#710 iContact Founder Returns To Mixergy After $169M Sale – with Ryan Allis

Startup Stories - Mixergy

Andrew Warner

Business, 581719, Synergy, Tips, Mix, Improvement, Startups, Motivation, Energy, Education, Society & Culture, Entrepreneur, Money, Management & Marketing, Ambition, Growth

4.5 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2012

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How does a wristband help a founder build a $169 million company? Ryan Allis is the founder of iContact, a provider of email marketing tools for small businesses. And a company that was recently sold for $169 million to Vocus. Here’s a quote from the last time I interviewed him, “we incorporated in July ’03, lived in the office, slept on futons, cooked on a George Foreman grill, did whatever we had to do to keep expenses low, while we built up revenue and customers, and improved the product.” Those are the challenges for a startup and it was inspiring to hear his story from those days. This time, I want to ask him about the challenges of going from a successful startup to a company that generates tens of millions a year.

Ryan Allis is the Co-Founder of iContact, a provider of email marketing tools for small businesses.

Sponsored by

Revolution Productions – Do you have a great product, but people aren’t trying it? You might have too much text on your site. Video, more than text, helps people understand what you’ve created and convinces them to buy it. I recommend you go to Revolution-Productions.com. When you do, talk directly to the founder, Anish Patel, and tell him I sent you. He’ll make sure you have a great video that convinces people to buy your product.

Walker Corporate Law – Scott Edward Walker is the lawyer entrepreneurs turn to when they want to raise money or sell their companies, but if you’re just getting started, his firm will help you launch properly. Watch this video to learn about him.

Grasshopper – Don’t make the mistake of comparing Grasshopper with other phone services. Check out their features and you’ll see why Grasshopper isn’t just a phone number, it’s the virtual phone system that entrepreneurs (like me) love.

More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint
Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Transcript

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0:00.0	Three questions before I fire you up with another great interview.
0:17.6	First, if you need a video for your site to help increase conversions and
0:22.2	make more sales, who do you turn to? Revolution Productions. Their videos make it easy for
0:29.4	customers to understand your product. And even though they're inexpensive, Revolution
0:34.7	Productions uses animation techniques and high-quality video production
0:39.2	values to tell a compelling story.
0:42.3	And Revolution Productions is trusted by SendGrid, SnapEngage, Freelancer, and others.
0:49.5	Go to Revolution-dashproductions.com.
0:53.3	Next, did you know that adding a phone number from grasshopper.com to your site can increase
0:59.3	your sales?
1:00.6	Well, less accounting found that sales grew when they added a grasshopper phone number
1:05.8	to their site.
1:07.1	Seeing a phone number for help makes people feel safe.
1:10.7	Flower A-B tested having a phone number on their site from Grasshopper and not having one from
1:15.8	Grasshopper.
1:17.0	Look at how much impact it had.
1:19.2	Try it on your site.
1:20.5	Go to grasshopper.com.
1:23.5	Finally, will you trust me if I tell you that the lawyer that entrepreneur should use is Scott
1:29.0	Edward Walker of Walker Corporate Law?
1:31.3	Well, what if Jason Calicanus, Neil Patel, and these founders tell you that they recommend
1:37.0	Scott Edward Walker of Walker Corporate Law?
	...

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