Published: July 18, 2017, 9 a.m.
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Colin Day. He\\u2019s the chairman and CEO of a company called iCIMS which he founded in 2000 with a vision to deliver applicant tracking software, emphasizing easy-to-use, unparalleled, customer service. iCIMS is the largest stand-alone provider of talent acquisition software in the industry and stands among Forbes top 100 fastest growing private cloud companies in the country
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \\u2013 Good to Great
- What CEO do you follow? \\u2013 Satya Nadella and Marc Benioff
- Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Office 365
- How many hours of sleep do you get?\\u2014 8
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cTrust your gut and trust your instincts\\u201d
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:08 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Colin to the show
- 01:47 \\u2013 iCIMS know they\\u2019re winning by customer base
- 02:02 \\u2013 iCIMS is next to Oracle
- 02:37 \\u2013 iCIMS has a bedrock product that is their applicant tracking system
- 03:07 \\u2013 iCIMS is a SaaS business
- 03:39 \\u2013 iCIMS has multiple products, but the main product is the tracking system
- 03:52 \\u2013 It handles compliance around data
- 04:14 \\u2013 Pricing varies
- 04:21 \\u2013 Recruitment becomes an important part of a company when they reach 100 employees
- 04:37 \\u2013 iCIMS has price buckets that fit the smaller market, mid-sized and high-end markets
- 05:10 \\u2013 How Colin started a SaaS business in 1999
- 05:17 \\u2013 Colin graduated from Cornell with a degree in Psychology
- 05:23 \\u2013 Colin wanted to do something entrepreneurial
- 05:38 \\u2013 Colin\\u2019s first client was from New Jersey
- 05:56 \\u2013 Colin was logged into Comrise\'s proprietary system
- 06:21 \\u2013 Colin then thought to buy the rights to Comrise\\u2019s proprietary system to start his own company
- 06:48 \\u2013 Colin started as a recruiter in 1997
- 07:36 \\u2013 The CEO of Comrise believed in Colin
- 08:43 \\u2013 Colin saw an opportunity and bought the system
- 08:57 \\u2013 The CEO of Comrise loaned Colin the capital for iCIMS
- 09:40 \\u2013 When Colin was working as a recruiter, they couldn\\u2019t find enough technology to work
- 09:55 \\u2013 It was a \\u201chey day\\u201d when Colin spun out
- 10:20 \\u2013 The capital was called a payroll loan
- 10:48 \\u2013 Colin will call the CEO every time he needed money
- 11:11 \\u2013 Colin didn\\u2019t negotiate equity upfront
- 11:37 \\u2013 iCIMS was charging monthly
- 12:23 \\u2013 Current team size is around 650
- 12:33 \\u2013 In November, they\\u2019ll be moving from New Jersey to Old Bell Labs HQ
- 13:06 \\u2013 iCIMS has grown without any outside money other than the loaned capital
- 13:17 \\u2013 iCIMS has brought in a private equity company
- 14:14 \\u2013 The money from the private equity company went directly towards the equity and not on the operational side of the company
- 14:29 \\u2013 Besides getting an outside investor, it is also a good choice to get a private equity company
- 15:22 \\u2013 Colin has a desire to win
- 16:12 \\u2013 iCIMS\\u2019s mandate is to convince the world to be contrarian
- 16:51 \\u2013 Colin wants iCIMS to be the definition of winning
- 17:30 \\u2013 Colin tries to always stay focused
- 18:18 \\u2013 CAC
- 18:43 \\u2013 Average annual contract price is around $30K
- 19:50 \\u2013 Average MRR
- 20:40 \\u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- Don\\u2019t be afraid to ask someone about their business plan.
- Always desire to win and stay focused \\u2013 it works.
- Trust your instincts; don\\u2019t doubt yourself.
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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
- Klipfolio \\u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Hotjar \\u2013 Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you\\u2019re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
- 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
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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