The Exchanges

Q Is there one of those modules that is more effective at upselling than others?

A There's always, you know, two models, uh, that, that I feel like, um, that people pay out of the gateway. Um, so what are the two? You should almost like, yeah, just bundle them into the base package at this point, I guess. Uh, but yeah, it's, it's the boost module. So it's like the actual gamification components with the competitions in particular. And, uh, it's a reward reward module, which is like, um, this coin, uh, That you can introduce to inside a platform and then you can have your own internal web shop where people can exchange these coins that you make through unlocking badges or hitting your quota or, you know, winning prizes in competitions and exchange them for actual gift cards or dates off or giving pushups to your manager or whatever you want to have in that web shop.

AI assessment note: “it's the boost module... And, uh, it's a reward reward module”

Q Is there one of those modules that is more effective at upselling than others?

A There's always, you know, two models, uh, that, that I feel like, um, that people pay out of the gateway. Um, so what are the two? You should almost like, yeah, just bundle them into the base package at this point, I guess. Uh, but yeah, it's, it's the boost module. So it's like the actual gamification components with the competitions in particular. And, uh, it's a reward reward module, which is like, um, this coin, uh, That you can introduce to inside a platform and then you can have your own internal web shop where people can exchange these coins that you make through unlocking badges or hitting your quota or, you know, winning prizes in competitions and exchange them for actual gift cards or dates off or giving pushups to your manager or whatever you want to have in that web shop.

AI assessment note: “it's the boost module... And, uh, it's a reward reward module”

Q All right. Let's with our last couple of minutes together here, let's talk more about product, which is what I love, right? What's on the product roadmap for sales screen?

A Um, for this year, it's, it's actually simplifying it a bit, um, and, uh, making it just easier to maintain and use for our clients and, uh, make sure that they get value and they see the value directly inside the tool. Uh, we're gonna work a bit more on, uh, the front end. So new competitions, new competition layouts, and it's always fun and exciting. Uh, and we're also actually building a new PLG motion. So that's taken quite a bit of, uh, resources, but Uh, I think we, we have to, um, and I think it's a really brilliant way to get your customer acquisition costs down. So we're exploring that now and hopefully we'll have something live in a couple of months.

AI assessment note: “for this year, it's, it's actually simplifying it a bit”

Q Take me back to the early days. When did you launch the company?

A Um, so, uh, the company was launched in 2011, actually. I was a student at the time, uh, but the sales screen product, which we are known for now, that came on the market in March, 2014, um, and, you know, the idea came after iterating with multiple sauce products that, uh, eventually died out or failed, um, but this idea came from a client which was using, uh, well, for other tools for a different purpose that I didn't think of, like Like, uh, we had this messaging sauce application set out to kind of replace text message for corporates and, uh, and this one advertisement sales company, like the yellow pages just in the Nordics, um, they sent out like a text message every time somebody closed the deal to create like a virtual tap on the back. Um, even though you're, you know, we're not working or work in the field or in the call center. Uh, and they, they used our tool to, for this purpose of like motivating their sales team.

AI assessment note: “the company was launched in 2011, actually. I was a student at the time”

Q When you, uh, in 2020, I think you said you decided to take a four million dollar loan. Is that accurate? And if so, why did you decide to do that?

A Um, it's, it's mainly because we've built out the machine. Um, so, you know, at this point in time, um, we started, uh, one of the goals kind of to expand in North America. We had the brand recognition, we had most of the revenue in Europe, and we wanted to make like the shift towards North America. And, um, that's when I moved to New York personally, like into 2019. Um, and we started to, to invest more in North America and build up that core team in 2020. Uh, naturally, um, you know, building out a team in New York is a bit more expensive than in Scandinavia. Let's just leave it at that. Um, so, you know, it requires some money. Uh, at the same time, as I said, you know, we tend to extra annual contract value. Um, and we saw lots of growth opportunities, especially here in North America. So we shifted our revenue from being like mainly, um, coming out of, uh, of Europe. Uh, and the Nordics, um, to having like, uh, you know, one third of the revenue coming out of, uh, North America and, and, you know, growing very fast.

AI assessment note: “building out a team in New York is a bit more expensive than in Scandinavia.”

Q And Sandra, you definitely want to raise. In other words, if outreach or gong or sales off or Henry Shuckett's info came and just said, listen, instead of going and raising a hundred million dollar valuation, here's a hundred million dollars all cash up front right now to sell to us. Would you exit?

A Um, hopefully no, but that's not only for me. Uh, I think that we are very much on, on the track to building out the new category, like outreach, like chorus, like gone in the sales, um, tech stack, uh, which is, yeah, it makes perfect sense to be honest, like, especially given the tailwind from COVID and the fact that people are being trusted into a hybrid or even like fully remote setting and getting them, you know, engaged and motivated in their day-to-day work is becoming like a board type Discussion. And we see that, um, from our organic inbounds as well. So, uh, it's not the right time to exit for us, uh, to be perfectly honest, but you know, if, if there's a ridiculous amount of, um, of money on the table, then, um, I'm never going to say never, um, I'm pragmatic like that.

AI assessment note: “hopefully no, but that's not only for me”

Q Take me back to the early days. When did you launch the company?

A Um, so, uh, the company was launched in 2011, actually. I was a student at the time, uh, but the sales screen product, which we are known for now, that came on the market in March, 2014, um, and, you know, the idea came after iterating with multiple sauce products that, uh, eventually died out or failed, um, but this idea came from a client which was using, uh, well, for other tools for a different purpose that I didn't think of, like Like, uh, we had this messaging sauce application set out to kind of replace text message for corporates and, uh, and this one advertisement sales company, like the yellow pages just in the Nordics, um, they sent out like a text message every time somebody closed the deal to create like a virtual tap on the back. Um, even though you're, you know, we're not working or work in the field or in the call center. Uh, and they, they used our tool to, for this purpose of like motivating their sales team.

AI assessment note: “the company was launched in 2011, actually. I was a student at the time”

Q And Sandra, you definitely want to raise. In other words, if outreach or gong or sales off or Henry Shuckett's info came and just said, listen, instead of going and raising a hundred million dollar valuation, here's a hundred million dollars all cash up front right now to sell to us. Would you exit?

A Um, hopefully no, but that's not only for me. Uh, I think that we are very much on, on the track to building out the new category, like outreach, like chorus, like gone in the sales, um, tech stack, uh, which is, yeah, it makes perfect sense to be honest, like, especially given the tailwind from COVID and the fact that people are being trusted into a hybrid or even like fully remote setting and getting them, you know, engaged and motivated in their day-to-day work is becoming like a board type Discussion. And we see that, um, from our organic inbounds as well. So, uh, it's not the right time to exit for us, uh, to be perfectly honest, but you know, if, if there's a ridiculous amount of, um, of money on the table, then, um, I'm never going to say never, um, I'm pragmatic like that.

AI assessment note: “hopefully no, but that's not only for me”

Q When you, uh, in 2020, I think you said you decided to take a four million dollar loan. Is that accurate? And if so, why did you decide to do that?

A Um, it's, it's mainly because we've built out the machine. Um, so, you know, at this point in time, um, we started, uh, one of the goals kind of to expand in North America. We had the brand recognition, we had most of the revenue in Europe, and we wanted to make like the shift towards North America. And, um, that's when I moved to New York personally, like into 2019. Um, and we started to, to invest more in North America and build up that core team in 2020. Uh, naturally, um, you know, building out a team in New York is a bit more expensive than in Scandinavia. Let's just leave it at that. Um, so, you know, it requires some money. Uh, at the same time, as I said, you know, we tend to extra annual contract value. Um, and we saw lots of growth opportunities, especially here in North America. So we shifted our revenue from being like mainly, um, coming out of, uh, of Europe. Uh, and the Nordics, um, to having like, uh, you know, one third of the revenue coming out of, uh, North America and, and, you know, growing very fast.

AI assessment note: “building out a team in New York is a bit more expensive... requires some money”

Q How much did you end up raising in 2017, 20 18?

A Uh, so at that time we didn't have like that machine built out that is more well now known today, I would say, and then which we also have today, but at the point that I wasn't sure like how much money I needed because at that point in time we, we made money. So, um, I raised like two million dollars just to have something to start with. Um, and then, um, since then I haven't really done any missions either. Uh, just taken, I guess, total four million more in loan. Um, most recently this year, a couple of million more. Uh, so now we're kind of hitting the stride of where we can convert money that we take into actual growth. And, um, the growth is accelerating quite rapidly.

AI assessment note: “I raised like two million dollars just to have something to start with.”

Q How much did you end up raising in 2017, 20 18?

A Uh, so at that time we didn't have like that machine built out that is more well now known today, I would say, and then which we also have today, but at the point that I wasn't sure like how much money I needed because at that point in time we, we made money. So, um, I raised like two million dollars just to have something to start with. Um, and then, um, since then I haven't really done any missions either. Uh, just taken, I guess, total four million more in loan. Um, most recently this year, a couple of million more. Uh, so now we're kind of hitting the stride of where we can convert money that we take into actual growth. And, um, the growth is accelerating quite rapidly.

AI assessment note: “I raised like two million dollars just to have something to start with.”

Q Okay. I mean, that's always the hardest thing, right, about bringing in capital scale is like, do you hire engineers, do you hire salespeople, do you increase paid spend? So like, how did you think about your first sales hire and the quota to put them on?

A You know, it, it is, uh, it is hard. That's, it was definitely hard in the first place. Now it's not hard anymore. Um, now that we have the unit economics kind of dialed in and we see that, okay, you know, we, we need, um, our pipeline is coming from marketing, uh, increasingly more for marketing. We need more resources in that part. Um, we, we are still, you know, sourcing quite large portion of our sales from our field sales team and, Our BDRSDR team. So that's, there's a ratio starting to kind of form there, two to one. Um, so now then you can kind of see like, okay, also from the CSM side, we're actually starting to break through on the expansion and upsells of these modules. And, um, there's, you know, this hub mentality, uh, and since our market is so big, uh, we, we can build out different types of countries in Europe or regions, or even, uh, you know, west coast, um, As a natural next step here in North America as well, uh, and have these foundational hubs that you kind of grow up and, um, yeah, so it's, it's, it's easier to spend money now that you kind of know that and what to expect from increased marketing spend, uh, in terms of traffic on the website and conversion rates and, and, uh, SQLs and pipeline growth, you know?

AI assessment note: “it was definitely hard in the first place. Now it's not hard anymore.”