EP 392: 3M Publishers Use Issu, 100,000 Have Paid with CEO Joe Hyrkin

Joe Hyrkin, CEO of Issuu. Joe enjoys working in the publishing industry because it is driven by passion. It is a collective space for people who are moved about something to experience that thing together. Listen as Joe talks about Issuu, which has brought the publishing industry into a modern, digital context.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing about Hard Things
• What CEO do you follow? — Mark Zuckerberg
• Favorite online tool? — Slack

• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Not now.
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Put in effort to make an impact. Have a broader learning perspective. Care and effort matter over anything else.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:05 – Nathan introduces Joe
• 01:40 –  Issuu is a modern media company
• 02:20 – Tools for publishers
• 02:45 – Access to premium tools brings in revenue
• 03:05 – Revenue from Issuu itself
• 03:40 – Started in Copenhagen
• 03:55 – A more current platform of digital media
• 04:15 – He was not part of the original founding team
• 04:50 – A focus on giving great content to people who are passionate about it
• 05:20 – It grew through word of mouth and digital marketing
• 05:30 – Over 3 million publishers have used Issuu
• 06:20 – Almost 100,000 publishers had paid for the service
• 06:40 – Primarily recurring revenue payment
• 07:30 – 90% of revenue is recurring revenue
• 08:15 – The new subscription plan
• 08:45 – Most pay $35/month
• 09:30 – Publishers come and go
• 10:00 – Customer churn is 2%/month
• 10:30 – Focus is to help the customers
• 10:50 – The new plan helps with collaborative efforts
• 12:00 – Center of the business is in the west coast
• 12:40 – Raised $21 million
• 13:30 – His focus is to create products that have an impact
• 14:40 – Team of 60 people
• 15:20 – Acquisition costs
• • 15:30 – Not much is spent on marketing
  • 15:50 – They are found through search engines and word of mouth
  • 16:10 – “We’re clearly the leader in the space.”
  • 16:40 – About $40/customer
• 17:30 – Customers see the value
• 18:00 – Why publishing?
• • 18:20 – “It’s about what moves people in their lives.”
  • 18:50 – Example of Malala’s birthday celebration
• 19:35 – Getting publishers into podcasting
• 20:00 -- @yankeejoe or jhy@issue.com
• 22:00 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Get into an industry that you are passionate about.
• Take an ancient product or service and update it for today’s world.
• Focus on doing what’s best for your customers.

Resources Mentioned:

• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• Slack – The online tool Joe uses
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives