Published: Oct. 4, 2016, 9 a.m.
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Anand Sanwal, CEO and co-founder of CB Insights, a company that provides predictive intelligence for emerging technology trends, startups, and corporate. Their customers include Cisco, Marketo, and Red Hat, just to name a few. Prior to CB Insights, Anand managed the $50 million Chairman\\u2019s Innovation Fund at American Express.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \\u2013 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- What CEO do you follow? \\u2013 Jeff Bezos
- Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Gmail
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\\u2014 \\u201cI wish\\u201d
- If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cBe patient\\u201d
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:42 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Anand to the show
- 02:45 \\u2013 \\u201cIf you buy something for 2 and sell it for 1, you will not make it up in volume\\u201d
- 03:12 \\u2013 He was in-charge of spending money
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- 03:25 \\u2013 Sent to London for Cosmo Europe
- 03:40 \\u2013 Overspent
- 04:00 \\u2013 Rationalizing the expenses
- 04:45 \\u2013 Worked in American Express after Cosmo
- 06:25 \\u2013 Salary in American Express
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- 06:55 \\u2013 \\u201cDecided to take the plunge\\u201d
- 07:30 \\u2013 CB Insights
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- 07:46 \\u2013 Every industry is under attack by technology
- 08:09 \\u2013 Monthly customer pay
- 08:34 \\u2013 \\u201cUse our data to create a sense of urgency\\u201d
- 09:20 \\u2013 Tracking the competitors
- 10:00 \\u2013 Using algorithm on the data
- 10:30 \\u2013 Number of paying customers
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- 10:45 \\u2013 Average of pricing
- 11:25 \\u2013 Total MRR last August
- 11:40 \\u2013 Hoping for 8-figure revenue this year
- 12:12 \\u2013 Team size
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- 12:25 \\u2013 Some are based in New York
- 13:05 \\u2013 Exact MRR last month
- 13:30 \\u2013 \\u201cEverybody pays upfront\\u201d
- 14:14 \\u2013 Individual customer acquisition
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- 14:40 \\u2013 Gross revenue churn
- 15:20 \\u2013 Lifetime value
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- 15:29 \\u2013 20% churn just to be conservative
- 15:49 - $200,000 lifetime value
- 16:16 \\u2013 Funds raised
- 16:46 \\u2013 Most customers are VCs
- 18:18 \\u2013 Jon Sherry is the other founder
- 19:18 \\u2013 No current acquisition talks
- 19:32 \\u2013 Connect with Anand through his website and Twitter
- 21:05 - The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- Do not be afraid to take the plunge\\u2014there are risks but just do it.
- Things happen for a reason and believe in your life plan.
- There\\u2019s no absolute certainties in life\\u2014only right places and right times.
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Resources Mentioned:
- Toptal\\xa0\\u2013 Nathan found his development team using Toptal\\xa0 for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn\\u2019t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal\\xa0 developers.
- Host Gator\\xa0\\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
- Freshbooks\\xa0\\u2013 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\\xa0\\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
- CBInsights.com \\u2013 Anand\\u2019s website
- @cbinsights \\u2013 Anand\\u2019s business\\u2019 Twitter handle
- @asanwal \\u2013 Anand\\u2019s Twitter handle
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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