322: The Rise Of Messenger Marketing, With ManyChat Co-Founder and CEO Mikael Yan

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2020

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mikael Yan, Co-Founder and CEO, ManyChat When Mikael Yan launched ManyChat in 2015, other messaging apps were trying to impress investors with their fancy AI and NLP technologies. But not him. Instead, he made it clear to investors that his app was solely meant to solve a business problem: helping companies better communicate with and market to their customers. Investors who were initially interested in ManyChat immediately lost interest. But not for long. Even though Yan and his founding team initially had to bootstrap their product, investors eventually recognized the potential behind their vision and got on board. Today, ManyChat has over one million Facebook pages connected to its platform in over 190 countries. The company also recently raised its Series A from Bessemer Venture Partners. Given that 2020 is the first time in history that the number of messaging app users will surpass the number of social media users, it’s clear that ManyChat is just getting started. Listen to this interview to learn more about Yan’s thoughts on the future of messenger marketing, the global mobile industry, and the importance of mindset as an entrepreneur. If there’s any other type of content you’d like to see that would be valuable to you during this time, please don’t hesitate to reach out at [email protected]. Key Takeaways Why Yan, after years of dabbling in the consumer space, turned his eyes to B2B How ManyChat made timely use of Telegram Messenger’s API in 2015 and introduced the world of messenger marketing The rise of private vs. public channels Yan’s analysis on why China is so ahead when it comes to mobile and messaging apps Why Yan believes in being product obsessed and understanding the customer experience above everything else How Yan avoided the trap of building a product for the “cool” factor (and initially lost investor interest as a result) The power of self belief in entrepreneurship, and how to cultivate this mindset Yan’s personal glass ceiling A look into the future of ManyChat and what Yan is most excited about when it comes to the messenger app industry Key Resources From Our Interview With Mikael Yan Visit the ManyChat website Follow Yan on Instagram

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is episode number 32 with McAllyanne of the Founder Podcast.
0:07.6	What you need is thirst.
0:09.3	You need to be a thirsty human.
0:11.4	Who is intent on learning.
0:13.4	It's a really fascinating exploration of human potential.
0:17.0	Now.
0:19.6	The Founder Podcast.
0:22.3	Even the greatest entrepreneurs had help.
0:25.1	If you want to learn from the most successful founders on the planet, you are in the right
0:29.7	place.
0:30.8	Branson, Mark Cuban, Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Ariana Huffington, Sanko, Steve Case, Gary V,
0:35.3	Sophia Amorosa, Oprah Corcoran, Damon John.
0:37.9	Learn from the greatest minds in business today with interviews hosted by Nathan Chan.
0:42.5	This is not your average entrepreneur podcast.
0:46.3	The Founder Podcast.
0:53.2	Hey guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Before we start today's episode, I just want to let
0:59.3	you know that our goal at founder is to help entrepreneurs succeed however we can by giving
1:04.9	away high quality content in the form of interviews, blog posts, podcasts, YouTube videos,
1:13.1	you name it. We put out so much content to help you. And another interesting project that we're working on right now is partnering with
1:18.2	world-class founders like Damon John, Alexa von Tobel, Greta Van Riel, and so many more to teach
1:24.5	crucial skills like negotiation, finance, e-commerce, and so much more.
1:31.3	So if you'd like to get access to these free trainings with founders like this, which is
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nathan Chan, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Nathan Chan and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.