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Pavan Boob, the founder of Fuel Panda, a weekly subscription service that means you\u2019ll never have to hunt for a gas station with an angry fuel light again. Fuel Panda refuels commuters\u2019 cars while they\u2019re parked. It\u2019s in the early stages of the 500 Startups accelerator - but Pavan has big ideas. Tune in to hear how he plans to keep up with the Tesla, how he bootstrapped from the bottom up, and why it\u2019s crucial to give your ideas 100%.

Famous 5:

Favorite Business Book? \u2013 Crossing the Chasm
What CEO do you follow? \u2014Mark Zuckerberg
Favorite online tool? \u2014 Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 Yes
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \u2014Go for what you want. Pick something and give it 100%

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:12 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction
01:50 \u2013 Fuel Panda is a weekly gas refueling service
02:15 \u2013 They\u2019re a SaaS business that charges a subscription fee plus a margin on the gas
02:40 \u2013 Started in January 2016, working with over 100 customers and doing around 80 refuels per week
03:10 \u2013 Close to 1,000 refuels
03:24 \u2013 Made close to $15k
03:36 \u2013 Originally bootstrapped - they\u2019re now in the 500 Startups accelerator
03:57 \u2013 Investment from 500 startups - $125k for 5% of the business
04:21 \u2013 Why go into the refueling business?
05:00 \u2013 \u201cI had an 80 mile commute...I was stuck in traffic and I didn\u2019t want to take 20 minutes to refuel when I saw the dashboard light\u201d
06:44 \u2013 How do you prevent people from stealing gas when the lid is left open?
07:31 \u2013 Nathan: \u201cI\u2019m skeptical...I think that very soon the asset of a car is going to live on the balance sheet of a company\u201d
08:00 \u2013 \u201cWell, anything that moves on the road is going to need refueling...I think it will be possible to adapt\u201d
09:11 \u2013 What does the business look like when people switch to autonomous electric vehicles?
10:00 \u2013 They\u2019re investing in mobile charging stations that could carry anything from gasoline to batteries to hydro fuels
10:10 \u2013 Pavan\u2019s invested around $25k in the business himself
10:20 \u2013 Less than $200k total investment - and the company is cash flow positive
10:45 \u2013 Monthly RPU is $20 per month plus fuel margin - around $50 total
11:00 \u2013 MRR is around $6k
11:34 \u2013 Churn is around 4% - though the company is so new that it\u2019s hard to tell
12:13 \u2013 CAC is $5
12:26 \u2013 Targeting consumers, and also building managers and company managers
14:17 \u2013 Connect with Pavan via email and at the FuelPanda website
14:45 \u2013 The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Find a pain point. Test the market to see if other people feel it. Market your solution.
Don\u2019t be scared to do what you really want.
If you\u2019re going into a changing market, you\u2019d better understand how it\u2019s going to change.
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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