Published: March 7, 2017, 10 a.m.
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Magnus \\xc5str\\xf6m. He\'s the CEO and founder of Now Interact, a machine-learning, SaaS platform for omni channel optimization. He\'s also the founder of InLead, a business consultant and operations company which was sold in 2010 and prior to that, he was founder of Primelog, a transportation management SaaS platform which was sold in 2006.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \\u2013 Blue Ocean Strategy
- What CEO do you follow? \\u2013\\xa0 N/A
- Favorite online tool? \\u2014 LinkedIn
- 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 "It\'s all about focus"
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:35 \\u2013 Nathan introduces\\xa0 to the show
- 02:17 \\u2013 Primelog started in 2000
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- 02:29 - Primelog connects transportation providers with transportation buyers
- 02:57 - Annual revenue
- 03:10 \\u2013 Primelog was sold to Swedish group
- 04:44 \\u2013 They raised 4.5M
- 04:57 \\u2013 Inlead\'s idea is to help customers sell in C-level
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- 05:39 \\u2013 Inlead turned out to be too heavy on the consultancy side, so Magnus sold it
- 05:48 \\u2013 It didn\'t turn out as a software play
- 06:10 \\u2013 Inlead\'s annual revenue was $1.5 M
- 06:27 \\u2013 Now Interact offers machine-based algorithm software to large businesses
- 06:40 \\u2013 The software personalizes how each customer is offered a customer service channel
- 07:00 \\u2013 Businesses get less calls from customer service
- 07:30 \\u2013 Now Interact tracks the data of how customers behave on a website and how they interact with a customer service
- 08:06 \\u2013 Magnus goal is to get telco giants like AT&T and Verizon as customers
- 09:04 \\u2013 Now Interact\\xa0 has a group that chooses their customization
- 09:22 \\u2013 Now Interact is a SaaS model
- 09:31 \\u2013 Average customer pay per month is $10K
- 09:39 \\u2013 Now Interact was founded in 2010
- 09:45 \\u2013 Now Interact raised $100K in 2012
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- 10:46 \\u2013 Now Interact has raised a total of $7M
- 11:20 \\u2013 Customer churn
- 11:31 \\u2013 Team size
- 11:47 \\u2013 Headquartered in Stockholm
- 12:04 \\u2013 CAC is $30K
- 12:22 \\u2013 Now Interact has salespeople and are doing paid content marketing
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- 12:58 \\u2013 "Sales play a lot"
- 13:30 \\u2013 Magnus discusses what they\\u2019ll do with the capital they\'ve raised
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- 13:45 \\u2013 Some would go to the expansion in the USA
- 14:05 \\u2013 2015 total revenue
- 14:30 \\u2013 2016 total revenue
- 15:00 \\u2013 Magnus shared how he negotiated for the valuation
- 15:45 \\u2013 The top 3 most important terms when negotiating
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- 15:48 \\u2013 The preference structure, the lock-in and the investors you want to have
- 18:00 \\u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- You can choose to close your company if it is not going in the direction you intended it to go.
- Valuation is not always everything\\u2014there are more things to consider when negotiating.
- Stay focused, don\'t take on more than you can handle.
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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
- 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
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