The Top Entrepreneurs In Money, Marketing, Business And Life

Jerry Wilmink, a recovering bio-engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Wisewear.com. Listen how Jerry fuses fashion and technology to keep people safe. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Startup CEO What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Strategyzer Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Go for it. Don’t be scared”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan introduces Jerry to the show 01:33 – Jerry was connected with Nathan through Twitter 01:51 – Jerry is a startup junkie 02:16 – What is Wisewear and how it generates revenue 02:29 – Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe 02:41 – A fusion wearable product 03:00 – Develop a jewelry product that transmits Bluetooth through metal 03:15 – Iris Apfel is the designer of Wisewear 03:35 – Each piece is priced at $ 295 - $ 345 depending on the collection 03:59 – Currently sold online but will be available at Saks 04:05 – Wise

Robert Leclerc, co-founder of Agfunder – an online investment market place for global agriculture industry. He is a Forbes contributor and has five degrees including a PhD from Yale. Listen as Rob talks about the global agriculture industry and how important Agfunder is for the investors. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Mini MBA What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — MailChimp Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Definitely not If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – N/A   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:44 – Nathan introduces Robert to the show 02:24 – Agriculture represents about 10% of global GDP 02:40 – Agfunder’s idea is to create an online investment platform that made this space mainstream 02:53 – Like AngelList in agriculture 03:28 – Agfunder focus is food and agriculture technology 03:40 – Eventually, they will be able to offer farm lands and agri-business 03:55 – Technology is needed to centralize management and scale the opportunities 04:10 – Starte

Don Breckenridge, a life-long entrepreneur and the founder of Hatchbuck. Listen as Don shares how he made Hatchbuck a successful company and the struggles he endured to bring it to life.  Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Lean Canvas Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I had mentored earlier”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:41 – Nathan introduces Don  to the show 02:00 – What is Hatchbuck and how it generates revenue 02:05 – Sales and marketing software that  helps small businesses grow their revenue 02:11 – CRM + email marketing 02:39 – Price point starts at $59 a month 02:50 – Subscription model as recurring revenue 02:55 – Discount for semi-annual and annual subscriptions 03:17 – Price increase is based on number of users and contacts 03:55 – Average revenue per customer per month 04:10 – When customers see results, they’ll start to use more of the pro

Pieter Boekhoff, the 2016 Startup Canada Entrepreneur of the Year and one of Calgary's top 40 under 40. He’s also Mount Royal University’s Horizon Winner and one of Canada's 10 Mentor Rock Stars. Listen as Pieter talks about the company he founded, Nobal Technologies, and the success of their flagship product – iMirror. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Lean Startup What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Wave Accounting Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— I do If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish that entrepreneurship and startups was more of a thing and I’d known where to get into it”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:44 – Nathan introduces Pieter to the show 02:25 – What is Nobal Technologies and how it generates revenue 02:28 – Software company based in Calgary, Canada 02:40 – Selling iMirror for retail and hospitality 03:03 – 70% revenue from the one-time cost of the iMirror 03:27 – Launched in 2014 03:44 – The idea was inspired by the video ma

Greg Raiz, founder of Raizlabs – a technology innovation firm for design custom applications, web platforms and other cutting-edge software. Listen how Greg earned the respect of startups and Fortune500 companies through his business. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Blink What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Invision Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just make sure to stop and smell the roses”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:41 – Nathan introduces Greg to the show 02:10 – What Raizlabs does and how it makes money 02:14 – It is a software design company 02:21 – Build iphone and android apps 02:45 – Average project size and price 03:10 – Raizlabs as a product business service 03:22 – Raizlabs helps with the technology side of the business 03:35 – Greg started Raizlabs in 2003 03:47 – Greg was making $ 60-70,000 when he was working with Microsoft 03:57 – Greg was 23 when he left Microsoft 04:11 – First

Ben Uyeda – a respected architect and creative genius. Listen to hear how Ben makes money off YouTube, earns serious subscriber numbers, and acquires some pretty sweet assets. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Accidental Billionaires What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Steller Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— About 6 and a half If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just to be nice and patient with people”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:38 – Nathan introduces Ben to the show 02:21 – What Ben does on Youtube and how he is monetizing it 02:28 – Ben wanted to give affordable design to the masses 02:43 – Started to make videos of how to make affordable modern furniture 03:00 – Product immigration into the video content itself is how you make money 03:20 – Producing a video product is more difficult 03:45 – First branded deals 03:55 – Homemade-modern.com 04:15 – DIY concrete design deal 04:30 – Home Depot is Ben’s biggest client 04:40 – Created a series of

Timothy Sykes – the Penny Stocks Guru. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Losing My Virginity What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Business Insider Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—“I wish. I really wish” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t be so cocky”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Timothy to the show 02:05 – Tim trades penny stocks and people attack him for doing it 02:12 – Most people in a company fail 02:53 – Tim was 17 when he got into business 03:00 – Turned $12,000 into nearly $2 million 03:30 – He’s getting more conservative now 03:58 – First splurge 05:00 – The price was $ 17,000 per share 05:20 – Crazy volatility 05:40 – ISCO stock price now 05:50 – Causes of stocks going down 06:03 – Tim is a short-seller 06:25 – Tim defines short squeeze 07:00 – “In order to cover your short, you have to buy it back” 07:10 – Shorts are getting squeezed when the stock goes up too quickly 07:25 – The stock market is not

Mark Ross, a man who’s spent 20 years working in senior level global technology management, and owns board-level experience with Fortune 500 financial services companies. He’s the co-founder of GridMarkets and senior level advisor for a number of startups. Listen as Mark discusses why he jumped into entrepreneurship and how it differs from big-time corporate life. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Tipping Point What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Never” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Startups are a whole lot harder than you think”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Mark to the show 02:07 – What is GridMarkets and how does it generate sales? 02:18 – Power extensive engineering applications 02:40 – Serve studios that make animations and simulations 03:33 – Similar with dark-power concept 04:08 – Agreements with the suppliers 04:20 – GridMarkets has their own grid 05:00 – Idea of G

Nathan interviews Joel Holland, founder of VideoBlocks - a company that distributes over a million clips of royalty-free stock video and audio each month to over 150K customers in the television and video production industry, ranging from professional outlets like NBC to video hobbyists and enthusiasts. They're a 5x INC 500 out of 5000 fastest growing company, and Joel has been named one of the Top 25 under 25 by Business Week, and INC magazine’s prestigious 30 under 30 list. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Influence What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Mailchimp Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “I do now” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I have lived my college life”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:50 – Nathan introduces Joel to the show 02:57 – What is VideoBlocks and how does it generate sales 03:00 – Stock media company 03:22 – Elements that creative professionals can incorporate to their projects 03:45 – VideoBlocks was founded 20

Ryan Stewman, CEO and CTO of Clyxo.com – the world’s only opt-in social media search engine. Ryan has one of the top online training resources for sales people worldwide, and is a best-selling author/contributor to Forbes Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, and The Good Men Project. Listen as Ryan talks about his new book, Elevator to the Top and how he is addicted to success. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Influence What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? —Leadpages Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I was at the right place at the right time 20 years ago. Just following the path that led me to where I’m at today.”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:38 – Ryan’s focus 02:40 – Focus on Hardcore Closer 03:10 – Modern ways to close sales 03:30 – Founded Hardcore Closer in January 2012 03:45 – 35,000 people on his list 03:57 – Content strategy 04:35 – Reasons why Ryan writes for publications 05:15 – Use ads for Facebook 0

Sujan Patel, an entrepreneur and a marketer who’s made a career out of learning how to keep an eye on ALL the moving pieces of his business. He's the co-founder of two successful digital marketing companies, ContentMarketer and Web Profits. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Never Eat Alone What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Buzzsumo Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “No” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew that I could work harder”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:43 – Nathan introduces Sujan to the show 02:03 – What is Web Profits and how does it make money? 02:09 – Marketing agency 02:20 – Average retainer is $ 10,000 a month 02:40 – Reject 90% of the people 03:00 – 20 clients at the moment 03:05 – Web Profits is founded earlier this year 03:12 – Consulting firm 03:40 – Joint venture with a big company in Australia 03:55 – 90 team members 04:09 – 8 people are in Austin 04:21 – Total revenue at the moment 04:28 – Goal in 201

Sean Howell, the founder of Hornet - the second largest gay social network with 15 million members worldwide, known for its ongoing “Know your Status” HIV campaign. He's a speaker on mobile technology and his opinions have been featured all over the place, even the New York Times. Outside of work, Sean likes to serve on various non-profit boards and committees like the World Affairs Council, PFLAG, and UNAIDS, Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Alibaba What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Insightly Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I started earlier”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:38 – Nathan introduces Sean to the show 02:13 – How Hornet generates revenue 02:23 – Premium subscription model 02:53 – Direct deals 03:08 – Premium subscription service 03:29 – No restrictions 03:43 – 5% of their user base 03:37 – 15 million user base 03:53 – Hornet was founded in October 2011 04:13 – MAU 04:22 – Metric 04:

Laura Behrens Wu, the co-founder and CEO of Shippo. Listen as Laura talks about how a laundry list of shipping obstacles with her previous e-commerce store birthed the idea for Shippo. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Hard Things About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? – Patrick Collison Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “I wish” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Trust that things will turn out right”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:45 – Nathan introduces Laura to the show 02:13 – E-commerce business Laura had 02:27 – Started at Shopify 02:40 – Sourcing unique items from NGO 03:07 – Shipping problem 03:32 – Revenue with the e-commerce business 03:50 – Laura was 21 when she started her business 04:13 – Financing with Shippo 04:17 – Drop shipping 05:08 – Typical shipping pricing 05:30 – Shippo shipping rates 05:58 – Volume metric 06:07 – Doing millions of packages a month 06:30 – Negotiation with shipping providers  06:44 –

Zach Benson, an award-winning dancer who travels around the world running instructional clinics. He's been featured as a Round 4 finalists on FOX TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” and he’s also the founder and CEO of Assistagram.co. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – The Slide Edge What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Olson Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Usually 7 and a half” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew everything then that I know now”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Zach to the show 02:13 – How the dance clinic works 02:20 – Place, schedule, and class pricing 03:06 – Total revenue of the dance clinic in 2015 03:35 – Zach talks about how he partners with dance studios 04:25 – CTA 05:14 – Number of students per class 05:53 – Assistagram.co 06:07 – Team in the Philippines 06:27 – Hashtag optimization 06:58 – How to find hashtags to use 07:14 – There’s no database 07:40 – Follow/unfollow proces

Anand Sanwal, CEO and co-founder of CB Insights, a company that provides predictive intelligence for emerging technology trends, startups, and corporate. Their customers include Cisco, Marketo, and Red Hat, just to name a few. Prior to CB Insights, Anand managed the $50 million Chairman’s Innovation Fund at American Express. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Bezos Favorite online tool? — Gmail Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “I wish” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Be patient”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Anand to the show 02:45 – “If you buy something for 2 and sell it for 1, you will not make it up in volume” 03:12 – He was in-charge of spending money 03:25 – Sent to London for Cosmo Europe 03:40 – Overspent 04:00 – Rationalizing the expenses 04:45 – Worked in American Express after Cosmo 06:25 – Salary in American Express 06:55 – “Decided to take the plunge” 07:3

Victor Levitin, co-founder and CEO of CrazyLister. Prior to CrazyLister, Victor ran a retail business that he drove from $0 to $4.5M in revenue in just three years. In fact, it did so well it won an eBay award for highest conversion rate. Victor channels his eBay retail experiences through a blog called “eBay Sellers Journey to $100K a month” where he helps eBay sellers avoid mistakes and grow their business the right way. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Elon Musk Biography What CEO do you follow? – Alex Turnbull Favorite online tool? — Intercom Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “About 7” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Teach myself how to code and learn the balance”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:37 – Nathan introduces Victor to the show 02:08 – What is CrazyLister and how does it make money? 02:16 – Created for sellers 02:50 – Similar with creating websites 03:28 – Built-in to eBay’s API 03:40 – You have to know how to code to use CrazyLister 03:49 – Pricing sch

Brad Costanzo, an entrepreneur, investor, and business consultant who built (and sold) two digital businesses. Today, Brad helps companies use proven marketing methods, innovative branding campaigns, and form strategic alliances to grow their revenue. He also hosts the “Bacon Wrapped Business” podcast on iTunes. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – One Simple Idea What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — MindMeister and XMind Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “Typically 7” If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t seek comfort, seek challenge.”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:44 – Nathan introduces Brad to the show 02:06 – Brad sold two digital businesses 02:30 – Dating and relationship product, real estate product etc. 03:10 – Fun bar tricks 03:38 – Sold it for six figures 04:05 – Pigtones.com 04:23 – Sold it for less than $100,000 04:36 – Brad now focuses on consulting, crowdfunding, and coffee 04:50 – Equity crowdfunding 05:08 – What he did after s

Liz Pearce, CEO of LiquidPlanner–a fast-growing, Seattle based, maker of dynamic project management technology—and an active member of the Seattle startup and technology community. Listen as Liz talks about her passion in mentoring and advocating for technology and leadership. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Search Inside Yourself What CEO do you follow? – “My Top 5 Customers” Favorite online tool? — Mint Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t let go of  your interest and you will always get something back when you give”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:38 – Nathan introduces Liz to the show 02:02 – What LiquidPlanner is and how it generates revenue 02:08 – Project management software 02:28 – How does the customer use Liquid planner 03:13 – LiquidPlanner is a SaaS business model charge per user 03:30 - Pricing 03:52 – First year revenue in 2007 04:01 – Worked as a marketing contractor of the business 04:32 – What happened to

Jim Fowler, the founder and CEO of Owler– the crowd sourced competitive intelligence platform business professionals are using to out-smart their competitive insights and uncover the latest industry news and alerts. Prior to Owler, Jim founded Jigsaw in 2003 and was the CEO until it was acquired by Salesforce in 2010 for $ 175 million. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk Favorite online tool? — Owler Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “How to plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best case scenario”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:43 – Nathan introduces Jim to the show 02:12 – Jim was at NathanLatka.com/thetop73 02:45 – Where is Owler now? 03:23 – New product of Owler 03:41 – Do I need to build manually or you scrape the data out of searches? 04:32 – Most data input by users 05:00 – HeYo’s data on Owler 05:24 – Data sources 06:00 – Howler’s challenge 06:47 – Data sources