Sramana Mitra: The primary business is, essentially, lead generation for colleges? Is that what you’re saying? Steve Huey: Yes, our primary business is lead generation but for not-for-profit schools. It’s a very important distinction. There are around 3,300 not-for-profit colleges in the United States. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start there. What is the difference between leads for
Steve Huey: I relocated to Kentucky and started working in small companies again. I was hired by a group of private equity guys to help them turn around and sell a property they had. It was a listing business called Rentalhouses.com for single-unit rental properties. We sold that within about nine months to KKR and their company
We don’t hear a lot of entrepreneurial stories from Kentucky. Here’s one that is scaling nicely! Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background? Steve Huey: I grew up just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. My father
Sramana Mitra: That’s an interesting position because venture capitalists manage portfolios. Entrepreneurs manage their life. Your life is not a portfolio. Life is life. You can do one company. If you fail, then it’s writing off a lot of your life. Joel Lessem: I’ve had a couple of conversations. I once said, “Here’s the problem.
Sramana Mitra: There are tons of unhealthy business practices. Pursuing growth at all cost tends to make people practice unhealthy business practices. We don’t believe in that. We believe in sustainable growth. We are much more in tune with what you’re doing. We actually appreciate what you’re doing. The more fundamental-driven approach is what we
Sramana Mitra: Talk to me a bit about the verticals where you have good adoption. You have a horizontal platform product. What vertical is your strongest? Joel Lessem: Investment banking is 30% of our business. Sramana Mitra: What’s the next one? Joel Lessem: Law firms are 20%. Sramana Mitra: Is there any other dominant vertical?
Joel Lessem: I didn’t like the venture capital model. I sold my house to take this job. I have a wife and a child. I put too much into this to play venture casino. I’m here to make money. I don’t care how big the company is. I just want to make money and build
Sramana Mitra: Is this the company that we are talking about right now? Joel Lessem: Yes, I wrote the business plan 10 years ago. There was no documentation of who owned this IP. Then I had to go to the client and say, “I want to sell this to all your competitors.” I had to structure