Chris Golec. He’s the CEO and founder of Demandbase. Chris is an entrepreneur and prior to starting Demandbase, founded one of the most successful B2B software and data solutions in the late 90s called Supplybase. With previous positions at GE and DuPont, Chris uses his wealth of experience to position Demandbase as one of the most rapidly expanding B2B marketing companies in the space.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – N/A What CEO do you follow? – Keith Krach Favorite online tool? — Amazon and Skype Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Go for it sooner”
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:22 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show 02:10 – Demandbase is a marketing technology company focused on B2B marketers 02:46 – Demandbase sells subscriptions to large enterprises 03:10 – Chris used his experience in GE to find what salespeople need 03:40 – Average customer pay per month 04:09 – Demandbase has raised $90M 04:51 – Demandbase was launched in 2007 05:20 – Demandbase started pushing the account-based marketing technology 05:32 – Chris explains what an account-based marketing technology is 06:03 – Supplybase was in a supply-chain space 06:37 – Chris started as a consultant 07:04 – Chris saw the huge opportunity from his clients’ experiences 07:33 – Chris shares how he determines the red flags in revenue plans 09:05 – First year revenue 10:17 – Demandbase had their first round in 2007 for $2.5M 10:33 – It was an equity round 11:00 – Chris shares what he deems important to know before raising a round 11:07 – Have a goal 11:22 – Know that “it’s not easy raising money” 12:00 – Demandbase currently has 400 customers 12:23 – Average MRR 12:40 – Team size is under 250 13:44 – Gross customer churn 13:59 – “Even if we don’t add any customers this year, we’ll still grow by 10% next year” 14:14 – Chris shares how the teams are designated by customers 15:00 – CAC 15:13 – Average contract value 15:40 – Demandbase is in San Francisco 16:55 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
When you see an opportunity, go for it! Raising money is not a walk in the park – know your goal beforehand. Don’t wait around, go for your dreams as soon as you can.
Resources Mentioned:
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11” secure even when he left it in the airplane’s back seat pocket Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives