Colin Day. He’s the chairman and CEO of a company called iCIMS which he founded in 2000 with a vision to deliver applicant tracking software, emphasizing easy-to-use, unparalleled, customer service. iCIMS is the largest stand-alone provider of talent acquisition software in the industry and stands among Forbes top 100 fastest growing private cloud companies in the country

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Good to Great
What CEO do you follow? – Satya Nadella and Marc Benioff
Favorite online tool? — Office 365
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Trust your gut and trust your instincts”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:08 – Nathan introduces Colin to the show
01:47 – iCIMS know they’re winning by customer base
02:02 – iCIMS is next to Oracle
02:37 – iCIMS has a bedrock product that is their applicant tracking system
03:07 – iCIMS is a SaaS business
03:39 – iCIMS has multiple products, but the main product is the tracking system
- 03:52 – It handles compliance around data
04:14 – Pricing varies
04:21 – Recruitment becomes an important part of a company when they reach 100 employees
04:37 – iCIMS has price buckets that fit the smaller market, mid-sized and high-end markets
05:10 – How Colin started a SaaS business in 1999
05:17 – Colin graduated from Cornell with a degree in Psychology
05:23 – Colin wanted to do something entrepreneurial
05:38 – Colin’s first client was from New Jersey
05:56 – Colin was logged into Comrise's proprietary system
06:21 – Colin then thought to buy the rights to Comrise’s proprietary system to start his own company
06:48 – Colin started as a recruiter in 1997
07:36 – The CEO of Comrise believed in Colin
08:43 – Colin saw an opportunity and bought the system
08:57 – The CEO of Comrise loaned Colin the capital for iCIMS
09:40 – When Colin was working as a recruiter, they couldn’t find enough technology to work
09:55 – It was a “hey day” when Colin spun out
10:20 – The capital was called a payroll loan
- 10:48 – Colin will call the CEO every time he needed money
11:11 – Colin didn’t negotiate equity upfront
11:37 – iCIMS was charging monthly
12:23 – Current team size is around 650
12:33 – In November, they’ll be moving from New Jersey to Old Bell Labs HQ
13:06 – iCIMS has grown without any outside money other than the loaned capital
13:17 – iCIMS has brought in a private equity company
14:14 – The money from the private equity company went directly towards the equity and not on the operational side of the company
14:29 – Besides getting an outside investor, it is also a good choice to get a private equity company
15:22 – Colin has a desire to win
16:12 – iCIMS’s mandate is to convince the world to be contrarian
16:51 – Colin wants iCIMS to be the definition of winning
17:30 – Colin tries to always stay focused
18:18 – CAC
18:43 – Average annual contract price is around $30K
19:50 – Average MRR
20:40 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Don’t be afraid to ask someone about their business plan.
Always desire to win and stay focused – it works.
Trust your instincts; don’t doubt yourself.

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
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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