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Feb 28, 2016 · 17m · top-founders

He Crowdfuned $1m. You Won't Believe Why with Christian Smith of Trackr Ep 13

Christian Smith · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Host Nathan Latka interviews TrackR co-founder Christian Smith to uncover how a near-disaster on a California beach inspired a multi-million-dollar tracking device company. The conversation details TrackR's viral pre-launch giveaway, a $1.6 million Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, and key operational habits driving hardware scaling.

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 46.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 3.0
05100:0010:000:47–5:01 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Introducing Christian Smith and TrackR's Origin Story Nathan introduces Christian and probes into product mechanics and sales figures. Christian details the origin story and features of TrackR, while Nathan redirects to get clearer revenue metrics.5:02–9:42 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Indiegogo Crowdfunding and Viral Referral Strategy Nathan interrogates the mechanics of TrackR's viral upgrade loops and pushes Christian past high-level demographic generalities to explain specific customer acquisition steps.9:42–13:45 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Lead Generation Strategy and Pre-Launch Email Campaign Nathan presses on advertising spend and lead economics, prompting Christian to explain their pre-launch giveaway structure. Christian corrects Nathan's per-lead cost assumption by explaining their viral referral leaderboard.13:45–16:40 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Host Promo and Giveaway Announcement Nathan delivers an ad read and transitions into the Famous Five rapid-fire round, where Christian cooperatively shares his routine and business influences.0:47–5:01 · Guest teaching 2/10 Introducing Christian Smith and TrackR's Origin Story Nathan introduces Christian and probes into product mechanics and sales figures. Christian details the origin story and features of TrackR, while Nathan redirects to get clearer revenue metrics.5:02–9:42 · Guest teaching 4/10 Indiegogo Crowdfunding and Viral Referral Strategy Nathan interrogates the mechanics of TrackR's viral upgrade loops and pushes Christian past high-level demographic generalities to explain specific customer acquisition steps.9:42–13:45 · Guest teaching 5/10 Lead Generation Strategy and Pre-Launch Email Campaign Nathan presses on advertising spend and lead economics, prompting Christian to explain their pre-launch giveaway structure. Christian corrects Nathan's per-lead cost assumption by explaining their viral referral leaderboard.13:45–16:40 · Guest teaching 1/10 Host Promo and Giveaway Announcement Nathan delivers an ad read and transitions into the Famous Five rapid-fire round, where Christian cooperatively shares his routine and business influences.0:47–5:01 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Christian Smith and TrackR's Origin Story Nathan introduces Christian and probes into product mechanics and sales figures. Christian details the origin story and features of TrackR, while Nathan redirects to get clearer revenue metrics.5:02–9:42 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Indiegogo Crowdfunding and Viral Referral Strategy Nathan interrogates the mechanics of TrackR's viral upgrade loops and pushes Christian past high-level demographic generalities to explain specific customer acquisition steps.9:42–13:45 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Lead Generation Strategy and Pre-Launch Email Campaign Nathan presses on advertising spend and lead economics, prompting Christian to explain their pre-launch giveaway structure. Christian corrects Nathan's per-lead cost assumption by explaining their viral referral leaderboard.13:45–16:40 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Host Promo and Giveaway Announcement Nathan delivers an ad read and transitions into the Famous Five rapid-fire round, where Christian cooperatively shares his routine and business influences.0:47–5:01 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Christian Smith and TrackR's Origin Story Nathan introduces Christian and probes into product mechanics and sales figures. Christian details the origin story and features of TrackR, while Nathan redirects to get clearer revenue metrics.5:02–9:42 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Indiegogo Crowdfunding and Viral Referral Strategy Nathan interrogates the mechanics of TrackR's viral upgrade loops and pushes Christian past high-level demographic generalities to explain specific customer acquisition steps.9:42–13:45 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Lead Generation Strategy and Pre-Launch Email Campaign Nathan presses on advertising spend and lead economics, prompting Christian to explain their pre-launch giveaway structure. Christian corrects Nathan's per-lead cost assumption by explaining their viral referral leaderboard.13:45–16:40 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Host Promo and Giveaway Announcement Nathan delivers an ad read and transitions into the Famous Five rapid-fire round, where Christian cooperatively shares his routine and business influences.

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

0:00 · Nathan 58.2% · guest 41.8%0:00 · Nathan 58.2% · guest 41.8%3:00 · Nathan 39.6% · guest 60.4%3:00 · Nathan 39.6% · guest 60.4%6:00 · Nathan 43.2% · guest 56.8%6:00 · Nathan 43.2% · guest 56.8%9:00 · Nathan 38.3% · guest 61.7%9:00 · Nathan 38.3% · guest 61.7%12:00 · Nathan 47.3% · guest 52.7%12:00 · Nathan 47.3% · guest 52.7%15:00 · Nathan 56% · guest 44%15:00 · Nathan 56% · guest 44%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:02 Christian resists individual customer framing

Christian sidesteps Nathan's request for a specific individual case study, insisting on explaining demographic segmentation instead.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 9:10 Nathan refuses vague targeting generalities

Nathan cuts through general talk about busy professionals and insists on hearing the exact concrete tactic used to bring the first user to the page.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:37 Christian explains viral contest economics

Christian corrects Nathan's calculation that each lead cost ten dollars, clarifying that the 8,000 rewarded units yielded over 150,000 total email signups through viral referrals.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 12:59 Nathan computes the giveaway lead generation efficiency

Nathan synthesizes the raw data instantly, calculating the eighty thousand dollar total giveaway investment against the resulting 150,000 subscriber list.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Christian Smith and TrackR's Origin Story 3212 Nathan introduces Christian and probes into product mechanics and sales figures. Christian details the origin story and features of TrackR, while Nathan redirects to get clearer revenue metrics.
Indiegogo Crowdfunding and Viral Referral Strategy 5425 Nathan interrogates the mechanics of TrackR's viral upgrade loops and pushes Christian past high-level demographic generalities to explain specific customer acquisition steps.
Lead Generation Strategy and Pre-Launch Email Campaign 6524 Nathan presses on advertising spend and lead economics, prompting Christian to explain their pre-launch giveaway structure. Christian corrects Nathan's per-lead cost assumption by explaining their viral referral leaderboard.
Host Promo and Giveaway Announcement 2101 Nathan delivers an ad read and transitions into the Famous Five rapid-fire round, where Christian cooperatively shares his routine and business influences.

Statements from this episode (6)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
TrackR Shipped 400,000 Units in the Past 12 Months
“So just in in the past 12 months, we've shipped 400,000 units.”
Christian Smith Feb 28, 2016 ▶ 2:43
Assertion Supported
TrackR raised over $1.6 million on Indiegogo
“So on our Indiegogo campaign that's public, we've raised over 1.6 million dollars.”
Christian Smith Feb 28, 2016 ▶ 5:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Over 90% of TrackR color upgrades came via social sharing
“I think over 90% of our color upgrades were from that”
Christian Smith Feb 28, 2016 ▶ 7:22
Assertion Partly supported
TrackR amassed over 25,000 backers on Indiegogo
“I think that we had a little bit over 25,000 backers.”
Christian Smith Feb 28, 2016 ▶ 8:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TrackR gave away 8,000 old units to generate pre-launch leads
“We ran a giveaway where we collected emails prior to the campaign. So we did a, you know, an 8000 unit giveaway of our previous product.”
Christian Smith Feb 28, 2016 ▶ 11:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
TrackR's pre-launch giveaway captured over 150,000 emails
“Oh, it was a little bit over a 150,000.”
Christian Smith Feb 28, 2016 ▶ 13:10
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