How Andy Fowler, CEO of Nutshell, Built a Successful Business in the Crowded World of CRM

Leveling Up with Eric Siu

How do you start a successful business in the heavily crowded world of CRM? Today on Leveling Up, we talk to Andy Fowler, Cofounder and CEO of Nutshell, a user-friendly sales automation CRM that helps sales reps win more deals with fast onboarding, powerful reporting, and 100 percent free support. He shares some insight into how the business was established, how they developed a reputable sales process for sales automation, and why they made their developers and engineers answer customer calls when they first started out. Tuning in, you’ll learn why Nutshell is different from other CRMs and how, by listening to their customers, refining their product, and providing great service, they have grown into a successful company. Hear why they still make their product team members work with their support team and how they are managing to bring in more customers through helpful content than paid advertising. Tune in to discover how Nutshell has grown to the point that they are bringing in more than five million dollars in ARR, and the future plans for the company, including the launch of Nutshell Marketing!

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:16] Introduction to Andy Fowler, Cofounder and CEO of Nutshell.
• [00:57] How Andy met his Nutshell co-founders in high school.
• [01:43] How Nutshell started out of the need for a CRM product for a friend’s business.
• [03:41] Find out how Nutshell is different from the other CRMs out there: being easy to use.
• [04:29] Why their reputable sales process for sales automation sets them apart.
• [07:14] Nutshell’s new product: Nutshell Marketing.
• [07:52] Nutshell’s number of customers, number of employees, and current ARR.
• [09:29] How Nutshell competes in the crowded space of CRM through listening to customers, refinement, and great service.
• [10:39] Some frameworks for customer development: why they make members of the product team get involved with the support team to hear directly from customers.
• [12:16] Nutshell’s marketing strategy: how they are bringing in more customers through helpful content than paid advertising.
• [15:05] Why they chose a free-trial offering over freemium.
• [16:50] How they raised five million dollars and the long-term vision for the company.
• [18:43] Where the company was at year three when most companies start making a profit.
• [20:21] How Andy is getting better as a CEO by delegating the stuff he can do well.
• [20:52] Andy’s favorite business book, The War of Art, and business tool, Google Sheets.
• [22:52] Who can benefit from Nutshell: a sales team that takes many months to close a deal.

Resources From The Interview:

• Andy Fowler on Twitter
• Nutshell
• Google Sheets
• Hammer Spoon

• Must read book: Leveling Up

• The War of Art

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• Growth Everywhere

• Single Grain

• Eric Siu on Twitter

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