Leveling Up with Eric Siu - podcast cover

Leveling Up with Eric Siu

Leveling Up is a weekly interview series with entrepreneurs and marketers on the latest in business and marketing. Learn actionable strategies & tactics on how you can make your business grow and mistakes to avoid during your journey. Learn from individuals who have founded billion dollar companies to best-selling authors. Entrepreneur and host Eric Siu also shares insights and learnings along the way.
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Episodes

GE Ep 28 [2014]: How AWeber’s Tom Kulzer Built A Top E-mail Marketing Provider That Has Over 120,000 Paying Customers

Tom Kulzer walks us through how he went from a wireless modem salesman and Olive Garden busboy to an accidental email marketing guru. Tom started AWeber during his Sophmore year of college after figuring out a way to automate his follow-up emails to his wireless modem customers. Today, AWeber has amassed 105 team members and over 120,000 paid customers around the world. Tom is a college drop-out whose 1-year off from college to focus on AWeber is still going 16 years later. Has gotten in trouble...

Feb 06, 201848 min

GE Ep 187 [2017]: Jonathan Abrams Reveals Key Lessons Learned While Building Nuzzel (NYT Best App of 2016) and Friendster to 100M Users

Hey everyone, in today’s episode I share the mic with Jonathan Abrams, founder and CEO of Nuzzel, which allows you to discover top news from friends and influencers. Jonathan was also previously the founder of Friendster, which was a forerunner to Facebook and had over 100 million members. Listen as Jonathan explains why you don’t need a social media account to engage with thought influencers and famous people, how word-of-mouth advertising and getting investors is easy when you've got something...

Feb 03, 201827 min

GE Ep 27 [2014]: The Startup Story You Didn’t Hear About: The Billion Dollar Company That Was 4 Days From Going Bankrupt

Hear stories from the gritty frontline of entrepreneurship with Eloqua Co-founder and the CEO of Influitive, Mark Organ. A self-described serial entrepreneur, Influitive is Mark's 7th business. Mark dove into entrepreneurship head first after realizing he couldn't hold down a regular job. His first ventures gave him exposure to everything from bootstrapping a business to generating leads and managing a board of directors. Mark survived the struggles of getting Eloqua off the ground, later seeing...

Feb 01, 201849 min

GE Ep 26 [2014]: How Peter Keller Built A Crossfit E-Commerce Business That Continues To Grow Explosively Today

Grab some kettleballs and climbing ropes and kickoff your entrepreneurial work-out with FringeSport founder Peter Keller. With an obsession for fitness and sports and a background in e-commerce as a VP at Living Direct, Peter launched FringeSport from the cozy confines of his garage. The company designs, manufactures and sells sports equipment catering to the CrossFit market. FringeSport raked in over $1 million in revenue in its second year, with a current projected earnings of $10 million for ...

Jan 31, 201848 min

GE Ep 25 [2014]: How Adam Wilson, Co-Founder of Orbotix, Plans To Change The World With His Robotics Company

Today we're talking with Sphero Founder and and Chief Software Architect Adam Wilson. Adam grew up with a healthy obsession for robots, but with a software focus. After getting involved with a NASA project working with Internet controlled robotics, Sphero Co-founder Ian Bernstein got in touch and he and Adam got rolling with TechStars to pursue their passion. Sick of huge robotic consoles, Ian and Adam had an epiphany to control robots from your cell phone. Click here for show notes and transcri...

Jan 30, 201831 min

GE Ep 184 [2016]: Jacobo Lumbreras On Why New Hires Cost 30% More Than Their Salary & How Yoi Helps Retain Them Longer

Hey everyone, in today’s episode I share the mic with Jacobo Lumbreras, co-founder of Yoi Corp, a SaaS company that leverages advanced analytics to significantly accelerate an employee’s ramp to productivity. Listen as Jacobo takes us through his unexpected journey of founding Yoi, the importance cultivating authentic relationships, how his connections linked him to Keith Ferrazzi, and why mindset is the most crucial element in business and personal outcomes. Click here for show notes and transc...

Jan 27, 201842 min

GE Ep 183 [2016]: How Canva Grew From 1K to 10M Users Without Paid Advertising

Hey everyone, in today’s episode I share the mic with Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Canva, an app that makes design simple for everyone. Listen as Melanie shares how she grew Canva to 10 million users in 3 years with just word of mouth marketing, why being rejected by so many investors was a good thing, how taking up kite surfing (one of the most dangerous sports in the world) allowed Melanie to raise capital for Canva, and how she found the members of her awesome tech team. Click here ...

Jan 26, 201829 min

GE Ep 24 [2014]: Mailbird CEO Andrea Loubier On ‘Fixing’ Windows E-mail And Winning 7,000 Customers

Today we're talking with Mailbird CEO Andrea Loubier. Known in the email world as the Sparrow for Windows, Mailbird launched in April, 2013 and to date has over 7,000 users. Andrea's background doesn't come from the start-up, or even from the technology world. Instead, she decided she wanted to live in Bali and started Googling for a job, ultimately landing a job as the CEO of Mailbird. Her job perks include gathering in a co-working space with like-minded entrepreneurs on the oceanfront in Bali...

Jan 25, 201828 min

GE Ep 23 [2014]: The Bit.ly Factor – A Service That Manages 40,000 Of The World’s Biggest Brands And Has Eclipsed 7 Billion Clicks

Join me as I talk with Bitly.com CEO Mark Josephson. Mark has a 20-year history working with start-ups and new media. He launched his career at an agency with exposure to an eclectic mix of clients before following the skyrocketing growth of new media. Bitly exploded with the rise of Twitter when the business saw a need for shortened links. But Bitly took link shortening leaps and bounds further with tools to help marketers and brands study their customers' online habits in-depth. To date, Bitly...

Jan 24, 201828 min

GE Ep 22 [2014]: BuzzStream Founder Paul May Teaches You How To Recover From A Total Product Launch Disaster

Join us as we talk to Paul May from BuzzStream, online software helping marketers promote their products, services and content to build links, buzz, and brands. Paul has been entrenched in the start-up world his entire career spanning across 20-years. His original co-founder, Jeremy Bencken, came fresh from ApartmentListings.com where he focused on long-tail search and drove traffic through SEO PR and relationship building. They saw a need to organize their links and relationships with influence...

Jan 23, 201845 min

GE Ep 182 [2016]: How ConvertFlow Customers Drive a 30-80% Conversion Rate

Hey everyone, in today’s episode I share the mic with Ethan Denney, co-founder of ConvertFlow, a new SaaS company that helps business owners convert their website visitors into customers. Listen as Ethan shares how ConvertFlow converts better than any other conversion tool out there by showing website visitors personalized calls to action (and not the same message over and over), how they acquired their first hundred customers after winning a battle of the apps competition at InfusionSoft's annu...

Jan 21, 201816 min

GE Ep 20 [2014]: How Scott Gerber Went From Nearly Bankrupt To Building An Organization Of The World's Most Successful Young Entrepreneurs

Join me as I talk with serial entrepreneur, Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), internationally syndicated columnist, and the host of Founders Forum on Inc.com and author of ”Never Get a “Real” Job". Scott's invite-only organization attracts some of the world's most successful young entrepreneurs in the world under 40 who generate at least $1 million in sales or financing. His group includes founders and leaders of Hootsuite, Thrillist, Threadless and Kissmetrics among...

Jan 17, 201828 min

GE Ep 19 [2014]: : Oliver Emberton On How He Became A Top Quora Contributor With Over 4.93 Million Views

Join me as I talk with Silktide founder Oliver Emberton. Oliver started his company on the cusp of graduating from University at 21-years old with £14,000 in debt and no clue what he was doing with his life. He spent nearly a decade building up the largest design business in his city only to switch gears at the peak of his success and turn it into a software agency instead. Oliver is also prolific blogger with over 6 million visits, and accomplished writer whose novel-in-progress was launched of...

Jan 16, 201846 min

GE Ep 179 [2016]: How SkyBell Went from Zero Investment Dollars to Raising $100,000 in 5 Days on Indiegogo

Hey everyone, in today's episode I share the mic with Andrew Thomas, co-founder of SkyBell, which is a startup pioneering a Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell that allows people to monitor and open the door with their smartphone. In this interview we talk about the future of innovation, how SkyBell went from a company that nobody wanted to back to a earning a 9-figure valuation, why you can’t go after the decision-maker right off the bat, and why a video is one of the most powerful things you can do t...

Jan 14, 201839 min

GE Ep 17 [2014]: The Sales Process that Grew EchoSign to $100M in Revenues with Jason Lemkin

Today's interview features EchoSign Co-founder and CEO Jason Lemkin, who built EchoSign's annual revenues to over $100 million and sold it to Adobe. He's now a Managing Director at Storm Ventures, a top business contributor on Quora, and writes a wildly popular software-as-a-service blog, SaaStr, reaching 500,000 visitors every month. Even while a corporate VP of Adobe, Jason knew he wanted to share his journey to success with others. He launched SaaStr and grew it to 500,000 visitors each month...

Jan 10, 201853 min

GE Ep 16 [2014]: 23 Year Old AdStage CEO Sahil Jain's Background Will Blow Your Mind

Learn about how Sahil Jain dropped out of high school to work at Yahoo! at age 17 and then college to work at AOL and then eventually go on to co-found two technology startups. Here's the thing - he's only 23. Click here for show notes. Leave some feedback: Who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, leave a short review here. Subscribe to Growth Everywhere on iTunes. Get the non-iTunes RSS feed Connect with Eric Siu: Gr...

Jan 09, 201836 min

GE Ep 175 [2016]: How Landon Ray Took ONTRAPORT from a Dozen Customers to 1,000 Customers in Just 2 Months

Hey everyone, in this episode, I share the mic with Landon Ray, founder and CEO of ONTRAPORT, which is an award winning, all-in-one business and marketing automation platform that removes the burden of technology for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Listen as we discuss how he went from day trader to entrepreneur, why losing one business resulted in building a new, better business, how he took ONTRAPORT from a dozen customers to 1,000 customers in just 2 months with a $0 marketing budget, and...

Jan 06, 201837 min

GE Ep 174 [2016]: SEO Expert Glen Allsopp Talks About How Your Brand Can Still Win at SEO Today

Hey everyone, in this episode, I interview SEO expert Glen Allsopp of ViperChill, which is a blog that covers viral marketing, SEO and blogging advice. Glen has been doing this for a very long time and he's willing to talk about the things that most people aren't, especially regarding startups where people seem to neglect SEO and think about paid advertising all the time instead. Listen as we discuss how he got started when he was 16 and into DJ-ing, how he transformed his business with zero cli...

Jan 05, 201837 min

GE Ep 15 [2014]: Amy Balliett On Using Infographics To Drive Business Growth

Amy built a $2 million dollar business creating infographics for businesses. Learn about how infographics can help propel your business growth online in this fascinating discussion. Click here for show notes. Leave some feedback: Who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, leave a short review here. Subscribe to Growth Everywhere on iTunes. Get the non-iTunes RSS feed Connect with Eric Siu: Growth Everywhere Single Grain...

Jan 04, 201833 min

GE Ep 14 [2014]: Raven Tools Co-founder Jon Henshaw on How To Acquire Your First Users With Participation Marketing

Today's interview is with Raven Tools co-founder Jon Henshaw. Jon's company made the transition from a service based company to a SaaS product and talks about the challenges he faced while making the pivot. You'll learn about what participation marketing is and how you can acquire your first 300 users by doing it. Lots more in this episode - enjoy! Click here for show notes. Leave Some Feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the commen...

Jan 03, 201857 min

GE Ep 13 [2014]: Wistia CEO Chris Savage On Using Frugality To Increase Your Business' Runway

Today’s interview is with Wistia CEO Chris Savage. Learn about how he hacked his spending habits to extend Wistia’s runway and why t-shirts are still a valid marketing tactic. You’ll also learn about the direction in which video is going and why it’s important to be using video as part of your content marketing strategy today. Click here for show notes. Leave Some Feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjo...

Jan 02, 201833 min

GE Ep 173 [2016]: How Website Brokers FE International Sold $60M Worth of Online Businesses Very Quickly

Hey everyone, in this episode, I share the mic with Ismael Wrixen, CEO of FE International, an experienced website broker who offers highly personalized service and access to a large network of investors looking to buy and sell successful websites. Listen as we discuss FE International’s content marketing strategy and why they invest in people rather than distribution, the power of building client trust, the unique value adds that give them a 95% success rate, and why you shouldn’t over-value ch...

Dec 31, 201732 min

GE Ep 171 [2016]: How Thinkific Uses YouTube to Organically Drive $3-4K a Month in Additional Revenue

Hey everyone, on today's episode we've got Greg Smith, CEO of Thinkific, an all-in-one platform for independent experts and entrepreneurs to create, market and sell online courses. Listen as we discuss how cold calls got Thinkific their first 50 customers, how Greg created an online course that got $10,000 in MRR which allowed him to start Thinkific, the simple funnel that Thinkific uses to grow revenue 30% MoM, and how they saw success by figuring out why people read their content and then mone...

Dec 29, 201725 min

GE Ep 11 [2014]: Sean Ellis, CEO of Qualaroo, On Why You Need To Understand ‘Growth Hacking’ Today

Today’s interview is with Qualaroo CEO Sean Ellis, who coined the term ‘growth hacker’ and founded growthhackers.com. Sean has a very impressive background growing startups such as Dropbox, Xobni and LogMeIn. Click here for key takeaways. Leave Some Feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, leave a short review here. Subscribe to Growth Everywhere on iTunes. Get the non-iTunes RSS fe...

Dec 27, 201751 min

GE Ep 10 [2014]: David Hassell, CEO of 15Five, On How He Became “The Most Connected Man You Don’t Know In Silicon Valley”

Today’s interview is with David Hassell of 15five. He’s been labeled as the ‘Most Connected Man You Don’t Know In Silicon Valley’ by Forbes and he tells us how he got there. David is a serial entrepreneur and shares some tips for keeping himself sharp. Click here for show notes. Leave some feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, leave a short review here. Subscribe to Growth Everyw...

Dec 26, 201743 min

GE Ep 169 [2016]: Here’s How Ambition Tripled their Revenue in just 6 Months and Scaled from a $1M to $10M Run Rate

Hey everyone, on today’s show we have Travis Truett, CEO of Ambition, an enterprise-grade sales productivity platform inspired by Fantasy Football. We talk about how Ambition was able to triple revenue in just six months, how they use gamification to show the amount of revenue employees are making and increase ROI, how they grew the to a 7-figure company via word of mouth and customer referrals, and what they do to have a negative churn rate. Click here for show notes and transcript. Leave some ...

Dec 23, 201732 min

GE Ep 168 [2016]: How Startups Can Generate Leads for as Little as $.05 with LeadQuizzes

Hey everyone, on today's show we have Dornubari Vizor, one of the co-founders of LeadQuizzes, a software solution that helps businesses generate leads through fun quizzes and assessments. In today’s interview, we’ll be talking about how Dornubari’s digital marketing agency evolved into LeadQuizzes, how they acquired their first 100 customers using an early adopter program (and achieved a 25% conversion rate!), and what they did to get one client 100s of leads per month and a 500% conversion rate...

Dec 22, 201726 min

GE Ep 9 [2014]: How Treehouse, an $8M Revenue Company, Operates On a 4-Day Work Week and No Managers

Today’s interview is with Treehouse CEO Ryan Carson, who I had the pleasure of working for. For starters, Treehouse is an $8 million dollar company that only works 4 days a week. And if that isn’t crazy enough, they’ve just changed their business to have no managers. And if that isn’t enough, the online education startup boasts an impressive list of world class investors such as Kevin Rose, Reid Hoffman, Chamath Palihapitiya and Mark Suster. You’ll learn how he got acquainted with these guys in ...

Dec 21, 201737 min

GE Ep 8 [2014]: Spencer Fry, CEO Of Uncover, On Bootstrapping 3 Companies To Profitability

Today’s interview is with Spencer Fry, CEO of Uncover, which is an employee rewards program for your company. Spencer previously co-founded TypeFrag (at age 19) and Carbonmade. All 3 of his companies were bootstrapped and Spencer talks about the benefits of bootstrapping. Click here for show notes. Leave Some Feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, leave a short review here. Subscr...

Dec 20, 201743 min

GE Ep 7 [2013]: Tips On Bootstrapping A 10M Dollar Company with HUMAN co-founder Andy Mackensen

Today’s guest is Andy Mackensen, who is the co-founder and CMO of HUMAN healthy vending. Learn how he decided to disrupt a market about which he had to learn from the ground up and took the company from $0 million to $10 million in a very short amount of time. Andy also talks about his effective hiring process, masterminds, and one big takeaway that every entrepreneur should be paying attention to. Click here for show notes. Leave some feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interv...

Dec 19, 201743 min
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