Cody McLain, the founder of Support Ninja. Cody launched his first business at 15, and sold it 18 months later, having made $150k in revenue. He’s an entrepreneur with incredible drive who’s been featured in Forbes, Mashable, Entrepreneur and more. Tune in to hear how Cody sold two businesses before he was 24, why he’s set up and outsourcing company, and why this relentless entrepreneur thinks that everyone just needs to slow down. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster What CEO do you follow? — Ben Casnocha Favorite online tool? — Droplr Do you get 8 hours of sleep?—Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — It’s not always about making money. Slow down and explore the connections you can make with other humans. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:56 – Nathan’s introduction 01:25 – Welcoming Cody to the show 01:30 – Starting your first business at FIFTEEN? 02:01 – His friend proposed starting a hosting company to pay for the new XBox 02:40 – It took several years to move from on-selling HostGator’s services to starting their own hosting company 03:17 – At 16 or 17 he merged with another partner, having made $150k in revenue 04:41 – He was in foster care when he started his first business 05:11 – Aged 19, was screwed over by a potential business partner who ended up in a litigation battle 06:00 – Lost customers because the buyer damaged the company’s reputation 07:09 – Servers were shut down and customers quit 07:55 – Cody walked away and moved to Seattle 08:29 – He started a new business, PacificHost 09:40 – Put around $30k of his $70k savings into the business before it was profitable 10:11 – PacificHost was making around $650k in annual revenue when he sold it 10:51 – Margins tend to be low in the hosting industry. 12:06 – Sold PacificHost for a little under $1 million aged 24 12:35 – Started an outsourcing business with a partner in India 13:11 – “I always wanted to be a startup...but I’m very risk-averse. So I took the opportunity to work with startups” 13:53 – Support Ninja was founded to provide outsourcing services for small startups 14:09 – 14 months in, they have over $1 million in contracts 15:23 – First-year revenue in 2015 was less than $500k 15:44 – “We didn’t even know what we were selling the first few months” 16:01 – “I would say we provide Outsourcing As A Service” 16:37 – Support Ninja uses similar metrics to SaaS and they expect a 40% net margin 18:38 – Cody’s eager to use the skills and platform of Support Ninja to launch new projects 19:05 – They currently have 10 clients 19:30 – Average annual contract size is $100k - $400k 19:40 – Team size is 5 in the USA, 100 in the Philippines 20:20 – Follow Cody on Twitter or check out his website 22:05 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: It’s not all about making money. Slow down. Connect with the people around you. Know your own skills. Always be looking ahead. Know where your current project can take you. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives