BROADCASTS.com

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"

\xa0

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:35 \u2013 Nathan introduces\xa0 to the show
• 02:17 \u2013 Primelog started in 2000
• • 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
• • 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
• • 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
• • 12:58 \u2013 "Sales play a lot"
• 13:30 \u2013 Magnus discusses what they\u2019ll do with the capital they've raised
• • 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
• • 15:48 \u2013 The preference structure, the lock-in and the investors you want to have
• 18:00 \u2013 The Famous Five

\xa0

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.

\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