Joseph Walla, CEO and co-founder of a San Francisco based startup, HelloSign. The company launched in 2012 and it provides the easiest way for businesses to sign and collect legally binding documents online. The idea behind HelloSign was sparked by Joseph’s first successful product alongside his co-founder, Neil O’Mara, of HelloFax. HelloFax launched in 2010 after attending the prestigious startup accelerator Y Combinator.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – High Output Management
What CEO do you follow? – Bill Walsh

Favorite online tool? — Google Apps
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Joseph wished he had moved to the valley earlier

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:40 – Nathan introduces Joseph to the show
02:30 – Joseph first worked in HelloFax which is an on-the-go fax machine
02:43 – HelloSign has premium products and free products
03:00 – Pricing plans starts at $15
- 03:12 – API pricing plans differs by bucket
03:40 – HelloSign is cash flow positive in 2014 and 2015
03:50 – Total of $3.5M raised
04:24 – Joseph has been very disciplined with how they spend their money
05:15 – 2016 MRR
05:36 – HelloSign has 47,000 paying customers
05:46 – HelloSign has a 5-6M user base
06:05 – People convert from free to paid because of the volume of their transactions
06:54 – HelloSign team’s operation
07:30 – Average salaries in the valley
08:45 – Total headcount expenses with 16 employees
09:35 – Average MRR from Nathan
10:00 – Average customer churn
10:55 – HelloSign is mainly in the SMB space but they also have some big clients
12:20 – Standard gross churn
12:40 – The amount HelloSign is willing to spend for a new user
12:49 – HelloSign doesn’t spend much for a new user, but spends for a new paid user
12:55 – Joseph read an article on ForEntrepreneurs.com about SaaS metrics and acquiring customers that was beneficial for him
13:35 – HelloSign’s CAC ratio
14:53 – Connect with Joseph through LinkedIn and Twitter
16:23 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Don’t wait for a job or overcomplicate the process of getting started—get out there and figure it out as you go.
Make that investment to turn a new user into a paid new user.
Don’t just sit and wait for something to happen, take action!

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
@JosephWalla – Joseph’s Twitter handle
LinkedIn – Joseph’s LinkedIn account
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 517: $3.5M Raised, 6m Users Helping 47k Customers Sign Documents with HelloSign CEO Joseph Walla

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders