BROADCASTS.com

Eric Beans. He\u2019s the CEO of Texting Base and before that, he was the CEO of Appuix. He was also the former co-founder of Premier Mortgage Capital and the author of Changing the World Through Texting Software. He was in the production as the producer and writer of LA Style Magazine and he\u2019s \u201cChef Beans\u201d on Daytime.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \u2013 Steve Jobs
• What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Brett Kingstone
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Gusto
• How many hours of sleep do you get?\u2014 4
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 \u201cMake better choices on who I surround myself with\u201d

\xa0

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 02:00 \u2013 Nathan introduces Eric to the show
• 02:43 \u2013 Eric wasn\u2019t really a chef and he made food for the person who was running the show
• 03:01 \u2013 Texting Base is a personalized, mass communication platform for texting which is similar to email
  • 03:17 \u2013 It looks like it is personally written
• 03:23 \u2013 Texting Base charges monthly depending on the quantity of the messages
• 03:33 \u2013 Texting Base is a SaaS business
• 03:38 \u2013 Minimum charge which is also the average is $50 and will go up depending on the number of messages
• 03:55 \u2013 Customer number is almost 500
• 04:09 \u2013 Average MRR
• 04:21 \u2013 Texting Base was bootstrapped and raised $262K
  • 04:47 \u2013 They had investors like Kimberly Partoll and Brett Kingstone who was a former CEO of an IPO company
• 05:29 \u2013 Gross margin is 566%
• 06:33 \u2013 14% of the cost structure is Texting Base\u2019s messaging fee
• 06:52 \u2013 Server costs is around $900 a month
• 07:14 \u2013 Processing fee is 2.5%
• 07:47 \u2013 Gross margin is around 79%
• 08:05 \u2013 The higher the volume, the lower the charge Texting Base gets from the provider
  • 08:09 \u2013 They had a contract for volume
  • 08:23 \u2013 They negotiated with Twilio directly
  • 08:35 \u2013 Volume should be at least 100K a month
• 09:18 \u2013 Eric started Texting Base in 2012
  • 09:21 \u2013 Eric needed the product\u2014no one had it so he left banking and started the business
  • 09:37 \u2013 It took 3.5 years to launch
• 09:49 \u2013 Team size is 5
• 10:12 \u2013 Target customers for Texting Base are real estate and mortgage providers
• 10:21 \u2013 Texting Base uses email blasts to reach their clients
• 10:56 \u2013 Eric has used email providers until they started building their own list
• 11:24 \u2013 CAC was $28 and now it\u2019s around $18
• 11:47 \u2013 Current churn is about 2.87% monthly
• 12:23 \u2013 LTV is still a bit early
• 12:57 \u2013 Texting Base doesn\u2019t have contracts with customers
• 13:08 \u2013 Last month, $850 was spent on PPC
• 13:32 \u2013 Eric gave some equity of the company to the investors
  • 13:53 \u2013 The people who are building the product also have equity
• 15:25 \u2013 The Famous Five

\xa0

3 Key Points:

1. It takes time and patience to build a business, be sure that you\u2019re prepared for it.
2. Create your own solution to the problem and don\u2019t be surprised if you end up solving multiple problems along the way.
3. Your network can bring you places; nurture your relationships.

\xa0

Resources Mentioned:

• Simplero \u2013 The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
• 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
• GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
• 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