Canadian Real Time Big Data Company’s Excellent Thought Leadership: Terapeak CEO Kevin North (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. We cover Big Data at length, both on Thought Leaders in Big Data and Entrepreneur Journeys. This story relates the tale of robust execution on a very insightful concept, delivering a real-time Big Data solution to merchants transacting on marketplaces like eBay. Sramana: Kevin, let’s start

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Ultra-Light Startup to $20 Million in Revenue: WatchUWant CEO OJ Whatley (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: How many people do you have? OJ Whatley: We currently have 20 employees. Sramana Mitra: That’s very good – 20 employees, $20 million in revenue. OJ Whatley: Half of those are sales associates. Sramana Mitra: That is my next question. What is the composition?  Half are sales associates, what is the other half

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Building a Fat SaaS Venture: Rob Hull, Founder and President of Adaptive Insights (Part 7)

Sramana: Who led your latest round of funding? That is a substantial amount of money to bring onboard. Rob Hull: We had participation from Norwest Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as participation from others such as Salesforce.com and even ex-CFOs who found this to be a compelling platform like Jeff Epstein who used

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Ultra-Light Startup to $20 Million in Revenue: WatchUWant CEO OJ Whatley (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Regardless, in 2008 you were generating business at your own site. Talk to me specifically about your own site – developing your own site, business on your own site, the traffic. How much business do you do today on your own site? OJ Whatley: Back then, as it is today, it’s primarily keyword-driven.

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Building a Fat SaaS Venture: Rob Hull, Founder and President of Adaptive Insights (Part 6)

Sramana: One of the things I like is that the type of software you are selling has a lot of exit barriers. Rob Hull: The important things to take away as an entrepreneur is that our product is sticky. Our software becomes an integral part of a business’s ongoing monthly process. We are a part

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Ultra-Light Startup to $20 Million in Revenue: WatchUWant CEO OJ Whatley (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: You said in 2006 you were doing $6 million? OJ Whatley: Yes, $6 million – $500,000 in receipts per month. Sramana Mitra: What was the inventory situation at that point? OJ Whatley: I probably had closer to 50 to 80. Sramana Mitra: That’s still out of your home?

Building a Fat SaaS Venture: Rob Hull, Founder and President of Adaptive Insights (Part 5)

Sramana: How much money did you raise to start the company? Rob Hull: We raised about $4.5 million in our initial round in late 2003. Sramana: What were your milestones with that money? Rob Hull: We wanted to get the product built, hire an executive team, and have a set of reference customers. That is

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Ultra-Light Startup to $20 Million in Revenue: WatchUWant CEO OJ Whatley (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: It sounds like your business was entirely Panerai until what year? OJ Whatley: Until about 2003. Sramana Mitra: What did you do after 2003? OJ Whatley: Again, I’ve always loved watches. Panerai has captured my heart. In fact to this day, my license plate is Panerai. I fell in love with Panerai like

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