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Ethan Appleby wants to get away from a world where everyone has the same Ikea print in their flat. He\u2019s the founder of Vango - a startup that connects aspiring artists with novice art buyers. They\u2019re currently making $1.6 million in revenue and hoping to grow this year. Listen in to hear Nathan and Ethan talk making art accessible, setting up a successful marketplace, and why Ethan\u2019s raised three funding rounds via convertible note.

Famous 5:

Favorite Book? \u2013 Zero to One
What CEO do you follow? \u2014 Stewart Butterfield
Favourite online tool? \u20145None
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?\u2014 To take the step sooner to get into entrepreneurship

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:10 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction
01:51 \u2013 Welcoming Ethan to the show
02:00 \u2013 Vango is a marketplace that connects artists and art buyers. It makes money by taking 30% of every transaction
02:50 \u2013 \u201cArt is something people are intrigued by, but intimidated by\u201d
03:16 \u2013 Before starting Vango, Ethan was a Design Thinking consultant
03:54 \u2013 Started in 2013 - first-year revenue was zero
04:23 \u2013 As of March 2016, 20,000 sellers have an active profile
05:00 \u2013 Targeting new art buyers - around 100,000 buyers on their platform in total
05:45 \u2013 \u201cWe\u2019re hustling every month to get new sales\u201d
06:35 \u2013 Currently have a team of 12
06:44 \u2013 Raised around $3 million through 500 Startups
07:10 \u2013 All raised via convertible notes
07:55 \u2013 Convertible notes let you take funding without worrying about valuation
09:10 \u2013 \u201cWe like to help people engage with art directly\u201d
09:44 \u2013 Total revenue in 2015 was $1.6 million
10:10 \u2013 Biggest cost is the team
10:45 \u2013 In March 2016, about 800 buyers and 320 sellers
11:25 \u2013 Once an artist sells 10 pieces, their likelihood to sell increases
12:18 \u2013 The benefit to artists comes from higher traffic
13:30 \u2013 Average order value on on Vango is $575
14:20 \u2013 Connect with Ethan via email or on twitter
16:05 \u2013 The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Get started. Create your business now.
To get sales, you need to hustle. Keep moving and building momentum
Art is an area where a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers directly has room to take off
Resources Mentioned:
Host Gator \u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages \u2013 The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible \u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he's 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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