Gaurav Dhillon. He’s an early investor in a company called SnapLogic. He joined in 2009, when he saw the potential of how companies integrate applications data and devices for digital business. He spearheaded SnapLogic’s rapid growth and overseas strategies, products, and operations. He’s previously the co-founder and CEO of Informatica.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – The Power of Habit What CEO do you follow? – Andy Grove Favorite online tool? — Gmail How many hours of sleep do you get? — Close to 6 If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish he knew more that opportunity knocks often”
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:22 – Nathan introduces Gaurav to the show 02:04 – Gaurav and his co-founder had a $75K SBA grant when they built Informatica 02:25 – They have raised a total of $13.5M 02:57 – “11-12 years is a long time and it’s time to go” 03:32 – Gaurav is a company builder 03:47 – When Gaurav did an IPO, he sold some of his shares in a secondary public offering 03:53 – There was no lock-out 04:24 – They made $400M in secondary public offering 04:32 – Their initial raise was less than $100M 04:49 – In IPO, you are also trying to build a brand for yourself 05:23 – Gaurav left Informatica in July 2004 05:28 – Gaurav spent a year doing things on his bucket list 06:10 – When Gaurav went back to the valley, he joined a couple of boards 06:25 – Gaurav was in a board meeting when they talked about business internet, which is now cloud computing 06:37 – “People aren’t just going to buy books from the web, they’re going to balance books on the web” 06:58 – Gaurav invested in SnapLogic 07:05 – Gaurav wrote a couple of men a check saying that if there’s a business, prove it to him, and he will provide capital 07:16 – The initial check was $1M 07:26 – Gaurav structured it as convertible debt 08:06 – SnapLogic has raised a total of $136M 08:10 – Initially, it was from Venture 08:23 – Most recent round was led by Vitruvian Partners 09:04 – Gaurav built Informatica to hook up those products with each other 09:21 – SnapLogic is connecting the new cloud application to what is now Legacy, which was a new application 20 years ago 09:46 – They’re expanding out the product set in SnapLogic and providing all kinds of connections 10:12 – Is SnapLogic the unsexier version of Zapier, but more important? 10:26 – Zapier is a consumer place and Gaurav doesn’t dislike it 10:32 – There have been companies, like Bump, who try to do certain kinds of things 10:56 – The problem of overt strata in business 11:05 – What they’re solving on Zapier is on a personal level 11:20 – If you’re trying to connect your human capital system with your SAP financial system and you are a big company, you will need something like SnapLogic 11:44 – SnapLogic is the industrial version 11:58 – SnapLogic is a PaaS (platform as a service) model 12:04 – SnapLogic is a cloud product and is like Google Chrome 12:33 – SnapLogic’s average customer pay is $136K a year 12:57 – SnapLogic currently has 250 employees and is still growing 13:20 – SnapLogic’s LTV 13:32 – “We’ve got many customers in 7-figures, already” 13:50 – “You can always buy that you can sell” 14:07 – SnapLogic has inside qualification people or SDRs for customer acquisition 14:24 – SDRs ratio 14:43 – SnapLogic has less than 20 SDRs 14:56 – CAC 15:49 – “We’re a buzz company, customers love us” 17:15 – Gaurav looks at incremental growth 18:44 – Nathan thinks that it is so wrong for founders who focus on the LTV-CAC ratio 19:09 – “You don’t want to be too conservative, right, because the early market share you get is the best market share” 19:26 – Gaurav shares the business metrics 19:46 – Try to do a 6-figure deal and try to have more customers than employees 20:06 – Average ARR 20:47 – SnapLogic hasn’t broke the 9-figure ARR rate yet 21:05 – A company that can double its revenue has nothing to fear 21:34 – “What we’re doing is building a robust business which, no doubt, is growing aggressively, but also has its feet on the ground” 22:50 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
If your company can double its revenue, it’s a strong indicator that you are in good shape. The early market share you get is the best market share. Don’t fret—opportunity knocks often.
Resources Mentioned:
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 Organifi – The juice was Nathan’s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments 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 Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOWShow Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
