At Hustle Con, Tim explained how to create content people love, how to create a content marketing strategy, and how to reach millions of users. Tim Chen is the CEO and founder of NerdWallet, a financial education startup founded in 2009. Wanna open a bank account or start a new credit card? Head to NerdWallet to learn what’s best for you. NerdWallet is bootstrapped with over 200 employees. In his talk at Hustle Con, Tim explains how do you create content people love, the best way to create a content marketing strategy and how to reach millions of users. Hustle Con is a badass conference where the best non-technical founders (aka hustlers) teach how they got started and give practical advice on growing your startup. If you’ve heard of a hacker, well a hustler is its counterpart. Basically, it’s like a rock n’ roll version of TED, except not as hoity-toity. The catch? None of our speakers know how to code. See Tim's talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUwNgxwN_pE

1. 0 to 1m monthly
visitors
How to build a massive audience
Tim Chen
NERDWALLET

2. Life before the hustle
@timchen82 #hustlecon
Day traded, partied, played too much Starcraft
2000 - 2004: COLLEGE
Investor focused on the technology, media, and
telecom industries
2004 - 2008: WORK

3. Why did I start NerdWallet v1.0?
■ Existing products weren’t good
○ Incomplete inventory of financial products
○ Did not customize results for spending behavior
■ Big market
○ CreditCards.com: $63m
○ BankRate.com: $96m
■ Fired at the end of 2008
○ Minimal competition for credit sites during a credit crisis
○ Low opportunity cost
#hustlecon@timchen82

4. Why did I have an advantage?
■ NW appeals to a niche of people
■ More nimble than the big guys
■ Sister knew about SEO and affiliate marketing
■ Finance background
■ Life as an investor
#hustlecon@timchen82

5. #hustlecon
A non-technical
founder’s website
@timchen82

6. The next 6 years
■ 2009: 0 to 283 users / month
■ 2010: 38k users / month
■ 2011: 150k users / month
■ 2012: 480k users / month
■ 2013: 1.3m users / month
■ 2014: 2.2m users / month
#hustlecon
NERDWALLET, LAUNCHED FEB 3, 2009
@timchen82

7. 2009
0 to 283 users

8. Inefficient learning
■ Word of mouth sucks in finance
■ Pitching journalists is really hard
■ SEO is a slog and is going to require years of work
■ Paid channels are prohibitively expensive
○ Subscale means lower commissions
○ Consumer friendly means lower monetization
#hustlecon
LEARNINGS & MISTAKES
2009
@timchen82

9. Inefficient learning
#hustlecon
2009
Figure out your business’s most
viable acquisition channel and
iterate on it. For us, it was SEO.
@timchen82

10. 2010
280 to 38k users / month

11. Small wins can be demoralizing
■ Finally got in Money magazine in Feb 2010...
○ But it generated only $300 in revenue. Nearly quit. PR didn’
t get easier.
■ Co-founder got us a LifeHacker mention in
May 2010 through a personal connection
○ But it only generated $5,000 in revenue. Nearly quit again
#hustlecon
SMALL WINS
2010
@timchen82

12. Small wins can be demoralizing
#hustlecon
2010
Dropped product development
to focus on SEO -- that was all
that mattered.
@timchen82

13. 2011
38k to 150k users / month

14. This might work...
■ In SEO, there are only 2 things that matter
○ Building quality links
○ Creating quality content
■ This implies
○ Product design doesn’t matter
○ Engineering doesn’t matter
○ VC funding doesn’t matter
○ PR only matters if it builds links
#hustlecon
FOCUS
2011
@timchen82

15. #hustlecon
This might work...
2011
■ Not a black box: read online how the Google
algorithm works.
■ There’s no secret sauce, just hard work. Don’t try
to game the system.
■ Your most limited resource is “founder time.”
○ Hire link builders and journalists, you’ll never be able to do it yourself
at a large enough scale
○ Build products that generate UGC or links automatically
TIPS FOR SEO
@timchen82

16. #hustlecon
PR / links
2011
First big investment was in a small
PR agency in March of 2011 (Prowess
PR). Spent our first $5,000 / month in
revenue on PR.
@timchen82

17. #hustlecon
PR / links
2011
■ Building a reputation with the journalism
community is tough. They are flooded with
pitches and calls, have deadlines to meet, and
don’t want to get burned by unreliable sources.
■ Ex-journalists will better understand how to pitch
a journalist effectively. Talk to one.
PR TIPS
@timchen82

18. #hustlecon
Content
2011
■ First hire was a “content owner” (not a developer)
○ Wrote content
○ Hired and inspired more content writers
○ Went on to GM our entire credit card business
■ Hired as an intern in Spring 2011
○ Brown student who really wanted to go to Syria to study Arabic
○ Arab Spring happened, she couldn’t go
○ She dropped out to become our first employee and was instrumental
in our success
@timchen82

19. 150k to 480k users / month
2012

20. 480k to 1.3m users / month
2013

21. #hustlecon
Define exactly what you need to win
Early on, we realized the need to build 500+
quality content pieces & links / month in
order to gain scale. This forced a radical
rethink of where to aim the organization.
@timchen82

22. #hustlecon
Define exactly what you need to win
■ When you’re small, it’s a knife fight. Learn what competitors are up to
and crush their output.
■ Give yourself credit for iterative improvements you’ll figure out down
the road but also be realistic about futile endeavors.
■ At scale, stop trying to growth hack and build a team that can do it
better than you. Build the best army and don’t worry about tactics.
■ My biggest SEO successes and mistakes in the last 4 years are people.
@timchen82

23. #hustlecon
3 to 50 FTE
2012 - 2013
■ Running a business is HARD and takes a LONG
time to pay off
○ Took my first paycheck after 3 years
■ Managing people is really tough
■ People build companies
○ Growth tactics or hacks only get you so far
○ Nobody we hired in 2012 had ever managed people before. This did
not end well.
LESSONS LEARNED
@timchen82

24. #hustlecon
3 to 50 FTE
2012 - 2013
■ Be authentic and don’t be afraid to communicate vulnerabilities.
Employees are really perceptive.
■ Over-communicate the mission, your expectations, and feedback
(supportively).
■ Confront all perceived issues quickly and candidly, with a bias towards
understanding the issue rather than assuming bad intentions or lack of
capability.
■ Learn about people. Everyone has different strengths , career desires,
and communication styles.
TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME MANAGERS
@timchen82

25. 1.3m to 2.2m users / month
2014

26. #hustlecon
Hire & Inspire
2014
@timchen82

27. #hustlecon
0 to 2.2m users / month
2009 - 2014
Bootstrapped, 180+ employees, extremely
profitable
@timchen82

28. #hustlecon
0 to 2.2m users / month
2009 - 2014
TAKEAWAYS
Understand
● Which customer acquisition channel do I need to dominate?
● What are the drivers behind that acquisition channel?
● Market size and competitor economics. It can keep you motivated when
things are rough.
@timchen82

29. #hustlecon
0 to 2.2m users / month
2009 - 2014
TAKEAWAYS
Tactics
● Test quickly to discover business drivers
● Build business process around drivers
@timchen82

30. #hustlecon
0 to 2.2m users / month
2009 - 2014
TAKEAWAYS
Hire great people
● Learn how to sell a vision
@timchen82

31. nerdwallet.com
TIM CHEN
FOUNDER, CEO
#hustlecon@timchen82

32. #hustlecon