SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

EP 396: Why He Raised $3m Then Merged With #1 Competitor


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Kevin Davis, who came up with a creative solution for tech support. After waiting weeks to get his computer back from the Geek Squad, he thought there had to be a quicker, better solution. He created Geekatoo as a platform for people to find tech experts in their own neighborhoods.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Jason Calacanis's Podcast
  • What CEO do you follow? — Not really, I look at other marketplaces.
  • Favorite online tool? — Base
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes
  • If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Make sure that you get your startup out as soon as possible.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:25 – Nathan introduces Kevin
  • 01:50 – Musician, tech guy, and geek
  • 02:10 – Geekatoo, "like an Uber for tech support"
  • 03:00 – They started out aiming for a nationwide company
  • 04:10 – A platform
  • 04:50 – Founded in 2010
  • 04:55 – First-year revenue was literally nothing
    • 05:30 – It took over a year to get the product out
    • 06:20 – He supported himself by living back home
  • 07:00 – Now it is much quicker to bootstrap a launch
  • 07:45 – They take a percentage for every job that comes through
  • 08:00 – Switched to solving larger-level problems
  • 08:50 – Three different plans and other services
  • 09:30 – Customers are covered for the long term
  • 10:00 – Onboarding takes people from one service to a monthly plan
  • 10:30 – Total customers is 40000
  • 10:50 -- $2.7 M in capital
  • 11:10 – 2015 revenue was almost $4 M
  • 11:25 – Biggest costs
    • 11:50 – Provider payout and overseas center
    • 12:25 – Ad words
  • 13:20 – A focus on positive economics
  • 14:15 – Average project value is about $130
    • 14:40 – Acquisition cost is $20 to $30
    • 15:15 – A large volume of customers had $0 acquisition cost
  • 16:00 – Reasoning behind the merger with HelloTech
    • 17:35 – "A bigger pie"
    • 18:00 – New partners coming forward
  • 18:35 – [email protected] or @geekatoo on Twitter
  • 21:15 -- The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

  • Don't worry about perfecting your business—get it out there as quickly as possible
  • Do what is best to help your business grow.
  • Find a simple way to communicate with your customers.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
  • Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
  • Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
  • Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
  • Base – Kevin's favorite online tool
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
...more
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SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, FoundersBy Nathan Latka

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