499: Tom Kulzer | 0 to 1 Million SaaS Subscribers

Creating a network is more than just who you know, but who you connect to who. Our guest today,Tom Kulzer, is a master at cultivating relationships. Tom founded the award winning https://www.aweber.com (AWeber Communications) to help small businesses around the world better communicate and build relationships with customers and prospects using permission based email marketing. Tom's focus is strategic planning, market strategy, business development, and team building, and believes in creating a unique workplace lifestyle with a culture driven by core values all while in pursuit of growing millions of small businesses around the world.
I can’t wait to dive right in and learn how Tom brought his business from zero to one million SaaS subscribers by connecting people and generating relationships. 

Things you will learn in this episode:
[00:01 - 08:53] Opening Segment
I introduce today’s guest, Tom Kulzer
Activities and Success
Announcements 
https://travischappell.typeform.com/to/kmf5p4 (travischapel.com/makemypodcast)
Tom gives some background on his story
Always doing odd jobs 
Parents owned a garment factory 
Entrepreneurship taught or caught?
Tom’s examples 
Family business dynamic
Factors that go into it 
Tom talks about growing up learning entrepreneurship
Growing up around small businesses
Used to working all kind of jobs 
Started a software company 
Developed AWeber over time 

[08:54 - 16:44] The Benefits and Struggles of Software 
Tom talks about the value of his hard work 
Building up over time 
Evolving over the years
Benefits and struggles of building a software company 
A constantly evolving market 
Increased competition 
Engineering capacity used on stopping abuse 
Recurring and predictable 
Customer solutions operations
Pitfalls of software 
The things you don’t see 
Examples 

[16:45 - 18:28] Do What You’re Passionate About
Tom talks about the beginning of his hiring period 
First hire in customer solutions 
Loving what you do 
Work doesn’t feel like work 

[18:29 - 28:24] Closing Segment
Who you or What you know? 
What you know can open the doors to who you know 
Being the resource for others 
What then who
Important relationships that made you what you are today?
Tom’s friend that pushed him 
Relationship started from a newsletter 
Tom’s advice to his mentees 
Leadership strategies to build better relationships with customers and employees 
Be yourself 
Cultivate a genuine culture 
The RaNdoM RoUnd
Remember to upload and tag us on instagram!
Final words 

Tweetable Quotes: 
“At the end of the day software is something where… it’s a recurring base, so it’s very predictable, it’s very measurable in many ways. It has a lot of upsides, and it definitely can scale…” - Tom Kulzer
“I don’t look at work as necessarily work… Do something that you’re passionate about.” - Tom Kulzer
“The ‘who you know’ is for other people; being beneficial to them and connecting them to other people and helping them out with whatever struggle that they have.” - Tom Kulzer

Resources Mentioned: 
https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/ (Omnifocus)

You can connect with Tom on https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkulzer/ (LinkedIn), and https://twitter.com/tkulzer (Twitter). Visit https://go.tomkulzer.com/home to learn more about his space. 

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