Startup Stories - Mixergy

Joining me today is someone I remember reading about on TechCrunch when he sold his company to Etsy. Well he had another idea which partially came from his time at Etsy and seeing how much data they had to manage. He came up with a new company that would help companies like Etsy make use of all their data and better serve customers. I invited him here to talk about how he did it. Jason Davis is the co-founder of Simon Data, which builds data tools for modern marketing. Jason Davis is the co-founder of Simon Data, which builds data tools for modern marketing. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. Scroll – There’s never been so many channels and tactics to get in front of your customers. However, customers aren’t paying attention anymore. Companies that can tell compelling narratives win because customers become a part of your story. Scroll Studio creates Longform Narratives by combining story, animated graphics, audio + video that spark action. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today’s guest is so non-technical that he had issues plugging in the mic we sent him. He discovered online marketing a few years back and gave it a shot but it didn’t work out. But instead of quitting he paid attention to what his customers were saying and adjusted his approach. Matt Buchanan is the co-founder of Service Direct, which offers online advertising, local lead generation and call tracking. Matt Buchanan is the co-founder of Service Direct, which offers online advertising, local lead generation and call tracking. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. Scroll – There’s never been so many channels and tactics to get in front of your customers. However, customers aren’t paying attention anymore. Companies that can tell compelling narratives win because customers become a part of your story. Scroll Studio creates Longform Narratives by combining story, animated graphics, audio + video that spark action. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me today is an entrepreneur from Pakistan. I want more international founders so I’m excited to talk to him. He recognized that companies needed more developers. Well, he had access to talented developers in Pakistan so he created a company focused on Social zoos. But all at once, social went away and the company took a big hit. I want to find out how he turned the business around when it dried up seemingly overnight. Salman Lakhani is the co-founder of Cubix, a digital products and mobile app development company. Salman Lakhani is the co-founder of Cubix, a digital products and mobile app development company. Sponsored byHostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. Scroll – There’s never been so many channels and tactics to get in front of your customers. However, customers aren’t paying attention anymore. Companies that can tell compelling narratives win because customers become a part of your story. Scroll Studio creates Longform Narratives by combining story, animated graphics, audio + video that spark action. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

I came to Mexico because I want to understand entrepreneurship in this country. And for some freaking reason, even though I’ve been doing interviews for over 10 years now, I don’t think I’ve interviewed a single entrepreneur from Mexico. So if they’re not coming to me, I’m coming to them. And the person sitting at the table with me he is Santiago Cepeda. He is a founder of a company that was called Lokald. They did online retail, a range of products, clothes, furniture, jewelry, that kind of thing. And unfortunately, the company is no longer. I came here to understand what happened, how he built it up, why it closed down, what we could understand about entrepreneurship in general from this experience, and maybe a little bit of color about what entrepreneurship is like in Mexico City. Santiago Cepeda was the founder of a company called Lokald, which sold a range of products online, including clothes, furniture, and jewelry. Sponsored byHostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. Toptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today we are turning things around. My guest is going to interview me. You guys know I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of landing pages. I’ve interviewed founders about how they built companies that optimize them. I’ve created courses around building better landing pages. The problem is that everyone out there is doing landing pages. It’s become hard to stand out. Well Brian Augsburger said he has something that’s brand new. It’s called Scroll, a company that creates longform content as a replacement for landing pages. Today he’s asking me about how I organized Mixergy so I could finally take a vacation. He’s going to turn what we talked about into a longform story. Brian Augsburger is the founder of Scroll, which creates longform stories for businesses. Sponsored byHostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. ActiveCampaign – Improve your marketing & sales processes by upgrading to an automated platform. Start sending follow-up that adapts to your customers’ behavior so you are sending the perfect message at the perfect time. You’ll have happier customers and higher conversions. See why over 150,000 marketers use ActiveCampaign to create intelligent marketing that gets better results. If you’re with one of their confusing competitors and you want something new, you owe it to your business to check out ActiveCampaign. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me is a repeat guest. Josh Pigford is the founder of Baremetrics which provides subscription analytics and insights. I want to find out why he keeps launching other companies. Is it a huge distraction or does it add to his main company? Josh Pigford is the founder of Baremetrics which provides subscription analytics and insights. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. ActiveCampaign – Improve your marketing & sales processes by upgrading to an automated platform. Start sending follow-up that adapts to your customers’ behavior so you are sending the perfect message at the perfect time. You’ll have happier customers and higher conversions. See why over 150,000 marketers use ActiveCampaign to create intelligent marketing that gets better results. If you’re with one of their confusing competitors and you want something new, you owe it to your business to check out ActiveCampaign. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me today is an entrepreneur whose post went viral on Indie Hackers. Ajay Goel is founder of Gmass.co which allows you to send mass customized emails within Gmail. I invited him here to talk about how he turned it into a business. I also want to know why this was the right followup business to his previous company. Ajay Goel is founder of Gmass.co which allows you to send mass email campaigns within Gmail. Sponsored byHostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. ActiveCampaign – Improve your marketing & sales processes by upgrading to an automated platform. Start sending follow-up that adapts to your customers’ behavior so you are sending the perfect message at the perfect time. You’ll have happier customers and higher conversions. See why over 150,000 marketers use ActiveCampaign to create intelligent marketing that gets better results. If you’re with one of their confusing competitors and you want something new, you owe it to your business to check out ActiveCampaign. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

I don’t typically interview VCs because I’m not that interested in the financing of companies. But even people who today’s guest hasn’t funded have told me that he’s the guy who is helping to grow companies in the Latin America. I want to understand how he’s doing it and also how he built two companies himself from scratch. Today’s guest is Santiago Zavala and he is the founder of 500 Startups in Latin America. Santiago Zavala is the founder of 500 Startups in Latin America, which invests in entrepreneurs. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. HostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

When I first started Mixergy, the entrepreneurial dream was to start a software company. Today people care more about being the next Instagram star because it’s just easier than learning how to code. That’s why I’m interested in what today’s returning guest is doing. Emmanuel Strasch is a founder of Bubble, which is a visual programming language for web and mobile applications whose goal is to make code obsolete. It’s a breed of new companies that say: You can still build a tech company even though you don’t know how to code. Emmanuel Strasch is a Co-Founder of Bubble.is, which is a visual programming language for web and mobile applications whose goal is to make code obsolete. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. HostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joel Hooks is an Indie Hacker who decided he wanted to put coding lessons online for other developers to learn from. He started with videos and opened the platform up for other developers to record and teach. He started charging a membership and sharing the revenue with the contributors. I want to find out how he took it to the next level. Anyone in the audience who teaches online and is wanting to sell memberships should check out this interview. Joel Hooks is the founder of egghead.io which offers free & paid video tutorials for web developers. Joel Hooks is the founder of egghead.io which offers free & paid video tutorials for web developers. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. HostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me today is an entrepreneur I met at a conference. He was speaking about his book, You Gotta Have Balls. I heard he was in memorabilia which I thought was interesting. He talked about how he came from nothing and built a phenomenal business that sold things like dirt to collectors. I invited him on to talk about how he built his business. Brandon Steiner is a sports marketer and the founder of Steiner Sports Marketing. Sponsored byActiveCampaign – Improve your marketing & sales processes by upgrading to an automated platform. Start sending follow-up that adapts to your customers’ behavior so you are sending the perfect message at the perfect time. You’ll have happier customers and higher conversions. See why over 150,000 marketers use ActiveCampaign to create intelligent marketing that gets better results. If you’re with one of their confusing competitors and you want something new, you owe it to your business to check out ActiveCampaign. Toptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me is Joe Du Bey, a founder who pivoted his way to finding success. He started out doing tech support and ended up doing something completely different. Today he runs a company called Eden. Imagine you have a big office for your company and now you need a custodian service. It’s up to you to manage the building now. Well Eden helps with that and many other office services. Joe Du Bey is a founder of Eden which provides office cleaning, IT support, handymen, and more to make it easy to run your workplace. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. HostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Nathan Latka came out with a book that I’m so fascinated by that I’m interviewing him twice. Nathan is known for starting Heyo, a software company that he sold. If you want to find out more about that sale you can hear about it our other interview. He followed up that acquisition with a podcast where he interviews other entrepreneurs. He turned that podcast into a database which is creating revenue for him. In his book, How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital, he talks about how he took failing software companies and turned them into revenue producing assets. Nathan Latka is the founder of Heyo, which creates Sweepstakes, Contests, and Campaign apps that publish to Mobile, Facebook, and anywhere on the web. Currently, he’s the founder of Get Latka, an online database that other companies pay to access. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. HostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

My guests today believe we’re pushing ourselves too hard. I don’t agree that we’re trying to achieve too much. Chad Mureta and Arman Assadi are the co-founders of Project EVO, a personalized journal that will help you unlock your focus and flow. I invited them here to find out how they’re selling a physical product. Chad Murata and Arman Assadi are the co-founders of Project EVO, a personalized journal that will help you unlock your focus and flow. Sponsored byIf you need anything designed–a new web page, a new landing page, a new logo, DesignCrowd will do it for you. They ask you what you’re looking for, who you are, what your company is like. They will give you lots of options, you pick the one you like, pay for it, and they guarantee results. It’s that simple. Find out how DesignCrowd is different than the other companies and go to designcrowd.com/mixergy. Toptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today I’ve got one of the top entrepreneurs in Mexico City, somebody who is so highly talked about that I have to admit I was intimidated from the moment I heard that we were going to do an interview with him. And the more research I did on him, the more I understood why people talked about him. His name is Hector Cardenas. He is the founder of Conekta, a service that allows users to send and receive money easily. I invited Hector to talk about how he built this business. I also want to find out why he moved back to Mexico after being in Canada. We’ll also find out about Mexico’s local economy and how it’s growing. Hector Cardenas is the founder of Conekta, a service that allows users to send and receive money easily. Sponsored byToptal – If you’re having trouble finding developers, Toptal is a network of elite pre-vetted software developers. You tell Toptal what you’re looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. Once you pick someone you can start work with them the next day. They offer a no-risk trial period. Go to Toptal.com. Get the best of the best right now. HostGator – Ready to take your website to the next level? Whether you’re a first-time blogger or an experienced web pro, HostGator has all the tools you need to create a great-looking website or online store. A wide range of options includes cloud-based web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Founded in 2002, HostGator is the perfect web partner for business owners and individuals seeking hands-on support. Visit www.hostgator.com/mixergy to see what HostGator can do for your website. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint