McCabe Callahan who has been an entrepreneur his entire life. He began with a coffee shop named Mugs Coffee Lounge, which has been operating successfully in Fort Collins, Colorado, since 2002. He began a company called Community Funded, in 2011, out of his passion for providing technology that connects, supports and empowers people.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – E-Myth and Good to Great
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — Slack
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Pay attention to numbers”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:32 – Nathan introduces McCabe to the show
02:33 – Mugs Coffee Lounge is McCabe’s first real business
02:43 – McCabe went to Colorado State University
02:50 – McCabe was coming back from Europe when he had the idea of the Mugs Coffee Lounge
- 02:56 – Mugs Coffee Lounge was the first wireless internet café in Fort Collins
03:11 – Building relationships is the key to a successful coffee lounge
03:36 – First year revenue
04:04 – McCabe is 36; but when he was 24, he was already opening 5 coffee shops
04:22 – Total topline of all the coffee shops and restaurants
04:58 – McCabe didn’t raise any capital
05:31 – McCabe’s credit card debt when he started Mugs Coffee Lounge
05:48 – McCabe also had debt from other sources
06:43 – “Coffee is a good business to be in—there’s no recession”
06:58 – McCabe shares where he sells his business to
07:07 – McCabe’s income is now generating well
07:16 – McCabe did $1.6M in sales in 2016
07:30 – McCabe shares how he started with Community Funded
- 08:17 – McCabe had to find a way to secure a loan to open up a location
- 08:31 – The amount McCabe wanted to loan
- 08:45 – 2009-2010 was the hardest time for McCabe
- 09:41 – McCabe was about to give up when one of his regulars offered help
- 10:05 – 5 months after the McCabe’s next shop opened, he heard about NPR’s Kickstarter
- 10:20 – McCabe thought, “What if he could something like Kickstarter, but for communities?”
10:44 – Community Funded started out bootstrapped and just recently raised a round
11:03 – Community Funded first round raised $40K-75K
- 11:29 – Total funding was $2.3M
- 11:38 – Rounds are equity round
11:50 – McCabe shares Community Funded’s valuation
- 12:18 – People believed in Community Funded’s vision
12:38 – Community Funded’s is a SaaS model
13:46 – Sample of fundraising raised in Community Funded
14:26 – Community Funded’s focus
14:53 – Current Community Funded’s revenue and revenue goal for 2017
15:54 – Total transaction volume in 2016
16:03 – 2016 total revenue
17:21 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Lack of funds is not a hindrance in building a company.
There’s nothing wrong sharing your problems with your regulars – you don’t know who can offer you help.
Stick and pay close attention to your numbers.

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
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

EP 616: His Coffee Shops Do $1.8M But His Crowdfunding Platform is More Impressive With $550k 2016 Revenue on 486 Projects With $2.5M Funded with CEO McCabe Callahan

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders