Jonathan Gass of Nomad Financial. Jonathan founded his company because he decided to focus his career on entrepreneurship and startups. His business works with startups to help them make smart financial plans and fundraising decisions. Today we’ll learn from him about what pitfalls to avoid in our own startups.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – Give and Take What CEO do you follow? — Johnny Rockefeller, of the book Titan Favorite online tool? — Audible Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — I try for 7 to 8. If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – Listen to your gut when you are making decisions. Focus on culture.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:35 – Nathan introduces Jonathan 02:10 – His main focus is entrepreneurship 02:25 – He saw the same problems with most startup founders 02:50 – They weren’t setting up their accounting systems to support decision making 03:10 – He worked for Vimeo a few years ago 03:25 – They had to pitch what set them apart from YouTube and other companies 03:55 – Building tools to support video makers 04:10 – Nomad Financial generates revenue for a number of services, paid for by the hour. 04:30 – Their employees specialize in helping startups 05:25 – A role as an advocate 05:45 – Pushback from auditors 06:00 – Staying on top of trends 06:20 – What is a 409a valuation? 06:58 – Startups mix that up with a valuation for selling stock. 07:30 – Mistakes early entrepreneurs make with cap tables 07:40 – No consistent terms 08:15 – Even the software can’t always solve those problems 09:00 – Understanding the implications of sale 09:15 – One man who had an option to sell his company, but wasn’t really going to make any money 10:10 – Nathan’s interview with Teachable (Episode 117) 11:00 – Explaining preferred shareholders 11:35 – Investors that ask for really aggressive terms 12:00 – Be careful with the terms in your agreement 12:35 – Smart money vs. “plain dollars” 12:55 – People who are there to actually help the business 13:25 – Understanding the goals of your investors 14:50 – The importance of a fit culture and a fit vision 14:40 – The friendliest investor for the entrepreneur 15:00 -- Great term sheets, and providing great value 15:15 – Interplay investors 16:10 – Jonathan is making about 4 or 5 investments each year. 16:35 – Seed-stage and a-round investments 17:00 – Why put a portion of your portfolio into startups? 17:20 – You keep that portion for that, and you use the other portion for other things. 17:45 – Living for entrepreneurship and believing in these startups. 19:00 – Connect with Jonathan at j@nomadfinancial.com and nomadfinancial.com 20:45 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
Set up your accounting to support decision making in your startup. Be aware of your investor’s goals and what value they will contribute to your company. You need a cohesive culture and vision, among founders and investors.
Resources Mentioned:
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Give and Take – A business book that teaches philosophies Jonathan lives by Interplay – A reliable team of investors and partners Toptal – Great for people to get access to software developers Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
