Founder Views

Gladys Jeannette is a real estate investor and Broker in El Salvador. I've been wanting to speak to someone on the ground in El Salvador for quite some time, and Gladys is the perfect person to get an insider's look into the changes happening in the country.We dive deep into the life in El Salvador, real estate investing in the country, including which areas to keep an eye out for, how bitcoin is driving change, safety, and the way of life in the country.If you've been keeping an eye on El Salvador, curious about the changes happening in the country, real estate, or bitcoin, this is the perfect episode for you.

Adam Niman (BSc, CLU) is a seasoned life insurance professional with over a decade of experience in the field. His focus is exclusively on insurance, and he advocates for keeping insurance and investments separate.I first heard Adam on one of my favourite podcasts (see link below), talking about why the infinite banking concept is flawed. He raised some pretty eye-opening concerns and perspectives that stirred up some waves in the infinite banking circles.Since first hearing Adam on that podcast, we've since had several conversations, and wanted to have him on the podcast. I definitely think his insights and message is worth sharing.If you're familiar with infinite banking, have a policy, or thinking about getting setup, this is an episode you definitely want to hear.Download Adam's ebook "Fortune or Fiction" here: https://fortuneorfiction.ca/

➡️ The most important lessons from growing and selling a bootstrapped SaaS company, from a non-technical entrepreneur: https://www.hardknocksaas.com/ (use HUSTLE40 for 40% off).Matheus Riolfi is the founder and CEO of tint.ai, a company that provides embeddable insurance to tech platforms and marketplaces. Unlike most founders I speak to that are bootstrapped - Matheus followed a different journey. Launching in 2018, Matheus led his company through YC (Y Combinator), and most recently closed a $25 million Series A round.We cover several topics, including:- Why he chose to get funding, rather than bootstrap- How Tint maintains a positive workplace culture as a fully remote team- How his role as CEO continues to evolve- The most important skills a new founder should possess- Much moreFollow Matheus Riolfi on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mriolfi/Check out Tint: https://www.tint.ai/

** The most important lessons from growing and selling a bootstrapped SaaS company, from a non-technical entrepreneur: https://www.hardknocksaas.com/ (use HUSTLE40 for 40% off).Stefan Smulders is one of the best marketers I've spoken to. In 2019, he founded expandio.io, and was able to generate $1 million in run rate in the first six months after launch!Continuing to leverage creative and effective marketing strategies on social media, Stefan is leading Expandi to hit $10 million in revenue by the end of 2023.This was a fascinating conversation, and I encourage any startup founder or anyone in marketing to give it a listen. We touch on several topics, including:- Learning and growing from past business failures- How Expandi hit $1 million run-rate in the first six months- Leveraging your personal brand to grow your business- The psychology of sales- Effective growth channels used to reach $10 million revenue- Much moreFollow Stefan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SmuldersStefanDownload the e-book "From Zero to SaaS Hero: https://expandi.io/from-zero-to-saas-hero-ebook/

The person I credit to introducing me to the Infinite Banking Concept, is none other than Chris Naugle.After hearing this episode, you'll quickly understand why Chris is considered "America's # 1 Money Mentor". He is truly a master of money.Chris has built and owned 19 companies, with his businesses being featured in Forbes, ABC, House Hunters, and his very own HGTV pilot in 2018. He is currently founder of The Money School™, and Money Mentor for The Money Multiplier.We dive into so many important money and financial topics, including:- The reasons why Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and other banks are collapsing- Financial opportunities that everyone can be taking advantage of today- How to become your own banker (literally) using the Infinite Banking Concept- How Chris is personally leveraging his Infinite Banking Policies to make investments and earn income- Ways to protect yourself from financial collapse- How to be free and independent from a corrupted financial systemFollow Chris on YouTube: @TheChrisNaugle Learn more about Chris: https://www.chrisnaugle.com/

This was a fun conversation. Two bootstrapped entrepreneurs talking shop, growth and business - unfiltered.Hoyin Cheung is the founder and CEO of Remo.co, a company that helps teams build and grow relationships, virtually.I've been eager to learn more about the virtual reality space, and how invested companies actually are in implementing this technology. So when the opportunity arose to speak to Hoyin, I jumped on it.Very impressively, as a solo founder, Hoyin bootstrapped Remo to over $4M+ in revenue, with a team of 25 people. Some of the biggest organizations in the world have used Remo, including Harvard University, IBM and Shopify.We touch on several topics in this episode including:- Connecting with team members working remotely- How companies are leveraging virtual reality- Trends in the VR space- The social behaviour challenge to VR adoption- Tactical ways Remo has been able to scale- Challenges of growing a company during times of high inflation and economic uncertainty- Future of VRCheck out Remo: https://remo.co/Follow Hoyin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoyincheung/** Get 40% of my video content series with code HUSTLE40: https://www.hardknocksaas.com/

Adam is the founder and CEO of Bitcoin Well, a publicly traded Canadian company that allows people to buy and sell bitcoin.My goal with this episode was to educate the average person about everything they need to know about buying and storing bitcoin. Although we did cover that in a lot of detail, we naturally got into other topics as well, including:- The custody of money- How Adam deals with getting banned from having bank accounts- Threats and concerns for bitcoin companies- Freedom and sovereignty This was the second time having Adam on the podcast, and certainly not the last. Check out our first conversation here: https://youtu.be/VSwaAZtCp8cThe safest and fastest way to buy bitcoin in Canada: bitcoinwell.com/app/signup?referral=kostapanaFollow Adam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamobrien_

Recently, I've been thinking and reading a lot about the economy, bitcoin, and the history of monetary systems.After stumbling on one of Julian's informative 60 second videos on Modern Monetary Theory, it was only fitting that I reach out him to chat on the podcast. Julian Figueroa is a Canadian entrepreneur, filmmaker and bitcoin investor.This was one of the most fun, engaging and insightful conversations I've had in a while. Although the conversation could have lasted a lot longer, we covered several topics, including: The creation of the existing monetary systems and its problems The dilemma which the US faces as the global reserve currency Whether the USD is actually a “safe haven” asset How money scarcity could be a positive for societies around the world  What has to occur for a bitcoin standard to take shape CBDC's and the risk they pose to freedom Why Julian purchased 5 acres on an island off Vancouver, off the grid  Follow Julian on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KineticFinanceFollow Julian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kinetic_finance

Ever since I learned about the Infinite Banking Concept, I've been trying to inform as many people as possible about it.No matter what your financial situation is, every single person can benefit from this concept.I spoke with Hayden Padalino, an Authorized IBC Practitioner from Ontario, Canada. My goal was to touch on the fundamentals of the Infinite Banking Concept, and hopefully encourage people to look into it further.Some topics of discussion include:- How your money is not in your control if it's in the bank- How to use IBC during tax time- Alternatives to RRSP contributions- Why whole life policies are a safe way to store your money- How to access money from your policy- Practical ways to use your policy in every day lifeLearn more about IBCanada Group here: https://ibcanadagroup.com/

I was very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with Senator Leo Housakos. Leo was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in 2008.Leo is Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, which is overseeing Bill C-11, a very controversial act that will grant the federal government overreaching power and control over the online content that Canadians consume.We talk in great detail about the concerns of Bill C-11, and the impacts it would have on Canadians, as well as the following other topics:- The reasons why C-11 is flawed and dangerous for all Canadians- Dangers of censoring voices with C-11- Why government leaders are purposely creating more division between Canadians- The $54 million ArriveCan disaster, and wasted spending in government- Why it's time for new leadership in CanadaFollow Senator Leo Housakos on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SenatorHousakos

Matthew Diemer is a former Democratic Congressional Nominee, in Ohio's 7th district. Other than being involved in politics, he's also an advocate and proponent for bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology.I commend Matthew for having such an open and transparent dialogue about many important topics that many people in politics usually shy away from.There are several topics we discuss in detail, including:- How blockchain technology can help improve online privacy- Ideas on how bitcoin should be regulated- Government control and the monetary supply- How bitcoin could be a solution to this unsustainable monetary system- The dangers of CBDC in society- Why people should not take freedoms for granted- Growing division in society and potential solutionsLearn more about Matthew Diemer: diemerforcongress.com

This is a conversation with Charles Fry, a software-focused entrepreneur who has launched and grown successful companies in e-commerce, logistics and IT services. He owns Code Éxitos, a resource-based service that helps entrepreneurs develop software and other tech products.I'm currently in the process of developing my second SaaS startup as a non-technical founder. However, this is the first time being directly involved in the entire development process, from start to finish.So, in this conversation, I pick the brain of Charles about everything a non-technical founder needs to know and understand about developing a SaaS product, including:- What's required after you've mapped out your idea- The first hires you need to make to start building your product- The pros/cons of Specialized Developers vs Full-Stack Developers- The most popular languages developers are using today- How to think about server infrastructure and what to consider- Recommendations and suggestions on how to hire developersLearn more about Code Éxitos: https://codexitos.com/

Get access to Hard Knock SaaS here: https://www.hardknocksaas.com/For those who know, I'm in the process of building up my second bootstrapped SaaS (first one was recently acquired). Although I'm still relatively early in the process, I've been thinking about future tools and apps to run the business. This is where I stumbled on Outseta.Outseta is an all-in-one software that combines all of the fundamental and necessary tools to run a SaaS company - payment processing, CRM, email marketing and customer support.I thought the product looked great and sounded extremely valuable to new SaaS companies, so I reached out to Geoff Roberts, one of the founders.This was a really fun, open and transparent conversation. Anyone running a SaaS startup will find this extremely valuable. We covered several topics, including:- The struggles and grind in the first years of growing Outseta- How Outseta got it's first 100 clients- The difficulties of marketing a product that can serve a broad audience- The fundamental tools that every SaaS company requires to operate- How Outseta operates with zero sales reps or support reps- Why Outseta is okay sacrificing growth to run a lean and profitable businessLearn more about Outseta here: https://www.outseta.com/Follow Geoff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeoffTRoberts

The Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) is one of the very few subjects that I'm eager to share with as many people as possible. This was a very all-encompassing conversation with Michael Sidhu, a veteran with 26 years in the financial industry, and an IBC Practitioner. If you're concerned about the monetary system, debasement of currencies, and believe you should be in control of your wealth, this will be a great conversation listen to. We speak about several topics pertaining to IBC and the economy, including:- What's wrong with the current monetary system- How IBC mitigates your exposure to inflation and uncertain market conditions - The difference between insurance companies and banks- How insurance companies invest their capital- Why bitcoin is a good hedge against the debasement of currency- How individuals and businesses can leverage their policies for tax advantages Learn more about the Infinite Banking Concept at https://ibcanadagroup.com/

Benjamin J. Dichter was the official spokesperson and one of the organizers for the Freedom Convoy, a movement that shook up the entire world in the winter of 2022.The Freedom Convoy was a protest organized by truckers in Canada, and morphed into a global movement of millions of people around the world, fighting back against overreaching government mandates.BJ is the author of “Honking for Freedom”, a book that provides an inside look into what really happened inside the Freedom Convoy.In this conversation, we cover topics including:- The motivations to get involved in the Freedom Convoy- Dealing with the global spotlight and mainstream media- Reasons for increased desire in government control- Central Bank Digital Currencies, and the impacts- How the people can take back control from bureaucrats Order “Honking for Freedom”: https://honkingforfreedom.com/Follow BJ on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BJdichter

I met Callum Webber on a mentor call on Growth Mentor (I'm a mentor on the platform, link is below for more details).On our call, we spoke about several business topics, including a program he is building out that helps men in their 20's live a freedom lifestyle, through health, wellness and productivity.For the last little while, I've been thinking more and more about ways to optimize my own self for maximize productivity and energy thought my days. So when I spoke to Callum, I thought I'd have him on the podcast to speak about this.Callum is one of those people with an amazing attitude, great energy, and a ton of passion in what he does, which is very inspiring.He provided some great practical tips about energy that anyone can implement in their lives right away. Some of which I will be trying as well.Check out Growth Mentor: https://www.growthmentor.com/?ref=kostaCallum's Podcast (Freedom Lifestyle): https://open.spotify.com/show/34iyUuLGk6Ms7uLLky1GMP?si=d4a566757e0543e0

Fr. Ted Paraskevopoulos is an Orthodox Priest in Toronto, Ontario Canada.Speaking with Fr Ted is always very insightful and grounding, to say the least. Given everything that's  happening in the world right now, I felt a need to have a conversation with him.We spoke about a wide-range of topics, including:- Tools that people are missing in their lives to help with depression and every day stresses- How parents should instil the right values in their children - Why more couples are getting divorced, and how they can prevent that- The attack on religion in a growing secular societyI also wanted to hear Fr Ted's views on several controversial bills and legislation currently in, or being proposed, in Canada:- Bill C-11 and how it could impact the church and religion- Bill 89 and the growing sexualization of children in society- The issues with Bill C-4 from a religious and moral context- MAID (medical assistance in dying) and the relation to hedonism

Genuine and authentic - these are two adjectives I would use to describe Julia Hanna, which seem to be pretty rare in politics nowadays.Julia Hanna is running for Mayor of Oakville, Ontario, one of the most prominent and sought-after cities in all of Canada.As a resident of Oakville, I was eager to have a conversation with (potentially) the future Mayor, to discuss many pressing issues, concerns and opportunities the city faces.In this very open and transparent conversation, we discussed:- Housing affordability in Oakville and wealth from real estate- What she would have done differently as Mayor during Covid- The impossible challenges of satisfying everyone- How she plans to earn the trust back from the people- The lack of accountability in government- The fiscal waste currently happening in Oakville Learn more about Julia Hanna: https://www.juliahanna.ca/

I've been on the hunt to learn as much about short-term rentals and Airbnb investing as possible. After getting connected with Spencer and Ashley, I immediately knew there were no better people to learn from.Since 2018, they have accumulated 6 Airbnb properties, both in the Niagara region and in the US. They also manage over 60 properties for other Airbnb investors across the country.Their top grossing property in Niagara does $180-$200k per year, which nets them about $60k per year.I tried to get into their detailed processes and criteria from evaluating properties to purchase, and everything in between to get them listed.We discuss many topics, including:- The specific criteria they look for in properties- How they differentiate their properties- The importance of focusing on top-notch guest experience- By-laws in Niagara that investors should be mindful of- The costs involved to furnish an Airbnb property- How much profit they make on their properties- What's required to purchase properties in the USFollow Spencer & Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerandashley/Spencer & Ashley's Airbnb Property Management company: https://www.instagram.com/travelluxepropertymanagement/

This is a conversation I was very excited to have, and more importantly, share with everyone. Andrew Lawton is a well-respected Journalist and Broadcaster in Canada. I caught notice of Andrew's work during the freedom convoy protests in Ottawa. He was one of my main sources of accurate information about what was going on, and have been following his work ever since.I was eager to speak to Andrew about:- The bias in media that people are consuming, and how it affects his work- How journalists and people can be more objective- The impacts of private and government censorship- The potential consequences of new bills proposed in Canada, including controversial bill C-11- The future of Canada- Alternative views and differences of opinion in society- Andrew's list of favourite and most objective journalistsFollow Andrew on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewLawtonAndrew on Substack: https://andrewlawton.substack.com/True North: https://tnc.news/

One of the real estate investment strategies that has captured my interest as of late, is short-term Airbnb rentals. The idea of very high cash flow potential in high-demand areas is something I wanted to dive into further.I spoke with Matthew Campoli, a real estate investor and realtor in the Toronto area. Besides helping clients purchase Airbnb rentals and other investments, he also owns rental properties himself.One of his Airbnb rentals in Toronto is on track to cash flow about $40k (that is net profit after all expenses)! We dived into this in detail, of course.Matt also has an Airbnb property he recently purchased in Miami, which he projects will gross $100k in revenue. We discussed how Canadians can invest in Airbnb properties in the US.We covered quite a bit of very useful information about Airbnb rentals, including:- Reasons why airbnb rentals are advantageous compared to other real estate investments- How to consider choosing locations for your airbnb rental- Specific Airbnb regulations in the city of Toronto and other areas that investors need to be aware of- The seasonal nature of Airbnb rentals in Toronto (summer peaks vs winter lows)- Areas in Canada that are in high-demand all year long- The creativity and marketing that goes into Airbnb rentals compared to traditional real estate investments- The importance of using property management services for Airbnb rentals- How to invest in Airbnb rentals in the USFind Matt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattcampoli/?hl=en

My oldest child is starting kindergarten, and the thoughts of alternative schooling options have been on my mind. I've been questioning the concept of traditional school system for quite a while, and have been on an exploration to determine what type of schooling is best for my kids.Hannah Frankman is the founder of rebelEducator. She grew up homeschooled, skipped college to cut her teeth in the startup world, and has been living and breathing alternative education ever since. She's a regular writer, speaker, and commentator on education innovation.Most people grow up in societies and communities where traditional schools is all they ever know. Discussing some of the alternative schooling options and breaking down the issues with traditional schools, definitely requires recalibrating the way you think. If you can accomplish that, you'll see a whole different side to how kids can learn, and hopefully decide which option is best for your kids.This was a very insightful and encouraging episode about the many options that parents have to educate their kids. Some of the topics we discuss include:- The big learnings from Hannah's homeschooling experience- Her family life as a homeschooler- The most valuable parts of being homeschooled- Why self-direction is a great learning method for kids- Major problems with the traditional school system- The social element of homeschooling- Some of the issues with learning in front of a computer all day- What parents can do to better educate themselves on alternative schools- So much more.Learn more about rebelEducator:https://rebeleducator.co/Follow Hannah on Twitter:https://twitter.com/HannahFrankmanRecommended reading:Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, by John Taylor Gato

Due to popular demand and several questions about the Infinite Banking Concept, I thought I'd speak to another specialist on the subject. Nate Dean is the co-founder of Unlimited Life Concepts, a company that educates people on Infinite Banking and helps them implement the concept in their lives. I tried to steer the conversation in ways that addressed real practical ways people can implement the Infinite Banking Concept in every day life.We covered several topics, including:- Common misconceptions about Infinite Banking- Ways people are managing their money incorrectly - Using Infinite Banking to pay off debt- How to use Infinite Banking for common expenses- Infinite Banking as a cash flow strategy - How to operate your finances like banks doBecoming Your Own Banker, by Nelson Nash: https://a.co/d/161TeUnLearn more about Unlimited Life Concepts: https://www.unlimitedlifeconcepts.com/Follow Nate on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChroniclesNate

Jas Takhar is the founder of REC Canada, one of the top real estate teams in the country.As an active real estate investor, and a very prominent voice in the real estate community, I was excited to speak with Jas hear his insights and thoughts around the current market conditions, and how to navigate these times of high inflation and increasing interest rates.I always enjoy speaking to Jas, because he's one of the few people who looks at real estate investing with a long-term horizon, which really helps think through all the noise in media.We discuss many important topics in this conversation for those thinking about real estate investing, including:- Thoughts on when interest rates will come down again- Why pre-construction is a great investing strategy- Why real estate investing is the easiest way to generate wealth for most people- Population growth and lack of housing supply in the Golden Horseshoe Region- The 4 questions every investor should askMore about Jas Takhar here: https://jastakhar.ca/

This conversation includes Clara Medalie, Director of Research at Kaiko. Clara is a very prominent voice in the crypto space, and is often featured on major financial new outlets, such as CNBC and CoinDesk. Kaiko is cryptocurrency market data provider that analyzes data from over 100 centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges around the globe.My hope on this episode was to better understand the driving forces that have caused the downturn in crypto markets over the last several months, and get a feel for where cryptocurrencies are heading into the future.We covered quite a few topics in this discussion, including:- The reasons for the crypto collapse- Why bitcoin and cryptos have been directly correlated to equity markets- The market correlations between crypto prices and quantitative easing/tightening- How institutional investors are allocating bitcoin in their portfolios- What has to happen for bitcoin to reach $60k again- If bitcoin can be a global currency in the future- Which alt-coins to keep an eye out for!Learn more about Kaiko here: https://www.kaiko.com/Follow Clara on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Clara_Medalie

This was a fascinating chat with Paco de la India, who is travelling to 40 countries in 400 days, using nothing but bitcoin.I caught up with him while he was in Zambia, the 15th country on his journey. I was eager to speak with Paco so I can understand the practicality of using bitcoin in day-to-day life.His first-hand experiences were very insightful. We spoke about his journey thus far, and:- How he uses bitcoin to get around- The best countries to use bitcoin- The worst countries to use bitcoin- His biggest surprises along the way- His experience with the global bitcoin community- How people around the world perceive bitcoin- Inflation and the debasement of currencies and USD- How African countries with high inflation are adopting bitcoin- Tips on the best wallets and apps to use to get aroundFollow and learn about Paco's journey: https://runwithbitcoin.com/Follow Paco on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runeverycity/Paco's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PacoDeLaIndia

Adam O'Brien is a bitcoin entrepreneur and the CEO of Bitcoin Well, the first publicly traded bitcoin company in the world that allows customers to self-custody their bitcoin. Bitcoin Well also operates over 250+ bitcoin ATM's across Canada.Adam's startup story is very inspiring. He bootstrapped his company from one bitcoin ATM in Edmonton, to over 250 ATM's across the country, listing his company on the TSX, and doing ~$100M in annual revenue.Apart from learning about his incredible business, and what it takes to operate a publicly traded bitcoin company, we also touched on several important macroeconomic topics in this episode, including:- The position of bitcoin in today's rollercoaster economy- How over-reaching governments help bitcoin- The importance of self-custody wallets- Handling banks and regulations with a bitcoin company- The emergence of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) around the world, and how that impacts bitcoin- Best place in the world to be for bitcoin investors and entrepreneursThis was a very insightful chat that encompasses a wide-range of important topics. I encourage anyone to listen to this episode, whether you're into bitcoin or not. Enjoy!Check out Bitcoin Well: https://bitcoinwell.com/Follow Adam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamobrien_

I'm speaking with Scott Cordier, a certified financial planner for the past 28 years, and Certified Infinite Banking Practitioner.I randomly stumbled on the Infinite Banking Concept several months back, and have never looked back since. Infinite Banking is a financial strategy that has been used by the wealthiest people in the world for generations, which is also available to anyone. To fully grasp and understand the concept requires you to re-wire the way you think about money and finance. Once you do, you'll truly understand the power it holds and opportunities it opens up. Not to mention the legacy it can leave your family.My hope in this episode is to help scratch the surface, and get as many people interested as possible so they can start their own research.Some of the topics we discuss:

This episode includes Bitcoin OG Brad Mills, and entrepreneur and Bitcoin investor" Jimmy Toussaint, also known as "The Prettiest Boy in Bitcoin". With all of the chaos in the markets, I thought it was important to speak to people who are deep into Bitcoin, and get their perspectives on what is happening, and where things are going.As an investor in Bitcoin, and someone with a high-level understanding of what Bitcoin is, what it does, and why I think it's valuable, I was hoping to break things down in a simplified way that most people in a similar category would understand. We discuss many topics including:

I'm currently exploring some real estate investment opportunities, and so I wanted to chat with an expert. Daniel Foch is a highly regarded real estate broker, investor and market analyst.In the conversation, we explore many topics that could impact the real estate market in Toronto, as well as the economy as a whole:

Derek Steer, Co-founder and CEO of Mode Analytics.Mode helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses faster through data-driven decision making.  The Mode platform combines the best elements of Business Intelligence (ABI), Data Science (DS) and Machine Learning (ML) to empower data teams to answer impactful questions and collaborate on analysis across a range of business functions.In 2019, Mode added a number of premiere enterprise companies to its customer base, which now includes Anheuser Busch, Zillow, Lyft, Bloomberg, Capital One, VMWare, and Conde Nast, among others.In 2020, Mode was the recipient of four G2 Awards, including Best Estimated ROI, Fastest Implementation, Highest Performer, and Overall Leader. At this point, 52% of the Forbes 500 have signed up for Mode.Mode is currently being used by marquee companies such as Lyft, Zillow, Unbounce, Doordash, Everlane and Meredith publishing for product, financial and marketing analytics.  Mode goes beyond traditional business intelligence by speeding up answers to complex business problems and making the process more collaborative, so that everyone can build on the work of data analysts. Mode recently closed a successful Series D round for Mode, bringing the total funding raised to $83M.

Sagi Eliyahu is the CEO & Co-Founder of Tonkean, the no-code, automation platform that helps companies like Salesforce, Microsoft, and TripActions to solve their operational inefficiencies and business problems.Tonkean recently raised their $24M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $33M.Prior to Tonkean, Sagi held executive engineering roles at Jive Software. He also served for four years in Unit 8200, the Israeli Defense Force’s elite intelligence agency, and applies much of what he learned from developing data and information systems for the agency to his work at Tonkean.Sagi believes operations is a vastly underappreciated function within companies, and that we must empower operations teams to help design a better future of work — a future that’s more adaptive, efficient, and appreciative of the importance of people, as opposed to technology or data.

Nicolas started selling newspapers in the streets of Paris in high school, studied Math at Ecole Polytechnique then Business at Stanford GSB, and started and sold 3 tech companies with up to 65 employees and $11M in revenues.He is now the co-founder and CEO of Chili Piper - the System of Action for revenue teams - and of KosmoTime - the first Focused Productivity Assistant.

Ondrej Sedlacek is the CEO and founder of SatisMeter. SatisMeter helps companies measure and improve customer satisfaction through NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys.If you're in SaaS, then you've heard about the importance of NPS. If this is a topic you've been interested in learning more about, there's no one better to learn about it than Ondrej.We talk about how SatisMeter got started, and how they've  grown to help over 400 companies, why everyone should use NPS, and how it reduces churn.Enjoy the conversation!

Rytis Lauris is the CEO of Omnisend, a marketing automation SaaS that helps e-commerce companies.Omnisend is bootstrapped, employees +70 people, and has grown past +$11M ARR in only 6 years!Rytis talks about his founding story, specific marketing strategies that helped Omnisend gain traction early, understanding monetization strategies, leveraging integration partnerships, how he manages a growing team all over the world, and much much more.Learn how this bootstrapped SaaS is on route to Unicorn status!

Tom Wright is the CEO and co-founder of Cascade, a software that helps teams stay focused on their goals.Very impressively, Cascade serves +25,000 users, have 40+ employees, offices in 3 countries, and are closing in on $10M annual recurring revenue -all while bootstrapped!

This is one of those episodes you might have to listen to more than once. Eugene Levin is the Chief Strategy Officer of SEMrush, an SEO management platform with over 800 employees around the world.Eugene has a very unique mind when it comes to marketing and how to think about growth in business, and it's clear how much he's contributed to the great success of SEMrush.This episode is jam-packed with actionable takeaways and advice from a high-level executive. We touch on several topics, including how to have a "winner take all mentality", the best ways to utilize marketing spend, the channels driving SEMrush's incredible growth, actionable tips on how any company can think about SEO, important metrics, and much much more.Truly one of those episodes you want to listen to in full, and soak it all up. Enjoy!

I’m speaking with Josh Pigford, CEO and founder of Baremetrics. If you’re in SaaS, you’ve definitely heard of Josh and Baremetrics. Hundreds of SaaS and subscription businesses use Baremetrics to properly display dashboards and metrics to give a real time breakdown of how their company is performing. This is fundamental for every SaaS company, and Baremetrics has been the staple in that department for quite some time.Recently, Josh caused some waves in the SaaS world when he revealed that he almost sold Baremetrics for $5 million, which was a big shock to a lot of people in SaaS, given how transparent and open Josh is with his business. So we’re talking about that, why he went through with the sales process, how the deal fell through, and what impact that had with his team when the news went public.We also talk about how Josh grew his remote company to well over $100k in monthly recurring revenue and what he’s planning for the future.I’m really glad I had Josh on the podcast, this was a very insightful episode, and I have no doubt you’ll get a tonne of value from it. Enjoy!

I'm speaking with automation and efficiency guru (or automation geek, as he calls himself), Will Christensen, co-founder of Data Automation.Almost all companies of any size struggle with efficiency and waste countless hours with redundant and manual work. Will specializes in helping SaaS companies save time through automating workflows.We talk about ways Data Automation helps SaaS companies save time through automation, how he's grown his company to +$1M in revenue, specific marketing channels to attract more business, and much much more.Will also shares some of his favourite automation and efficiency hacks which are absolute gems!This was a really great episode with key actionable insights that will really help you see the importance of efficiency in your business. Enjoy!

In this episode, I’m speaking with Spencer Fry, the CEO and founder of Podia. Podia helps creators sell anything online from courses, downloads, and memberships, without worrying about any tech.Podia is about 5 years old, they’re a fully remote team of 19 people at the time we recorded this (possibly even more now), and they just seem to be picking up a ton of traction in this space. Spencer has a bold vision for the company, in the next 5 years, he wants Podia to be the ONLY platform that a creator uses to monetize. We talk about what he’s doing and what they plan on doing to execute on that big vision.Spencer has been serial entrepreneur since day one. He has actually never received a pay check from someone other than himself, which is pretty unique. He’s founded 4 companies including Podia, has had 3 successful exits, and is now focused on growing Podia to the the leader in their space.If you’re in SaaS, a CEO, a founder, or anyone in business, definitely listen to this chat with one of the best executors I’ve ever spoken to. Enjoy!

I’m speaking with serial entrepreneur, Josh MacDonald in this episode. Josh is a fellow software entrepreneur from the greater Toronto area (as am I), so it was really great to connect with him and hear his story - and what a story it is!Josh is only 24 years old (at the time of recording this of course), and he has a tremendous wealth of knowledge and insights that are very impressive.Josh got into the internet game at a very young age, he was making tens of thousands of dollars when he was only 15 years old. He recently wrote a book called the The Non-Technical Founder, where he talks about his journey and experiences as a non-technical founder, building, growing and eventually selling companies.He’s done all of this bootstrapped, which I love of course. Currently, Josh passively runs a SaaS company called getshout.io, and an apparel brand called Abella, which is making 5-figures a day in revenue.This is an episode I’m really excited for people to listen to. Enjoy our chat!

I’m speaking with Amar Ghose in this episode. Amar is the CEO of ZenMaid, a scheduling management software that helps cleaning and maid services be more efficient and organized.Amar has done an amazing job of building himself a very nice, high margin company. ZenMaid is fully remote, bootstrapped, and are set to cross over $1.5M in annual recurring revenue this year. I’m pretty envious of Amar’s lifestyle, as he’s pretty much a full-time traveler, along with his wife.We dive into how Amar grew the company to what it is today. I love his story, because it’s all about persistence, consistency and staying hungry. Amar reminds us how business is a marathon, not a sprint. He shares how the spent the first several years cold calling to get his first handful of clients, and recounts the very slow grind. They were only growing at about $300 in MRR per month for the first 3 years before things started to take off.But that persistence and dedication have certainly paid off, Zenmaid is growing significantly, revenue is climbing the team is expanding. Learn how ZenMaid has become the market leader for maid services in the world.Enjoy our chat!Thank you to my friends at Customerly and Data Automation for sponsoring this episode!

I’m speaking with Colin Nederkoorn, CEO and co-founder of customer.io. Colin was an absolute pleasure to speak with. He built customer.io in 2012 with his co-founder John, and have been exploding ever since.For those who don’t know, customer.io is a SaaS company that gives companies one place to manage all of their their emails, push notifications, SMS’s and other messages that come from their product  to their customers.Customer.io is now doing over $10M in annual recurring revenue, they’re fully remote, and have a team of over 50 employees worldwide.We’re talking about how customer.io maintains a positive company culture while being remote and distributed, how they’re maintaining their steady and consistent growth, how their product team has evolved over the years, and much much more.I had a great time speaking with Colin, so much that we lost track of time so had to cut it a little but short at the end. But nonetheless, a ton of great value in this episode, I hope you enjoy!PS. Thank you to my friends at Humi for sponsoring this episode. For everything Payroll, Benefits & HR, Humi has you covered. I got my listeners 30% off their subscription. Sign up here to claim the promo, you won't regret it!

I'm speaking with Luca Micheli, CEO and founder of Customerly.io. Customerly helps companies create better relationships with their customers with effective communication. He launched Customerly about 4 years ago, they have over 17,000 customers around the world.This is a fascinating story, Luca is competing in a very hot market, where it was once pretty much a monopoly with Intercom as the main provider in the space. The communication marketing space has now opened up which is evident through Customerly's success.Luca is from Italy and currently lives in Ireland. Customerly is fully bootstrapped, which is amazing. We're digging into a lot of great topics in this episode, that a lot of you will definitely find useful. We break down exactly what Luca did to gain such a large user base in a short time, with lifetime deal offers and other marketing techniques. We talk about what they're doing today to drive up their user base, as well as some of their mistakes and learnings along the way.Whether you're a bootstrapped founder or not, this is an episode you're sure to get a ton of value from. Enough of the intro, here's my chat with Luca. Enjoy!Thank you to my friends at Chargify for sponsoring this episode. If you want to manage your SaaS revenue better, make sure you check out Chargify. I was able to get my listeners the first month of Chargify completely free, plus free premium onboarding. They have to know that I sent you, so make sure you sign up here and tell them Founder Views sent you. I promise, you won't regret it!Another big thank you to my friends at Customer.io. If you want to step up your communication with your clients and prospects, of if you want to improve the level of engagement and value you provide, I highly recommend Customer.io. Go to customer.io/founderviews to sign up. You won't regret it!

I’m speaking with Braden Urquhart, a fellow Canadian and CEO of RecTimes, a scheduling software that helps ice rinks manage their bookings.This was such a valuable episode to listen to if you’re focused on building a profitable, lean and high-margin business. RecTimes is a small remote team of three people. But because they’re playing in such a tightly defined niche market, they’re able to find customers and penetrate their market a lot easier than most companies, which is such an advantage. They're growing steadily, and looking to double their revenue in the next 12 months.But more importantly, they’re able to live a very nice and comfortable lifestyle, and be around their family and kids, which is a massive benefit in playing in a remote and tightly defined market.We’re diving into that and a whole lot more in this episode. There's a lot of great takeaways, and I have no doubt you'll find valuable. Enjoy!Thank you to Nuclino for also sponsoring the episode. if you’re a company that’s serious about growing, being organized and being efficient, I highly suggest Nuclino for your internal wiki. I was able to get my listeners a pretty sweet deal. I got you 30% for 1 year of service. Go to nuclino.com, and use FOUNDERVIEWS during checkout.

Recently, I did a talk at the GrowthMentor Summit, which was a virtual summit, that included 50 of some of the world’s best growth leaders.This was such an amazing event. There were thousands of attendees from all over the world, that had free access to some incredible insights from some very talented people.My talk was on outbound sales. It was called "How to get your first 500 paying clients on a bootstrapped budget". I spoke about how I single-handedly got my first 500 paying clients through cold-calling and outbound sales.I broke down the talk in 3 sections:The 6 CRITERIA needed to get your first 500 clients.The 3 KEY ELEMENTS you need to make sure you succeed.The 9 STEP PLAYBOOK I used to get my first 500 clients.So this is the audio version obviously, if you want to see the actual video with the slides, click the link below.Click here to see the video of my talk with slides.BONUS: Click here to get access to my custom recurring revenue calculator

Competition is a great thing. When I see an industry with many different competitors, and many companies offering similar services to customers, my mouth starts to water. This tells me that there’s a healthy market of customers spending a lot of money on services that solve their problems. There are several advantages to playing in a competitive market:A small piece of a big pie = $$My first SaaS company was in one of the most competitive markets there are – real estate! There were literally hundreds upon hundreds of competitors offering similar products. That didn’t stop us at all. In fact, it actually encouraged us. We knew there was a massive market out there spending money on this service, and we wanted to get our piece of the pie. And believe me, if the market is big enough, even with hundreds of competitors, a small piece of the pie can be very significant. Significant enough to build a 7-figure ARR profitable company, and live a very good lifestyle!Skip finding “product-market fit”Another advantage of playing in a competitive market is that you can essentially skip the stage of finding product-market fit. Clearly there’s product-market fit if you’re offering a similar service to other companies that are making money. It’s simply a matter of positioning yourself in a slightly different way, with slightly different value propositions, and pulling some of those customers your way.Position yourself how you wantHow you position yourself is the most important thing when entering a competitive market. Obviously, you don’t want to flat-out copy another company’s product offering. Although you’ll likely be offering very similar services, you want to focus your offering on some sort of unique value in your product or service. For instance, it can be as simple as highlighting your amazing customer support, your more attractive pricing model, a particular feature that’s sleeker, etc.Define your niche and attack itWhen you determine your main differentiators, you can then define your ideal customer, and narrow down on a tight niche in the market. When you clearly define the type of customer you’re after, it improves your messaging, marketing material, it makes selling very easy, and allows you to gain traction quickly.Next time someone says that a market is too crowded, or they deter you from starting a business because of too much competition, just ignore them and start licking your chops!founderviews.com

I’m speaking with Mark Thompson in this episode. Mark is the founder and CEO of PayKickStart, a subscription management, and affiliate solution that helps entrepreneurs and SaaS companies sell more and manage the payments side of their business with ease.PayKickStart recently surpassed $1M in ARR, and has really been picking up steam. Aside from PayKickStart, Mark runs Digital KickStart, a sister company that houses a couple dozen other SaaS companies and apps.This was such a great episode, because Mark is a true raw and bootstrapped entrepreneur, which I always admire and respect, who also happens to be a a non-tech founder in the SaaS game. Mark talks about how PayKickStart was actually built as an internal tool, and how it organically formed into the great business it is today.We talk about about how he manages his fully remote team, what to look for when hiring overseas developers, he also gives a lot of actionable insights into what PayKickStart is doing to drive up growth, and much more.This is a jam packed episode you’re going to want to listen to in full. Enjoy!Thank you to Nuclino for also sponsoring the episode. if you’re a company that’s serious about growing, being organized and being efficient, I highly suggest Nuclino for your internal wiki. I was able to get my listeners a pretty sweet deal. I got you 30% for 1 year of service. Go to nuclino.com, and use FOUNDERVIEWS during checkout.If you're looking for a phone system to fit your MODERN business, check out my friends at AirCall. I got my listeners an exclusive 7-day free trial. Make sure you sign up here so they know I sent you!

I was super excited about this episode, I’m speaking with Renat Zubairov, the co-founder and CEO of elastic.io, a B2B SaaS that helps enterprises connect and process different applications.They were founded in 2013, and have been seeing triple digit revenue growth year after year, which is extremely difficult for a company this size. They’re currently doing well over $2M in annual recurring revenue. elastic.io was acquired in 2017 by mVISE, a publicly traded company in Germany. They acquired a majority stake of Elastic, but they still operate independently.This was such an informative chat, Renat is a very high-level CEO. We deep-dive into a lot of marketing, including some of the advantages and disadvantages of inbound vs outbound sales, how elastic.io is benefiting from content marketing, and what marketing channels are currently working the best for the company. Renat tells us why churn is the most important metric in SaaS, and how elastic.io maintains negative churn, which is something all SaaS folks should strive towards.If you’re in the B2B space, or just want to level-up your way of thinking about business, this is the episode for you!PS. Thank you to my friends at Chargify for sponsoring this episode. If you want to manage your SaaS revenue better, make sure you check out Chargify. I was able to get my listeners the first month of Chargify completely free, plus free premium onboarding. This deal is only good if you sign up before the end of 2019. And they have to know that I sent you. Make sure you sign up here and tell them Founder Views sent you. I promise, you won't regret it!

This was an episode I was really excited about. I met Nim in Boston back in January 2019. He told me about what he was building, and I was instantly pumped about it. He founded CloudTax, which is a tax filing service that helps Canadians easily file their taxes online for free.The reason i was excited to speak to Nim is because tax and accounting have always been close to me. I got my BCom in accounting and finance, and one of my side hustles back in the day was filing taxes for my classmates, so this was a really fun and nostalgic episode for me especially.Nim was born in Sri Lanka and migrated to Canada shortly after the tsunami in 2004. He worked with the CRA for a couple of years, and had some experience at Sunlife as a financial advisor. He eventually circled back to his original passion which was taxes, and that’s how CloudTax was formed.We’re talking about how he built the initial product, how he funded the development, getting certified by the CRA, and eventually launching the business. This past year was CloudTax's first filing season, and was a huge success. Several thousand Canadians across all provinces filed their taxes with CloudTax.This was a great episode that I’m excited to share, so I hope you enjoy!PS. Thank you to my friends at Humi for sponsoring this episode. For everything Payroll, Benefits & HR, Humi has you covered. I got my listeners 30% off their subscription. Sign up here to claim the promo, you won't regret it!Also, thank you to Nuclino for also sponsoring the episode. if you’re a company that’s serious about growing, being organized and being efficient, I highly suggest Nuclino for your internal wiki. I was able to get my listeners a pretty sweet deal. I got you 30% for 1 year of service. Go to nuclino.com, and use FOUNDERVIEWS during checkout.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Baptiste Debever, the CEO and founder of Feedier. Feedier is an app that helps companies get feedback from their employees in a fun, seamless and engaging way.He launched the company in early 2018, they have over 8000 users on the platform and over 50 paying clients. They’re a team of 8 people based in France.Baptiste breaks down what they did to get their first thousand users by using AppSumo shortly after they launched.We talk about how Feedier is using content to drive the bulk of their leads and sales, their outbound strategy and how Feedier dips into the outbound sales game. We also get into metrics, and which kpi’s are important for Feedier to track their success.I had a really great time speaking with Baptiste, he’s definitely a go-getter, and there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll be seeing a lot more of Feedier for years to come. So here it is, I hope you enjoy our chat!PS. If you're looking for a phone system to fit your MODERN business, check out my friends at AirCall. I got my listeners an exclusive 7-day free trial. Make sure you sign up here so they know I sent you!