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Apr 14, 2018 · 15m · top-founders

994 Why Forbes Uses Quizzes Instead of "Opt In Landing Pages"

Josh Haynam · 7m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Top Entrepreneurs, host Nathan Latka interviews Josh Haynam, co-founder of Interact Quiz Builder, to explore how the bootstrapped SaaS company scaled to $48,000 in monthly recurring revenue by powering high-converting lead generation quizzes for clients like Forbes.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 46.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.5 Guest teaching 1.5 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:000:49–5:41 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Overview of Interact Quiz Builder and Forbes Use Case Nathan demonstrates high preparation by pulling up Interact's published case study in real time and quoting the exact conversion statistics and lead costs before the guest can recall them.5:41–7:57 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Bootstrapping Interact, Team Structure, and Influencer Acquisition Nathan playfully pushes back on Josh's 50-50 equity split with his technical co-founder, highlighting common founder equity pitfalls, while Josh calmly defends their relationship.7:59–13:01 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Sponsor Segment: HostGator Website Builder Nathan demonstrates sharp SaaS financial expertise by immediately computing customer lifetime value and unit economics from monthly churn and ARPU metrics in his head.13:02–15:07 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Long-Term Vision and The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly wrap-up covering Josh's future ambitions for Interact followed by the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire.0:49–5:41 · Guest teaching 2/10 Overview of Interact Quiz Builder and Forbes Use Case Nathan demonstrates high preparation by pulling up Interact's published case study in real time and quoting the exact conversion statistics and lead costs before the guest can recall them.5:41–7:57 · Guest teaching 1/10 Bootstrapping Interact, Team Structure, and Influencer Acquisition Nathan playfully pushes back on Josh's 50-50 equity split with his technical co-founder, highlighting common founder equity pitfalls, while Josh calmly defends their relationship.7:59–13:01 · Guest teaching 2/10 Sponsor Segment: HostGator Website Builder Nathan demonstrates sharp SaaS financial expertise by immediately computing customer lifetime value and unit economics from monthly churn and ARPU metrics in his head.13:02–15:07 · Guest teaching 1/10 Long-Term Vision and The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly wrap-up covering Josh's future ambitions for Interact followed by the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire.0:49–5:41 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Overview of Interact Quiz Builder and Forbes Use Case Nathan demonstrates high preparation by pulling up Interact's published case study in real time and quoting the exact conversion statistics and lead costs before the guest can recall them.5:41–7:57 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Bootstrapping Interact, Team Structure, and Influencer Acquisition Nathan playfully pushes back on Josh's 50-50 equity split with his technical co-founder, highlighting common founder equity pitfalls, while Josh calmly defends their relationship.7:59–13:01 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Sponsor Segment: HostGator Website Builder Nathan demonstrates sharp SaaS financial expertise by immediately computing customer lifetime value and unit economics from monthly churn and ARPU metrics in his head.13:02–15:07 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Long-Term Vision and The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly wrap-up covering Josh's future ambitions for Interact followed by the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire.0:49–5:41 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Overview of Interact Quiz Builder and Forbes Use Case Nathan demonstrates high preparation by pulling up Interact's published case study in real time and quoting the exact conversion statistics and lead costs before the guest can recall them.5:41–7:57 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Bootstrapping Interact, Team Structure, and Influencer Acquisition Nathan playfully pushes back on Josh's 50-50 equity split with his technical co-founder, highlighting common founder equity pitfalls, while Josh calmly defends their relationship.7:59–13:01 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Sponsor Segment: HostGator Website Builder Nathan demonstrates sharp SaaS financial expertise by immediately computing customer lifetime value and unit economics from monthly churn and ARPU metrics in his head.13:02–15:07 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Long-Term Vision and The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions A standard, friendly wrap-up covering Josh's future ambitions for Interact followed by the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 61.3% · guest 38.7%0:00 · Nathan 61.3% · guest 38.7%3:00 · Nathan 35.7% · guest 64.3%3:00 · Nathan 35.7% · guest 64.3%6:00 · Nathan 58.6% · guest 41.4%6:00 · Nathan 58.6% · guest 41.4%9:00 · Nathan 38.1% · guest 61.9%9:00 · Nathan 38.1% · guest 61.9%12:00 · Nathan 26.1% · guest 73.9%12:00 · Nathan 26.1% · guest 73.9%15:00 · Nathan 83.6% · guest 16.4%15:00 · Nathan 83.6% · guest 16.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 2:45 Josh rejects affiliate lead-broker framing

Josh politely but firmly rejects Nathan's comparison to shady affiliate lead arbitrage schemes, specifying that Interact provides direct brand marketing tools.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 6:24 Pushback on 50-50 equity split

Nathan challenges Josh's split with his co-founder as 'the lazy way' and outlines how equal splits frequently cause resentment down the road.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:09 Forbes quiz integration breakdown

Josh educates Nathan on how Forbes uses their personality quizzes as evergreen SEO ranking pillars generating hundreds of thousands of annual engagements.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 4:56 Nathan pulls up exact case study data

When Josh cannot recall specific figures from an old case study, Nathan takes command by citing the exact $3.80 cost per lead and 400% ROI directly from the post.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Overview of Interact Quiz Builder and Forbes Use Case 7212 Nathan demonstrates high preparation by pulling up Interact's published case study in real time and quoting the exact conversion statistics and lead costs before the guest can recall them.
Bootstrapping Interact, Team Structure, and Influencer Acquisition 5113 Nathan playfully pushes back on Josh's 50-50 equity split with his technical co-founder, highlighting common founder equity pitfalls, while Josh calmly defends their relationship.
Sponsor Segment: HostGator Website Builder 7212 Nathan demonstrates sharp SaaS financial expertise by immediately computing customer lifetime value and unit economics from monthly churn and ARPU metrics in his head.
Long-Term Vision and The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 3101 A standard, friendly wrap-up covering Josh's future ambitions for Interact followed by the standard rapid-fire Famous Five questionnaire.

Statements from this episode (12)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Forbes' college match quiz is taken 250,000 times per year
“So Forbes has this college quiz that they've used for almost four years now. Basically, it's find your perfect college match, and it's a personality quiz that directs you to one of a series of colleges, and then it ties into another tool that they have that ac…”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 1:10
Disclosure
Interact customers pay an average of $60 per month
“Average is about 60 bucks a month.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 1:58
Disclosure
Interact powered 250 million quizzes over the last 12 months
“Last 12 months, about two hundred and fifty million.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 2:08
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Facebook is the biggest driver of quiz traffic for Interact
“Facebook is the biggest driver of quiz traffic.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 3:01
Assertion Partly supported
The Foundation halved their Facebook lead costs by switching to a quiz
“Dropped their lead costs from six 30. So six dollars and 30 cents down to about three 37, I think was the exact number.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 4:29
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Interact has just over 800 paying customers
“So total paying customers, we were just over 800.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 5:46
Disclosure
Interact is completely bootstrapped with no outside capital
“Totally bootstrapped.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 5:57
Disclosure
Interact trades free software to over 1,000 influencers for promotion
“We have a network of just over a thousand influencers. These are bloggers, course creators, that kind of stuff, marketing strategists, and they get to use our platform for free. And in return, they promote it by writing blog posts and sending it out to their F…”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 7:00
Disclosure
Interact pays affiliates a 30% recurring commission
“We do have an affiliate program as well, so a 30% ongoing commission for any affiliate that sends us a direct sign-up”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 7:18
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Interact had roughly $24,000 in monthly recurring revenue a year prior
“A year ago, we were at about 24.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 9:23
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Interact's monthly churn is between 5% and 7%
“Churn varies between five and seven percent a month.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 9:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Interact's customer lifetime value is slightly over $1,000
“I mean, we use bear metrics as well, so it's about a thousand dollars right now, a little over a thousand depending on how things go, but and that fluctuates as well, depending on churn.”
Josh Haynam Apr 14, 2018 ▶ 10:22
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