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Joseph Walla, CEO and co-founder of a San Francisco based startup, HelloSign. The company launched in 2012 and it provides the easiest way for businesses to sign and collect legally binding documents online. The idea behind HelloSign was sparked by Joseph\u2019s first successful product alongside his co-founder, Neil O\u2019Mara, of HelloFax. HelloFax launched in 2010 after attending the prestigious startup accelerator Y Combinator.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \u2013 High Output Management
• What CEO do you follow? \u2013\xa0 Bill Walsh

• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Google Apps
• 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? \u2013 Joseph wished he had moved to the valley earlier

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 \u2013 Nathan introduces Joseph to the show
• 02:30 \u2013 Joseph first worked in HelloFax which is an on-the-go fax machine
• 02:43 \u2013 HelloSign has premium products and free products
• 03:00 \u2013 Pricing plans starts at $15
• • 03:12 \u2013 API pricing plans differs by bucket
• 03:40 \u2013 HelloSign is cash flow positive in 2014 and 2015
• 03:50 \u2013 Total of $3.5M raised
• 04:24 \u2013 Joseph has been very disciplined with how they spend their money
• 05:15 \u2013 2016 MRR
• 05:36 \u2013 HelloSign has 47,000 paying customers
• 05:46 \u2013 HelloSign has a 5-6M user base
• 06:05 \u2013 People convert from free to paid because of the volume of their transactions
• 06:54 \u2013 HelloSign team\u2019s operation
• 07:30 \u2013 Average salaries in the valley
• 08:45 \u2013 Total headcount expenses with 16 employees
• 09:35 \u2013 Average MRR from Nathan
• 10:00 \u2013 Average customer churn
• 10:55 \u2013 HelloSign is mainly in the SMB space but they also have some big clients
• 12:20 \u2013 Standard gross churn
• 12:40 \u2013 The amount HelloSign is willing to spend for a new user
• 12:49 \u2013 HelloSign doesn\u2019t spend much for a new user, but spends for a new paid user
• 12:55 \u2013 Joseph read an article on ForEntrepreneurs.com about SaaS metrics and acquiring customers that was beneficial for him
• 13:35 \u2013 HelloSign\u2019s CAC ratio
• 14:53 \u2013 Connect with Joseph through LinkedIn and Twitter
• 16:23 \u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

• Don\u2019t wait for a job or overcomplicate the process of getting started\u2014get out there and figure it out as you go.
• Make that investment to turn a new user into a paid new user.\xa0
• Don\u2019t just sit and wait for something to happen, take action!

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Resources Mentioned:

• Acuity Scheduling \u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Drip \u2013 Nathan uses Drip\u2019s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
• Toptal\xa0\u2013 Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn\u2019t have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
• Host Gator\xa0\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
• Audible\xa0\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• The Top Inbox\xa0 \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens and follow-up with email sequences
• @JosephWalla \u2013 Joseph\u2019s Twitter handle
• LinkedIn \u2013 Joseph\u2019s LinkedIn account
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives