Greg Raiz, founder of Raizlabs – a technology innovation firm for design custom applications, web platforms and other cutting-edge software. Listen how Greg earned the respect of startups and Fortune500 companies through his business.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Blink
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk

• Favorite online tool? — Invision
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Just make sure to stop and smell the roses”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:41 – Nathan introduces Greg to the show
• 02:10 – What Raizlabs does and how it makes money
• • 02:14 – It is a software design company
  • 02:21 – Build iphone and android apps
• 02:45 – Average project size and price
• • 03:10 – Raizlabs as a product business service
  • 03:22 – Raizlabs helps with the technology side of the business
• 03:35 – Greg started Raizlabs in 2003
• 03:47 – Greg was making $ 60-70,000 when he was working with Microsoft
• • 03:57 – Greg was 23 when he left Microsoft
• 04:11 – First year revenue in 2013
• • 04:25 – Greg was living off his savings
• 04:55 – Total revenue in 2015
• 05:10 – 80 people in team
• 05:35 – Business has been cash deposited for more than a year
• • 05:44 – Margin and business capital
• 06:09 – “Paying yourself as a CEO has always been a challenge”
• • 06:23 – Reasonable salary
  • 06:58 – Total annual personal expenses
• 07:37 – Total savings back then
• 07:53 – Greg had a day job when he was just starting his company
• 08:20 – Total monthly headcount expenses on an average
• 08:55 – Greg uses Basecamp and other tools
• • 09:24 – Spending on tools
• 09:47 – How Greg feels when their client earns more than them
• • 10:00 – They did some good stuff for HubSpot
• 10:25 – Just released an interesting product for The Perkins School for the Blind 
• • 10:35 – Challenge for micro-navigation
  • 10:50 – How to get people to the bus stop
  • 11:10 – Launched earlier this week
• 11:30 – RunKeeper as a client
• • 11:37 – Fitness mapping idea
  • 12:10 – Design development of the product with the iphone GPS
  • 12:40 – Success to take in-house
• 13:04 – Equity with the companies
• 13:25 – How much RunKeeper pays Greg
• • 13:40 – Charged 15K early on
• 14:20 – Exploring apps that can help the employees betterment
• • 14:41- Methodology on how to facilitate feedback
• 14:48 – Product exploration and incubation
• 15:05 – Connect with Greg on his website and Twitter
• 16:40 - The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• As an entrepreneur, you have to manage your stability and your company’s.
• It is not about how much other companies earn – it is about how you become a part of their success.
• You can never turn back time – pause and enjoy the beauty of the present.

Resources Mentioned:

• 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 quality of Toptal  developers.
• 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.
• @graiz – Greg’s Twitter handle
• Raizlabs.com – Greg’s business website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives