Josh Haynam is the co-founder of Interact, a platform and software serviced based out of San Francisco. Interact creates quizzes ("like the ones that you see on Facebook") and assessments for clients wanting to reach potential customers whose interests may align with those of their company's.
After cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit at the start of high school, Josh had to switch gears and buckle down for college, where he met the person who would later become his co-founder. When he and his co-founder launched Interact in 2014, Josh began building quizzes for clients and brainstorming new, innovative ideas for a wide range of different companies. In addition to that role, he's branched into the public relations arena and also creates continuous, original blog content for Interact.
Some Questions I Ask Josh:
- What does Interact do? [1:03]
- Do both small and big companies use Interact's product? [5:25]
- What are your thoughts on how people brainstorm their business ideas? [26:30]
- What's your take on growing your business in its beginning stages, as opposed to just being able to pay yourself? [31:00]
- How do you determine who your next hire should be? Do you use any sort of formula? [35:47]
- After you finished school and launched the business with positive results, did you stay in L.A. or decide to move, and what was the criteria for making that decision with your co-founder? [40:15]
- How did you and your co-founder communicate, being and working in separate cities? [41:48]
- What was the timeline of your initial user acquisition like? How did you go about accomplishing the phases that went into making that happen? [45:02]
- When customers initially signed up for Interact, was it using a SaaS business model? [54:25]
- Was there ever a moment where you thought, mathematically, the company may not work out? [55:08]
- Who's been the wildest customer you've had for Interact? [58:44]
- What was the business structure like after you moved to the bay area and began gaining more customers? [1:02:01]
- How were you structuring your payment during those initial stages? [1:04:19]
- What does your day-to-day look like now? [1:18:20]
- Why do you feel now is the appropriate time for you to focus on and do PR? [1:19:24]
- Are there any books you'd recommend people read, whether it's in or outside of the business/startup field? [1:21:25]
- What's your morning routine consist of? [1:23:18]
- Is there any structured involved in your journaling habits? [1:24:07]
- At what point did you decide to bring on an executive coach? [1:26:03]
- What do you do to wind down at the end of the day? [1:29:00]
- What words of advice would you give to anyone looking to start a company? [1:31:49]
Some Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
- How much the public really enjoys taking quizzes
- Some of the clients Interact provides services for
- How Josh created and grew into an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age
- What platform Josh used to advertise his business services in high school
- How Josh met his co-founder
- The framework for how Interact hires new people
- How Interact came up with their idea for interactive ads and quiz creation
- What the problem with his business model was when he was in high school
- How Josh and his co-founder made living and working in different cities work
- How content marketing got Interact its first, legitimate clients
- Some of the nonprofits Interact provides services for on a pro-bono basis
- What the first big challenge for Interact as a business was
- How much time passed before Interact's revenue really increased
Get in Touch with Josh:
