Chris Golec. He’s the CEO and founder of Demandbase. Chris is an entrepreneur and prior to starting Demandbase, founded one of the most successful B2B software and data solutions in the late 90s called Supplybase. With previous positions at GE and DuPont, Chris uses his wealth of experience to position Demandbase as one of the most rapidly expanding B2B marketing companies in the space.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – N/A
What CEO do you follow? – Keith Krach
Favorite online tool? — Amazon and Skype
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Go for it sooner”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:22 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show
02:10 – Demandbase is a marketing technology company focused on B2B marketers
02:46 – Demandbase sells subscriptions to large enterprises
03:10 – Chris used his experience in GE to find what salespeople need
03:40 – Average customer pay per month
04:09 – Demandbase has raised $90M
04:51 – Demandbase was launched in 2007
05:20 – Demandbase started pushing the account-based marketing technology
- 05:32 – Chris explains what an account-based marketing technology is
06:03 – Supplybase was in a supply-chain space
06:37 – Chris started as a consultant
- 07:04 – Chris saw the huge opportunity from his clients’ experiences
- 07:33 – Chris shares how he determines the red flags in revenue plans
09:05 – First year revenue
10:17 – Demandbase had their first round in 2007 for $2.5M
- 10:33 – It was an equity round
11:00 – Chris shares what he deems important to know before raising a round
- 11:07 – Have a goal
- 11:22 – Know that “it’s not easy raising money”
12:00 – Demandbase currently has 400 customers
12:23 – Average MRR
12:40 – Team size is under 250
13:44 – Gross customer churn
13:59 – “Even if we don’t add any customers this year, we’ll still grow by 10% next year”
14:14 – Chris shares how the teams are designated by customers
15:00 – CAC
15:13 – Average contract value
15:40 – Demandbase is in San Francisco
16:55 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

When you see an opportunity, go for it!
Raising money is not a walk in the park – know your goal beforehand.
Don’t wait around, go for your dreams as soon as you can.

Resources Mentioned:

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
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
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.
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
Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11” secure even when he left it in the airplane’s back seat pocket
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

EP 605: Demandbase Will Break $100M ARR 2017 Helping 400 Customers With Account Based Marketing with CEO Chris Golec

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders