#2265 He Bought a Ghost Town

Vlada Lotkina noticed something wrong at her daughter’s school. So she built the solution and sold it for 8-figures. It’s called ClassTag, and it’s a platform where teachers, parents and school administrators can communicate and send out announcements. No flyers, no ridiculously long emails… My favorite part is that she’s a Mixergy listener herself. She literally called a previous guest of mine and got him to invest before her business took off. Vlada Lotkina is the co-founder and CEO of ClassTag, an edtech platform that simplifies communication between teachers and parents. She grew up in Ukraine and watched as her father pursued entrepreneurship during the fall of the soviet union. As a mother in the U.S., her own frustrations with poor school-parent communication inspired her. She eventually exited ClassTag for 8-figures. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Adam Robinson struggled to compete with MailChimp. So he built software that’s too dangerous for them to build. Businesses that use Retention.com can instantly grab email addresses from anonymous website visitors — even if they never fill out a form. To promote his software he made himself into one of the few interesting follows on LinkedIn by picking fights, bringing drama and adding production values. Adam Robinson is the founder and CEO of Retention.com, which identifies email addresses from anonymous website visitors. He previously worked in finance but launched the email marketing company Robly after the 2008 financial crisis jeopardized his career. Following an 8-figure exit, he bootstrapped retention.com to over $21M in ARR. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Brent Underwood had a business idea: buy an abandoned town and turn it into a tourist destination. It didn’t work. Mostly because he tried running it remotely. Then he moved in. He started looking around, diving into old mines, and finding old treasures. He shot video of what he saw and of his renovations. That got hugely popular on social media, helped him raise money and allowed him to fund his project. It’s all in his book, Ghost Town Living, and in this interview.   Brent Underwood is the founder of Cerro Gordo, an ambitious project aimed at reviving a historic ghost town into a tourist attraction and real estate opportunity. Outside of his entrepreneurial endeavors, Brent has a passion for history, hospitality, and the unique storytelling of the American West, all of which play a central role in his current venture. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Ryan Deiss’s business was too chaotic to grow beyond a few team members. So he tried creating SOP’s, you know those how-to docs that every business is told to create, but few people end up using. He figured there had to be a better way. Through experiments with he came up with “an operating system for companies.” He says this approach helped him grow to over a dozen different companies which last year did revenue in excess of $200 million. He explained his process in his book Get Scalable: How to Create an Operating System for Your Business, and in this interview. Ryan Deiss is the founder of DigitalMarketer and The Scalable Company. His most recent book is “Get Scalable: How to Create an Operating System for Your Business.” Despite the fact that he built a massive online community and offline event business, he’s so shy that we rarely see him at events here in Austin. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

He built Art.com through the early days of the internet, despite the dotcom bust, and through heavy competition….After all that work, the company sold to a much bigger company….And that’s when the lawsuit came. You’ll hear how Joshua Chodniewicz built that business and how his latest business, Fundify, is changing startup investing by making it super-simple. Joshua Chodniewicz is the founder of Art.com, a pioneering online platform for art and wall décor. He is deeply passionate about entrepreneurship and enjoys discussing business strategies and ideas with his sons. Currently, Joshua is leading Fundify, focusing on democratizing startup investments. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Allbirds were the sustainable shoes known to be worn by Marissa Mayer, Jennifer Garner, and every dude I knew when I lived in San Francisco. How did the company get so big and where is it now? I invited the founders Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger to talk about it. Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger are the founders of Allbirds. Previously, Tim was a footballer and business student. And Joey specialized in biotech and renewable materials. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

This founder found a niche that Airbnb didn’t reach and rode it to $6 million in revenue. Steve Satoru Naito’s Anyplace, accommodations come with big monitors, high-speed internet, an office setup, ergonomic chairs, webcams, and key lights, all tailored to create an optimal environment for remote work and zoom calls. In this interview, you’ll hear Steve’s entrepreneurial journey from Japan to Silicon Valley, the unique business model that sets Anyplace apart, and strategies for customer acquisition and retention in the competitive accommodation sector. Steve Satoru Naito is the founder of Anyplace, which offers monthly, furnished accommodations designed for remote work. Originally from Japan, he moved to San Francisco to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams, and he has a background as a tech reporter for TechCrunch Japan. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

My vision for this interview was to hear Noah Kagan’s process for launching companies, like the $80+ million / year AppSumo – the process he wrote about in his book, Million Dollar Weekend. We did that. You’ll hear his step-by-step business launch process. But, when I asked him how he was proving his process, he told me he was creating an alternative to Docusign and started asking me about the problems I have with it. I got so angry listing my problems that I told him I’d fork up whatever money he wanted to buy his alternative. Noah Kagan is the founder of AppSumo, which provides entrepreneurs deals on software and other tools. He’s also a popular YouTuber whose channel just broke 1 million subscribers and the author of “Million Dollar Weekend.” Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Video Husky started with a challenge. Justin Tan challenged himself to get 10 customers in 90 days for his new venture. The company grew to over $1 million in annual sales by providing flat fee remote video editing services. In this interview, we explored how he found his initial customers, how he pivoted to more profitable customers, and the inner-workings or running a subscription-based service business. Justin Tan, the founder of Video Husky, has navigated the intricacies of growing a video production company from a simple 90-day challenge to over a million in revenue. Outside of his entrepreneurial ventures, Justin enjoys competitive gaming, having reached the top 20 percent of players worldwide in Age of Empires. Sponsored by Gusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

When I interviewed founders of online courses and asked about their communities, they often said they host them on Facebook. “That’s where everyone is” was the answer. Sometimes they’d use Slack, but FB was dominant. So how did Circle break through? That’s what founder Andrew Guttormsen & I breakdown. Andrew Guttormsen is the Co-Founder of Circle.so, a modern community platform for creators. Prior to founding Circle, he spent nearly five years at Teachable, where he joined as the seventh employee and led a 15-person growth and marketing team, helping to grow the company’s monthly recurring revenue from $10K to over $25MM in annual recurring revenue. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint