2356 - Riding the Waves of Entrepreneurship with Klipboard's Draven McConville

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0:46Josh Elledge:Visit podverify.com if you'd like to be featured as a future guest. I'm Josh Elledge. Let's get into it. With us right now, it's Draven McConville. Draven, you are the CEO and founder of Clipboard. You are found on the web at clipboard.io and then your personal website, dravenmconville.com. Draven, it's great to have you. Great to be on, Josh. Thank you for having me today. Absolutely. Before we talk about your work with Clipboard, and you've had a couple of very successful exits, which we'll talk about a little bit as well. you know I always love hearing what you know high level leaders do for fun or kind of passionate about outside of work and what have you been into lately well I one I absolutely love motorcycles

1:35Draven McConville:I've been riding bikes since I was three four years of age dirt bikes off-road bikes I will soon be hopefully riding a motocross bike across the Mongolian desert for 10 days and yeah and I even get my dog to join in on the backpack with me so that's a little bit of fun and then maybe a bit more old school is I have a passion for collecting antiques so they're the two things that can keep me fired up outside the business really

2:05Josh Elledge:what uh do you have a favorite motorbike that you own or that you have owned well I am an American

2:11Draven McConville:fan of Harley Davidson. So that's what I currently ride. One's a big touring bike because my wife and I go touring a lot as well. And then, yeah, I do like sports bikes as well. So I love a Ducati. But no man that rides a motorcycle should only have one, Josh. You have to have more than one. Just don't tell him why. You know, it's like outfits, right?

2:33Josh Elledge:You need one for, you know, depending on what you're doing, for sure. What is it emotionally you get out of that experience?

2:41Draven McConville:That's actually a really good question, because when I was running the startups and building those up into scalable businesses, I needed to find headspace. And, you know, some people go to the gym, but I have such an overactive mind. I'm very, very curious. And when you're on a motorcycle, you can't be that way. You have to literally focus on the road ahead of you. Otherwise, you're in danger. I know some people will say, well, that's the same as a car, but it's not because a car could take you out. So you have to be hugely focused on what's in front of you. So it's quite meditative in a way.

3:20Josh Elledge:Yeah. So it's fixed me off.

3:22Draven McConville:It gives me that headspace, fresh air, feeling of freedom. And I suppose I love the little bit of risk with it, which is what running businesses is like as well, is that risk.

3:36Josh Elledge:Yeah. Very, very cool. Well, Draven, share with us a little bit about your work professionally. And if you wouldn't mind maybe talking about Clipboard, which is, again, not your first company that you've started, but you just experienced a very successful exit on that. But, yeah, give us an overview.

3:54Draven McConville:Yeah, I've had two exits in the business world. Both have been in tech. The first business was a software development agency, so it's more service-driven. in. So therefore, when I decided to start Clipboard, I wanted to build a SaaS product, much more scalable, compounding recurring revenue models, subscription-based, et cetera. But I wanted to build it in a space that was, how would you say, overlooked. And that's for the tradespeople, technicians, those that are working in the field doing jobs like servicing air conditioning units, plumbers, those tradespeople that work hard. So totally underserved and typically a paper-based methodology.

4:38Draven McConville:So I decided to build a digital platform, field service platform that would address that. I built that over nine years, took some outside investment from angels and venture, et cetera, scaled it up. And then in July of 2024, I was acquired by carriage commercial systems which is a billion dollar erp uh company uh private equity owned and um subsequently carriage commercial systems has now rebranded globally to clipboard as well which was a bit of a proud moment for me wow they liked your name better than they liked my name better even clipboard goes off the tongue a lot better interestingly that was the thing that they said that they wanted something a lot easier.

5:27Draven McConville:And they had it for quite a while. So, you know, it took a lot of confidence in them to be able to make that change. Obviously, they're the bigger entity. I was smaller, still a substantial business, but smaller in comparison to them. So great to see that happen.

5:42Josh Elledge:What was your experience in working with investors as opposed to just bootstrapping?

5:47Draven McConville:So experience of both, actually, which is an interesting perspective obviously the first business I bootstrapped and I suppose you can do that more so in a service type business where you're you know you can win a project and keep winning a few projects and build it up that way you can obviously do that in in SaaS driven tech companies as well and other types of software companies or bootstrapping any type of company but my experience was that I needed to build quite a comprehensive piece of software and I knew that was going to take time to do a large substantial cost and investment and therefore I couldn't win any early business to fund that whilst we went through it.

6:29Draven McConville:So we had some angel investors that we took on and then as I said we took on a venture fund based out of Seattle to help us build it and scale that. It was an interesting journey. I had about I don't know the exact number but it was in the high to mid 40s of I knows I trying to win that first round of investment I which was pretty exhausting and tiring learned a lot about how what investors look for what they're wanting from a business what they're wanting from a founder to be perfectly honest as well because they invest in people more so nearly than than the business itself um so that was an interesting journey and I was the first British-based UK London company that this American investor backed.

7:17Draven McConville:So that was another big tick as well. But once you get on that journey, Josh, you have to accept that you're going to have to keep raising capital and that someday you're going to have to exit the business. So I wouldn't do it unless you're comfortable with that prospect. I think equally you can build a great business bootstrapping it, get a successful sale if you want at the end of it, or just continue being that owner operator of building a really successful business. It's not for everyone. Take an investment.

7:52Josh Elledge:Yeah. Well, take me through a bit of your observations about yourself emotionally at the prospect of an exit. Like, you know, what what was it finally that where it started to make sense for you? Or did you was this the plan all the way along? And what I guess what I'm most curious about is what did you observe in yourself that maybe you didn't expect? Exactly. And, you know, maybe with your first exit as well, because, again, a lot of this then is going to be new to you. This second exit, you've kind of been through this a little bit more. So you probably knew a little bit more of what you might be experiencing.

8:34Draven McConville:You definitely know a little bit more, but I think each experience is fundamentally different. This time around, I'm obviously still very much involved for the business and I'm president of a division within the large corporation that bought us. So I've got long term commitments with them. And that was really important to me about who we exited the business to. But if I step back to the run up to that, when you take outside investment, investors will always want to return on their investment at some point. And especially if you take institutional capital like a venture capital, they will be working on a fund cycle and that fund will deploy capital and then want that capital returned at some point with obviously an increase in it.

9:21Draven McConville:And that's that is the cycle. So you do know from early on that you will be exiting at some point, but you can decide if you've got the right shareholders and structures and everything else, you can decide as a founder when that is the appropriate time. I realized it was an appropriate time because I'd taken the business to that next stage, that next level, but I wanted to go beyond that. and also I've seen a lot of consolidation in the market as well but still a lot of opportunity to go after and also we got an awful lot of approaches from various different types of buyers so we had trade buyers that wanted to buy us because we were annoying them competitively and they wanted to put our lights out and then we had obviously, you know, PE buyers wanting to buy it And then we had ones like who we sold to, which was an it's an acquisition to help them build out a specific division, but also very complementary to the other products that they sell in the group.

10:28Draven McConville:What was important to me was that the business went to the right home and my team went to the right home. So my my my psychology wasn't just about who's going to write the biggest check. and it was about what's the future of the business you know my own future the team's future etc and of course does it economically make sense as well and the deal that they're offering and we went with these guys because they didn't have a field service product in their portfolio so we knew that we were going to be that main leading product in the division and so all our work and efforts wouldn't be stopped because we're just bought by a competitor.

11:13Draven McConville:And we also seen the huge growth potential of being able to be complimentary to all the rest of their customers that we could cross sell into. So it ticked a lot of boxes and the world aligned, financially aligned. And I think psychologically, I was ready. I was at that point in my journey to make that step as well. And so I think sometimes you have to recognize as a founder when that point you've reached and when you need extra elements brought in to take it to the next stage.

11:47Josh Elledge:Did your life in when when you brought on investors, did you feel like your life got easier or more challenging and included with that? How about your stress level?

11:59Draven McConville:Stress level. Stress levels are always high. I think when you're building a scratch. And I think even some people say to you, oh, you've sold your business now. I'm sure your stress levels have dropped. No, I have different challenges and exciting challenges, obviously. But I think over the years of running companies, you learn to manage your stress and you get better at doing that. Taking on investors, my advice, you know, having done this And if people are looking at taking on investors into the business, it's imperative that you interview them just as much and understand what they're like, what value that they're really bringing to the table.

12:43Draven McConville:And I don't mean monetary value. I mean, are there value outside of that? Because you've got to realize you're going to get married to these guys for a period of time. And you want a supportive investor, not a disruptive investor. You want an investor that's long-term committed, that will follow on with additional capital rounds and help you lead, etc. So my experience is, I would say, is finding that right investor and getting married to the right one. Does it add challenges? I think in business, you're always answerable to someone. whether it's an investor that you've taken investment into or in the us the irs the tax man um your answer to pay nose bills or you're answerable to a bank that you may have taken a loan to it's just a different person that you're answerable to in a way but going back to it the right investor will collaborate and be supportive with you the wrong investor can be disruptive and that will change the dynamic if you're not careful.

13:50Josh Elledge:Yeah. Well, Draven, what now? What do you imagine your life being like over the next year or so? Now, you're still obviously on board with Clipboard, so it's not like you're not doing... You still have your role there as the CEO, is that right?

14:09Draven McConville:Yeah, I'm now the president of the field services division within the group. So I'm leading and building out that division, which will involve potentially acquiring other businesses in the same vertical and obviously scaling our operations in South Africa, Benelux, Nordics, Australia and the US, as well as obviously UK and Ireland. and Canada as well. So there's a lot of investment being poured into the division and scaling what I had created even more. So an exciting time. Do I know what's after that for me? I don't know, Josh. I think I've got my eye on the ball and the current ball and the focus on that current opportunity.

15:00Draven McConville:But if you've got a curious mind, you never stop thinking of opportunities, do you really?

15:06Josh Elledge:And who should be engaged? So for Clipboard itself, and I apologize, we didn't spend more time. You're just really interested in your journey here. And you even have an amazing journey. I'd recommend someone go to your website so they can hear a little bit more of your background, where you were actually homeless at 18. But I have to ask you about Clipboard. So who should be reaching out to engage with Clipboard and how does Clipboard help improve their operations?

15:40Draven McConville:So we look after field service businesses that perform any jobs in the field. So that is your HVAC technicians, fire safety technicians, plumbers, constructors, gardeners, landscapers, drainage people, anybody that performs a job in the field. We provide job management, field service management software that will help them to schedule their jobs, quote, invoice. I send jobs to their technicians in the field on a mobile application. A technician gets directions to the job, completes digital forms, takes payment off customers, et cetera. So it's a full 360 operational software that will help field service businesses be far more efficient, do more jobs with less resources and streamline operations simply.

16:33Draven McConville:And that's where the name came from. It was getting rid of paper forms in the field that these guys would have used on an old school clipboard. And instead, they now use a mobile app to perform that operation.

16:46Josh Elledge:This is a clipboard with a K, K-L-I-P board. And the website is clipboard.io. And Draven, you know, your personal website as well. I'd love to, you know, for our friend that's listening right now, you know, who should reach out and engage with you? who should be reaching out and engaging with Clipboard and kind of what those next steps are?

17:07Draven McConville:I'm always interested in hearing from other fellow business owners, entrepreneurs, anybody in the startup industries that are going through those phases of scaling. I'm an active angel investor as well, so always keen to hear from people in those opportunities. Obviously, my business is in the software space and field service, So anybody in those verticals that I've just mentioned, feel free to reach out to me or my team to discuss those. I'm always on LinkedIn. I like to be active there, sharing stories, thought leadership stuff. As I've mentioned, I've had a bit of a journey to get to here. So it's great to be able to kind of share that with others.

17:51Josh Elledge:All right. Again, your website's clipboard.io and dravenmcconville.com. Draven, it's been a great conversation. Thank you so much for joining us.

18:01Draven McConville:Enjoy your next ride. I will, I will. I can't wait for it. Thank you.

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