Gaurav Dhillon. He’s an early investor in a company called SnapLogic. He joined in 2009, when he saw the potential of how companies integrate applications data and devices for digital business. He spearheaded SnapLogic’s rapid growth and overseas strategies, products, and operations. He’s previously the co-founder and CEO of Informatica.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The Power of Habit
• What CEO do you follow? – Andy Grove
• Favorite online tool? — Gmail
• How many hours of sleep do you get? — Close to 6
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish he knew more that opportunity knocks often”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:22 – Nathan introduces Gaurav to the show
• 02:04 – Gaurav and his co-founder had a $75K SBA grant when they built Informatica
  • 02:25 – They have raised a total of $13.5M
  • 02:57 – “11-12 years is a long time and it’s time to go”
• 03:32 – Gaurav is a company builder
• 03:47 – When Gaurav did an IPO, he sold some of his shares in a secondary public offering
  • 03:53 – There was no lock-out
  • 04:24 – They made $400M in secondary public offering
  • 04:32 – Their initial raise was less than $100M
  • 04:49 – In IPO, you are also trying to build a brand for yourself
• 05:23 – Gaurav left Informatica in July 2004
• 05:28 – Gaurav spent a year doing things on his bucket list
• 06:10 – When Gaurav went back to the valley, he joined a couple of boards
• 06:25 – Gaurav was in a board meeting when they talked about business internet, which is now cloud computing
  • 06:37 – “People aren’t just going to buy books from the web, they’re going to balance books on the web”
• 06:58 – Gaurav invested in SnapLogic
  • 07:05 – Gaurav wrote a couple of men a check saying that if there’s a business, prove it to him, and he will provide capital
  • 07:16 – The initial check was $1M
  • 07:26 – Gaurav structured it as convertible debt
• 08:06 – SnapLogic has raised a total of $136M
  • 08:10 – Initially, it was from Venture
  • 08:23 – Most recent round was led by Vitruvian Partners
• 09:04 – Gaurav built Informatica to hook up those products with each other
• 09:21 – SnapLogic is connecting the new cloud application to what is now Legacy, which was a new application 20 years ago
  • 09:46 – They’re expanding out the product set in SnapLogic and providing all kinds of connections
• 10:12 – Is SnapLogic the unsexier version of Zapier, but more important?
  • 10:26 – Zapier is a consumer place and Gaurav doesn’t dislike it
  • 10:32 – There have been companies, like Bump, who try to do certain kinds of things
  • 10:56 – The problem of overt strata in business
  • 11:05 – What they’re solving on Zapier is on a personal level
  • 11:20 – If you’re trying to connect your human capital system with your SAP financial system and you are a big company, you will need something like SnapLogic
  • 11:44 – SnapLogic is the industrial version
• 11:58 – SnapLogic is a PaaS (platform as a service) model
  • 12:04 – SnapLogic is a cloud product and is like Google Chrome
• 12:33 – SnapLogic’s average customer pay is $136K a year
• 12:57 – SnapLogic currently has 250 employees and is still growing
• 13:20 – SnapLogic’s LTV
  • 13:32 – “We’ve got many customers in 7-figures, already”
  • 13:50 – “You can always buy that you can sell”
• 14:07 – SnapLogic has inside qualification people or SDRs for customer acquisition
  • 14:24 – SDRs ratio
  • 14:43 – SnapLogic has less than 20 SDRs
  • 14:56 – CAC
• 15:49 – “We’re a buzz company, customers love us”
• 17:15 – Gaurav looks at incremental growth
• 18:44 – Nathan thinks that it is so wrong for founders who focus on the LTV-CAC ratio
• 19:09 – “You don’t want to be too conservative, right, because the early market share you get is the best market share”
• 19:26 – Gaurav shares the business metrics
  • 19:46 – Try to do a 6-figure deal and try to have more customers than employees
• 20:06 – Average ARR
  • 20:47 – SnapLogic hasn’t broke the 9-figure ARR rate yet
  • 21:05 – A company that can double its revenue has nothing to fear
• 21:34 – “What we’re doing is building a robust business which, no doubt, is growing aggressively, but also has its feet on the ground”
• 22:50 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

1. If your company can double its revenue, it’s a strong indicator that you are in good shape.
2. The early market share you get is the best market share.
3. Don’t fret—opportunity knocks often.

 

Resources Mentioned:

• 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
• Organifi – The juice was Nathan’s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
• Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• 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
• Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives