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Alessandro Biggi. He\u2019s the CEO at Zooppa, the first open-source creative agency. Previously, he was the CEO and founder of a company called 20lines, an app to share leading short stories acquired by HarperCollins Publisher, in January 2016. He\u2019s also worked for JP Morgan, The Boston Consulting Group, and as an adjunct professor in Venice.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \u2013 Zero to One
• What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Ricardo Donadon
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Slack
• How many hours of sleep do you get?\u2014 6
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 Alessandro wished he would have studied some hard skills like engineering

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:46 \u2013 Nathan introduces Alessandro to the show
• 01:22 \u2013 Zooppa relies on technology to engage with over 400K creatives around the world
• 01:58 \u2013 Zooppa is like a marketplace, connecting creatives to people who need a project done
• 02:02 \u2013 Zooppa has 2 models in creating content
  • 02:07 \u2013 First is the open model which is open to everyone to show their creativity
  • 02:18 \u2013 The second one is the VIP which is only offered to top producers on the platform to participate and win the project
• 02:46 \u2013 Average project size depends on the creation needed
  • 02:56 \u2013 An open model can go from $50K-150K
  • 03:12 \u2013 Average can be $40K
• 03:18 \u2013 Zooppa was launched 10 years ago, in Italy
  • 03:25 \u2013 Zooppa expanded to New York, Seattle, Venice, Milan and London
• 03:42 \u2013 Alessandro just joined Zooppa 1 month ago after selling 20lines
  • 03:50 \u2013 Alessandro was also an investor in Zooppa
• 04:20 \u2013 Zooppa was founded by H-Farm\u2019s founders
• 04:41 \u2013 Zooppa has raised around $8M
• 04:50 \u2013 Alessandro joined Zooppa after the last round
• 04:57 \u2013 There\u2019s a plan to develop more revenue streams for Zooppa
• 05:21 \u2013 Zooppa\u2019s vision is to inspire people use their creativity for a purpose
• 06:00 \u2013 Alessandro accepted Zooppa as a challenge
  • 06:07 \u2013 Alessandro feels that there\u2019s more that he can do
• 06:48 \u2013 Zooppa is now planning to distribute a big part of their equity to new and old employees
• 07:07 \u2013 Alessandro does other things aside from Zooppa like investing in a restaurant
• 07:36 \u2013 Alessandro\u2019s first company was inspired by Zooppa
• 08:05 \u2013 Zooppa\u2019s average total transaction volume is $4-5M
• 08:14 \u2013 Zooppa usually runs 50-60 projects a year
• 08:28 \u2013 Zooppa takes care all of the projects and campaigns
• 09:15 \u2013 Zooppa takes a percentage for every project
  • 09:43 \u2013 It is 50%
• 10:09 \u2013 Zooppa just opened their New York office
  • 10:15 \u2013 Zooppa still continues to expand
• 10:48 \u2013 Creatives can go to Zooppa\u2019s website and see if there are projects that they can take on
• 11:17 \u2013 Zooppa works with big brands
• 11:39 \u2013 Zooppa has 25 people on the team
• 11:46 \u2013 Zooppa is cash-flow positive
• 12:00 \u2013 Zooppa currently focuses on sustaining themselves on their own
• 12:30 \u2013 Alessandro is now 29 and he was 27 and a half when he sold 20lines
• 12:50 \u2013 Alessandro was working at 20lines for a couple of years
  • 13:02 \u2013 The publishing space is a hard space to be in
  • 13:05 \u2013 The team decided that they\u2019d grow better with a bigger group
  • 13:10 \u2013 They had a talk with HarperCollins for about a year
  • 13:33 \u2013 It was a soft landing
• 14:54 \u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

1. Don\u2019t stick with a company where you don\u2019t see growth happening\u2014sell it and move on.
2. You can always learn something from someone who is older much more experienced.
3. If you can sustain your company on what you currently have, don\u2019t raise a round.

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Resources Mentioned:

• The Top Inbox \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• Hotjar \u2013 Gives Nathan a recording of what is happening on a website or where are people clicking and scrolling on the website
• 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\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
• Audible\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