GE 170: How a Smart Idea for a Chrome Extension Led to a $10 Million Run Rate for Cirrus Insight (podcast)

Hey everyone, on today’s show we have Brandon Bruce, co-founder of Cirrus Insight which helps you track emails, book meetings, and set follow-ups – basically, it helps you close more deals.

Today we’ll learn how a smart idea for a Chrome extension led to a $10 million run rate, how passing out simple postcards at conferences got 1,000 people to join their pilot program (which turned into 500 paying customers), and what they did to reduce churn rates.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How a Smart Idea for a Chrome Extension Led to a 10M Run Rate for Cirrus Insight TRANSCRIPT

Episode highlights:

• [1:15] – Brandon and his co-founder Ryan started Cirrus Insight about 5 years ago. It was the first application that connects Salesforce and Gmail.
• [1:31] – They were using Gmail, but all of their customer data was stored in Salesforce. They got tired of jumping back and forth. They thought a better way would be to see the customer data when they opened Gmail.
• [1:51] – Ryan built a Chrome extension that enabled them to do that. Google and Salesforce have both grown over this time period and it was a really good time to be first in that market.
• [2:21] – They now serve high-end companies, universities, and nonprofits.
• [2:44] – They are on a $10 million run rate and have grown to 60 employees with two locations.
• [3:00] – They have benefited from building great teams and the market has continued to grow.
• [3:23] – Sales tools is an emerging category. Tools to help do the sales job using technology.
• [4:17] – Cirrus Insight is a Swiss Army Knife for people who uses Salesforce. They enable to update and create records without being inside Salesforce. They can work without leaving their inbox and get their work done. Creating new leads, scheduling meetings, getting relationships jumpstarted, and keeping Salesforce up to date.
• [6:02] – The company is valuable to any size company that uses Salesforce.
• [06:33] – Cirrus Insight has two plans. One starts at $19 a month and the other one is $29 a month, and they anticipate adding some additional premium levels.
• [7:40] – First customers came from showing up to conferences with postcards. They had a simple one-page site that asked for an email address. They had about 1,000 people join the pilot program and provide feedback.
• [9:32] – First 500 customers came from that pilot group of 1,000 people.
• [11:39] – Making themselves available is what has worked for them. They have their calendars online, and customers can schedule time.
• [12:19] – Word of mouth is their number one form of customer acquisition along with direct traffic from their active blog and direct sales from their team and other customers and partners. It is a multi channel effort.
• [14:34] – Getting in front of customers and partners and talking to people is what they are into and how they run their business.
• [15:13] – Big struggle was deciding whether to raise funding or not. They benefited from some angel investors, but no institutional investors. They focus on core product and don’t take big risks.
• [17:00] – Having kids has had a huge impact on Brandon’s life.
• [18:00] – Advice for self, even though reading is great. Jump in head first 100% into a startup as early as possible. You learn the most on the job. Learn by doing.
• [19:56] – Adding a customer success team has changed the business in the last year.
• [21:27] – Customer success team has reduced churn rates and increased expansion. Churn goal is under 10% at it’s peak it was in the 10 to 20% range.

Resources from this interview:

• Cirrus Insight
• Salesforce
• Must-read book: What Do You Care What Other People Think by Richard P. Feynman
• Twitter @CirrusInsight
• Brandon Bruce LinkedIn

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