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Todd Olson, Pendo CEO and Co-founder, is chatting LIVE with the folks of Grepbeat this Friday! Pendo is a product analytics platform that helps software companies develop products that resonate with customers. Some of the world's leading software companies and digital enterprises—such as Verizon, OpenTable, and LabCorp—use the platform. Before Pendo, Todd worked at Rally Software Development, which he led through its public offering. He also co-founded 6th Sense Software, which was later acquired.
One of the people on the "short list" I wanted to speak with was the Co-Founder and CEO of Pendo, Todd Olson, and was thrilled when he accepted my invitation. Todd lives right in my backyard in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina and I have been an admirer of Pendo for many years. Todd and I have some mutual connections but we've never had the opportunity officially meet before. I was interested to understand how he came to be a Co-Founder of Pendo, how they've scaled, and what lessons he learned early in life that has propelled him to this success. We cover those topics and more on this episode of the Podcast!About Todd Olson:Todd Olson is co-founder and CEO of Pendo, a product experience platform that helps product managers deliver successful products. Before Pendo, Olson served as VP of products at Rally Software Development which he led through its public offering.Find Todd Online:Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddaolson/Twitter - https://twitter.com/tolson........For more episodes of the Just Get Started Podcast or learn more about the host, Brian Ondrako, check out https://www.brianondrako.com or find Brian on Instagram at @brianondrako Follow the Just Get Started Podcast on Instagram at @justgetstartedpodcast or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/justgetstartedpodcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Top Entrepreneurs in Money, Marketing, Business and Life
Todd Olson is CEO and Co-Founder of Pendo, a product experience platform that helps product managers deliver successful products. Before Pendo, Todd served as VP of Products at Rally Software Development which he led through its public offering. Todd joined Rally via its acquisition of 6th Sense, a company he founded and served as President and CTO.
The Top Entrepreneurs in Money, Marketing, Business and Life
Todd Olson is CEO and Co-Founder of Pendo, a product experience platform that helps product managers deliver successful products. Before Pendo, Todd served as VP of Products at Rally Software Development which he led through its public offering. Todd joined Rally via its acquisition of 6th Sense, a company he founded and served as President and CTO.
The Top Entrepreneurs in Money, Marketing, Business and Life
Todd Olson. He’s the CEO and founder of Pendo, a product experience platform that helps product managers deliver successful products. Before Pendo, Todd served as VP of products at Rally Software Development which he led through its public offering. Todd joins Rally in its acquisition of 6th Sense, the company he founded and served as president and CTO. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Levie Favorite online tool? — 15Five Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew more at 21, than I thought I knew” Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:42 – Nathan introduces Todd to the show 02:17 – Pendo provides a solution that helps companies build an application to improve its experience 03:00 – Optimizely uses Pendo to understand the people who are in their trial and onboarding flow 03:32 – Pendo is different to Intercom’s space 04:01 – Pendo is a SaaS company 04:21 – Pendo was launched in 2013 05:11 – Todd experimented with different technologies 05:26 – “Every product has key set features” 05:45 – Todd founded 6th Sense and sold it to Rally 06:24 – First year revenue is zero 06:55 – Todd invested $1.2M to start Pendo 07:11 – Pendo has raised a seed round 07:44 – It was a million dollar convertible note 08:15 – Pendo has raised a total of $31M 08:26 – Team size 08:55 – “All of our customers are top-tier” 09:43 – Average customer pay per month 09:52 – Pendo serves mid-market to enterprise companies 10:20 – Todd shares what drives their expansion revenue 10:50 – Pendo increases prices by adding products to existing plans 10:55 – Pendo has tier-prices based on features 11:17 – Todd shares why adding products is their main expansion driver 12:30 – Average number of customers 12:45 – Future target market 13:00 – Average customer churn 13:35 – Pendo has a net negative churn 13:49 – Todd explains net negative churn 14:54 – CAC and LTV ratio is healthy 15:26 – Pendo’s expansion plan 15:44 – Average MRR 17:25 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Treat all your customers as if they are top-tier customers. Expansion drivers will depend on what suits the company. Be more confident. Resources Mentioned: Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments 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 Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives