Escape Velocity - with Dan Martell

▸▸ How To Build A Business That You Don't Grow To Hate: https://bit.ly/3pCTG78 About 7 years ago I almost quit coaching... I was working crazy hours, growth had flatlined, and I couldn’t figure out how to scale. It’s only because of today’s guest, Taki Moore, that I decided to stay the course. He showed me a completely DIFFERENT way to build companies. Since then I’ve coached 2000+ founders and grown my YouTube followers to over 100K. None of that would've been possible without Taki. He’s been THAT important to my career. So in today’s episode, I unpack the lessons Taki taught me that transformed my coaching business. We also delve into his personal journey to becoming the ‘Million Dollar Coach’ and the challenges he overcame along the way. So whether you’re a coach, SaaS founder, or business owner, you won’t want to miss this special episode. Get ready to be inspired. ▸▸ How To Build A Business That You Don't Grow To Hate: https://bit.ly/3pCTG78

▸▸ Buy Phil's book "Exactly What to Say" here: https://www.philmjones.com/sales-training-books/

▸▸ Supercharge your life with my NEW book: http://www.buybackyourtime.com

Are you ready to learn from one of the most successful speakers in the world?

Then tune in to this interview with Phil M. Jones - a renowned speaker and best-selling author who has captivated millions of people worldwide.

In this interview, we delve deep into the world of speaking and branding, uncovering the secrets behind his multimillion dollar empire.

Phil shares valuable tips for monetizing your message and building a thriving personal brand.

▸▸ Supercharge your life with my NEW book: http://www.buybackyourtime.com

▸▸ Supercharge your life with my NEW book: http://www.buybackyourtime.com I just got back from an incredible interview with Ed Mylett, and I’m still trying to process our conversation. Ed's story is nothing short of extraordinary - from a place of zero ambition to coaching some of the most successful people in the world, including presidents.

As we sat down in his gorgeous home overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach, Ed opened up about his journey to success, and I was blown away by the authenticity and vulnerability he brought to the conversation. He shared how, at one point in his life, he was living a dreamless existence, just going through the motions every day without any real purpose or drive.

But he didn't let that define him. Instead, he chose to take control of his life and make intentional choices that led him to where he is today - a highly successful entrepreneur, coach, and mentor with a net worth of $500 million.

Ed's story is a testament to the power of intention and the importance of having a clear vision for your life. He talked about how he had to overcome imposter syndrome and develop unbreakable confidence to pursue his dreams. His insights will leave you feeling empowered and ready to tackle any challenge that comes your way.

I don't want to give too much away, but trust me when I say that this interview will transform your life. If you're feeling stuck or lost, or if you're just looking for some inspiration and motivation to take your life to the next level, you need to watch this.

So, grab a cup of coffee, find a quiet spot, and prepare to be blown away by the million dollar coach himself, Ed Mylett.

▸▸ Supercharge your life with my NEW book: http://www.buybackyourtime.com

If you’re trying to build a SaaS, you’re wasting your time. You should be building a TEAM. A team of talented developers, marketers, customer success agents and salespeople… Then that team will build your SaaS. It’s a huge paradigm shift, but it’s damn important. Elon Musk didn’t hand-build Tesla cars himself, Richard Branson never piloted a Virgin aircraft, and Steve Jobs didn’t assemble the electrical components in the first Apple iPhone. No, these entrepreneurs were visionaries and managers. Your ability to inspire and MANAGE a team is going to be the driving force of your success. So… what are you doing to be a better leader and manager? This is SUCH a high point of leverage that I’m proud to introduce my latest guest to the Escape Velocity Podcast, Aydin Mirzaee. Aydin is the CEO and co-founder of Fellow.app, a management application for businesses that have raised over $6.5M in capital. His software is 100% dedicated to helping managers run more effective teams. He’s an expert at it. ...Which is why if you’re ever going to scale your business, you’re going to need to listen to this awesome interview. Fellow.app wasn’t Aydin’s first success. His previous company, Fluidware, grew to $10M+ ARR before being successfully acquired by SurveyMonkey for a lucrative exit. In this episode, Aydin and I get chatting about: - Why “star performers” are always the result of a team - The ONLY thing a manager should worry about - How to spot a failing manager - The Fellow.app freemium pricing model - The value of upflowing feedback - Why he hires teams... not people - How he bootstrapped Fluidware to $10M ARR with zero funding Fellow.app is built on concrete management principles that have been proven to work time and time again. To build an application like that, Aydin and his team HAVE to know and live these management principles. And I hate to say it… But so do you. The best SaaS idea won’t find success if you don’t have the right team to carry it. I’m telling you… this interview is not something to shrug off. It’s LOADED with insights that you should be leveraging to grow and manage a better team throughout 2021. Listen to the episode here and drop me a comment with your favourite key insight. Looking forward to hearing from you. -- Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur, an investor in 40+ startups like Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce and the creator of SaaS Academy, helping over 500 B2B SaaS founders scale faster. He’s founded five SaaS companies and successfully exited three of them. If you want to scale faster without hitting the usual roadblocks, make sure to follow him on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter. Join his exclusive Scaling SaaS Founders Facebook Group.

Paid ads… or publicity? Choose. For a bootstrapped startup with little-to-no cash in the bank trying to find their first thousand customers, this question should be a no-brainer. Publicity. PR doesn’t cost. There’s no PPC or ad spend behind good PR. Every dollar returned is profit and the only upfront cost is time. Yet a good PR campaign can explode in virality and skyrocket your traffic. Why? Because instead of paying to get your product featured on valuable marketing channels, publicity means you ARE the valuable marketing channel. Publicity means interviews, featured guest posts, public appearances, podcast interviews and more. You and your product become the valuable content that others want to consume. It means getting attention… for free. But you HAVE to have a story that sells your product before you can get that free PR. Want to know how to do that? Let’s hear from a PR expert, Adrian Salamunovic, entrepreneur and co-author of Free PR. Trust me… if you want your SaaS to grow quickly, you don’t want to miss this interview. Adrian was the co-founder of CanvasPop and DNA 11, both companies that he grew organically generating millions in revenue through free PR channels. But he became a PR expert out of necessity. In this kickass interview, we get chatting about: - How he did over $1M in revenue in 14 months with zero funding - Why any product can be sold through story - How marketing channels have multiplied - Utilizing multi-channel marketing for startups - How to write your brand story - Finding your ‘remarkable angle’ - The keys to good PR - Becoming a branded thought-leader in your industry The value bombs that Adrian drops in this interview are insane. You’re crazy not to listen in. Doesn’t matter if your startup is fresh out the gate or if you’re already scaling towards millions... Story. Matters. Period. If you’ve EVER wanted the ultimate SaaS growth hack… this is it: create organic publicity. Get your headphones in, and PLEASE don’t miss out on this interview. --  Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur, an investor in 40+ startups like Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce and the creator of SaaS Academy, helping over 500 B2B SaaS founders scale faster. He’s founded five SaaS companies and successfully exited three of them. If you want to scale faster without hitting the usual roadblocks, make sure to follow him on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter. Join his exclusive Scaling SaaS Founders Facebook Group.

I have an exclusive interview for you... No matter how far I looked, I haven’t been able to find ANY other interviews anywhere with my latest Escape Velocity guest, Justin Shimoon. He just… doesn’t do them. But for me, he generously opened up about the massive success of his company, AffinityClick. ...And how he grew them to be one of the biggest players in the enterprise VOIP market. Justin is the founder and CEO of AffinityClick and the creator of Hushed, one of the world’s most popular mobile calling apps. This is a guy whose software has over 500,000+ monthly active users (MAUs) and makes millions from both B2C and B2B enterprise-level VOIP services. He made it possible for anyone to buy new phone numbers and use them alongside your real number. To launch AffinityClick, Justin didn’t build new infrastructure. Like any great SaaS that scales quickly, his product simply connected the dots between pre-existing technology and services. But knowing how to do that? Yeah, that’s the challenge. Check out the latest episode below and let’s hear how he grew his VOIP tech empire. This is an AWESOME interview. Handling enterprise-level SaaS growth is a whole different ball game, and Justin has mastered it. We’re chatting about: - Making a MASSIVE pivot to an entire company - The sunk cost fallacy - How to create OTT tech that leverages existing tech - How AffinityClick almost ran out of money after $900k personal investment - Getting to the top of the Apple App Store - Creating a Freemium model that converts 65% of users - The pains of growth - Buying ads to protect your brand - Scaling a SaaS with SEO Justin is a talented guy. He’s been an entrepreneur for over 20 years, which means he’s seen tech revolutions rise and fall countless times. Yet he’s still managed to remain successful despite the shifting trends. I really believe that’s what makes a great CEO and founder. It’s not your ability to get lucky with one business decision… It’s your ability to play your cards right again and again and again. In the end, it’s not luck. It’s entrepreneurial wisdom. Tune in to the latest episode to hear from Justin Shimoon’s impressive tech knowledge. -- Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur, an investor in 40+ startups like Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce and the creator of SaaS Academy, helping over 500 B2B SaaS founders scale faster. He’s founded five SaaS companies and successfully exited three of them. If you want to scale faster without hitting the usual roadblocks, make sure to follow him on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter.

Freemium? Free trial with a credit card? Or premium only?

If you’re asking these questions about your pricing model, then - according to Wes Bush - you’d already be on the wrong path. Wes Bush is the founder and CEO of ProductLed and the bestselling author of Product-Led Growth: How To Build a Product That Sells Itself. Product-led growth is a methodology that attracts the right customer, gives them a reason to use your tech, and then turns them into a raving fan of your business. It’s extremely important for a cutting edge SaaS to know how to do this.  Why? Because 40% - 60% of users that sign up for a SaaS are NOT coming back.  Ever. Product-led growth means giving them a reason to return, a hook that makes them WANT to stay. Meaning… It’s the antidote to churn! It is an absolute pleasure to have one of the world-leading experts on this topic at the microphone for the latest episode of the Escape Velocity podcast. If sales are low, churn rates are high, or your pricing model doesn’t feel right… then sink your teeth into this episode, where we discuss: - Why a free trial is NOT necessarily a product-led approach - How to test product-led business structures without sacrificing your bottom line - The A/B split testing trick to minimize your profit loss - Why customers buy results, not tools. - The Super Mario experience - How a product-led support team doubles as your sales team - Why product-led is necessary for saturated markets - How the ultimate lead magnet will always be your product I believe in this value-driven methodology wholeheartedly. It’s why I’ve always worked in support in the early days of every one of my companies.  You get direct customer insights, understand their pains, and get to tailor the product to their needs. But hearing this quantified by an expert like Wes might be just the deal-breaker you need to revitalize your SaaS business model and bring you into 2021 ahead of the game. Earphones in. Listen in here.

Don’t let anyone tell you it’s too late to change your direction. Emily Walsh went from being a ballet dancer… to a lead investor at Georgian, a VC firm that has raised $1.2B across 4 funds and recently added another $850M in early 2020. Georgian focuses on investing in software and fin-tech. According to Emily, Georgian typically invests $20M - $40M at a time. Being a lead investor, Emily has to be right at the forefront of making the decisions of how to spend that money and who to give it to. If you’ve ever thought about attracting your first or next round of funding, then it’s vital to know how investors like Emily think. ...especially because Georgian are a minority investor. Minority investors don’t expect to change your company’s direction. They want to see that you already know where you are going. If they like the direction, they’ll strap $20M+ rocket-boosters (aka: investments) to the back of your SaaS engine to get you there quicker. But, how does a firm like Georgian qualify SaaS businesses and evaluate if they’re worth the investment? AI. Georgian has an internal model that allows them to input data about a business and validate if the investment will meet their return criteria. Clever, right? Let’s hear from Emily in the latest interview on the Escape Velocity podcast. Emily has a heart for growing SaaS businesses and in our chat, we talk about: - How Georgian grew from 17 to 60 people - What got Emily into investing - How dancing taught her discipline and focus - Why Georgian structures themselves like a software company - The 2 questions Emily will ask of any potential software investment - The future of Conversational AI in SaaS sales pipelines I love speaking with decision makers at VC firms about the SaaS industry. Investors get exclusive views of company roadmaps, timelines and P&L sheets. They see the behind-the-scenes that most companies prefer to keep secret… and although investors respect the business privacy of their portfolio clients, they still have the wisdom for picking market winners well in advance. I’m telling you… If you EVER want to attract some serious big-cash investors, you HAVE to think the way they think. And it’s priceless interviews like this one that will help you. Turn up the volume, and listen to the episode here. -- Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur, an investor in 40+ startups like Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce and the creator of SaaS Academy, helping over 500 B2B SaaS founders scale faster. He’s founded five SaaS companies and successfully exited three of them. If you want to scale faster without hitting the usual roadblocks, make sure to follow him on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter.

“How many mermaid tails do you think are sold every year globally?”

It wasn’t a question I expected to be asked by a SaaS founder. I guessed 50 million. But I was short… by 450 million. Liam Martin, one of my SaaS Academy coaching clients, asked me this question in the latest episode of Escape Velocity. Liam is the co-founder of both Time Doctor, time tracking software for remote workers, and Running Remote, the world’s largest remote work conference. I’ve been coaching Liam and his co-founder Rob for years now. Liam is an open book, happy to share anything about his business, life and relationships. His partner, Marielle, is the CEO and founder of Aqua Mermaid, a site that sells mermaids tails and teaches you how to swim like one too. ...Which explains the unusual question. It never ceases to amaze me how much money can be made in a unique niche. And although Liam has some unexpected insights into the mermaid niche, his strength is in his knowledge of remote work. Amidst a global pandemic, the topic of remote work has gone from interesting to necessary, and many myths around remote work are being quickly shattered. “When you take someone remote, they increase their productivity by 40%.” Your ability to assemble a flexible, efficient remote workforce may be an essential step to getting your SaaS off the ground without the upfront costs of office space. If you want to know more about scaling your business with a remote workforce, then tune in to this awesome interview with Liam. Although most of my interviews are business focussed, this one gets personal quite quickly, where we touch on topics including: - The high rates of depression amongst entrepreneurs - The value of therapy for high-performers - How Time Doctor went down for 2 days… losing $1M in ARR - Why VCs are skeptical of remote workforces - How your remote workforce can be a competitive edge - What to do when life deals you a tough hand - The need for empathy in business - Self-sabotaging and why entrepreneurs can be their own worst enemy - How to help someone course correct And by the way... I think it's a good thing not to talk only about business. As entrepreneurs we're human. We all have good days and not so good days.  What helps us through those times is having a good feedback loop from entrepreneurs that have been through what we're going through and come out the end of the tunnel alive. The Escape Velocity podcast is my way of having those conversations and giving you another perspective. Tune in and hang out with us. -- Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur, an investor in 40+ startups like Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce and the creator of SaaS Academy, helping over 500 B2B SaaS founders scale faster. He’s founded five SaaS companies and successfully exited three of them. If you want to scale faster without hitting the usual roadblocks, make sure to follow him on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter.

When I launched my company Clarity.fm in 2010, I gave a live demo to an audience showing how the service works. It was my Steve Jobs moment. From stage, I demonstrated how Clarity enabled me to call high-profile, successful entrepreneurs and get business advice from them over the phone instantly. For the live demo, I had to call someone notable… someone the audience couldn’t reach. I called Mike McDerment, the CEO of FreshBooks, a super successful accounting SaaS. Mike was my example of a successful CEO. He’s smart, committed to growth, and has scaled FreshBooks from humble beginnings in his parent’s basement back in 2004… ...to a team of over 300+ employees, raising over $75M in funding and earning over $50M+ annual recurring revenue. Now it’s a pleasure to hand him the microphone once again by inviting him on the Escape Velocity podcast to share his infinite wisdom about leadership and growth in the SaaS space. If you’ve ever wondered what kind of a CEO you are (or could be), then you need to hear this interview. In this episode, we’re discussing: - The 3 types of CEOs (which one are you?)

- The 3 core functions of a CEO

- The 3 stages of leadership growth in a scaling SaaS

- Why Mike hired an external COO with shared responsibilities

- Dealing with inevitable growth

- Scaling a remarkable culture

- How a CEO’s gut instinct is your best weapon… if you train it!

- Building an executive board

- Why Freshbooks resisted VC investors for over 10 years

- How to train and sharpen your CEO mind

- Pattern recognition as a method of business intuition

- Why he thinks Freshbooks, at 16 years old, is still in its infancy Even now, there is still glorification of the struggling startup. “Dude, I’m launching a startup, then I’ll be my own boss and escape the 9-to-5!” But as any business achieves the success it sets out for, many founders struggle to morph into the person they need to be to lead a growing business at scale. That’s why I think it’s incredibly important that you hear the experiences of CEOs like Mike and the inevitable steps that they had to take as their companies grew. It’s better to learn this in advance before you back your business into a corner. So I encourage you: put your earphones in and fire up the episode. It’s eye-opening.

-- Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter @danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

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