Chris Bruznicki, CEO of Vaystays, which is a vacation rental marketplace tool used by propriety manager like Wyndam. He has been featured in Entrepreneur and was awarded the bronze star. Listen as Chris tells us how Vaystays is earning and what made him decide to raise capital.  Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Good to Great What CEO do you follow? –  Steve Jobs Favorite online tool? — DocuSign Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Networking is super important and consider raising capital”     Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:40 – Nathan introduces Chris to the show 02:20 – Vaystays is used by professionals managing a vacation companies 02:27 – People who have houses in Tahoe and the like will have the vacation companies manage their properties 03:44 – Vaystays gives them a marketplace for distribution 03:55 – Vaystays provides open cable like service 04:17 – Team size and location 04:26 – Vaystays is making 5 million transactions and Chris is earning 13% of every transaction 04:51 – Vaystays was founded in 2010 06:10 – Average order value is $ 2000 07:10 – Vaystays’ software automates all the check in procedure 08:15 – Vaystays takes percentage both from the traveler and seller 09:15 – Vaystays is transparent in their website about the pricing 09:30 – Pricing varies depending on the season 10:30 – Vaystays is connecting specific needs to specific supplies 10:40 – Total transaction volume 11:55 – Vaystays business model 12:20 – Vaystays is in the process of creating subscription fees 13:50 – The marketplace still has lifetime value 15:09 – Vaystays currently has 2000 propriety management companies 15:15 – Average is 10 units per company 16:10 - 25,000 stayed in their properties in September 16:30 – Now is a slow period for Vaystays 18:03 – 312 bookings in September 18:48 – Vaystays has been self-funded for a long time 19:05 – Did a price round for fundraising 19:33 – $ 650,000 revenue in the last 12 months 19:47 – Valuation 20:56 – Chris has 2 co-founders 22:30 – Chris and his co-founders thought about a high valuation 22:53 – They came up with something between $ 3-6 million 24:24 – Connect with Chris through his LinkedIn and his email 16:10 – The Famous Five   3 Key Points: Look for quality partners who can support you. Networking is important – it can lead to tons of opportunities. Consider raising capital if you see a reason to do so.   Resources Mentioned: Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. 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. Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email. Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel. Vaystays.com – Chris’ website Chris@Vaystays.com – Chris’ email address Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives