Bobby Martin, the author of The Hockey Stick Principles: The Four Key Stages to Entrepreneurial Success. He believes too many startup founders pivot way too early, quit too early, and expect rapid take off. Through his experience of starting and selling First Research, he's learned firsthand the challenges and solutions at each stage of entrepreneurial growth. Bobby’s currently the chairman and co-founder of Vertical IQ—a leading provider of sales research insight for banks. He's an angel investor and an active board member with several innovative startups including Local Eyesight, Boardroom Insiders, My Life Site, SageWorks and etailinsights. While he's a national speaker, he's still a hometown guy who focuses most of his investments in North Carolina where he's lived and worked.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Rework
What CEO do you follow? – Brian Hamilton
Favorite online tool? — Salesforce
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Be patient for a long journey

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:42 – Nathan introduces Bobby to the show
02:53 – First Research was launched in 1999
03:19 – Bobby had the exit before the bubble
03:31 – First Research provided profiles to sales and marketing professionals
03:51 – First Research is a SaaS business
04:11 – It took 7-8 years for Bobby to build First Research
04:42 – Bobby made the book because he loved the process
- 05:09 – Bobby loved the journey
- 05:26 – Bobby had a publisher and agent for the book
- 06:00 – Bobby’s agent negotiated the deal with the publisher
- 06:28 – Bobby’s book was just recently published
- 06:41 – The average number of copies sold
- 07:30 – Bobby shares what he thinks made the book sell
08:57 – Bobby is an angel investor
09:40 – Vertical IQ provides profile revenue to bankers
10:19 – The revenue model of Vertical IQ is similar to SaaS
10:30 – Vertical IQ gets paid upfront annually
10:43 – Average number of customers
10:55 – “We don’t charge per seat, we charge according to the number of bankers”
11:20 – Vertical IQ pre-sells to banks
12:05 – ACV is between $15-20K annually
12:28 – Average ARR
12:40 – Gross customer churn
13:25 – Average CAC
- 13:34 – Vertical IQ is a sales driven company
- 14:04 – Vertical IQ has a solid profit margin
14:55 – LTV
15:53 – Team size
16:40 – First year revenue
16:58 – 2015 total revenue
17:15 – Vertical IQ is self-funded
19:00 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Write a book—not because it’s convenient—write because you have something to share to the world.
Requesting an upfront annual payment can have clear advantages over monthly payments.
Be patient and do not get discouraged—the entrepreneurial journey takes time.

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
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 541: VerticalIQ Hits $175k MRR, Helping 140 Banks Prep for Company Meetings with President Bobby Martin

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders