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Carlo Cisco, the founder and CEO of Select, a private membership community that offers discount deals with thousands of premier brands. Carlo was an early builder of Groupon. He\u2019s also a canny investor who made $75k in stocks by investing during college. Listen in to hear Nathan and Carlo break down the numbers behind Select, discuss Groupon\u2019s meteoric growth, and explain Select\u2019s unbelievable CAC:LTV ratio.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? \u2013 The Intelligent Investor
What CEO do you follow? \u2014 Mark Zuckerberg
What is your favorite online tool? \u2014 Intercom
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? \u2014To get ready for some crazy stuff

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:30 \u2013 Nathan\u2019s introduction
01:43 \u2013 Welcoming Carlo to the show
02:00 \u2013 Carlo started an events planning business while he was in college
02:20 \u2013 Actively invested in tech companies while he was in college
03:16 \u2013 Carlo put about $9k into stocks and turned it into $85k
04:11 \u2013 Joined Groupon and helped build their operation in Japan
05:30 \u2013 Groupon hasn\u2019t helped businesses enough...most businesses aren\u2019t getting repeat customers from Groupon or LivingSocial deals
07:35 \u2013 Started Select in 2013
08:00 \u2013 The goal was to work with premier brands in an ongoing, sustainable way
08:50 \u2013 Select generates revenue through a $250 annual membership fee
09:55 \u2013 Currently have around 9000 members
10:20 \u2013 Annual revenue is $725k - average revenues are down because of a discount deal that generated members early on
11:20 \u2013 Currently at over $1 million run rate
11:45 \u2013 Annual retention rate is around 75% - which is unusually high for the sector
12:20 \u2013 Have raised just under $800k in funding
13:00 - Had equity funding from an accelerator programme - \u201cThe network is incredible\u201d
14:00 - Currently happy to break even on customer acquisition
14:40 - Current lifetime value is around $900 per customer
15:22 - Currently have a CAC:LTV ratio of 1:7
15:40 - Ideal customer: High-income professionals, 25-45 years of age
17:02 \u2013 Connect with Carlo on Twitter and Linkedin
18:30 \u2013 Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Accelerators have value beyond just funding - their networks and support can seriously pay off
Invest wisely and early
If you want excitement: prepare for it. Life can be crazy if you\u2019re only ready.
Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator \u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Leadpages \u2013 The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible \u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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