This week I speak with Mike McDerment, author of Breaking the Time Barrier and CEO of Freshbooks, the hugely popular invoicing and accounting software built for owners, not accountants. Mike left business school in his 4th year and started an agency building websites in the early 2000s. He started off building basic websites for his clients and quickly learned the importance of going beyond creative pages to validating the conversion science behind each site using SEO, Pay Per Click and conversion consulting. Tune in to hear the story behind the 'ah-ha!' moment that pushed Mike to get his agency to a point to where it could run without him so that he could move into his parents basement to build the software now known as Freshbooks. Don't miss Mike's advice on the importance of customer proximity and hear his book recommendations for learning through the startup building journey.