Published: Jan. 2, 2017, 10 a.m.
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Kyle Racki, co-founder and CEO of Proposify. He\\u2019s passionate about design, SaaS, and marketing. He loves jamming out to 90s covers/tunes at open mic nights, and also has the unique ability to work in perfectly, cromulent Simpsons\\u2019 references to any conversation.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \\u2013 Lean Analytics
- What CEO do you follow? \\u2013\\xa0 Alex Turnbull
- Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Heap Analytics
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\\u2014 Sometimes
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cThat it\\u2019s all going to be okay and\\u2026I\\u2019m going to give myself a hug\\u201d
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:40 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Kyle to the show
- 02:24 \\u2013 Proposify is a SaaS business and it helps people streamline their sales and close more deals
- 02:40 \\u2013 Average customer pay per month is $40-$50
- 02:53 \\u2013 Current number of customers
- 03:10 \\u2013 Average MRR
- 03:25 \\u2013 Proposify was launched in 2013
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- 03:35 \\u2013 Proposify had less than $1000 MRR for 17 months
- 04:03 \\u2013 Kyle and his co-founder had an agency
- 04:22 \\u2013 Kyle raised $250K in seed capital from a local investor
- 04:39 \\u2013 Kyle and his team\\u2019s pay is around $60K a month during that time
- 05:40 \\u2013 Team size is 15 and are located in Halifax, Canada
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- 06:20 \\u2013 Kyle shares how the startup market is in Halifax
- 06:50 \\u2013 Known startup companies from Halifax
- 07:24 \\u2013 Kyle does weekly phone calls with customers to check in on them
- 07:50 \\u2013 Kyle shares how one of their customers beat VaynerMedia in a proposal
- 09:15 \\u2013 How Proposify creates proposals in a flash
- 09:40 \\u2013 Proposify\\u2019s competition
- 10:04 \\u2013 Proposify is more focused on the digital agency space
- 11:25 \\u2013 Average number of new customers per month
- 11:50 \\u2013 Proposify has a free and no-credit card sign-up
- 12:00 \\u2013 Proposify does inbound sales, but organic search is the biggest source of traffic
- 12:43 \\u2013 Best podcast that drives Proposify\\u2019s traffic
- 13:05 \\u2013 Proposify has a general marketing budget
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- 13:28 - $10K for paid marketing
- 13:45 \\u2013 CAC is quite low
- 14:18 \\u2013 LTV
- 14:40 \\u2013 Gross monthly customer churn
- 15:00 \\u2013 Proposify currently has 2 sales people
- 15:35 \\u2013 Other system Kyle uses for business intelligence is Heap Analytics
- 16:16 \\u2013 Total 2015 revenue is $551K
- 17:11 \\u2013 Proposify is profitable and continually growing
- 18:30 \\u2013 \\u201cWe\\u2019ll always entertain acquisition offers if it makes sense\\u201d
- 19:00 \\u2013 The process Kyle will go through if there\\u2019s a possible acquisition
- 19:47 \\u2013 Number of Proposify\\u2019s developers
- 20:00 \\u2013 Connect with Kyle through their website and help Kyle look for Proposify.com\\u2019s owner and he\\u2019ll pay you
- 22:00 \\u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- There\\u2019s a temptation to spend VC money; be decisive when you want to raise capital and stick to your goals.
- Organic traffic is good, but getting paid marketing can still drive more traffic and customers.
- There are a lot of things to consider in an acquisition \\u2013 it should match your personal goals, be a cultural fit, and the numbers need to make sense.
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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
- Proposify.biz \\u2013 Kyle\\u2019s business website
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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