergers, and IPOs.

She would later spend another 13 years in Chicago practicing law for privately-owned large businesses and publicly traded microcap companies. From working with small and large companies, Leslee developed a passion for working with startups and entrepreneurs.

Leslee's passion saw her, and a partner start a firm to work with startup companies while charging them affordable fees. Leslee says that working with small groups gives her satisfaction. She mentions that startup entrepreneurs are not only excited about their businesses, but also have new ideas. Leslee loves the fact that startup entrepreneurs look forward to making a difference and changing the world instead of focusing on corporate culture. Listen to the podcast to understand what drives Leslee into working with small groups. 

Leslee tells Geordie that many of her customers come to her at the inaugural phase of their businesses. Often, they will have a co-founder and their well-baked idea ready. Many times they will be seeking to understand how to get their first potential customer. Sometimes they will be seeking Leslee’s assistance to raise fees. She explains various best-case scenarios that you should hear from the podcast. 

Starting a business can be challenging, forcing many entrepreneurs to want to raise funds at some point. Leslee believes that having a co-founder is critical, especially when it comes to raising funds. She gives more details about this matter, and you can only grab them by listening to the podcast. 

Finding a co-founder with whom you share the same interests is not easy. Leslee discusses various tips about choosing a co-founder. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you do not want to miss this part of the podcast. Leslee speaks in-depth about ownership, co-founder agreement, and how to solve disputes. She also discusses various factors that may affect a co-owned business. Listen to the podcast for more details on this crucial matter. 

Just like any other relationship, co-founders disagree and sometimes break up. When such happens, the business is likely to suffer. Why does this happen, and how can co-founders avoid it. Listen to Leslee as she gives a comprehensive example of this scenario. She also talks about how aspiring co-founders can prevent it. 

Not many people like accepting liability and this can affect the business. According to Leslee, potential entrepreneurs should outline each other’s responsibilities. They should also explain what each person depends on to add value to the business. She discusses other factors to consider before starting a co-founded business. Listen to the podcast to find those out.

Leslee says she is passionate about vesting equity. She explains this concept in detail, and you can find these by listening to the podcast. Leslee tells Geordie what it takes to raise equity and also talks about convertible notes and a safe. This part of the podcast is detailed, and you can only get the crucial components by listening.

According to Leslee, safe comes with lots of advantages. She says she guides her clients and ensures they understand some of the best money-raising practices. She also links them up with some high net worth people who love partnering with startup entrepreneurs and supporting them.

Leslee concludes by saying that disclosure is critical, whether you specialize in convertible notes giving multiple promissory notes, shares, or safe. She also mentions how to handle safe priced equity securely, and you cannot afford to miss this part. Leslee agrees that safe priced equity is ideal for people who need to raise funds for their startups. 

Hershco.com

Leslee Cohen LinkedIn

Danielle Simpson, previously of FeedBackPanda tells Geordie how her quest to ease task execution led her into building a robust SaaS platform.

Danielle is a teacher, co-founder of FeedBackPanda, and a certified meditation and Yoga instructor. During her stint in the teaching industry, she realized that teachers needed a tool to help them remain focused on student success and reduce burnout. Listen to Danielle as she shares her journey with Geordie. 

• How Danielle ventured into teaching English as a second language
• What was Danielle’s original solution for easing the feedback generation process for her students?
• What was FeedBackPanda doing in the beginning? 
• When and how did Danielle realize that an automated solution could be effective?
• How long did it take Danielle and her co-founder to build the prototype?
• How Danielle and her partner rolled out the solution to potential customers
• Why you should determine where your potential customers hang out
• What made FeedBackPanda unique?
• What channel did Danielle and her team use to grow?
• How Daniella’s product moved from 0-55,000
• What inbound strategy did Daniella and her team use to boost the product?

Teaching English as a second language can be a difficult task and this was the case with Danielle. Being part of the teaching team helped her identify the problems that she and her colleagues were facing. She would later pitch her idea to her boyfriend, a software engineer, and together they came up with the FeedBackPanda idea. Danielle gives Geordie brief details about her background. 

Danielle explains the events that pushed her into inventing the FeedBackPanda idea. She says she taught in one-on-one classes, and after each class, they had to submit a short report about each lesson. Seeing that all she did was gig work, there were no guaranteed bookings, and she had to handle all her marketing tasks.

It was too much work, and Danielle wanted a solution that could help her develop her career, improve her ratings, and save time. Listen to the podcast to understand how difficult Danielle’s tasks were before she finally came up with the solution. She says that generating feedback was taking up lots of her time, and she had to do something about it. Find out what she did to counter this challenge. 

While there were competitors already, Danielle and her co-founder worked hard to ensure that their platform was unique to attract more bookings. At some point, Geordie gives a practical example of the importance of reviews, and you cannot afford this, especially if you are an entrepreneur.

Danielle says she wanted to determine whether the system would work before selling it to other teachers. According to Danielle, many of her colleagues in the marketing industry were not ready to be entrepreneurs. Together with her co-founder, they used that as a marketing strategy to show the teachers that they were already entrepreneurs. She sought to demonstrate to the teachers the importance of having proper tools that could ease their job. Danielle gives a detailed explanation of the marketing strategy they used. Listen to the podcast to find out.

When the product was finally ready for roll-out, Danielle set out to find potential customers. Find out how a question posted on a Facebook group presented her with an opportunity to introduce her product to the group members. Did anybody sign up for the product from that post? Find out from the podcast. Danielle says that even after three months of creating the product, she was not convinced that it was ready. She also felt that they needed to let potential customers use the product first and get feedback before finally launching it in the market.

When Danielle finally made the product available to teachers, she received numerous ideas on how to improve it and even make it community-based. Listen to the podcast to figure out some other excellent ideas that the teachers had. Danielle also talks about a template database system and how it worked. When Danielle launched her product, there were numerous companies they could have chosen to integrate with.

However, they opted to work with companies that wanted to work with American teachers. She explains this strategy in-depth, and you can get all the details from the podcast. Danielle narrates her 0-55,000 MRR story, which you should listen to. While FeedBackPanda was thriving, Danielle sold it. She explains why in this podcast. Danielle admits that while she went through a moment of loss after selling the business, she does not regret her decision. 

Danielle Simpson Twitter

Danielle Simpson LinkedIn

FeedBackPanda

Danielle Simpson Website

Arvid Kahl

Zero to Sold

Nick Fogle of Wavve and Churnkey tells Geordie how he moved from law school to embrace a childhood passion and finally build a successful SaaS product.

Nick has managed to thrive in the SaaS industry. However, he neither had intentions of venturing into SaaS nor did he have any college degree to prepare him for disruption in the market. Nick juggled between economics and law but did not like any of the courses. He speaks to Geordie about his journey in this podcast that you do not want to miss. 

• How Nick transitioned from being an attorney to a software engineer
• How did Nick get started in coding?
• How Nick came up with the Wavve idea
• How Nick converts audio to video
• How Nick handled the pricing part of his business
• How Nick achieved organic growth for his startup
• How did Nick come up with the idea of Churnkey?

After struggling to determine what he wanted to do, Nick’s video gaming passion and coding knowledge finally became his guiding principle. He would then begin a long journey into becoming a software engineer. During this journey, he tried numerous startups, many of which did not succeed. However, it also marked the beginning of Wavve, which has since been a success. 

Nick says that some people thought he was crazy when he chose to leave law school for coding. He is quick to mention that such a decision would be more sensible today than it was back then, seeing that the world is evolving fast. Nick tells Geordie that his interest in law was slowly fading away in the course of his learning. He was sure that being an attorney was not what he wanted to do, and he had to switch to something he was passionate about.

He tells Geordie why he felt that being an attorney was not what he wanted to spend the rest of his days doing. Listen to the podcast to know these reasons. With no coding knowledge, Nick knew that few people would trust his ability, and this is where he decided to learn how to code. At some point, he got a job as a shuttle driver, but he still managed to work from his laptop when he did not have a pickup. Listen to the podcast to find out how he did it and the stack he chose when he started coding. Nick admits that being a solo SaaS startup founder can be a difficult task, but one that’s worth all the effort.

His wife introduced him to his co-founder at Wavve after realizing that they had common startup ideas. Nick and his co-founder started working on their first product, which they would later sell. While his co-founder focused on sales and marketing, Nick handled the technical stuff. What was their first product all about? Find out from the podcast. He also talks about his first business model, then in-depth. You cannot miss this section, especially if you are a startup entrepreneur. 

After selling their first product, Nick and his co-founder had gathered some critical lessons which came in handy when they established Wavve. Nick gives a detailed overview of Wavve and how they started making money from the product. You can only grasp these details by listening to the podcast.

In between creation of the product and coming up with pricing, Nick and his team experienced various challenges that he talks about in the podcast. These challenges opened them to the idea of having different plans to cater to different customer needs. Nick says that this idea helped them create better pricing plans. What three payment plans did Nick and his team create? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Content marketing in this digital age is fast becoming an essential part of any business. Nick tells Geordie about the content marketing strategy they rely on. He says their strategy is different from what many businesses use. They focus on talking to customers one-on-one and listening to their needs.

Nick mentions that one of the most difficult things about building content is starting and writing something. He discusses details about SEO and keywords in this podcast that you should listen to. According to Nick, using a suitable tool to analyze SEO is crucial, especially because Google changes fast. While Nick is operating a business in an overly competitive industry, he says they have managed to remain afloat. Nick also talks about the concept behind Churnkey. Listen to the podcast to get an idea of how it works. 

Nick Fogle LinkedIn

Nick Fogle Twitter

Geordie Wardman of OneStop DevShop talks about the importance of having a proof of concept rather than working with numerous features that offer no value

Geordie Wardman is the founder of OneStop DevShop. Apart from running a successful podcast, he has founded five companies during his entrepreneurship journey, three of which he has since sold. Geordie has been in the software industry for two decades now. He talks to Jeremy Weiss about his journey. 

• Why you should consider delegating your technical tasks to professionals
• Why you should consider collaborating with Geordie in your project
• What exactly did Geordie do for John?
• Importance of getting proof of concept for your project

In today's fast-evolving world, where many entrepreneurs hire remote workers, they still have to struggle with managing them. Are you looking forward to working with freelancers but do not know how to go about managing them? Geordie is your go-to person. He will do the management part and give you enough time to focus on the things that matter. OneStop DevShop specializes in developing applications in blockchain, real estate, and even eCommerce.

Technology is advancing fast, and keeping up with the changes is becoming a difficult task. As a startup entrepreneur, you want to collaborate with experts in the industry to grow your business from scratch. Case in Point: Geordie talks about John, a thriving real estate broker who recently approached him.

According to Geordie, John enjoys a massive network and has been in the market for approximately 30 years now. He has a robust idea and is convinced that it will hit the ground running now that he believes he has all the necessary contacts. He figures out that an app would help him sell his idea better. Instead of collaborating with a professional in the field, he decides to do it all by himself.

Geordie explains more about John’s concept in this podcast. Now John wants to try and pitch his idea to would-be buyers, so he starts walking from one conference to the other, talking to people and getting favorable responses. However, there is a problem. John has been trying to do everything by himself.

After six months of doing this with no traction, John approaches Geordie, who, after listening to John’s expectations, presents him (John) with copywriting services and delivers a fully functional website in a record two weeks. John has little technical knowledge, which explains why he struggled to create an ideal app or website for his business. Geordie mentions that he prefers engaging experts and letting them do things that he is unable to achieve.

How did Geordie handle John’s case? Listen to the podcast to find out. Having been an entrepreneur for a long time, Geordie says that he perceives everything from a business owner’s point of view. He mentions one of the crucial factors he considers, and you can get it first hand from the podcast.

Geordie says that he is not only a developer but also a business owner, which means he understands the struggles that entrepreneurs face. While you may have your idea, he strives to suggest better ways of helping you achieve your goals in record time. Geordie gives a general example of what he and his team did for John. Find out the details from the podcast.

What is the biggest question that Geordie gets from non-tech savvy entrepreneurs? He says that many of them are interested in determining the amount of time it will be before they can see positive results. Some of Geordie’s clients want to determine the cost implications and how functional the software will be to their businesses.

Geordie mentions that sometimes he and his team trim down some features after evaluating the customer’s needs. In the case of John, Geordie says his features were too many. They had to sit down, identify, and work with the most critical ones for the project for a start. In the end, Geordie had trimmed down what would have been a year-long project to five weeks. He explains that together with his team, they strive to give their clients the best to accelerate their success in the market.

According to Geordie, once clients make money and have successful businesses, they will want to keep working with the team at OneStop DevShop because they deliver results. He mentions that he prefers testing a client’s concept first to see if it works instead of struggling with features that add no value. 

OneStop DevShop

Geordie Wardman LinkedIn

Geordie Wardman Twitter

Jane Portman of Userlist and author speaks about discovering her passion from an early age, launching a range of businesses, and the lessons she learned along the way.

Apart from being a user-experience, user-interface consultant and author, Jane Portman is a co-founder at Userlist. She specializes in assisting software companies to develop profitable and focused products. She speaks to Geordie Wardman about her journey.

• How Jane started her entrepreneurship journey
• How Jane transformed from doing UI breakfast and related stuff to launch Userlist
• What problem does Userlist solve?
• Strategies that Jane and her team use to address a SaaS problem
• Why real-time chat support is not always compulsory for small bootstrap founders
• What strategy did Jane and her team use to validate the need for their product?
• Why you should join a slack community
• Importance of understanding best practices before launching a company
• Why you need a launch goal for your product
• How small bootstrap companies can determine their target buyers
• Importance of understanding your product
• Jane’s plans for the future

Some of the best entrepreneurs in the world discovered their passion during their formative years. Jane falls in that category, and she gives Geordie a brief history of where it all started. You cannot miss the details in this podcast. Jane ventured into the book writing world before launching the UI breakfast, which she says is in its sixth year with 200 episodes under her name.

She says she had been consistent in producing and publishing podcasts until she had her third baby and had to adjust her frequency. However, Jane is quick to mention that she is getting back to the weekly program with time. Jane says the UI breakfast podcast is a massive project that she plans to have for some years. Find out why she is pleased with the podcast's performance from this engaging discussion.

Jane gives some insightful tips for aspiring podcasters that you should hear. The journey to establishing Userlist was not an easy one. Jane says she had launched another product previously, which did not yield much success. Still, she gathered massive lessons that would come in handy as reference points in her future businesses. Initially, Jane says Userlist was intended to solve a problem that she encountered first hand. Listen to this podcast to find out what the problem was.

Userlist focuses exclusively on SaaS, which Jane says has enabled them to generate an appealing, concise, and simple yet robust product. Developing an MVP can be challenging and Jane seems to have done it differently. Listen to her as she explains how she went about it and how they developed their product from scratch.

According to Jane, they launched their product late because they probably were not ashamed of it. She says they spend a lot of time, in the beginning, preparing the product to make it appealing and beneficial. Jane talks about the lessons she learned from launching Userlist. Listen to the podcast for more details. Jane mentions an equity splitting method that every entrepreneur needs to know.

Having a launch goal, Jane says is crucial if you want to succeed in business. She goes ahead and discusses the launch goal they had and how significant it was for the business. However, she is also quick to mention that launch goals do not give you instant users. Jane talks about working with Tiny Seeds which gave them massive assistance. They also interacted with peers and discussed the problems they face as small business entrepreneurs.

Working with Tiny Seeds saw them receive mentorship from experts they would otherwise not have known. Jane is excited to mention that they were privileged to have April Dunford, a positioning expert, as their mentor. She gives a detailed explanation of their experience working with April that you do not want to miss. At some point, she mentions how they compared Userlist with their competitors.

Listen to the podcast for the details. Before Tiny Seeds, Jane says they had already acquired one of April’s books, which were instrumental in their venture. Find out what book that was from the podcast. Jane says that Userlist benefited from implementing April’s rules. What changes did Jane and her team experience? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Still, in April's book, Jane mentions that they learned how to understand their product and figure out their ideal customers. This aspect is critical for every entrepreneur and one of the most insightful parts of the podcast. Jane gives out details about the funding they received from Tiny Seeds.

What did it take to acquire the funds? Listen in to find out. Jane mentions various things they either have recently launched, or are planning to launch in the future. To aspiring entrepreneurs, Jane says; explore different options when it comes to searching for investors. 

Jane Portman LinkedIn

Jane Portman Twitter

Userlist

UI Breakfast

Bernadette Butler is the founder and CEO of Story Tap. She is a detail-oriented experienced marketer who has been in the advertising industry for up to 20 years. Bernadette talks to Geordie about her journey in the marketing industry and how she discovered her technical co-founder. Listen to the podcast and take the lessons home. 

• Why Bernadette transitioned from the corporate world into entrepreneurship as a SaaS expert
• Events that triggered the formation of Story Tap
• What is safe equity?
• How Bernadette finally decided to find a co-founder
• How long it took Bernadette and her team to build their MVP
• Why Bernadette decided to go to Ireland
• What channel does Bernadette use to reach enterprise customers?

Telling a story sounds like an easy thing to do until a corporate tells you to do one. Bernadette found herself in this position at some point. It is out of this necessity and the quest for answers that she made up her mind to find solutions for that problem. Bernadette opines that each entrepreneur has some kind of fire burning inside their bellies, pushing them to do or accomplish something.

Bernadette says that she found herself in that situation, which marked the beginning of Story Tap. Listen carefully to the podcast for the details. It takes a single decision to change your life for good, as Bernadette found out. To counter the entrepreneurship fire that was burning inside of her, she knew she had to do something. Her opportunity came when she took a one-year maternity leave.

So enthusiastic was she about her venture such that she started her company four months post-delivery. She admits that some personal issues had happened to her, and she wanted something to disrupt her thoughts.

Listen to the discussion to figure out what these were. Advertising is all about stories. Bernadette says. She would later realize that stories about her life fascinate her. Bernadette later transitioned from writing and telling stories about her life to writing a business plan.

Bernadette had zero experience with startup businesses and SaaS, but still, she was determined to succeed as an entrepreneur. She was confident that she had the capacity to solve the problem at hand. What did Bernadette do to get her business up and running? Listen as she explains all this and more.

You will also figure out the feeling Bernadette had when she received her first call from a potential investor. It turns out that raising capital in Canada as a startup company with no traction can be difficult. She mentions what she sacrificed to grow her company from scratch. Listen to the podcast to find out. Finding your first investor as a startup can be a difficult task. However, Bernadette says she had an easy time finding her first investor, which was surprising to her.

Find out what the process was like and how she spent the initial amount the investor paid. As a startup entrepreneur, finding a mentor is critical. As she was figuring out the best way to run her company, Bernadette held a meeting with an established startup entrepreneur in Vancouver who had beaten all odds to remain on top. He gave Bernadette some suggestions that she is glad she heeded. What were these suggestions? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Running a startup business can be challenging, and Bernadette says, at some point, she was so frustrated that she cried. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you should not miss this inspiring part of the podcast. Even though Bernadette and her co-founder had run out of money, something funny happened that eased their pivoting efforts. Find out what this was from the podcast.

While Bernadette has a background in marketing, she struggled to market her startup company. She explains why in the podcast. When things got too tough to handle, Bernadette took out a loan and got herself a mentor, who suggested that she needed a course to succeed in sales.

Things changed after Bernadette incorporated the mentor. Listen to the exciting turn of events as they evolved. Bernadette gives a comprehensive breakdown of how Story Tap works. Listen carefully to grab the critical details. Bernadette explains what it takes to succeed when approaching people. Get all these tips first hand from the podcast. Bernadette says that they are still learning and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. 

Story Tap

Bernadette Butler LinkedIn 

Bernadette Butler Twitter

For David, his entrepreneurship journey came from his passion for music. He would later join brand and product design, a venture that saw him launch a design studio. It is in his studio that he met Robert Muñoz, and together they co-founded Typeform. Listen to David as he shares his journey with Geordie. 

• How David transitioned from music to design
• How David met his co-founder and the first project that they did together
• What was the rolling out process for Typeform like?
• How did David come up with the Video Ask idea?
• How Video Ask operates in collaboration with Typeform 
• What is a hackathon according to David's terms, and how do they execute it in the company? 
• Events that led to the formation of Video Ask
• Why David separated Typeform from Video Ask
• How did David come up with the pricing options for the Video Ask product?
• What characters does David look out for when interviewing developers?
• What challenges has David faced since the launch of Video Ask?
• Marketing strategies that David and his team are using to scale the company and stay ahead of their competitors

The activities you engage in now could what defines your future in the entrepreneurship world. David was not aware that his passion could pave the way for him to penetrate the world of design.

The experience that David gained during his singing days came in handy to give him tangible ideas for his business. Listen to this intriguing podcast and understand how he moved from singing to design.  

David says that he specialized in music production, which involves assembling and layering things. He says there is a connection between music and design because both procedures are about building something. His co-founding journey did not just stem out of nowhere. First, he became an agency owner before finally meeting his co-founder.

David tells Geordie that the Typeform idea happened by mistake. He explains the details that led to the establishment of the company. Listen to the podcast and learn some lessons from his explanation.

You will be surprised to learn that David and his co-founder never invested in the project. How then did they pull through? He explains everything about it in the podcast. David mentions that he recently stepped down as co-CEO of Typeform to focus on other products. While he is now working on Video Ask, David says he is still very involved in the running of Typeform. He goes ahead to explain what Video Ask is all about. Listen to the podcast to get all the details.

Today, modern customer expectations are high, and companies need to interact with their customers more to remain afloat. David explains that Video Ask seeks to help entrepreneurs have meaningful relationships with their consumers. If you are an entrepreneur, you cannot afford to miss this conversation.

David took time to plan and strategize before finally launching Video Ask. He tells Geordie how together with his team, they left the idea pending for a whole year before finally picking it up. Even after launching the venture, they would have to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic challenge. What has the Video Ask journey been so far? Listen to this engaging podcast to get the answers.

Currently, Video Ask enjoys a subscriber base of up to 3,000 customers. David says they have both paid plans and a free plan. Listen to the podcast to understand how each plan works. David also explains how he came up with pricing options for the plans. What does David and his team do when it comes to designing? He says they aim at delivering a product that is not only clear but one that is understandable and appealing.

Customers today are looking for ideal solutions that they can use to maneuver from one area to the other. David and his team understand this too well, which is why they are committed to customizing the product to fit different needs.

David gives a practical example of how the system works, and you want to get it straight from the horse's mouth. If you are a developer, you will benefit from David’s nuggets of wisdom, as he talks about characteristics of the ideal developer. Listen in and determine what you should improve on to become more competitive. David says he still has unfinished business with the companies, and he is not planning to quit anytime soon.  Resources

David Okuniev Twitter

Typeform

David Okuniev LinkedIn

VideoAsk

Before establishing Strayos, Ravi Sahu worked with Fortune 500 companies in different roles for over ten years. Listen to this podcast as he talks about transitioning from employment to entrepreneurship and his 0-30,000 MRR journey. 

• What problem do Ravi and his team solve for their customers?
• How does Ravi’s product operate? 
• Benefits that you will gain from using Ravi’s product
• How did Ravi identify the problem his customers were facing?
• What is sustainable mining?
• Adoption threats that Ravi and his team face
• How did Ravi obtain feedback from his clients to determine whether he was solving their problem?
• How did Ravi build his MVP?
• Ravi’s transition from the MVP to when money started flowing in
• Importance of user feedback

Working in the mining industry can be challenging. However, technological advancements are fast transforming the industry to make it more efficient, productive, and safer. Having spent many years in the technology industry, Ravi gained the experience he needed to develop a robust product that would come to the rescue of users in various countries and contexts. He tells Geordie that he strives to solve problems that occur daily in the mining industry and within the mineral extraction process. He also explains other challenges that he and his team are committed to helping their customers solve.

Ravi is a computer scientist with a background in development and programming. It is surprising how he identified a problem in the mining sector, but he explains it all in this podcast. Listen to his narration on how and why he started. At some point, while pursuing his MBA, Ravi interacted with a colleague. He (colleague) had been in the mining industry for 30 years. It is through this colleague that Ravi got to understand the real limited data challenges that players in the industry were facing.

Ravi explains the actual data problems in detail, and you do not want to miss this. Ravi’s colleague would later become his advisor. Clients who adopt Ravi’s system stand a chance to reap numerous benefits, such as operating the plant more effectively and increased productivity. Ravi gives Geordie a breakdown of how he and his team handle their equipment. He says Strayos is an AI and software solutions platform, and they deal with different types of drones.

Many of their customers have their hardware, but if they don’t, then Ravi and his team can develop and customize an entire package for them. Ravi admits that in the beginning, he was not sure that he was solving the right problem.

At some point, Ravi decided to enroll in a three-day mining lesson where he met a mineral extraction process expert. Here, he learnt more about what happens in the mining industry. You want to find out what the expert said from the podcast. From the lesson, Ravi established that the process was tedious and presented various safety concerns. It is here that he started figuring out that AI and software would be ideal in this sector.

Ravi would later collaborate with players in different departments in the mining sector in a bid to understand the problem extensively. Companies that Ravi and his team interacted with were impressed with the service, which he says was an indication that there was an MVP. Ravi talks about the strategy he uses when it comes to the startup development process. Listen to the podcast to figure this out. He also talks about the amount he made from his first customers on a pre-sale basis.

Ravi says the pre-sale amount came in handy to convince him that customers were willing to pay to find solutions to their problems. As an entrepreneur, you should offer services that will build both your business and that of your clients too. Knowing that there were ready customers was the reason why Ravi finally quit his day job to become an entrepreneur. He says that in his first MVP version, he hired two members and grew his team as the MVP evolved.

Doing something that he had not done before was not easy. Ravi attributes his success to his friends and family. He also mentions that he was passionate about his venture, which is why he held on amid the challenges. How did Ravi convince clients to pay for a non-existent product? Listen to his response in this podcast.

At some point, Ravi had to raise some seed money to keep the company afloat. He explains how much he raised, and also mentions the amount of equity he had to give up. Ravi reflects on his journey from the first to their tenth customer, and you cannot afford to miss this. He also explains the challenges they faced along the way and the measures they took to remain relevant. Being one of the biggest pre-sellers in the industry, Ravi concludes by recommending situations that would be applicable for a pre-sale. 

Ravi Sahu LinkedIn

Ravi Sahu Twitter

Strayos

Derry Holt of OneUp Sales talks about his journey from being a Video game developer to building a SaaS company that has evolved to become a popular firm in the UK.

Derry Holt is the CEO and co-founder of OneUp Sales and also a video games developer. After working as a software engineer in the games industry for years, he later channeled his energy into the sales software sector. He tells Geordie Wardman everything about his journey in this captivating podcast that you do not want to miss. 

• What inspired the launch of OneUp Sales?
• How does the OneUp Sales concept operate?
• How James (Derry’s co-founder) came up with the OneUp Sales idea
• Why you should execute your idea whether someone else is doing it or not
• What kind of competitors does Derry have?
• Derry’s vision for OneUp Sales
• The one mistake that Derry and James made during their developmental stage
• Importance of market validation
• What strategy did Derry use to attract customers?
• How did Derry figure out that his software was ideal for the recruitment agency industry?
• When did Derry and James first experience recruitment?
• Differences between SaaS companies and recruitment firms when it comes to onboarding
• Importance of networking in business
• What’s Derry’s long-term vision for OneUp Sales?

Did you know that you can convert what you are passionate about into a money-making venture? Having been video game developers for years, Derry Holt and James, his co-founder, figured they could use their video game building knowledge to develop business software. They thought about combining the massive data that salespeople generate with equally rich data video games to keep people engaged and motivated.

What began as a simple approach of engaging in fantasy football with salespeople has evolved to integrate a TV display within the system. Listen to the podcast to figure out the connection between salespeople and video games. Derry also gives details on how the OneUp Sales concept operates. You will need to listen carefully to grasp the details.

Along the journey, Derry and James enrolled in an accelerator program in the UK, where they received office space and support free of charge. During this period, their mentors encouraged them to figure out whether they wanted to build a business or become developers.

Derry and James thought about developing a game, but some hurdles stopped them from doing so. What were they? Find out from the podcast. After deliberations, they decided to do something they had never tried before, which you can find out by listening to this podcast.

The duo made up their minds to take time and work on the project. They were also committed to consulting people until they were sure that their target audience would spend money on it. It took the team some years to finally get their idea right and convince people to buy it.

Listen to Derry as he says it all in this podcast and get motivated. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or have just started your company, this podcast will inspire you to keep going regardless of the challenges.

At some point, Derry and James had to lay off all of their staff and start afresh. It was not until 2018 when the company started experiencing some growth. They even formed some collaboration in the UK with recruiting networks. The company experienced lots of growth then. They would late raise some money, but Derry feels like they should have done one thing before raising capital. Find out what that is from the podcast.

According to Derry, there are numerous things they would change were they to do it all over again. Listen to the podcast for details. Derry explains the different phases of growth that they went through extensively. He also tackles the struggles they suffered as well as the plateaus they conquered, and you cannot afford to miss this part.

Derry talks to Geordie about partnership networking. He also discusses the SaaS and recruitment companies they collaborate with. Listen to the podcast for more details on this. Having been in the industry for a long time, Derry understands the recruitment space well. If you are looking forward to investing in the industry, you will benefit from his insights on where to look for customers.

The world is currently grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, and Derry and his team have experienced some challenges. Listen to the podcast to understand how the experience has been for them. Derry also talks about how they have managed to remain afloat. Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Don’t miss this particular section of the podcast.

Derry has tremendous plans for the company that he shares with Geordie. Listen in and get the inspiration you need to start your business today.

Derry Holt LinkedIn

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OneUp Sales

Casey Stanton founded CMOx to help fitness, health, manufacturing, and technology firms accelerate their growth. He has been a marketing consultant for years and has worked with numerous companies during his career. Listen to Casey as he narrates his story to Geordie Wardman. 

• What prompted Casey to start selling his products online
• What is Casey’s description of marketing?
• What key problem does Casey solve?
• Why having the right workforce is critical for your business.
• The type of companies that Casey works with
• Why Casey founded CMO Exponential
• Key skills of a marketing technician
• Why you should manage your team tightly
• The importance of creating social proof
• What does social proof do?
• The importance of believing in what you do
• Why marketers should be factual rather than persuasive
• Why a sales script is important
• Importance of a good conversation in business

Fate has a humorous way of connecting people to their destiny, and nothing describes Casey’s experience better than this. He narrates to Geordie how he struggled to get work and later settled for mowing lawns.

One day he approached a man he worked for and sought to find out how he had managed to get his life together. Casey says the answer he received that day changed his life for the best. Listen to the podcast to find out what the answer was, and the riveting events that followed. 

Casey says he founded CMO Exponential, a company that specializes in providing part-time and fractional marketing officers. Together with the team, they have a pragmatic operation that they have christened the functional marketing framework. He mentions that they utilize this method on seven and eight-figure firms to help them grow.

CMO Exponential also works with startups and six-figure businesses. If you fall into this category, you should listen to Casey as he explains how they can help you in your journey. Coming up with a marketing strategy, according to Casey can be challenging. However, the moment you have one, you do not have to keep on paying a chief marketing officer. Still, Casey mentions that we are living in hard times, and businesses need CMOs now more than ever.

With everything going digital, Casey believes that every business intending to grow should hire a full-time CMO. If you are considering moving your business online, then Casey gives a detailed breakdown of the companies they work with. Listen in to understand how your business can benefit from collaborating with CMO Exponential. Casey offers detailed information on the impact of a marketing strategy on business success.

According to Casey, while there are numerous strategies available today, not everything will work for your business. He stresses the importance of understanding your product, identifying your target consumers, and coming up with a concept that works for everybody involved. This is comprehensive coverage that all entrepreneurs will benefit from. You will need a pen and paper as you listen to this podcast.

At some point, Geordie engages Casey about his new time tracking software. He seeks to find out what he would do to enhance its performance. Casey’s explanation is what every new entrepreneur needs to propel their products to the next stage. You cannot afford to miss this part of the podcast. Even as Casey explains the importance of testimonials, he also gives out the case study formula. He also explains what you should do after acquiring social proof. Listen in to find this out.

One on one selling is crucial as it helps sellers see their customers and listen to their complaints. This strategy also helps entrepreneurs in figuring out why customers are not buying the products. It can also help them figure out how to improve the product, to meet customer demands.

Casey advises entrepreneurs not to shy away from making a single sale in a week, especially when starting. While he understands how discouraging it can be, he says that the effort you invest today will pay you tomorrow.

If you are a marketer, you know that dealing with people can be difficult, especially when they reject your product. According to Casey, sales is a chance for somebody to say no to you. All marketers should avoid losing sleep because no is part of the sales process. Casey discusses the importance of having a robust sales process, keywords, and an SEO campaign, and this is something you must listen to. According to Casey, you should not let the complexity of marketing interfere with your sales strategy. He also mentions three other very critical issues that every entrepreneur should know. Listen to the podcast to figure these out.

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Casey Stanton LinkedIn

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