GE 159: Austin Neudecker On How Rev Got 50,000 Customers (& Doubling Every Year!) by Having the Fastest Turnaround Time & Highest Quality (podcast)

Hey everybody, today’s guest is Austin Neudecker, head of Growth at Rev, which provides fast transcription services for audio and video formats, translation services, and caption and subtitle services.

On today’s show we discuss how Austin went from startups to venture capital to the head of Growth at Rev, why they get 10-20% conversions even without a “beautiful” website, what their primary channel for new customer acquisition is, and the importance of learning to fail quickly.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: Austin Neudecker On How Rev Got 50,000 Customers (& Doubling Every Year!) by Having the Fastest Turnaround Time & Highest Quality TRANSCRIPT

Episode highlights:

• [03:34] – At Rev, Austin is involved with CXP or customer experience
• [03:54] – Rev is a freelancer marketplace that builds specific services they can sell to customers
• [04:47] – For a dollar a minute they will get transcription in under 24 hours, they manage their freelancers and have the fastest turn around time and deliver the best product they can
• [00:06:59] Rev focuses on making their services the best in the category they play in – turnaround time, competitive price, acceptable level of quality
• [07:55] – Incredible website conversion – SEM – Sales team to target whales – they know the customer acquisition cost of each channel
• [09:34] – They are in the 10-20% conversion rate range
• [09:51] – They spend less on other channels because of the website conversion
• [10:34] – They don’t think their website is the most beautiful thing in the world, but it is very simple and easy to pay with less clicks
• [11:45] – Being a VC is the best job Austin has ever had, that you should never take – it’s a very difficult field to get into
• [12:59] – Being a VC is doing a lot of analysis, but to make money, you have to invest in the right company and become a partner to get a return
• [13:32] – When looking for a VC you want one who has been a founder before and has experience under their belt – to shortcut the VC process operate as an entrepreneur – then retire into the process and become a VC
• [14:38] – The average return for a VC is zero, 70% of funds have a negative return, the top percentage 30% is making most of the money – that is where you want to be
• [16:07] – Find two important things to do each month that will really move the needle, focus on one thing, test, measure, and move on to the next thing

Resources from this interview:

• Austin Neudecker
• Rev
• Twitter @aus_n
• Must-read book: Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy by Cindy Alvarez
• Startup San Diego

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 feed

Connect with Eric Siu:

• Growth Everywhere
• Single Grain
• Twitter @ericosiu