1. What ignited the spark in you to start Infusionsoft?
We had a genuine desire to help small businesses use automation to grow.  We hated seeing small businesses do things the hard way.  Oh yeah, and we were hungry.

2. What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?
To become the recognized leader in marketing and sales software for small businesses.  We have not achieved this yet.

3. To what do you attribute your company’s recent achievements?
Focus on our core values and core purpose.  We are out to revolutionize the way small businesses grow.  We stay focused on this dream and don’t do things that will distract us.

4. How important have good employees and team members been to your success?
Critical.  At every inflection point of our company’s growth curve, there are key hires that made it possible.

5. What three pieces of advice would you give to high school or college students who want to become entrepreneurs?
Believe you can do it, prepare to work very hard, get your personal finances in shape before you start.

6. What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?
I trusted someone close to me without doing a little inspecting and verifying to make sure my trust was warranted.  I have learned that I love to trust people and I will continue doing that, erring on the side that I might trust too much.  At the same time, I will do a little verifying to make sure that what I perceive to be true is actually true.

7. Describe/outline your typical day?
There’s no such thing as a typical day for me.  I talk a lot with the people who report directly to me, I talk to employees, partners, customers, board members, community and business leaders and small business owners everywhere.  I travel about 3 to 5 days per month on average.  I do a lot by email, spending about one to two hours per day on email.  I survey the market, look at where our company stands in relation to our goals and push my executive team to help us accomplish our goals.  I teach leadership to our executives and managers and try to inspire everyone involved in our cause to give their best and believe in what we’re doing.

8. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
Early stages: credit cards.  Next stage: bank loans.  Following stage: friends and family investment.  Most recent stage: venture capital.

9. What stops you from throwing in the towel and giving up during the tough times in business?
An undying belief that we will succeed, that the world needs what we’re doing and that this mission is more important than me.

10. Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Yes.  Positive thinking.  The understanding that: Thoughts –> Words –> Beliefs –> Actions –> Habits –> Goals

11. Who has influenced you most and been your greatest inspiration?
My parents.

12. What book has inspired you the most?
Built to Last by Jim Collins, followed closely by Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale.

13. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
We do a whole bunch of different things to generate leads online, offline through partners, emails, events and much more.  Best thing we’ve done is work with partners to generate leads.

14. In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Exciting.

15. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Southwest Airlines.  Consistent, focused drive to be the best in their category has resulted in their company being the most successfully company over the past 25 years.

16. How do you achieve balance in your life? Or do you?
Constantly battle.  Fight to pull away from work.  Don’t get caught up thinking that every hour spent working on the business is equally productive.  Recognize the law of diminishing returns applies to results achieved from time spent on work.  Take vacations.  Remind yourself daily who you really care about.

17. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 years? 10 years?
In five years, I see us with 1,000 employees, half million customers and publicly traded company.  I think I’ll still be leading the company.  In 10 years, I see a much larger company with over 1,000,000 customers and somebody else running the company with me serving on the board of directors.

18. What’s your exit strategy?
My personal exit strategy is to sell shares occasionally on the public market.  I don’t plan for the company to have an exit strategy.  We’re building a company that will last decades into the future and will long outlast me and my life.

19. If we could introduce you to anyone, who would it be and why? (you never know who we know!)
Scott Cook, Founder of Intuit.  I love what they did for small businesses and their need for Accounting and Finance software.