George Arison, founder and CEO of Shift, an online marketplace that has transformed the experience of buying and selling a car. George saw a problem with the process of buying a car, and he wanted to make it simpler. He utilized virtual technology to create a completely unique service for buying and selling a vehicle.

Famous 5:

Favorite Book? – I don’t really have one.
What CEO do you follow? — Tim Cook
Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn

Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — That I should learn how to code.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:25 – Nathan introduces George
01:44 – Shift is a new way to buy or sell a car
02:05 -- There is no physical lot, everything is virtual
02:35 – They will sell cars locally, to people in that car’s area
03:20 – “Car enthusiasts”
03:38 – Great design and transparency
04:10 – How they make money
- 04:25 – They agree on a minimum price with the seller, and they make money on any higher price that they sell the car for. (They split the difference)
- 05:00 – The buyer pays a fee
- 05:45 – They help buyers with car insurance and warranties
06:10 – Founded in 2013
06:30 – They started selling cars in 2014
06:45 – They are selling hundreds in a month
07:25 – Capital has been successful
08:05 – Their service is unique
- 09:15 – They offer cars that are several years old, because people can test drive them
09:55 – First-year revenue involved car inspections for sellers
- 10:45 – That revenue was $2000
11:00 – $150k in 2015
11:20 – Pricing cars is complicated and takes a lot of trial and error
- 12:00 – Mispriced cars effected their revenue in the beginning
12:30 – They are growing quickly and have focused on increasing revenue
- 13:35 – 20% growth month to month in 2015
14:15 – Team of 270 people
14:50 – Why he got into this business
- 15:05 – He started with Taxi Magic
- 15:25 – He had to get a green card, so he moved to a bigger business, Google
- 15:55 – He then left Google to start Shift
- 16:30 – He had a leased car, and when he wanted to buy it he found that financing a car is very complicated
17:50 – Find George Arison on LinkedIn
19:55 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

If you see a problem in a particular industry, find a solution and make it your business.
Offer a service that is unique.
Use today’s technology to redefine industries with an up-to-date approach.

Resources Mentioned:

Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
LinkedIn – George’s favorite tool to find the best people to work for Shift
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 367: $94M Raised, Car Marketplace, 270 Employees with George Arison of Shift

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders