Podcasts Business SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders 724: The $70m+ Recruiting Company You've Never Heard Of

724: The $70m+ Recruiting Company You've Never Heard Of

Published: July 18, 2017, 9 a.m.

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:

  1. Don\u2019t be afraid to ask someone about their business plan.
  2. Always desire to win and stay focused \u2013 it works.
  3. 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