EP 503: $125k for 5%, How To Grow Into $2m+ Valuation with InDemand CEO Alex Saidani

Alex Saidani, founder and CEO of Indemand. Alex is a developer who started coding at the age of 11.  He started his first business at the age of 13 and was the youngest founder of a team to participate in the DotForge accelerator program with Hashtrack.  Indemand supports businesses with providing online ordering software and an hourly delivery network.  On top of this, Alex also finds time to mentor people in their start-ups and provide them with the necessary support. 

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs Biography

What CEO do you follow? –  Elon Musk

Favorite online tool? — N/A

Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No

If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Don’t waste time pursuing people who are not going to help you or create value”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:25 – Nathan introduces Alex to the show

01:52 – Alex went to the 500 startups program

02:12 – Indemand sells software to groceries and other retail stores

02:25 – Indemand charges the stores directly

02:36 – Indemand is a SaaS business

02:52 – Indemand started in 2015

03:14 – First year revenue

03:38 – Indemand’s usual customers

04:15 – Indemand has worked with 150 companies and there are 25 active customers

04:28 – Most of the inactive customers are startups

05:04 – Indemand had to increase their fees to make money

05:10 – ARPU per month is around $250

05:22 – MRR

05:55 – October 2016 revenue was $25,000

06:45 – What do people get when they pay $400 a month?

06:51 – help with start-up, customize branding, end up with a customer facing application

07:14 – Users get to monitor all the orders in real-time

07:40 – Total transaction volume in October 2016, is around 200 orders

08:20 – Indemand had a capital raising

10:30 – Indemand’s other expenses

10:46 – Indemand sources people from Fiverr to find information

12:00 – Alex and his team are based in California

12:18 – Connect with Alex through his LinkedIn and email

13:51 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

An entrepreneur can start as early as 13 years old—you’re never too young or old for that matter!

Raising fees is often necessary to meet your clients’ demands and update your services.

Don’t waste your time on “non-value creating” people.

 

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

LinkedIn – Alex’s LinkedIn account

[e-mail] – Alex’s email address

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives