Joe Koufman. He’s responsible for introducing at least 3 married couples in countless contacts to establish business relationships. In early 2014, he parlayed his passion for connecting people and founded a company called AgencySparks, which is essentially a dating service for brands and marketing agencies.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Challenger Sale
What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Hilimire
Favorite online tool? — Lucky Orange
How many hours of sleep do you get?— “I try to get 7”
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I would have invested even more in relationships. They will absolutely pay off down the road”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:36 – Nathan introduces Joe to the show
02:29 – AgencySparks focuses on making connections for brands and agencies
02:34 – AgencySparks is paid by the agencies to help them with their business development and outreach to potential clients
02:50 – In many cases, AgencySparks can help subvert the RFP and the client will hire the agency directly
03:15 – One of AgencySparks’ clients tells them about Coca-cola’s water sustainability efforts and that they need the story to be everywhere
- 03:46 – AgencySparks was able to make a connection with one of their agencies that focuses on public relations and they made a deal
04:13 – AgencySparks is shifting their model now
04:20 – AgencySparks is traditionally paid by agencies to get them through a thorough, upfront, vetting process
- 04:27 – AgencySparks is getting paid through monthly retainers and a percentage of the deal
- 04:34 – The monthly retainer is $5K per agency, which is 12-month deal
04:50 – AgencySparks was launched in early 2014
04:58 – Joe spent years with KnowledgeStorm which was acquired by TechTarget
- 05:05 – TechTarget went public and bought KnowledgeStorm for $58M
- 05:26 – Joe spent 6 years building marketing and business development in Engauge
- 05:31 – Engauge was then acquired by Publicis
- 05:56 – When Joe left Engauge, he had job offers from 6 different agencies and that’s when he had the idea of AgencySparks
- 06:21 – Joe’s highest offer from one of the agencies was $400K and he said “no”
06:55 – AgencySparks is Joe’s first entrepreneurship stint
07:11 – Joe didn’t have any equity in KnowledgeStorm
07:45 – Joe made a big transition while he was at KnowledgeStorm
- 07:47 – Joe started as an account manager in 2000
- 08:05 – Joe moved to sales and realized that he was just going to have the same exact salary
- 08:23 – Joe did well in sales and had grown big accounts
- 08:50 – Joe’s last salary was $210K, in 2007
- 09:20 – By the time Joe left, he was making around $300K in 2013
09:43 – When Joe started AgencySparks, he knew that we wouldn't have much revenue, at first
09:52 – First year revenue was $270K
- 10:03 – Year 2 was $370K and Year 3: $430K
10:13 – 2017’s goal is to double
10:25 – To achieve their goal, they have to change their model a bit
- 10:45 – The client is asking AgencySparks for different options
- 10:59 – They want to have multiple agencies in one category
11:27 – AgencySparks currently has 11 clients
11:40 – AgencySparks has other revenue streams
- 11:48 – The commission percentage is 10%
- 12:10 – AgencySparks offers other services like info-product
12:40 – March 2017 revenue
13:00 – Team size is 4 and all are in Atlanta
13:18 – Greg Crabtree’s labor efficiency ratio is the idea of hovering between 2 and to 3.5, so for every dollar spent on payroll, you should be bringing in $2.50 - $3.50, in terms of revenue
- 13:47 – As a CEO of a company, if you’re not pulling out the salary that you would be making as a hired CEO, then your business isn’t profitable
14:00 – Nathan’s computation within The Top’s 600 interviews done with SaaS companies
15:04 – AgencySparks’ net margin
15:27 – Joe is the guy who would re-invest his money into the business
15:33 – Joe isn’t a family business guy
15:44 – Joe is looking into 5 years, then selling his business
15:52 – AgencySparks already has interesting offers
16:14 – AgencySparks has a method that is a repeatable and sustainable as a business development process—which is part of what they’re teaching
16:57 – “The challenge is that this is a very relationship-focused business”
18:28 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

As a CEO of a company, if you’re not pulling out the salary that you would be making as a hired CEO, then your business is NOT profitable.
Continue to grow your business as much as you can, but be mindful of the interesting offers that come along the way.
Invest in relationships.

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 NOW

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

665: Blessed or Gutsy? CEO Turns Down $400k Salary to Launch Own Agency

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders