Christof Wittig. He’s a serial, software entrepreneur and investor. Currently, he’s the founder and CEO of Hornet Networks, the world’s second largest gay social network and is a managing partner of Strive, based in San Francisco. He’s an investor and board member of various companies including Enish, Metago, KeepSafe, VirtaHealth, Black Medicine, Movie Pilot, Box Fish and App Annie. He has been active in the US, Germany, and throughout Asia. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Zero to One What CEO do you follow? –  Sami Inkinen Favorite online tool? — Capshare.com Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Christof wished he told himself to be bold, that he didn’t need a degree, and to follow his dreams   Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:19 – Nathan introduces Christof to the show 03:09 – Strive and Hornet came at the same time to Christof 03:32 – Hornet started as a side project 03:50 – Christof exited Servo Software before Hornet 04:00 – Hornet is Christof’s first consumer business 04:10 – Servo Software was launched in 2004 05:02 – Christof sold Servo software in 2010 05:20 – Hornet’s capital came from that exit 05:48 – Christof is now 48 05:58 – Nathan had Sean Howell, Hornet’s co-founder in Episode 440 06:20 – Sean focused on marketing 06:50 – Sean and Christof are running it together 07:10 – Hornet had a subscription model and premium option 07:50 – Hornet’s revenue is 2/3 from subscription and 1/3 from ads 08:00 – Hornet’s future revenue model 08:28 – GHI 09:02 – Hornet raised their $8M in their Series A 10:05 – Hornet’s focus is the advertising revenue 10:46 – “Our focus is to get more engagement” 10:57 – Engagement is measured through sessions 11:12 – Peak days 11:30 – User base 11:41 – 3M monthly active and 1.5M daily active 12:09 – The key metrics to track the number of sessions 12:30 – Christof shares about Tinder 13:16 – Hornet sells CPM and provides premium exposure 14:00 – Hornet has a feed model to drive more organic traffic 14:34 – Hornet has the following features 15:20 – Hornet’s published price for CPM 15:56 – The number of advertisers currently working with Hornet 16:28 – Hornet uses TFP for their ads 17:10 – Hornet has the largest gay media newsroom in the USA 17:30 – The story feed makes the interaction in the gay community easier 18:05 – Christof shares where they spend the $8M 18:25 – Hornet also spends in marketing 18:39 – Christof wants users to understand that Hornet isn’t just about dating 19:00 – User growth 19:30 – Hornet takes the new concept of the gay app to the next level 20:14 – Hornet is about creating a new digital space for the gay community 21:35 – The Famous Five   3 Key Points: They gay community needs a place where it’s not just about dating, but having interactions with the whole community. The focus isn’t always on the number of users, specially if you’re driving traffic well. A degree isn’t as important as just following your dreams.   Resources Mentioned: 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 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 the quality of Toptal Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible. Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books. The Top Inbox  – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11” secure even when he left it in the airplane’s back seat pocket Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives