INspired INsider Podcast From Startup to Multi-Million Dollar Company with Zvi Band Founder of Contactually.com
Zvi Band is the Co-founder of Contactually,which is a relationship marketing platform. Contactually ensures that you stay top of mind with the relationships that matter to help you grow your business. Zvi helped bring Contactually from idea in his Evernote to 52 employees (and counting), millions in revenue, 12M+ in venture backing, and thousands of paying customers. Zvi is active in fostering the tech community in D.C. and has been named a Tech Titan 3 times.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:- [0:24] Jeremy’s introduction of this episode and his guest, Zvi Band.
- [1:19] What is a Tech Titan?
- [1:42] Why doesn’t Zvi ever wear the color “green?”
- [3:06] The hardest part of Zvi’s journey with his company, Contactually.
- [5:01] How Zvi manages his internal battles as fear and doubt creep in.
- [6:66] Where Zvi grew up and the family that raised him.
- [9:30] What Zvi wanted to be when he was in High School, and why he followed that dream.
- [10:17] Why Zvi is the CEO and not the CTO (Chief Technical Officer).
- [11:36] Influential company and work experiences in Zvi’s life.
- [12:58] How Contactually came about.
- [14:37] The phases of an evolving company.
- [15:05] The idea phase: what Zvi did in the beginning.
- [17:00] The pain points that motivated Zvi to create his software.
- [18:58] A customer experience that helped shape the future of Contactually.
- [20:00] Iterations on the original idea that have been employed over time.
- [21:30] How to make the decisions about what integrations to create.
- [21:57] What excites Zvi about Contactually right now?
- [23:18] The Main Point of Contactually: a newbie’s guide.
- [24:33] Future plans for Contactually.
- [26:01] One of the “failed experiments” that happened inside the company.
- [28:42] How Zvi found and connected with his co-founders.
- [30:42] One of the biggest myths in startup land: Keep your ideas secret.
- [32:52] Raising funds and adding team members.
- [34:02] The hiring process: How to know it’s time to hire.
- [36:52] How to train sales representatives.
- [39:29] The skills needed in order to scale a company larger.
- [40:29] Lessons learned in hiring team members.
- [44:15] The first conversions to paid customers.
- [45:33] Lessons learned when developing the pricing model: cost VS value.
- [47:59] Why Contactually doesn’t require a credit card and gives a 30 day trial.
- [49:28] Raising funds: the chronology of Contactually’s financial base.
- [50:40] What investors are actually investing in.
- [52:35] Good advice received from investors.
- [54:49] The most important things about building a business.
- [56:07] The structures that are in place that allow the Contactually team to execute.
Contactually is one of those SaaS companies that you’ve likely seen around the internet. But being familiar with the company is much different than seeing the power and value behind what they do. Contactually is a Customer Relationship Management software that is web-based. The company’s moniker is “Turn the People You Know Into the Business Results You Need.”
Stop for a moment and imagine what possibilities might open up for you, if the people you know could ACTUALLY be turned into business results. It’s an audacious goal, and one the Contactually team delivers on customer after customer.
On this episode of Inspired Insider, Dr. Jeremy Weisz chats with Zvi Band, co-founder of Contactually about the journey from startup to multi-million dollar company, the skills it takes to start and then scale a business, how to find and hire the right people, the challenge of determining pricing of products and services, and the biggest lessons he’s learned from his time as CEO of such a rapidly growing company.
One of the gold nuggets from this conversation is the differentiation Zvi makes between the skills needed to start a company and the skills needed to grow it to a much larger place. There are a whole new set of skills that either have to be learned or hired onto the team if the company is going to reach its fullest potential, and Zvi shares his thoughts about how to approach both of those options.
And before you’re done listening, be sure you catch the point at the end where Zvi talks about the most important thing he’s learned as a startup founder and entrepreneur. In his words, “It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how skilled you are, what matters is whether you execute on the ideas you have.” It’s a lesson learned that Zvi and his team at Contactually have put into practice, with tremendous results. You’ll love this conversation, so be sure to listen.
Resources Mentioned on this episodeZvi’s website - www.ZviBand.com