BROADCASTS.com

Ep 178 Zach Smith, the cofounder and CEO of Funded Today, the world\u2019s leading crowdfunding agency. Listen as Nathan and Zach talk about how to grow a list and what makes a crowdfunding project successful.

YOUR $100: Remember to subscribe to the show on itunes then text the word "nathan" to 33444 to confirm that you've done it to enter to win $100 every Monday on the show. Do this now. Stop reading this and do it!

Click here to join the top tribe and instantly learn how Nathan made his first $10k at 19 years old: bit.ly/1SynoAg

Top Entrepreneurs join Nathan Latka daily inspired by, Art of Charm, Pat Flynn, John Dumas, Entrepreneur on Fire, Chalene Johnson, Lewis Howes, School of Greatness, HBR Podcast, the StartUp podcast, Mixergy, Andrew Warner, AskGaryVee, and the great hosts of BiggerPockets!

3 Key Points:

\n
1. In order to back campaigns that will a nearly guarantee a return, Funded Today utilizes its massive email list to gauge interest and calculate projections for project candidates.
\n
2. Ubiquitous products that are used widely with an interesting backing story are qualities of a project that would perform well in crowdsourcing.
\n
3. Social media customer acquisition channels are invaluable for growing a list. Zach believes that Instagram in particular is the next big thing.
\n

Time Stamped Show Notes:

\n
• 01:00 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction to today\u2019s show
\n
• 01:24 \u2013 Zach joins the show.
\n
• 02:43 \u2013 Funded Today built a big list months in advance before launch.
\n
• 03:31 \u2013 RooSport 2, attachable magnetic running wallet.
\n
• 04:41 \u2013 Funded Today built its list for about 10 to 65 cents a click. With about a 30% opt-in rate.
\n
• 05:33 \u2013 Zach\u2019s favorite customer acquisition channels are Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
\n
• 06:36 \u2013 RooSport 2 spent about 10-15K to build their list through various means. They raised 50K for the product in the first ten days of launch.
\n
• 08:22 \u2013 Funded Today makes money by taking a percentage of all the money raised.
\n
• 11:49 \u2013 They take about 35% of total sales as commission.
\n
• 13:21 \u2013 In order to know which campaigns to back safely, the Funded Today runs a testing period during which they find statistical significance from their list and project growth.
\n
• 14:09 \u2013 Another advantage of using Funded Today\u2019s services is they\u2019re well connected in the crowdsourcing industry.
\n
• 14:29 \u2013 Funded Today has 31 employees and a list of over one million emails.
\n
• 14:57 \u2013 The business made about 8 million in 2015, aiming for 16 million in 2016.
\n
• 15:32 \u2013 Zach\u2019s ideal client is someone who understands the factors that go into running a successful crowdsourcing campaign.
\n
• 15:54 \u2013 Some factors for a successful campaign are: ubiquity, techie-cool, story-exciting.
\n
• 17:10 \u2013 Genuine stories behind crowdsourcing campaigns seem to have greater success.
\n
• 20:34 \u2013 Famous Five
\n

Resources Mentioned:

\n
• Edgar \u2013 Nathan uses Edgar instead of other scheduling tools\xa0for Twitter because Edgar cycles through content over and over (buffer/others you have to re-input content over and over \u2013 time consuming). In the last several months, Edgar has driven Nathan over 3728 clicks that he didn\u2019t have to work or pay for. Here isNathan\u2019s Edgar Content Calendar:
\n

\xa0

\xa0

\n
• Funded Today \u2013 Zach\u2019s business
\n
• @tweetzachsmith \u2013 Zach\u2019s Twitter
\n
• Google Drive and Skype \u2013 Zach\u2019s favorite online tools
\n
• David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell \u2013 Zach\u2019s favorite business books
\n
• Elon Musk \u2013 CEO Zach follows
\n

\xa0Bio
Zach Smith is the cofounder and CEO of Funded Today, the world\u2019s leading crowdfunding agency. The business has raised over 40 million dollars and counting for over 300 campaigns for Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Famous 5

\n
• Favorite Book?- David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell
\n
• What CEO do you follow?\u2014 Elon Musk
\n
• What is your favorite online tool?\u2014 Google Drive and Skype
\n
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 Yes
\n
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be?\u2014 You can learn much on your own, find a mentor and try to learn as much as possible from them.
\n

Listen to The Top if you want to hear from the worlds TOP entrepreneurs on how much they sold last month, how they are selling it, and what they are selling - 7 days a week in 20 minute interviews! Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop

The Top is FOR YOU if you are:

A STUDENT who wants to become the CEO of a $10m company in under 24 months (episode #4)

STUCK in the CORPORATE grind and looking to create a $10k/mo side business so you can quit (episode #7)

An influencer or BLOGGER who wants to make $27k/mo in monthly RECURRING revenue to have the life you want and full CONTROL (episode #1)

The Software as a Service (SaaS) entrepreneur who wants to grow to a $100m+ valuation (episode #14).

Your host, Nathan Latka is a 25 year old software entrepreneur who has driven over $4.5 million in revenue and built a 25 person team as he dropped out of school, raised $2.5million from a Forbes Billionaire, and attracted over 10,000 paying customers from 160+ different countries.

\xa0

Oprah gets 60 minutes or more to make her guests comfortable to then ask tough questions. Nathan does it all in less than 15 minutes in this daily podcast that's like an audio version of Pat Flynn's monthly income report. Join the Top Tribe at http://NathanLatka.com/TheTop