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Jon Ferrara. He\u2019s in CRM\u2014a relationship management entrepreneur and noted speaker about social media\u2019s effects on sales marketing. He\u2019s reimagined the CRM by building a simply smarter social sales and marketing platform. His most recent venture is called Nimble.com. It\u2019s the first CRM that works for you by building the updated contact data for you and then works with you everywhere you work. He\u2019s best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software, one of the early pioneers in the Salesforce automation and customer relationship management in software categories for SMBs. He\u2019s recently been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Social CEOs and Top 10 Social Sales people in the world.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \u2013 Think and Grow Rich
• What CEO do you follow? \u2013\xa0 Marc Benioff
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Buffer
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep? \u2014 7-8
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 \u201cNot to sweat shit so much\u201d

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:17 \u2013 Nathan introduces Jon to the show
• 02:13 \u2013 There was no Outlook, CRM or Salesforce when Jon had the idea of GoldMine
• • 02:31 \u2013 Jon started on $5K with no bank loans and VC
  • 02:35 \u2013 Jon ran GoldMine for 10 years, had 5M customers around the globe, sold it and retired at 40
• 02:44 \u2013 GoldMine was a software platform
• • 02:55 \u2013 GoldMine started as a floppy disk until it became a CD
• 03:28 \u2013 Jon started GoldMine in 1989 and sold it in 1999
• • 03:38 \u2013 GoldMine passed $70M in annual revenue, with 250 team members worldwide
• 04:00 \u2013 ARR wasn\u2019t necessary before when it comes to valuation
• • 04:22 \u2013 Jon sold GoldMine for $125M in cash with no strings attached
• 04:55 \u2013 A year after GoldMine was sold, Jon was diagnosed with a head tumor
• • 05:07 \u2013 \u201cThe most important thing you have around you is your health, next is your family, then your passion and business\u201d
  • 05:19 \u2013 Jon was 41 when they found the tumor
  • 05:27 \u2013 \u201cWe are on this planet to grow our souls\u201d
• 05:51 \u2013 After the tumor, Jon spent next 10 years of his life with his family and friends, adding value to people
• 06:15 \u2013 Jon got into photography and worked as the photographer for USC football for 10 years
• 06:42 \u2013 \u201cYou need to be your own advocate\u201d
• • 06:56 \u2013 Jon found a doctor who developed the technology to have a radiation beam reach the center of your head without touching any vital nerves
  • 07:17 \u2013 The tumor disappeared after 7 weeks of radiation treatment
  • 07:42 \u2013 The radiation is like burning the seed inside the watermelon without burning the watermelon\u2019s skin
• 08:18 \u2013 Jon started in social media in 2006-2008
• • 08:33 \u2013 Jon saw that relationship managers are contact managers
  • 08:58 \u2013 Jon looked at CRM and saw the gap
  • 09:07 \u2013 You have to use salespeople to use CRM
  • 09:08 \u2013 \u201cThat\u2019s why they\u2019re called salesforce because you force salespeople to use it\u201d
• 09:27 \u2013 Nimble\u2019s team was formed in 2010, Alpha in 2011, and they turned the paywall in 2013
• 09:36 \u2013 \u201cJust like with GoldMIne, I was early to the idea of an intelligent social relationship manager that works for you\u201d
• 09:57 \u2013 Business is social and life is social
• 10:11 \u2013 First year revenue
• 10:21 \u2013 Jon got their first customer for Nimble the same way he got their first customer for GoldMine:
• • 10:36 \u2013 Jon had a trusted advisor for his prospect
  • 10:51 \u2013 Jon got his first $50K revenue in GoldMine from resellers
  • 10:56 \u2013 Jon grew the $50K by mobilizing writers who write about technology and business
• 11:10 \u2013 In 2009-2011, there was no reseller because everything was cloud
• • 11:27 \u2013 Jon looked for influencers
• 11:36 \u2013 Jon put in his own $3M to the company
• • 11:48 \u2013 Jon also got some cash from Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis and others
  • 12:05 \u2013 Jon\u2019s money went to the company\u2019s capitalization
• 12:20 \u2013 Nimble currently has 100K customers and 10K paying companies
• • 12:31 \u2013 An average of 3 seats per company
• 12:36 \u2013 Nimble is a SaaS business and is generating 80K website visitors with zero marketing
• • 12:43 \u2013 Trial to paid conversion is 20%
• 13:05 \u2013 Nimble started at $15 per user per month
• • 13:08 \u2013 It recently rolled out to $25 and will have $45 and $65 buckets with a $99 mark automation add on
  • 13:16 \u2013 \u201cSales and marketing should never have been split apart\u201d
  • 14:07 \u2013 $200K average MRR
• 14:15 \u2013 Gross churn is about 3%
• • 14:22 \u2013 \u201cWe provide a lot of value and satisfaction to our customers\u201d
• 14:32 \u2013 Nimble just rolled with Microsoft Outlook mobile by providing 40M handsets for free
• 15:04 \u2013 CAC is really small because they don\u2019t have a large team
• • 15:25 \u2013 You don\u2019t need to spend or overspend in order to build a company
  • 15:35 \u2013 It is great to find people who want to grow with your help
  • 15:42 \u2013 Rather than hiring a sales guy, Jon would rather hire someone who truly cares about the customer experience
• 16:16 \u2013 Jon\u2019s team is based in Santa Monica with remote workers in USA and Ukraine
• 16:53 \u2013 2017 target revenue
• 18:30 \u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

• Engage with your customers and add value \u2013 don\u2019t always think about the sales.
• Share your passion with people on a daily basis, don\u2019t be afraid to bare your soul and make those connections.
• You don\u2019t need to spend more to build a business \u2013 find people who are willing to grow the business with you.

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Resources Mentioned:

• The Top Inbox\xa0 \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• Organifi \u2013 The juice was Nathan\u2019s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
• Klipfolio \u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• Acuity Scheduling \u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Host Gator\xa0\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
• Audible\xa0\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
• Freshbooks \u2013 Nathan doesn\u2019t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives