Published: April 1, 2017, 9 a.m.
McCabe Callahan who has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He began with a coffee shop named Mugs Coffee Lounge, which has been operating successfully in Fort Collins, Colorado, since 2002. He began a company called Community Funded, in 2011, out of his passion for providing technology that connects, supports and empowers people.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \u2013 E-Myth and Good to Great
- What CEO do you follow? \u2013\xa0 Elon Musk
- Favorite online tool? \u2014 Slack
- 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 \u201cPay attention to numbers\u201d
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:32 \u2013 Nathan introduces McCabe to the show
- 02:33 \u2013 Mugs Coffee Lounge is McCabe\u2019s first real business
- 02:43 \u2013 McCabe went to Colorado State University
- 02:50 \u2013 McCabe was coming back from Europe when he had the idea of the Mugs Coffee Lounge
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- 02:56 \u2013 Mugs Coffee Lounge was the first wireless internet caf\xe9 in Fort Collins
- 03:11 \u2013 Building relationships is the key to a successful coffee lounge
- 03:36 \u2013 First year revenue
- 04:04 \u2013 McCabe is 36; but when he was 24, he was already opening 5 coffee shops
- 04:22 \u2013 Total topline of all the coffee shops and restaurants
- 04:58 \u2013 McCabe didn\u2019t raise any capital
- 05:31 \u2013 McCabe\u2019s credit card debt when he started Mugs Coffee Lounge
- 05:48 \u2013 McCabe also had debt from other sources
- 06:43 \u2013 \u201cCoffee is a good business to be in\u2014there\u2019s no recession\u201d
- 06:58 \u2013 McCabe shares where he sells his business to
- 07:07 \u2013 McCabe\u2019s income is now generating well
- 07:16 \u2013 McCabe did $1.6M in sales in 2016
- 07:30 \u2013 McCabe shares how he started with Community Funded
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- 08:17 \u2013 McCabe had to find a way to secure a loan to open up a location
- 08:31 \u2013 The amount McCabe wanted to loan
- 08:45 \u2013 2009-2010 was the hardest time for McCabe
- 09:41 \u2013 McCabe was about to give up when one of his regulars offered help
- 10:05 \u2013 5 months after the McCabe\u2019s next shop opened, he heard about NPR\u2019s Kickstarter
- 10:20 \u2013 McCabe thought, \u201cWhat if he could something like Kickstarter, but for communities?\u201d
- 10:44 \u2013 Community Funded started out bootstrapped and just recently raised a round
- 11:03 \u2013 Community Funded first round raised $40K-75K
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- 11:29 \u2013 Total funding was $2.3M
- 11:38 \u2013 Rounds are equity round
- 11:50 \u2013 McCabe shares Community Funded\u2019s valuation
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- 12:18 \u2013 People believed in Community Funded\u2019s vision
- 12:38 \u2013 Community Funded\u2019s is a SaaS model
- 13:46 \u2013 Sample of fundraising raised in Community Funded
- 14:26 \u2013 Community Funded\u2019s focus
- 14:53 \u2013 Current Community Funded\u2019s revenue and revenue goal for 2017
- 15:54 \u2013 Total transaction volume in 2016
- 16:03 \u2013 2016 total revenue
- 17:21 \u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- Lack of funds is not a hindrance in building a company.
- There\u2019s nothing wrong sharing your problems with your regulars \u2013 you don\u2019t know who can offer you help.
- Stick and pay close attention to your numbers.
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Resources Mentioned:
- 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
- Klipfolio \u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Acuity Scheduling \u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- 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.
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives