BROADCASTS.com

Mike Wilner, the co-founder and CEO of Compass, a web design marketplace for small businesses. Mike\u2019s a Venture For America fellow and has secured funding for his startup - a platform which handles marketing and project management for web designers and connects them to small business clients. Listen in to find out why you should forget the startup hype and focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

\xa0

Famous 5:

\xa0

• Favorite Business Book? \u2013 The Servant
• What CEO do you follow? \u2014 None. I prefer following athletes.
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Asana

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 Close
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \u2014Don\u2019t believe all the hype in the startup world. There are just as many falls as there are success stories.

\xa0

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:18 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction
• 01:50 \u2013 Compass works with network of freelance web designers - they connect small businesses to designers, manage projects, and take a cut
• 03:23 \u2013 Compass takes a 40% cut of everything that comes through
• 04:07 \u2013 People who need a project completed come to Compass - they take the details and then invite designers to the project
• 05:15 \u2013 Designers make around $40-60 per hour, after the 40% cut
• 06:24 \u2013 Started in late 2014 and have been launched full-time for just over 1 year
• 06:46 \u2013 First-year revenue in 2014 was $4k
• 07:40 \u2013 Total 2015 revenue was $40k
• 08:00 \u2013\xa0 4 people in the core team, plus 40 designers on contract
• 08:30\xa0 \u2013 Around $250k worth of projects processed
• 09:15 \u2013 Designers have a lot of flexibility on how many projects they take on
• 09:43 \u2013 Growing 40% month over month
• 10:30 \u2013 Compass manages standardized rounds of revision to prevent scope creep
• 11:10 \u2013 \u201cThe technology is the easy part - the harder part is managing humans and expectations\u201d
• 12:08 \u2013 Raised a $300k angel round via convertible note last year
• 13:20 \u2013 \u201cThere\u2019s still a huge need in the marketplace for people who need a professional web designer\u201d
• 13:40 \u2013 Connect with Mike on Twitter or at Compass

• 15:38 \u2013 The Famous Five

\xa0

3 Key Points:

• Don\u2019t believe the startup hype
• The hard part of startups is managing humans and expectations: work on having great soft skills
• Leadership is about service

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\xa0 \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.

\xa0

• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

\xa0

\xa0