BROADCASTS.com

David Darmanin.\xa0 He\u2019s the CEO and founder of HotJar. Over the 12 years before founding HotJar, he generated hundreds of millions of dollars in growth consulting small to Fortune 500 businesses. He\u2019s got multiple teams, developed brands, and ran hundreds of tests for his clients spanning across 19 languages, 12 currencies, and 13 different industries. HotJar is now used in over 150 sites around the world and the company is growing to \u20ac3 million euros in just under one year.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \u2013 The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
• What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Jay Simons
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Intercom
• 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? \u2013 I wished I truly understood what marketing was

\xa0

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 02:18 \u2013 Nathan introduces David to the show
• 03:03 \u2013 HotJar is a tool that allows site owners to see how their users are using their websites
• • 03:30 \u2013 Once you know the customer experience, it is easier to see what to improve next
  • 03:45 \u2013 Nathan experienced HotJar himself, in his website
  • 04:10 \u2013 HotJar is careful about what data to show in regards to privacy
• 05:05 \u2013 HotJar\u2019s technology was expensive
• 05:30 \u2013 HotJar has a premium model
• 05:51 \u2013 Average customer pay per month is \u20ac50
• • 06:10 \u2013 It was only \u20ac30 when HotJar started
• 06:33 \u2013 HotJar is currently serving 10K customers
• 06:50 \u2013 The number of sites each customer has
• 07:30 \u2013 ARR
• 07:40 \u2013 MRR
• 07:55 \u2013 Revenue goal for 2017
• 08:15 \u2013 HotJar currently has a team of 22 people and 8 on the leadership team
• • 08:35 \u2013 There are 5 people in the founding team
  • 09:14 \u2013 There are 4 big pillars: marketing, customer success, product, and operation
• 09:57 \u2013 Gross customer churn is higher than net negative churn
• • 11:05 \u2013 \u201cWe are the dropping the smaller customers, but we are retaining and expanding the bigger customers\u201d
  • 11:20 \u2013 Both have less than 10% monthly churn
• 11:41 \u2013 HotJar was founded in 2014
• 12:20 \u2013 \u201cIf you truly want to create a premium company and not just like a trial model which is disguised as a premium, you really need to think about how does that free package stand on its own 2 feet\u201d
• 12:43 \u2013 HotJar minimized the number of interface and allowed users to delete them and create new ones
• 13:21 \u2013 David does not track the time the customer has converted from free to premium, but they track the cohorts
• 14:00 \u2013 CAC is extremely conservative
• 15:04 \u2013 The premium aspect Hotjar offers is brand building
• • 15:50 \u2013 There is brand value in doing different types of campaigns
• 16:17 \u2013 HotJar is bootstrapped
• 16:25 \u2013 HotJar sees other players who have raised capital
• • 17:14 \u2013 HotJar does not see raising capital as an advantage
• 17:34 \u2013 HotJar gets a lot of referrals
• 18:10 \u2013 HotJar just recently started with paid advertising
• • 18:40 \u2013 HotJar has an investment target model
  • 19:10 \u2013 HotJar has used this model to offer flexibility and freedom
• 20:40 \u2013 The Famous Five

\xa0

3 Key Points:

• Churn is one of the biggest challenges of a SaaS business.
• If you truly want to create a premium company and product\u2014think about how that free package stands on its own two feet.
• Check your options because NOT raising capital can be very possible and advantageous for you.

\xa0

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
• Jamf \u2013 Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11\u201d secure even when he left it in the airplane\u2019s back seat pocket
• Freshbooks \u2013 Nathan doesn\u2019t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives