Stop Checking Your MRR

I'm (finally) restarting the show. Tune in to discover what's changing...

The Reboot

The Effective Founder isn't going anywhere, but I am making some changes to the show next year. Tune in and discover what's next for the pod...

What's Next For The Effective Founder...

Jordan Richmond

Today, I’m talking with , a Vice President of SBA lending at , where he specializes in goodwill transactions, which are especially relevant to internet businesses. Jordan has been in banking for 18 years and is well-known in the SBA industry for his public speaking, and that’s actually where I first came across him. Jordan co-hosted a great webinar with FE International (a business broker that specializes in mid-market SaaS, e-commerce, and content businesses) on how to use the SBA lending program to buy a business. That presentation was a crash course on the ins and outs of SBA loans, so if you’re at all interested in this subject, go check that out. I’ll link to it in the show notes. In our chat today, Jordan and I are going to build on that presentation and walk through more of the details on what the loan application and approval process looks like.

Jordan Richmond on Buying SaaS Businesses with SBA Loans

Ted Harrington

Today, I’m talking with , the author of , and the Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), the company of ethical hackers famous for hacking cars, medical devices, and password managers. Ted has helped hundreds of companies fix tens of thousands of security vulnerabilities, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, and more. In our chat, we’re going to talk about the security risks SaaS founders need to be aware of and how to protect their applications.

Ted Harrington of ISE and HackableBook.com

Today, I’m talking with , the Co-founder and CEO , an online marketplace that connects homeowners with Local lawn care professionals. Before starting GreenPal, Bryan founded Peachtree Inc. one of the largest landscaping companies in the state of Tennessee growing it to over $10 million a year in annual revenue before it was acquired in 2013. In our chat, we dive into how he’s grown GreenPal to more than 100,000 active users as a self-funded company over the last 6 years, everything from their successes to their failures and how these lessons can make you a better founder.

Bryan Clayton of GreenPal

Brandon Guptill

Today, I’m talking with , the Founder and CEO at , an online community and content provider for daily fantasy sports. I always enjoy talking with other founders in the industry, especially people like Brandon who take unconventional approaches to building their businesses. Gup’s Corner has thrived in a crowded market by truly putting members first and building a strong community of subscribers.  This is no easy task which is why I’m excited to have Brandon on today to share how he and his team have pulled it off.

Brandon Guptill of Gup's Corner

Obi Omile Jr

Today, I’m talking with , the Co-Founder and CEO of , where he and his team are modernizing the barbershop experience. Before we jump into the episode, I’ve just got a quick plug for a great project I wanted to mention. Last year, Rob Walling and the MicroConf team launched the 1st annual State of Independent SaaS to give our community of more data so we can make better decisions as we grow our company. The first report was eye opening, to say the least. As of yesterday, October 6th, the survey for the 2nd annual State of Independent SaaS is live at  and I just finished filling it out myself. It takes less than 10 minutes, it’s all anonymized, and your responses will help make this year’s report even more valuable. So take a few minutes to head over to  and fill out the survey. Now let’s jump back into today’s episode. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, barbershops across the country were closed practically overnight. But rather than sit on the sidelines, Obi and his team adapted and actually grew their business during this challenging time. In our chat, Obi shares how theCut managed to grow in an industry struggling to stay afloat and how he’s navigated the new challenges of managing an ever-expanding team.

Obi Omile Jr. of theCut

Victor Purolnik

Today, I’m talking with , the founder of  where he helps startups by matching them with tried &amp; trusted tech teams from Eastern Europe. Offshoring is something a lot of founders in our world turn to because you can get great talent at affordable rates, but it’s also caused a ton of horror stories. At SaberSim, our team has all been based in US and Canada, but it’s getting more and more expensive to do that so we’re looking at all of our options, including offshoring. Being right in the middle of this made it seem like a great time to have Victor on the show. In our chat today, Victor walks through his unique approach to offshoring, how he helps companies avoid the all too common mistakes, and how you can apply the same lessons in your business.

Victor Purolnik of Trustshoring

Chris Sparks

Today, I’m talking with , the Founder and CEO of , where he and his team help founders, investors, and executives install the habits, systems, and processes necessary to reach the next level in their business. Chris is also one of the world’s top online poker players and uses the same frameworks that propelled him to the top of the game to help others achieve world-class performance in their own fields. In our chat, we dig into what those frameworks are and how you can apply them in your business. Chris is one of the most thoughtful and deliberate people I’ve met and the lessons he shares today are ones you don’t want to miss.

Chris Sparks of The Forcing Function

To be an effective founder, you need to prioritize and relentlessly focus on getting the right things done...while juggling everything else life throws at you.I interview successful founders to uncover how they navigated these challenges and how you can learn from their successes and mistakes.We cut through the noise to help you build a successful business on your own terms.

Andy, host of the Effective Founder podcast, highlights all aspects of business, success and more in this can’t miss podcast!  The host and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens!

Awesome Podcast!!!

Andy and his guests are inspiring marketers with some incredible advice to share. I&#39;ve absolutely enjoyed listening to their in-depth explanations and tips for accelerating growth. If you haven&#39;t yet listened to an episode, I recommend you do so today.

A must listen for any marketer or B2B startup founder!

To be an effective founder, you need to prioritize and relentlessly focus on getting the right things done...while juggling everything else life throws at you.<br><br>I interview successful founders to uncover how they navigated these challenges and how you can learn from their successes and mistakes.<br><br>We cut through the noise to help you build a successful business on your own terms.

The Effective Founder

Lars Lofgren

Today, I’m talking with Lars Lofgren, the Senior Director of Growth at I Will Teach You To Be Rich and an all around expert on B2B growth. Lars helps companies build out new channels and optimize existing ones to give them predictable ways to find and accelerate their growth. The plan was to cover how Lars approaches growth on a strategic level and then dig into the A/B testing program he has used to help companies triple their conversion. But things changed once we got started. While Lars shared his approach to growth, as we started talking, it was clear that A/B testing simply isn’t the right tool for early-stage startups. Even Groove, the company I work for with over $5 million ARR, is too early for this advice. So we changed things up. Today, Lars covers what an early testing approach could look like, but this episode is about much more than testing. Instead, we shifted the conversation and Lars laid out the principles for early-stage startup growth and the best way to get started. If you’ve never heard Lars talk about growth before, then you are in for a treat. And if you have, then you’ve probably already fast-forwarded through this to get to the good stuff.

47: Lars Lofgren on The Principles of Early-Stage Startup Growth

G. Leavitt

Today, I’m talking with , a serial SaaS CEO and Marketing Scientist. While he runs many businesses, his primary focus is currently , a tool that helps franchise businesses automate marketing, selling, operations, and pretty much anything that takes a lot of time. G. has built several successful SaaS businesses and he attributes much of their success to the way he created their marketing plans. In today’s interview, G. walks through exactly what goes into these marketing plans, why they are so effective, and how you can build your own. G. really knows his stuff and provides the sort of unique perspective the startup world needs more of.

75: G. Leavitt on Startup Marketing Plans That Actually Work

Today, on the Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with , the Senior Marketing Manager at  where he is responsible for driving new acquisition growth via podcast partnerships, digital sponsorships and affiliates. Robb and his team have used these channels to drive impressive growth for Freshbooks and in this interview, he shares how you can do the same in your startup. It seems like I’m constantly hearing how great sponsorships and affiliate programs can be for a startup, but if you ask anybody that actually has had success with those channels, you know it isn’t as easy as people make it seem. Luckily for us, Robb breaks everything down for us from how they find potential partners, to the specific ads they run, to how he and his team manage all of these relationships. If you’re interested in pursuing partnerships for your startup but aren’t sure how to get started, this is the episode for you.

34: Robb Eng on How to Grow Your Startup with Partnerships

Kevin McArdle

Today, I’m talking with , Co-Founder and CEO of , a fund that creates optimal business exits for dynamic, transaction-based SaaS companies.   I first heard of SureSwift through  as they have been a long-time sponsor there. I knew they had bought  from  and done a few other deals, but I didn’t quite realize the scale of the business until I dug into it more. Kevin and his team have purchased more than 30 business in just 3 years, which is a wild number, especially when you consider they typically take a buy-and-hold approach. In our chat, we dive into how Kevin and his team have scaled up so quickly, what systems they have in place that allow them to manage this many companies, and what the future looks like for SureSwift Capital. One of the biggest things holding back companies from growing, or at least growing without making the founder go insane, is a lack of systems. You probably won’t need the same systems as somebody managing dozens of companies, but seeing his approach is sure to help improve how you approach your own business.

Kevin McArdle of SureSwift Capital

Rob Walling

Today, I’m talking with , Co-Founder and General Partner at , a year-long, remote accelerator designed for early-stage SaaS founders. Rob is also the Co-Host of , Co-Founder of , and Co-Founder of , which he successfully exited, along with a long list of other businesses and projects over the years. Rob has been on the show a few times before and this time around I wanted to dig into a new project he’s working on to give non-venture track founders more data to help them make better decisions as they grow their company. The project is called  and to put it together, hundreds of revenue generating SaaS companies were surveyed and the result will be an epic report filled with benchmarks, growth rates, demographics, validation approaches, and more. When Rob was last on the show back in episode 6, he had just opened the doors for TinySeed’s first batch of founders and I also wanted to follow-up and see how things went. After receiving hundreds of high quality applications, the TinySeed team narrowed it down to 10 lucky founders and today we’ll hear what Rob and his team have learned and what is in store for the second batch, which will be accepting applications on November 1st. Most of my listeners are very familiar with Rob and have probably already skipped over this intro to get right to the good stuff, but if you’re still listening, stop and dive in. This is an interview you don’t want to miss.

Rob Walling of TinySeed & MicroConf

Sean Ellis

Morgan Brown

Today, on the Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with  and , co-authors of , a book that lays out how today’s fastest-growing companies drive breakout success. It also happens to be available in stores today. Morgan and Sean both have extensive, hands-on experience helping startups accelerate their growth and are the co-founders of , the top online community for growth hackers. I’ll be honest, before this interview the term “growth hacker” rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed a bit to me like marketing’s equivalent of “rockstar developer” and was little more than silicon valley hype without much substance. After reading their book and talking with them, however, I can unequivocally state that my initial impression of growth hacking was off the mark. If you want to hear what growth hacking really is all about and how you can use it to dramatically accelerate the growth of your startup, then this is the episode for you.

33: Morgan Brown and Sean Ellis on Growth Hacking Without the Hype

Kristin Zhivago

Today, I’m talking with Kristin Zhivago, the author of Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy and President of Zhivago Partners a digital marketing management company that helps clients with customer and digital presence research. We hear it time and time again, “You need to get out of the office and talk to your customers.” But we rarely hear about what that actually looks like in practice and how that helps us grow our business. In our interview today, Kristin changes that by laying out how to interview your customers to get the information you need and then what to do with that information once you have it. If you aren’t regularly having calls with your customers, and I mean multiple times a month, then you need to listen to this episode. Even if you are having those conversations, tune in so you can be sure you’re getting the most out of them.

45: Kristin Zhivago on How To Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy

Pierre Lechelle

Today, I’m talking with Pierre Lechelle, an Online Marketing &amp; Growth Hacking expert who has helped over 150 SaaS companies grow their businesses. In our chat, we’re going to dive into what it takes to bring a startup from the seed stage to their Series A, including what investors are looking for and how to give it to them. If you’re looking to get to that next level of growth, even if you have no plans to raise money, then this is the episode for you.

72: Pierre Lechelle on Going from Seed to Series A

Josh Haynam

Today, on The Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with Josh Haynam, the Co-Founder of Interact, a company that makes it easy for businesses to generate leads and drive sales using quizzes. Interact’s main competitors have raised a combined $24 million dollars while they’ve remained bootstrapped the entire way. This hasn’t slowed them down as Josh and his team consistently win customers away from the big players and have grown over 300% this year. They did all of this with content marketing and in our chat today, Josh will walk us through the exact process they use to get these results and how he plans to scale the strategy over 100x from where it is today.

50: Josh Haynam on How to Scale Your Content Marketing

Rob Rawson

Today, on the Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with Rob Rawson, the CEO and Co-Founder at Time Doctor and Staff.com. In our chat, Rob shares the strategies he and his team used to build a multi-million dollar SaaS business, but where we really focus is on the future. So many companies forget the problem their software is ultimately trying to solve for it’s users. Rob’s customers don’t just want time tracking tools, they want to be able to measure and improve their team’s productivity. To truly provide that solution for them, Rob and his team need to solve some hard problems, and today he shares how they are doing that. If you’re worried about increasing competition in your space, then this is the episode for you.

Today, on the Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with Rob Rawson, the CEO and Co-Founder at Time Doctor and <a href="http://Staff.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Staff.com</a>. In our chat, Rob shares the strategies he and his team used to build a multi-million dollar SaaS business, but where we really focus is on the future. So many companies forget the problem their software is ultimately trying to solve for it’s users. Rob’s customers don’t just want time tracking tools, they want to be able to measure and improve their team’s productivity. To truly provide that solution for them, Rob and his team need to solve some hard problems, and today he shares how they are doing that. If you’re worried about increasing competition in your space, then this is the episode for you.

42: Rob Rawson on Future-Proofing Your Startup by Solving Hard Problems

Andy shares an end-of-the-year on what's happening with his SaaS startup, SaberSim, which makes .

SaberSim Update #3

Dan Martell

Today, I’m talking with Dan Martell, a 5x founder with 3 exits and currently a coach to high-performing SaaS founders, through The SaaS Academy. Dan knows what it’s like growing a SaaS company and how hard it can be to answer all the questions that I’m trying to address with this podcast. Questions like…  Who should I be hiring next quarter? How do I build a productive sales process? What types of things should I be looking for from a CTO? How should I be leading my team?  Over time, he found the right mentors, books, and advice to build up a bank of knowledge that he’s refined through years of experience in the trenches. Now he shares that knowledge with his students in the SaaS Academy. In our chat, we talk about Dan’s framework for building a SaaS business, what the biggest levers are for fast growth, and where founders often get tripped up. This is a wide-ranging, high-energy chat that you don’t want to miss.

Dan Martell of SaaS Academy

Today, I’m talking with Rob Walling. As an entrepreneur, he has started and sold multiple companies, most recently Drip. Rob has written three books, co-hosts the Startups for the Rest of Us podcast, and co-founded the largest conference for bootstrapped entrepreneurs, MicroConf. Most recently though, Rob founded Tiny Seed, the first startup accelerator for bootstrappers. In our chat today, we’re going to talk about why Rob decided to devote his time to this new venture and dive into the details of what the program will look like, everything from how investments will be structured to the types of companies he is looking for. The startup world doesn’t need to have a sharp divide between bootstrapping and venture capital and Rob is helping to bridge that gap with Tiny Seed. If your startup could use a one-time capital injection to accelerate growth or you just want to hear great lessons from somebody who has seen it all, then this is the episode for you.

Rob Walling of TinySeed

Wade Foster

Zapier

Today, I’m talking with Wade Foster, Co-Founder and CEO of Zapier, the easiest place to sync data between web apps. I’ve been a big fan of Zapier for years. Not just their product and how much time it can save by automating what used to be tedious, manual tasks, but their story. I won’t spoil too much in the intro, but Wade and his team have built a Zapier into a business with 200 employees that is doing $10s of millions in annual recurring revenue and they did this on just one round of seed funding. In our chat, we dive into what it’s been like building Zapier into the company it is today, everything from Wade’s successes to his failures and how these lessons can help make you a better founder. It’s not common that a founder stays on with a company all the way up to over 200 employees, let alone as the CEO, and Wade has some unique insights into what has made his story different.

Wade Foster of Zapier

Tony Cappaert

Today, on the Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with , co-founder and COO of , a SaaS startup that helps their users nurture leads, generate referrals, and unleash passionate advocates in minutes a day. As Contactually grew, Tony realized that the skills he and his co-founders used to grow the company in the beginning were much different than those needed as the headcount started to grow. Instead of just worrying about getting shit done, he and his co-founders needed to become true leaders. In our chat today, Tony explains why leadership is such an important quality for scaling a startup, what this looks like in practice, and how you can develop this skillset even if you don’t see yourself as a natural leader. If your headcount is growing and you find yourself a bit too stuck in the weeds, then this is the episode for you.

38: Tony Cappaert on Your New Responsibilities When Your Startup Scales

Patrick Campbell

Today, on The Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with , the Co-Founder and CEO of , a SaaS startup that provides businesses with all of their subscription and financial metrics in one place, totally free. Another piece of the ProfitWell empire is Price Intelligently, which is a software and service hybrid that helps SaaS businesses optimize their pricing and make more money. Patrick was on the show for  and in that episode he dove into the details of how SaaS startups are leaving real money on the table with ineffective pricing and shares how they can fix it. In today’s chat, we are going to go in a different direction by taking a behind the scenes look at how Patrick and his team have built this company into a $10 million dollar rocket ship, all while being completely customer-funded. Patrick is somebody in this space that when they talk, you need to listen, and I don’t think this interview is any exception. If you’re looking for practical, actionable advice for building a fast-growing startup without millions of VC dollars in the bank, then you’re in the right place.

78: Patrick Campbell on Building a $10MM Startup, Completely Customer-Funded

Today, I’m talking with , the Head of Growth at , a company that changes the way consumers lease electric cars by removing the headaches and simplifying the process down to 5-minutes.  Max and his team built MisterGreen Direct from $0 to $150k MRR in 150 days. Yes, $150k MRR in 150 days. Pretty impressive, huh?  In our chat today, Max shares how he approaches growth in general, how he built a team to help him achieve these impressive numbers, and what their growth strategy looks like in practice.  Max has an amazing mind for growth and shares some great insights in this interview. You don’t want to miss it

80: Max van den Ingh on Going from $0 to $150k MRR in 150 days

Jay Levy

Today, on The Early-Stage Founder Show, I’m talking with , the co-founder and partner at , a venture capital fund that rolls up their sleeves and partners with their portfolio companies for success. Zelkova has an impressive portfolio including companies like , ,  as well as 17 exits from companies like  and . In our chat, Jay covers why Zelkova was drawn to the B2B SaaS arena, the framework they use for evaluating potential investments, and unravels some of the common BS you hear so often in the startup and VC world. Where we really dive in, though, is the power of building relationships when it comes to raising money. Whether or not you are considering pursuing investment or maybe already have taken on investors, this episode is packed with actionable advice you can use to build a better business.

39: Jay Levy on The Power of Relationships When Raising Money

Tyler Tringas

Today, I’m talking with Tyler Tringas, General Partner at Earnest Capital, a new fund designed to provide early-stage funding for bootstrappers. I’ve been following Tyler’s writing for a while now when he was documenting his journey of starting and eventually selling his SaaS, Storemapper, but when I heard what he was up to at Earnest Capital, I knew I had to reach out. I’m trying to focus this show less about day-to-day hacks and more about what it actually takes to be an effective leader and build a sustainable business. I think the sustainable part is one of the most important pieces of the equation to listeners, it definitely is to me, but it’s typically seen as a negative when it comes to traditional venture capital. Like Rob Walling from TinySeed, who I talked to last week, Tyler is trying his hand at finding a way to invest capital in a way that allows founders and investors to benefit from profitability. In our chat, we dive into what that looks like and how Tyler sees Earnest fitting into the startup ecosystem.

Tyler Tringas of Earnest Capital

Darren Buckner

Today, I’m talking with , the Founder and CEO of , where he and his team are working to create social, professional and economic infrastructure for individuals and teams who work remotely. The last job I had that wasn’t remote was when I worked at Best Buy in high school (and that was a long time ago) so I’ve had a lot of experience working remotely but that doesn’t mean I’ve figured it all out by any means. I’m still trying to figure out the best way for me to maintain productivity and sanity, and it’s tough. Now that I manage a remote team, I not only have to figure out what works for me, but I also have to help support the rest of the team and I still have a ton to learn there. Darren has thought about remote work more than just about anybody, and he has lived it himself as an employee and boss, so I was excited to have him on to pick his brain and see how we all can improve. In our chat, we dive into being an effective leader of a remote team, everything from how to support your team to the ins and outs of management. The future is remote, but we have to make sure we approach it the right way and Darren’s talk today will help us all do that.

Darren Buckner of Workfrom

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