EP 636: Bangalore Startup Hits $40k MRR Helping 18 Customers Get Consumer Data Using Social Intelligence with Frrole CEO Amarpreet Kalkat
Amarpreet Kalkat. He\u2019s the CEO and co-founder of Frrole, an AI (artificial intelligence) startup that is redefining consumer intelligence. He loves building things, be it product, revenue streams, teams or organizations.\xa0
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \u2013 The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Travis Kalanick
- Favorite online tool? \u2014 Klout
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 6
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 Amarpreet would tell himself to focus and prioritize
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:22 \u2013 Nathan introduces Amarpreet to the show
- 01:50 \u2013 Frrole provides consumer intelligence
- 01:53 \u2013 Frrole relies on public data to build insights about the consumers
- 02:07 \u2013 Frrole works with companies\u2019 marketing teams
- 02:35 \u2013 eBay and Flipcut are some of Frrole\u2019s customers
- 02:44 \u2013 It is crucial for marketing teams to understand their customers
- 02:57 \u2013 Frrole works with eBay\u2019s shipping insides team
- 03:02 \u2013 eBay wants to understand their customer\u2019s shipping experience
- 03:34 \u2013 Frrole has data partnerships with Twitter and Facebook
- 03:40 \u2013 Frrole has official access to data
- 04:11 \u2013 Frrole looks at the attributes and annotations as a guide for the data they need
- 04:30 \u2013 Frrole is SaaS business and customers pay them for the insights
- 05:00 \u2013 Average customer pay per month is around $32K per year
- 05:28 \u2013 \u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t believe in locking customers in\u201d
- 05:37 \u2013 Frrole has a 30-day walk out clause
- 05:46 \u2013 Most of Frrole\u2019s customers pay quarterly
- 06:08 \u2013 Frrole started as a B2C in the news discovery product, in 2012
- 06:14 \u2013 In 2014, Frrole pivoted to a B2B model
- 06:46 \u2013 Frrole currently has 13 team members
- 06:52 \u2013 The team is in Bangalore and Amarpreet goes back and forth between Bangalore and San Francisco
- 07:11 \u2013 Amarpreet is currently in San Francisco looking for a sales guy
- 07:25 \u2013 Amarpreet ideally looks for a co-founder kind of role
- 07:39 \u2013 Amarpreet is willing to give 5-10% equity
- 07:49 \u2013 Frrole has raised a couple of small angel rounds
- 08:00 \u2013 Frrole has raised a total of $250K
- 08:05 \u2013 Frrole currently has 18 paying customers
- 08:23 \u2013 Average MRR
- 08:45 \u2013 Average customer churn
- 09:36 \u2013 Frrole has 1 sales guy in Bangalore
- 09:50 \u2013 CAC
- 10:15 \u2013 Frrole spends $500-1K a month for paid marketing
- 10:39 \u2013 Frrole is recently experimenting with LinkedIn for marketing
- 11:18 \u2013 Frrole sponsors an email list and a banner ad
- 11:28 \u2013 It worked out okay
- 12:00 \u2013 Frrole is currently breaking even
- 12:10 \u2013 Salaries in Bangalore are way less than in the USA
- 12:26 \u2013 The best web developer in India would cost around $30K
- 13:58 \u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- Customers will use your product if they see the value \u2013 locking in is not always necessary.
- Marketing people need to dig deeper to understand and serve their customers well.
- Know what your priorities are and focus in.
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Resources Mentioned:
- The Top Inbox \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
- Organifi \u2013 The juice was Nathan\u2019s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
- 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\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
- Audible\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
- 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