EP 522: Delivra $15M 2017 Goal, $700k MRR Now, Helping 450+ Customers Sell Things with CEO Neil Berman

Nathan interviews Neil Berman. This guy knows SaaS and launched his company called Delivra, in 1999, in the email marketing space. Listen as Neil shares how Delivra has grown exponentially in 17 years, without the need to raise funds and get into debt.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Great CEOs are Lazy
• What CEO do you follow? –  Mark Zuckerberg

• Favorite online tool? — Twitter and LinkedIn
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— “At least”
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Patience and determination will win the game”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:37 – Nathan introduces Neil to the show
• 01:59 – Delivra is an email marketing software tool that helps clients “sell more stuff”
• 02:10 – They are a high break-even business with a low variable cost, so the more customers the better
• 02:15 – Delivra is a SaaS business
• 02:25 – Delivra currently has 500 direct  paying clients, and a couple thousand resellers
• 02:33 – Average customer pays $800-900 per month
• 03:21 – Total revenue in 2016 about $4.8M
• 03:33 – Total revenue in 2015 is $4.2M
• 03:45 – Delivra has 3 marketing buckets
• 04:00 – Total team size is over 40+
• • 04:12 – Main team location in Indianapolis
• 04:23 – Gross customer churn per month is 1.5%
• 04:45 – A customer stays with Delivra for 42 months
• 05:00 – LTV
• 05:10 – CAC is $1.08
• 06:33 – Delivra hasn’t raised yet and they have no debt, but are looking at options
• • 06:45 – Neil’s target for their first round
• 07:43 – Delivra has grown organically over the years
• 08:17 – Neil is meeting with a capital markets team to learn about how to take Delivra to the next level
• 08:50 – Neil would think seriously about an offer
• 09:40 – Neil shares how their customers are using Delivra
• 10:25 – Connect with Neil through his website Delivra
• 12:20 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Before you do your first round of raising, get advice from an expert.
• It’s incredible growing through organic traffic, but always aim to know what is the next level for your company.
• Patience and determination will win the game.

Resources Mentioned:

• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
• Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
• 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
• Delivra.com – Neil’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives