Chris Brisson, the founder of Call Loop website. Call Loop is a voice and text messaging service that’s used by a huge range of clients. Listen as Chris and Nathan talk buying out a co-founder, building a company while working full-time, and how to pivot with an established product.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Stealth Marketing
What CEO do you follow? — James Clear
Favourite online tool? — ClickFunnels and ConvertFlow
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 being young is an advantage - take the opportunity to make mistakes

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:22 – Nathan’s introduction
01:40 – Welcoming Chris to the show
02:00 – Call Loop is a voice and text messaging service
02:22 – Had the idea in 2009; business was founded in 2011
03:00 – It took 3 years to build the software as a side project
03:55 – Put in $10,000 to kick-start the project
04:12 – Bought out his business partners in 2015
04:50 – Two investors put in $90k total for 7.5% equity
05:55 – How did buying out his co-founders work?
06:20 – One co-founder had a full-time job and didn’t want to be hands-on
07:20 – Chris wasn’t financially experienced - hadn’t put caps of cliffs on the equity
08:10 – Co-founder had 25%
09:10 – Bought out for less than $100k
09:30 – “We have SaaS components but we’re not really a SaaS business”
10:00 – Different customers have extremely different needs - they buy credits differently
10:45 – Topline revenue in 2015 was $385k
11:25 – Reinvested $150k in the company in 2015
12:15 – Revenue goal in 2016 is $430-450k
12:35 – Around 1000 unique customers each month
13:54 – Sending around 400k text messages each month
14:34 – Goal is to develop the software behind the product, add features, and scale
15:45 – Chris hopes to pivot towards marketing automation
18:18 – Connect with Chris at the Call Loop website
19:55 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Youth is an advantage. Don’t be scared to act because you’re too young.
When you’re distributing equity with co-founders, by sure to have a vesting schedule. You’ll hugely reduce the risk of problems down the line.
Look for opportunities to pivot, even when you’re an established company. The market changes; technology changes: make sure you keep up.

Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

He's Making How Much from Text Message Marketing? EP 288: Chris Brisson

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders