EP 397: ProsperWorks SaaS 40k Paying Customers, Announces New Funding Adding to $10M Already
Jon Lee, CEO of ProsperWorks. Jon has jumped to many different industries, from gaming to tech to banking. As an entrepreneur with success in multiple companies, he believes in going after your business goals as soon as possible. Listen to his journey through his businesses and how he ended up with ProsperWorks.
Famous Five:
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- Favorite Book? \u2013 Crossing the Chasm
- What CEO do you follow? \u2014 Marc Benioff
- Favorite online tool? \u2014 Google Apps
- 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 Start your companies earlier.
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:05 \u2013 Nathan introduces Jon Lee
- 02:10 \u2013 \u201cBanking to tech to Yahoo to gaming\u201d
- 02:40 \u2013 He saw a need for advertisers when he worked for Yahoo
- 03:10 \u2013 Bizarre Advertising
- 03:25 \u2013 They automated the business
- 04:10 \u2013 How they got revenue
- 04:35 \u2013 Started in their apartment in Palo Alto
- 04:50 -- $47-million business in two years
- 05:10 \u2013 Applied algorithms to find success
- 05:35 \u2013 Bound to confidentiality on the exit value
- 06:00 \u2013 Balance between cost and revenue
- 06:40 \u2013 How he got into the gaming industry
- 06:45 \u2013 Background in mathematics
- 07:00 \u2013 DNA games
- 07:15 \u2013 They could provide different gaming experiences according to the customer
- 08:00 \u2013 Stickiness is measured according to a customer\u2019s engagement
- 08:20 \u2013 Lifetime value helped companies build better games and make more money
- 09:10 \u2013 They sold when Facebook changed their gaming policies
- 09:50 \u2013 They partnered with a larger company
- 10:10 \u2013 ChefVille
- 10:40 \u2013 A good exit for the investors and the company
- 11:00 \u2013 ProsperWorks
- 12:00 \u2013 CRM
- 12:10 \u2013 Partnering with Google Apps
- 12:30 \u2013 Problems with bad data
- 13:00 \u2013 Automating the data entry
- 13:30 \u2013 They have raised of $10 million
- 14:20 \u2013 Founded in 2011
- 14:30 \u2013 A SaaS platform
- 14:40 \u2013 40000 customers
- 14:55 -- The Famous Five
- 15:00 \u2013 Profitable sales and marketing
- 15:15 \u2013 Free two-week trial
- 15:45 \u2013 You want a profitable acquisition
- 16:00 \u2013 Focus on building great partnerships and relationships
- 16:35 \u2013 For every $1 spent, they get a $6 return
- 17:10 \u2013 A less mature product needs funding to get customer feedback
- 17:35 \u2013 Team of 67
- 17:50 \u2013 Diminishing marginal returns
- 18:15 \u2013 Invest and get the right type of customer
- 18:30 \u2013 Building up the sales team
- 19:15 \u2013 Average customer pays $49
- 19:50 \u2013 Majority of their contracts are annual
- 20:30 \u2013 Focus to build a useful product
- 21:00 \u2013 Attracting small and medium-sized businesses
- 21:30 \u2013 Revenue churn is negative
- 23:00 \u2013 Jon Lee on LinkedIn or Twitter @prosperworks
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3 Key Points:
- If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, pursue your ideas immediately.
- Be realistic about what is best for your company.
- Partner with big companies to gain credibility.
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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.
- Google Apps \u2013 The online tool that has partnered with ProsperWorks
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives