Quit 6 Figure Corporate Job With a Kid to Launch SaaS Startup, EP 267: Prem Bhatia

Prem Bhatia, CEO and co-founder of Cooleaf. Cooleaf’s a B2B platform that helps companies organise, coordinate and track their engagement efforts. Listen as Prem and Nathan talk about breaking out of the corporate world, getting startup funding, and acquiring customers at no cost.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? – The Alliance
What CEO do you follow? — Dharmesh Shah
What is your favorite online tool? — LinkedIn
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Do it sooner. You’ll learn on the job.

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:10 – Nathan’s introduction
02:10 – Welcoming Prem to the show
02:40 – Prem left the corporate world aged 35 to begin a startup
03:20 – Gave up a salary supporting his family
04:40 – Cooleaf is a SaaS platform designed to help businesses with engagement efforts
05:30 – Currently has 25 active customers
06:05 – Average annual contract of $25-30k
06:20 – Acquiring customers through inside sales - personal outreach; a blog
07:05 – Not spending any money on acquisitions
07:30 – Have raised about $800k in funding - in part from 500 Startups
08:10 – Funding is largely in equity
08:30 – Founded 4-5 years ago, but pivoted later into B2B
09:05 – Team of 11
10:30 – Annual churn of around 10% - a little unclear right now
11:30 – Average LTV is around $100k
11:45 – Model right now is to ‘nail it and scale it’ - tighten up what they’re doing
12:50 – Made less than $500k in 2015
13:20 – Aiming to make $88k per month this year
13:30 – Connect with Prem on Twitter
15:45 – Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Startups don’t come with guarantees. To be an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to give something up.
If you’re working with a small number of high-value clients, you shouldn’t have to spend money on acquisitions. Reach out through your networks first.
Learn on the job. No one ever feels ready to start something - accept that you aren’t, and jump in anyway.

Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
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.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives