On today’s EO 360° episode, Dave Will interview Clate Mask, the co-founder and CEO of Infusionsoft, a small businesses sales and marketing automation software. Clate has also co-authored to book, Conquer the Chaos, a New York Times bestselling book. He discusses in this episode why marketing is a big priority for their company and how they get a sense of their customers’ satisfaction. Tune in now!

Timestamped show notes

01:34 Dave Will introduces today’s guest, Clate Mask

03:40 Clate talks about raising capital by pooling their own money, their families’ and friends’ as well to fund the company in its early years.

06:20 Entrepreneurs should take off some pieces off the table to prevent being at odds with investors.

08:02 He shares that he didn’t think that Infusionsoft would become an almost billion dollar business, especially when he started his career struggling to provide for his family.

10:31 Infusionsoft’s market is the small businesses. They are serving a different market than Salesforce and Hubspot.

12:42 Clate talks about the Everest mission—a 10-year mission to become the leader in sales and marketing automation for small businesses.

16:00 They explore of where Infusionsoft is headed in the future, or if it has any plans to go public.

20:50 The company started with a plan to make marketing a priority and learning through marketing.

24:45 With software as the primary product and service, the only way to make money is if the customer is with the company for a long time.

27:26 Clate discusses on their process of how to get a sense of their customers’ satisfaction.

28:49 He gives advice on how to become a better entrepreneur by managing the mind.

Key takeaways

1. The velocity of learning through marketing spend is something that many business owners miss and they extend their challenges longer than necessary in the early days because they are not marketing.

2. If you don’t master your mind, you will not master your business.

Resources

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Conquer the Chaos book