EP 495: WebEx Killer +$5M In Revenue, 1.7M Users For Better Online Meetings with BusinessHangouts CEO Gary Guseinov - a podcast by Nathan Latka

from 2016-12-01T10:00

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Gary Guseinov, an investor, operator, and advisor in various technology companies including Business Hangouts, InCast, Playsino and Revenue.com. During his career, he has over $100 million in growth capital and structured complex financial transactions. He’s also acquired over 300 million users for global technology product and services.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Power the Mind
  • What CEO do you follow? –  Mark Zuckerberg
  • Favorite online tool? — Calendly
  • 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 knew how to start a business with very little capital”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:26 – Nathan introduces Gary to the show
  • 02:08 – Business Hangouts is a web-conferencing and webinar platform
    • 02:17 – It is specifically designed for Google apps
  • 02:47 – Gary has raised capital for USTechSupport in 2003
    • 03:07 – Private from 2003 to 2007
    • 03:15 – From September 2007 to 2012, it became public in Nasdaq
    • 03:22 – It was bought out by a big marketing company in LA
    • 03:29 – Gary was the co-founder and left the company because he needed a break
  • 04:24 – “It takes a lot of processes when it comes to legal and accounting when you shift from private to public”
    • 05:05 – SDC reviews the applications and processes
  • 05:20 – Gary was in his mid-thirties when he started USTechSupport and didn’t have any experience running a company
    • 05:29 – Gary is now 46
  • 05:40 – Gary acquired Business Hangouts from the previous owner
    • 05:51 – Business Hangouts had 1.7 million enterprise users when it was acquired
    • 06:02 – Over 700,000 registered users and 70,000 enterprise users
    • 06:40 – Number of paying users
  • 07:10 – Business Hangouts’ competitors usually separate web conferencing and webinar leading to 2 different subscriptions
    • 07:48 – Consumers wouldn’t know what their monthly expenses were going to be
  • 07:54 – Business Hangouts is not as complicated as their competitors
    • 08:10 – “Our pricing model is very simple”
  • 09:07 – Average monthly RPU is $70
  • 10:40 – Business Hangouts is currently getting offers from investors
  • 11:45 – “We try to build a business based on purely economics”
  • 12:06 – “We think that we are a strong contender to multi-million dollar entities”
  • 12:54 – Gary does not wish to disclose their MRR because they are not looking for capital at the moment as they are still a small company
  • 13:57 – Gary’s goal is to stay “at the radar”
    • 14:18 – “You want to be good at what you’re doing and you want the market to recognize that”
  • 14:55 – Churn is less than 10% yearly
  • 15:32 – Gary acquired the company for less than $10 million
  • 17:00 – Gary can afford to put inside sales representatives in the demo
  • 17:36 – Business Hangouts is completely bootstrapped
  • 18:15 – Current CAC is zero
  • 18:55 – Team size is less than 10
  • 19:16 – Connect with Gray through LinkedIn
  • 20:42 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

  • Choose a business that is viable in the marketplace. 
  • Staying “at the radar” while doing an excellent job at what you do will help you become recognized by the marketplace. 
  • You CAN start a business without raising capital.

 

Resources Mentioned:

  • 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  developers.
  • Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the 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.
  • Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
  • 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.
  • LinkedIn – Gary’s LinkedIn account
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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Website of Nathan Latka