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Michael Litt started his first video company, Redwoods Media, as his undergraduate thesis project. He then evolved with his partner to create another successful video software company, Vidyard. He has learned the value of supportive family and friends throughout his life as an entrepreneur.
Famous Five:

Favorite Book? \\u2013 Behind the Cloud
What CEO do you follow? \\u2014 Mark Benioff
Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Gmail
Do you get 8 hours of sleep? \\u2014 I try to.
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 If you want to be an entrepreneur, surround yourself with people who love and support you. Focus on those relationships.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:40 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Michael
02:15 \\u2013 He started at the University of Waterloo and Research in Motion
03:00 \\u2013 He graduated at 25, and the Redwoods Media was built as his undergraduate thesis project
03:50 \\u2013 He contracted businesses to sponsor their company
04:50 \\u2013 They were passionate about the video company, and turned down jobs at places like Google
05:30 \\u2013 Vidyard is a video platform for business
05:50 \\u2013 They sell that technology to businesses on a monthly basis
06:10 \\u2013 Average revenue per customer is about $30k
06:35 \\u2013 They have an inside sales team
07:25 \\u2013 Four categories of businesses and sales teams
07:50 \\u2013 132 people on their team, and they have almost doubled in the last year
08:15 \\u2013 Growth pains are opportunities to learn
08:55 \\u2013 Looking at retention instead of churn
09:25 \\u2013 Gross retention is 95%
09:45 \\u2013 Net retention is 135%
10:47 \\u2013 They have raised $70 million in funding
11:00 \\u2013 Customer acquisition cost is paid back in 1.5 years
11:15 \\u2013 Average customer acquisition is $40000
11:45 \\u2013 Customers stay for quite a long time, according to the numbers
13:27 \\u2013 Why lifetime value is tricky
13:45 \\u2013 They focus on payback period for their customers
14:25 \\u2013 Being honest about their business and their numbers for customer acquisition costs
15:10 \\u2013 They include hard costs, like any work supplies
15:40 \\u2013 Total customers is private
16:05 \\u2013 They are looking to triple the business for two years, and then double the business for the next three years
16:40 \\u2013 It would show their potential to go public
17:00 \\u2013 Building a fast growing, high-value business
17:25 \\u2013 Tom Tunguz\\u2019s Blog
17:45 \\u2013 Revenue is private.
18:15 \\u2013 They broke through $1 million for their first full year of sales
18:45 \\u2013 Michael has a holiday party every year at his office.
19:00 \\u2013 Project Christmas has carried throughout their business
19:28 \\u2013 The Fall is a great time to raise money
19:55 \\u2013 Connect with Michael at Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
22:20 \\u2013 The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Your first business ideas will develop into bigger, better projects.
Be honest about your company and spending.
Surround yourself with people who love and support you as you pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.

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.
Toptal \\u2013 Great for business people to start building their app
Behind the Cloud - Michael\\u2019s favorite business book
Gmail \\u2013 His favorite tool, besides his own
Tom Tunguz\\u2019s Blog \\u2013 Learn about the best models that public companies use
Connect with Michael at Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives