Shows
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 185 - This SaaS Didn’t Scale With Hype — It Scaled With SystemsSend us a textGuest: Kevin Jacobson, CEO at Foxen -- Most SaaS companies try to scale by adding headcount and channels. Foxen scaled by tightening fundamentals.In this episode, Kevin Jacobson, CEO of Foxen, joins host Ken Lempit to explain how an overlooked market — multifamily housing — became a durable SaaS growth opportunity through operational discipline and relationship-driven GTM.Kevin breaks down why traditional industries lag in SaaS adoption, why consistency matters more than speed, and how Foxen scaled through direct sales, referrals, and systems built to suppor...
2026-01-1632 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 184 - Why Traditional SaaS GTM Collapses in a Self-Service WorldSend us a textGuest: Dave Boyce, Executive Chairman & EVP of Product at Winning by Design -- Most SaaS companies are still built to sell. Today’s buyers want to activate, experience value, and decide on their own.In this episode, Dave Boyce, Executive Chairman and EVP of Product at Winning by Design, joins host Ken Lempit to explain why SaaS GTM is shifting from lead handoffs to self-service activation, AI-driven automation, and system-based growth.Dave shares why PLG isn’t about removing humans, but focusi...
2026-01-0234 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 183 - What $100M SaaS Companies Do DifferentlySend us a textGuest: David Karandish, Founder & CEO of Capacity -- Most SaaS companies don’t fail because the technology is bad. They fail because they build point solutions, chase the wrong markets, and struggle to turn AI into real, scalable value.In this episode, David Karandish, Founder & CEO of Capacity, joins host Ken Lempit to share how his team scaled past 20,000 customers and toward $100M+ in revenue by evolving from an AI point solution into a full SaaS platform for support and contact centers.David brea...
2025-12-1931 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 182 - What Most SaaS Founders Get Wrong About Go-to-MarketSend us a textGuest: Prasanth Chilukuri, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Soul Street Ventures -- The biggest threat to early-stage SaaS growth isn’t competition. It’s founder distraction, unfocused GTM motions, and chasing quick wins instead of building a real business.In this episode, Prasanth Chilukuri, co-founder and managing partner of Soul Street Ventures, joins host Ken Lempit to reveal why most early-stage SaaS companies struggle long before product issues surface — and how disciplined strategy, a tight ICP, and hands-on founder coaching unlock meaningful, scalable traction.Dra...
2025-12-0537 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 181 - How Fast-Growing SaaS Companies Are Modernizing Their Revenue StackSend us a textGuest: Mark Walker, CEO at Nue.io -- SaaS pricing isn’t breaking because of AI — it’s breaking because most revenue systems were never built for the speed and complexity of today’s models.In this episode, Mark Walker, CEO of Nue.io, joins host Ken Lempit to unpack why modern SaaS and AI companies are abandoning legacy CPQ and billing stacks for a flexible, unified revenue infrastructure built for rapid change.Key highlights:Why legacy CPQ + billing can’t support mo...
2025-11-2132 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 180 - Your SaaS Buyer Doesn’t Need Convincing—They Need ConfidenceSend us a textGuest: Brent Adamson, Co-Author of The Framemaking Sale & Co-Founder of A to B InsightSaaS sales teams obsess over beating competitors—but the real battle isn’t across the table. It’s in the buyer’s mind.In this episode, Brent Adamson—co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer and Co-Founder of A to B Insight—joins host Ken Lempit to reveal why most SaaS deals are lost to no decision at all, and how his new book, The Fr...
2025-10-3136 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 179 - The Smart SaaS Funding Path No One Talks AboutSend us a textGuest: Melanie Nabar, Vice President at Volition Capital -- SaaS founders often see only two funding paths—venture or private equity—but there’s a smarter middle lane that keeps control where it belongs: with the founder.In this episode, Melanie Nabar, Vice President on the Software Team at Volition Capital, joins host Ken Lempit to unpack how growth equity works, when it’s the right fit, and the scale-up mistakes that stall promising SaaS companies.Key insights from this episode:
2025-10-1737 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 178 - Why SaaS Founders Give Up Too Much Too SoonSend us a textGuest: Rob Belcher, Managing Director at SaaS Capital -- SaaS founders often think equity is the only path to growth—but giving up ownership isn’t the only option.In this episode, Rob Belcher, Managing Director at SaaS Capital, joins host Ken Lempit to break down how growth debt works, what investors really look for in valuations, and how B2B SaaS leaders can finance smart without losing control.Key insights from this episode:Why growth debt can fund S...
2025-10-0336 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 177 - Why “Book a Demo” Is Killing SaaS GrowthSend us a textGuest: Braydan Young, Co-Founder and CEO at SlashExperts -- Buyers don’t want another “book a demo” button—they want proof from people like them.In this episode, Braydan Young, Co-Founder and CEO of SlashExperts (and previously co-founder of Sendoso), joins host Ken Lempit to share how buyer-led growth is reshaping SaaS sales and why the old way of running references at the end of the deal cycle is broken.Key insights from this episode:Why moving customer references...
2025-09-0532 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 176 - Your $1M+ Media Budget Deserves BetterSend us a textGuest: Courtney Hiller, Founder of All Points Agency -- You wouldn’t hire one person to build your product, sell it, and run support. So why are B2B SaaS companies still expecting one marketer to manage a million-dollar media budget?In this episode, Courtney Hiller, founder of All Points Agency, joins host Ken Lempit to break down how to build a modern media engine that actually performs—and why yesterday’s paid strategy won’t cut it in 2025.Key insights from this episode:Why...
2025-08-0836 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 174 - How This AI SaaS Landed 70 Customers—FastSend us a textGuest: Adir Ben-Yehuda, CEO at Autonomy AI -- The go-to-market playbook for AI SaaS is being rewritten in real-time, and those who cling to old models risk being left behind. In this episode, Adir Ben-Yehuda, founder and CEO of Autonomy AI, joins host Ken Lempit to share how his team went from zero to 70 customers in months by ditching outdated frameworks and building a brand buyers can trust.We unpack: ✅ Why “Crossing the Chasm” no longer applies in the age of ChatGPT ✅ H...
2025-07-2530 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 173 - AI, RFPs, and the Real Path to Sustainable SaaS GrowthSend us a textGuest: Ray Meiring, Co-Founder & CEO at QorusDocs -- Scaling a SaaS business from consultancy roots to enterprise success requires more than just great tech—it takes ruthless focus, smart go-to-market choices, and a deep understanding of your buyer. In this episode, Ray Meiring, co-founder and CEO of QorusDocs, joins host Ken Lempit to share the lessons learned on his journey from South Africa to the U.S. market and how QorusDocs carved out a winning niche in AI-powered proposal automation.We unpac...
2025-07-1832 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 171 - Why the SaaS Journey Doesn’t End at CheckoutSend us a textGuests: Ken Rapp (Co-Founder & CEO) and Emily Lagasse (VP of Marketing) of Bluestream -- What if the key to SaaS growth isn’t more leads, but fewer customer drop-offs post-purchase? In this episode of SaaS Backwards, we sit down with Ken Rapp (Co-founder & CEO) and Emily Lagasse (VP of Marketing) of Blustream, the platform pioneering post-sale engagement, to explore how product ownership experiences are unlocking revenue, retention, and lifetime value.According to Rapp and Lagasse, most brands obsess over acquisition, but lose up to 70% of cust...
2025-07-0430 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 168 - How Gen AI Is Rewiring B2B SaaS FeedbackSend us a textGuest: Eli Portnoy, Founder & CEO at BackEngine -- As B2B SaaS companies scale, they often lose touch with the customers who got them there. In this episode, Eli Portnoy, founder and CEO of BackEngine, sits down with Ken Lempit to talk about the critical breakdown in customer feedback systems—and how generative AI can help leaders hear what really matters.We unpack: ✅ Why customer feedback loops break as SaaS companies grow✅ The hidden costs of misaligned feedback channels and weak ownershi...
2025-05-3033 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 167 - How AI Is Changing the B2B SaaS Search and Buyer JourneySend us a textGuest: Ayse Guvencer, Fractional SaaS CMO & GTM Executive -- As AI changes how B2B buyers evaluate software, many marketers are missing the forest for the trees. In this episode, Ayse Guvencer, fractional CMO and GTM advisor to SaaS and MarTech startups, joins Ken Lempit to deliver a blunt reality check: AI is disrupting the search journey, pricing models, and even how buyers interact with your brand—before your SDRs even know they exist.We unpack: ✅ Why Google is now a navig...
2025-05-2336 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 165 - Why Most SaaS Ads Fail (and What to Do Instead)Send us a textGuest: Ken Lempit, President & Chief Business Builder at Austin Lawrence Group Are your SaaS ads actually doing their job, or just burning budget? In this week’s episode of SaaS Backwards, Ken Lempit and Jason Myers of Austin Lawrence Group go deep on what GTM leaders get wrong about advertising in 2025:Why most SaaS ads look and sound the same (and fall flat)Where messaging fails long before the clickHow to align sales and marketing in a high-consideration buying cycleThe overlooked power of direct mail and live...
2025-05-0931 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 164 - Voice, AI & the Future of SaaS: Productivity, Innovation, and RiskSend us a textGuests: Ken Lempit, James Ollerenshaw, and Rob Curtis -- Voice is the new frontier in SaaS — but are we ready for the implications? In the third episode of our AI Series, Ken Lempit is joined again by James Ollerenshaw and Rob Curtis to explore how voice and AI are colliding to transform the way B2B SaaS companies operate — from the way products are built and sold to how customers are supported.We dive into:The shift to voice-first interfaces and it...
2025-05-0248 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 163 - Is Your SaaS Ready for the Agentic AI Era?Send us a textGuests: Ken Lempit, James Ollerenshaw, and Rob Curtis -- AI isn’t just a bolt-on anymore—it’s rewriting the rules of SaaS from the ground up. In this episode, Standup Hiro co-founder Rob Curtis and tech strategist James Ollerenshaw join host and GTM expert Ken Lempit to unpack how Agentic AI is forcing SaaS leaders to rethink everything: product design, go-to-market, customer trust, and even internal culture.From natural language interfaces to the rise of AI “co-workers,” they break down why SaaS companies that adapt will d...
2025-04-2547 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 160 - AI Is Rewriting the SaaS Playbook—Are You Ready?Send us a textGuests: Ken Lempit, James Ollerenshaw, & Rob Curtis -- AI is transforming SaaS—but not in the way most leaders think. Forget the headlines claiming "SaaS is dead." The real shift isn't just in tools—it's in how fast software is built, marketed, and bought. In this episode, Rob Curtis (VC-backed founder), Ken Lempit (SaaS GTM strategist), and James Ollerenshaw (AI advisor) break down what AI means for the future of SaaS—and why B2B CROs and CMOs need to rethink their strategy now or risk fall...
2025-04-0538 min
The Revenue LoungeAligning Marketing to Revenue Goals ft. Ken LempitIn this episode of The Revenue Lounge, host Randy Likus speaks with Ken Lempit, president and chief marketing strategist of Austin Lawrence Group. They discuss Ken's extensive background in technology and marketing, the importance of aligning marketing with revenue goals, and the challenges SaaS companies face when trying to grow beyond their initial success.
2025-02-0449 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 150 - De-Risking Paid Social Campaigns: A New Approach with Ken LempitSend us a textGuest: Ken Lempit, President & Chief Business Builder at Austin Lawrence Group -- In this episode, Austin Lawrence Group’s Ken Lempit shares a bold approach to overcoming the inefficiency of traditional advertising campaigns. He emphasizes a new strategy: combining foundational customer interviews with rapid, real-time testing via high-frequency organic social media posts. This iterative approach helps identify messaging that resonates most with target audiences before significant ad spend, enabling SaaS companies to avoid costly missteps. Lempit calls out outdated "ivory tower" method...
2025-01-1732 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 133 - Why Efficient B2B SaaS Advertising Requires a Holistic ApproachSend us a textPaid advertising is often one of the largest budget items for SaaS companies, making it a critical channel for facilitating sales and driving growth.In this episode of the SaaS Backwards Podcast, we flipped the script and had our very own Ken Lempit, President and Chief Business Builder at Austin Lawrence Group, as the guest. Ken shared his insights on the challenges SaaS companies face in achieving capital efficiency in their go-to-market strategies, particularly focusing on advertising.Our conversation explores the prospect experience as a foundational element of successful...
2024-07-2629 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 124 - From Content Overload to Quality: The Future of SaaS Thought LeadershipSend us a textThe role of thought leadership is changing in content marketing, especially for SaaS companies. In this special episode hosted by Jason Myers, our usual host Ken Lempit, President and Chief Strategist of Austin Lawrence, takes the guest seat to dive deep into the evolving landscape of content marketing and thought leadership for SaaS companies. Ken and Jason discuss the shift towards creating high-quality, credible content that can truly engage and move prospects off their status quo, driven by an increasing demand for authenticity and value from consumers.Th...
2024-05-2433 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 110 – The Dangerous 8 Mistakes SaaS Companies Make in their MessagingSend us a textAre you making one or more of these mistakes in your messaging? Given the number of websites that we review regularly, chances are that you are—and that means leaving revenue on the table.In this episode, Ken and Jason from Austin Lawrence Group discuss the eight common mistakes that SaaS companies make with real-life examples.So if you’re a SaaS CEO or CMO revisiting messaging and content strategy this year, or you’re frustrated with the quality of leads coming through your website, this episode is for...
2024-02-0230 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 107 - SaaS Marketing Predictions for 2024Send us a textIn this episode, SaaS Backwards host Ken Lempit switches places to the guest seat to discuss upcoming trends in SaaS marketing for the new year and what companies will have to do to be successful.Ken is the Chief Strategist of the Austin Lawrence Group, a growth marketing agency specializing in B2B SaaS, and has a 30-year track record in software marketing.The key areas discussed include:As outbound prospecting gets harder, how will companies be successful?How will sales and marketing KPIs shift toward more meaningful...
2024-01-1227 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 93 - Can Your SaaS Business Find Gold in the Data You're Already Collecting? - with Dan Miles, COO of TVEyesSend us a textEven in a very healthy business, you must keep looking for innovation.That’s the gist of this episode’s message with Dan Miles, Chief Operating Officer of TVEyes.TVEyes is a search engine for impactful video and audio measured by audience and level of information and newsworthiness. Historically, that was primarily broadcast TV and radio, but over the last few years as audiences migrated to online platforms like podcasts and streaming video, TVEyes has innovated its software platform to capture all the data. And AI is cert...
2023-10-2636 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 86 – What’s Wrong with SaaS Marketing and How to Fix it – with ALG’s Ken LempitSend us a textThere’s nothing like an economic slow-down to thin the herd. Companies take longer to buy, consolidate resources, and rethink their go-to-market strategy.So why are companies doubling down on yesterday’s strategies?Normally the host of SaaS Backwards, Ken Lempit, President of Austin Lawrence, sits in the guest seat this week to answer questions about how SaaS leaders need to approach marketing to engage today’s buyer. Key Takeaways from this episode:Demand generation involves both demand capture (or lead generation), which is a short-term focus...
2023-09-0826 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 85 – When SaaS Companies Should Specialize – with Corey Quinn, fractional CMO and GTM StrategistSend us a textWhen a company starts out, verticalization may not be the best thing. In fact, today’s guest Corey Quinn, fractional CMO and GTM strategist prefers to work with companies who went broad first, since there’s value in exploring different verticals and learning the nuances in the different markets.But at a certain point, verticalization becomes necessary to scale. It reduces complexity, improves marketing, and helps to differentiate from the competition.In this episode, host Ken Lempit and Quinn discuss how to narrow down and exploit areas of specialization....
2023-09-0130 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 84 - The Decline of Inbound and the Rise of Owned Media in SaaS – with Anthony Kennada, founder of Audience PlusSend us a textIt’s never been harder for marketers generate an audience where you can have impact than it is today.The media landscape has exploded and the number of choices we have as marketers has never been more varied.In many ways, we’re now paying for the sins automating a process of building trust and relationships.In this episode, Anthony Kennada, Co-Founder and CEO of Audience Plus talks with Ken about how the marketing pendulum is swinging back from marketing automation, inbound, and maximizing SEO to its orig...
2023-08-2533 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 83 – Content is still King, but SaaS Companies still need to be Efficient-- with Steven MacDonald, CEO at SocialCloserSend us a textAs martech SaaS founder, Steve McDonald acknowledges the tendency to believe that their product is so exceptional that customers will naturally flock to it.But then reality sets in and you realize that maybe Shoeless Joe Jackson wasn’t whispering in your ear after all.There’s a lot of risk for customers to invest in something new, and content marketing is the obvious way to build trust. But with the volume of noise out there today, your development process must be strategic, methodical, and efficient.In this...
2023-08-1837 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 81 - Building SaaS Pipeline Efficiency - with SalesIntel CEO Manoj RamnaniSend us a textOutbound selling is here to stay—but to make it work, efficiency is key.Of course, the task at hand isn’t lost on Salesintel.io CEO Manoj Ramnani, who’s tools are designed to do just that. Salesintel.io is a go-to-market intelligence platform that helps marketing, sales, and revenue operations teams research prospective accounts and find contact information.Ramnani is most excited about “Predictive AI” where it has the potential to predict future intent based on historical data so that sales teams can target the right prospects and tailor...
2023-08-0426 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 67 - Unleashing B2B creativity to punch above your weight with ClickUp's Chief Creative Officer, Melissa RosenthalSend us a textYou’ve probably heard the criticisms of B2B marketing—it’s boring and lacks creativity. And besides, it’s way too expensive to produce ads like B2C companies.In this episode, Melissa Rosenthal, Chief Creative Officer at ClickUp shares her approach to creating remarkable content without breaking the bank. Coming from B2C powerhouses like Buzzfeed and Cheddar, Rosenthal immediately saw the blue-ocean opportunity in B2B to differentiate. So, she built an in-house creative agency at ClickUp by investing in the right people and equipment...
2023-05-1933 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 66 - Finding the best route for growth—with Steve Benson, CEO of Badger MapsSend us a textWorking at Google’s mapping team, Steve Benson thought that field salespeople needed a lot more functionality to adequately plan their routes. So, in 2012 founded Badger Maps and set out to build a tool where field sales teams could not only build routes, but also visualize their customers on a map on their mobile device that automatically connected with their CRM. To ensure product/market fit, Benson personally talked to hundreds of field salespeople to ensure that this was a problem worth paying for and not just a nice-to-have. ...
2023-05-1237 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 65 - No longer screaming into the wind about AI Governance, with Susan Peich Head of Marketing at Monitaur AISend us a textWhen Susan Peich joined Monitaur AI as their head of marketing earlier this year, the power (and dangers) of AI was still mostly talk amongst data scientists. How quickly things change. With the rise of ChatGPT in recent months, AI's power (and danger) are now at the forefront causing companies to scramble to figure out how to handle its governance.That’s where Monitaur.ai comes in. They help companies in highly regulated environments such as insurance, healthcare and financial to not only leverage the potential of AI...
2023-05-0528 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 64 - Can AI solve the attribution conundrum for marketers? With Molly St. Louis, Head of Marketing at DealTaleSend us a textIf we’re being honest, there's a big difference between the imagined buyer's journey that marketers invent and what’s happening in reality.But then, we’ve always made those assumptions because it’s nearly impossible to track. Or is it?That’s what Molly St. Louis, Head of Marketing at DealTale talks about in this episode - applying AI to track the previously un-trackable journey. DealTale is a SaaS that leverages causal machine learning methods to track buyers while they’re still anonymous (by IP address) a...
2023-04-2830 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 63 - Tyranny of the KPIs and how to fight back - with Matt Trifiro, CMO of Vapor.ioSend us a textIn this episode, Matt Trifiro, CEO of Vapor.io, joins host Ken Lempit to discuss the insidious tyranny of artificial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how to fight back against their oppressive hold on SaaS marketing.Long gone are the days when early adopters of advertising platforms could easily dominate their market niche, as the law of diminishing returns has caught up with all forms of marketing, leaving SaaS marketers struggling to find innovative ways to attract and retain customers.But with CFOs and CEOs demanding increased results on...
2023-04-2135 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 62 - When staying independent isn’t viable–with Ted Hawksford, CEO of LiquidPlannerSend us a textDespite building a great product and amassing close to 1000 customers, LiquidPlanner struggled to continue on the same growth trajectory. Customers expected broader capabilities. Competitors had more money. And as access to capital tightened, the board decided to look for a partner.They found Tempo, a complimentary business that will help deliver better portfolio management capabilities as well as its connectivity to Atlassian’s Jira–something their customers are looking forward to. Even though the acquisition happened a few weeks ago, the focus is squarely on delivering better portfo...
2023-04-1429 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 61 - Breaking through the buyer-seller trust gap with customer-led growth – with SlapFive Founder & CEO Jeff ErnstSend us a textFor marketers, breaking through the trust gap is getting harder. Prospective buyers won’t believe it without some third-party validation.So, how can you break through that trust gap in a new and innovative way?That’s the problem Jeff Ernst set out to solve as the founder of SlapFive, a customer marketing solution that makes it simple to engage and mobilize customers to drive growth.In over 2000 interviews with CMOs during his tenure at Forrester, Ernst notes that overwhelmingly, the number one thing that buyers trust and...
2023-04-0636 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 60 - Selling SaaS to Laggards: How Paymints.io is changing the real estate transaction with Jason Doshi, CEO and Co-Founder of Paymints.ioSend us a textHaving spent a decade growing a retail mortgage origination business, Jason Doshi noticed that the movement of funds surrounding the real estate transaction was still very antiquated.A few years later, he built Payments.io, a SaaS digital platform that allows title companies and real estate brokerages to send and receive digital money transfers, saving everyone money and time while reducing the risk of fraud.Doshi recently raised $3 Million and he talks in this episode about their challenges and opportunities such as:White labeling as a strategic initiativeProviding...
2023-03-3133 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 59 - From Interviewing 3,000 Stakeholders to Revolutionizing Clinical Trials with Harsha Rajasimha, Founder & CEO Jeeva Informatics SolutionsSend us a textStarting his career as a research scientist, Harsha Rajasimha became interested in addressing the issue of clinical trial recruitment after realizing that many promising drugs were not making it to market due to recruitment delays.To better understand the problem, he conducted interviews with 3,000 stakeholders of clinical trials, including patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies and found that 85% of those delays were because of recruitment issues.Rajasimha created Jeeva Informatics, a platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify potential candidates for clinical trials based on their medical...
2023-03-2433 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 58 - Managing the transition from big company to startup—with Aseem Chandra, co-founder and CEO of ImmersaSend us a textThere’s a tendency for entrepreneurs to believe that the motivations for starting a company is the fame and fortune. But as Aseem Chandra, co-founder and CEO of Immersa explains, “That's the absolute wrong reason. You get into a startup because you love the problem, and you can't wait to see what that solution's going to turn out to be, and you're willing to give 10 years of your life to it.”Knowing that the two biggest reasons for startup failure (they run out of money and irreconcilable differences amongst the fo...
2023-03-1732 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 57 - Measured growth when you’ve got a tiger by the tail, with David Kaszycki Co-Founder & CEO of Beam DynamicsSend us a textWhile working for a large manufacturer in the film and broadcast industry and visiting over 200 Film and TV studios, David Kaszycki spotted a big problem.Engineers had to stay up to date with updates, critical security patches, general maintenance and accessing manuals and documents for over 10,000 different pieces of technology.With his partner, Kaszycki started Beam Dynamics to build a common interface platform that would bring all of it together. Engineers can upload or connect their inventory list and access the data on thousands of manufacturers. Now w...
2023-03-0235 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 56 - Do you really need an MVP? With SPSoft Founder & CEO, Michael LazorSend us a textIs it possible to get to minimum viable product (MVP) in 100 days or less?Our guest this week, Michael Lazor, CEO of SPSoft says it is with the right development partner and the necessary preparation. Easier said than done. SPSoft is a software developer specializing in healthcare and telehealth and in this episode, Lazor talks through his methodologies for:Choosing the right development partner (lots of pitfalls to avoid)Combining internal and external development resources The research and prep work required for building your MVP, and…...
2023-02-2427 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 55 - A mini master class on M&A to grow your SaaS with Ari Kahn, President and CEO of Bridgeline DigitalSend us a textWhy do 90 percent of acquisitions fail for the buyer? According to Ari Kahn, President and CEO of Bridgeline, a big reason is because they’re not leveraging the customer base to create greater lifetime value (LTV), so they don’t adequately recover the original customer acquisition costs (CAC). Bridgline Digital has acquired its way to a suite of SaaS solutions that bridge the gaps between marketing, content, commerce, social and insights to grow online revenue for its customers. Kahn’s secret acquisition sauce comes in evaluating targets that mak...
2023-02-1731 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 54 - Brandon Metcalf is the poster child for modern SaaS inboundSend us a textLike most SaaS companies, Brandon Metcalf, CEO & Founder of Place struggled with the outbound sales model. Out of necessity, they started looking at why companies weren’t buying their products. They found that over half bought nothing. In other words, no decision. So they decided to flip the script and educate prospective buyers on what could happen instead of finding the people whose arm they could twist a sales conversation. They put a lot of work into messaging, revamped their website to let buyer...
2023-02-1032 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 53 - Finding PLG Nirvana while avoiding a Hype Cycle beat down with Peter Zawistowicz, Head of Marketing at PaceSend us a textThere’s a lot of hype with Product-Led Growth (PLG) with the promise of low-cost customer acquisition and streamlined expansion.But as Peter Zawistowicz, Pace’s head of marketing says that when you introduce a PLG motion into an organization with an existing direct sales motion, you get an interesting set of problems.Most notably, sellers in a PLG motion are almost always left in the dark while still trying to hit their numbers. Intercede too early and it could artificially inflate price points. On the fl...
2023-02-0334 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 52 - CEO Yosh Eisbart talks about how Fulfilld is crossing their chasmSend us a textIt’s estimated that 40 percent of all warehouse worker movement is wasteful. A simple example is a worker having to walk through and assemble 12 items that need to be shipped to a customer. What’s the optimal order of items to minimize the stepsThat’s the problem Yosh Eisbart, CEO of Fullfilld is tackling with their warehouse management orchestration platform. Their system paints a “digital twin” of the physical warehouse, digitizes it, and ingests all that data into the software. So instead of a static image (which doesn’t communicate...
2023-01-2732 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 51 - When status quo bias works in your favor with Tim Riesterer Chief Visionary for B2B Decision LabsSend us a textAs fans of the Challenger Sale methodology, we know that getting prospects to move off their status quo to make a change is paramount to winning a new deal.But as Tim Riesterer Chief Visionary for B2B Decision Labs (and self-professed “research nerd”) talks about in his new book The Expansion Sale, growth for a vast majority of companies comes in retention and expansion. Because most deals start out too small, underpriced, and overserviced, the question is how to keep and grow those customers when it comes to renew...
2023-01-2036 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 50 - What it means to be “buyer centric” for marketing and sales teams with Vidyard’s Head Marketer – Tyler LessardSend us a textToday’s B2B tech buyer has a much greater expectation and appreciation for self-service—they don’t want to have to jump through hoops or talk to a sales rep to find out what the business does. But what to do about it? It’s a difficult shift for traditional marketers and sellers—to be more buyer-centric--which is why we talked with Tyler Lessard, vice president of marketing at Vidyard, a video technology company that provides marketers and sales teams with custom video messaging and analytical tools. Lessard p...
2023-01-1334 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 49 – The single thing SaaS companies must get right for growth with Michael Bertoni, founder and CEO of PhillyTechSend us a textIf you want to make good on the promises you made to investors and grow the company the single most important thing the C-suite needs to get right is hiring.That’s why we spoke with Michael Bertoni, CEO of PhillyTech.co—a hiring agency dedicated to SaaS. Most startups have no idea how to hire people and build high-performing teams. They think they can do themselves and find out quickly where the mines are buried. With a background in sales and lead generation, Bertoni has developed a meth...
2022-12-2927 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 48 - Aptivio CEO Guy Mounier’s mission to democratize Revenue AISend us a textAt the 2019 Ascent Conference in New York, Aptiv.io’s CEO Guy Mounier recalls their informal poll about how well their demand generation programs were working.Two-thirds of respondents said, “we’re fine” or “we’re good.”Fast forward to the same conference in November 2022 and almost everyone was struggling to cut through the noise to generate qualified leads. Even those with good results were still getting pressure from boards and investors to produce more leads at a lower cost. Effective demand generation has become like Moore’s Law in reverse...
2022-12-2324 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 47 - Finding your next marketing gig with VP of Marketing at Compt.io, Justin SchmidtSend us a textWith market uncertainty, and the average CMO tenure at 40 months (2020), conducting an executive level job search at some point is inevitable.While most trade off past relationships, Justin Schmidt, VP of Marketing at Compt.io suggests that “something really magical” happens by putting on the candidate hat and interviewing again as somebody off the street.By taking interview opportunities that he ultimately didn’t think he would be interested in, Schmidt found value in “the batting practice” - honing his interviewing skills, asking better questions, and “getting the jitters out” for the...
2022-12-0930 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 46 - From fad to must have—how CampusESP bootstrapped a new category, with CEO Dave BeckerSend us a textAt the kickoff of their recent user conference, Dave Becker, CEO of CampusESP told the story of the person he first approached with his company idea for a SaaS that enables parent involvement in higher education.She told him that “parent involvement is a fad, and I don’t think you have a company here.”Nine years later, the company has gone from fad, to nice-to-have, to need-to have with over 260 schools representing over four million parents using the platform. So, how do you pull off category creatio...
2022-11-2324 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 45 - No second chances to make onboarding first impressions with CEO of Click Boarding, Mike EhrleSend us a textIf you’ve had the experience working with a large company, day one consists of paperwork--lots of it--and it contributes to a poor first impression. Simply increasing the percentage of people that accept offers and actually start work would have a massive bottom-line impact. And it’s not just day one. Research shows that what happens in the first 90 days of an employee’s tenure plays a big role in retention.It’s hard for the all-in-one HR software behemoths to be experts at every component an HR team mu...
2022-11-1136 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 44 - Leveraging the buyer’s voice to increase SaaS sales engagement with Vinay Bhagat, Founder & CEO of TrustRadiusSend us a textIf you’ve found it harder to engage buyers today, our interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder & CEO of TrustRadius is a must listen.For the last five years, TrustRadius has published a report based on surveying 2000 technology buyers and hundreds of vendors to understand how buyer behavior is changing.Today’s buyer has an overarching desire to control their journey and it isn’t linear. They want to find information online without barriers, transparent pricing, use case validation, independent validation, and the ability to touch and feel the product throug...
2022-10-2838 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 43 - Cake Equity Cofounder Jason Atkins talks about forming a SaaS to make equity easier to handle.Send us a textWorking as a CFO for tech companies in Australia, Jason Atkins saw a need to automate the very manual and frustrating process involved in equity raises–compounded by a global workforce. While doing volunteer work in the Gold Coast tech scene, he met his soon-to-be cofounder Kim Hanson and together established a SaaS called Cake Equity with a goal to make equity easier to handle for all stakeholders.Together, they established a beachhead market in Australia by niching down into startups where the competition was scarce, but knew they had...
2022-10-1429 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 42 - Finding the low hanging fruit in the SaaS startup marketing strategy with Matthew Dilworth, Head of Marketing at Aunduin TransactionsSend us a textWhen you take a marketing leadership position for a startup where the opportunity is wide open, what do you prioritize?That’s the situation Matt Dilworth faced back in February (2022) when he joined Anduin, a fintech SaaS startup that streamlines private market transactions. Having followed CEO Eliot Hodges whom he’d worked with previously at Blend. Dilworth found that partner marketing was the biggest low-hanging fruit opportunity because the company already had established relationships that could be leveraged. Also, especially important since private equity, venture capital and hedge...
2022-09-2329 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 41 - Lead generation isn’t going away, but it needs to evolve according to Cristina Daroca of Riverbed Technology.Send us a textIt seems like lead generation has become the Red-Headed stepchild of modern marketing. But it’s certainly not going away—especially since most SaaS companies have built their sales and marketing infrastructures around it.It does need to evolve though, and that was the gist of our discussion with Cristina Daroca, Senior Director of demand marketing at Riverbed Technology.Leads are not created equal. For example, if someone wants a demo or to speak with sales, “Speed to lead” still applies. You should follow up with them as quickl...
2022-09-0225 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 40 - How Amber Bogie Brought Full Funnel Marketing to Reachdesk. (Hint—it starts with finding the right company fit)Send us a textLike sales, marketers have a hard time with a product or service they don’t believe in. When Amber Bogie was searching for the right marketing opportunity, she was less concerned about the product and more concerned about joining a mission driven company. So, she developed a quadrant:What does the company offer as a product? What is the company culture and how does that fit in with you?What is the role itself and how does that fit with how you want to grow?What kind of leade...
2022-08-2423 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 39 - Enabling sales is the name of the game for marketers in funded SaaS startups with Director of Marketing at eVolve MEP, David GabrielSend us a textAligning with Sales is job one for David Gabriel, head of marketing for the fast-growing startup eVolve MEP.“Sales has the hard job. They’re in the trenches and we want to do everything we can (as marketers) to make their jobs easier.”That doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking at the long-term picture—they do many things that keep them in touch with their customers.For example, they surveyed customers during COVID and found they were itching for group interactions. So they put together a Top Golf e...
2022-08-1823 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 38 - Marketing as an investment portfolio with Fractional CMO Yasmin MorrisonSend us a textMost companies do “checklist marketing” by default: We need to be on every social channel. We should have a newsletter for every customer segment. We need to go to all these conferences.Fractional CMO Yasmin Morrison challenges her clients to think about marketing more like an investment portfolio and every quarter, you make bets. If it doesn’t pay dividends, get out. Double down if it does.And you can put the odds massively in your favor if you apply the 80-20 rule (also known as the Pareto...
2022-08-1226 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 37 - A clean slate for demand generation – MJ Peters, VP of Marketing for CoLab Software.Send us a textHaving been with Refine Labs, MJ Peters knew how to sniff out the opportunity to work with a company that gets marketing. Now four months into her new gig as the VP of Marketing for CoLab Software, MJ talks about building a demand gen first marketing model where marketing is measuring only Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) and Sales Accepted Opportunities (SAOs) as opposed to anything further up the funnel (like MQLs, content downloads, etc.) that’s normally tracked in the lead gen model. That’s still hard to do—the indu...
2022-08-0528 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 36 - How Challenger Sale fits into your demand gen strategy—with Paddle CMO Andrew DaviesSend us a textWhere most SaaS companies experience problems with the effectiveness of demand capture strategies, Paddle had the opposite problem—they weren’t focused on long-term customer creation. In the beginning, that was fine because they “were so busy and productive "Hoovering" up the in-market demand.”Davies says that as a CMO, you always carry two time frames in your mind. One which is this quarter and next, making sure you’ve got a full pipeline, and the second timeline, which is how we’ll be positioned two years from now and how we’re...
2022-07-2929 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 35 - Recession-Era marketing starts now—with Fractional CMO Annie WissnerSend us a textGetting specific about your ICP is an old saw—but why then aren’t more companies marketing efficiently?Our guest, Annie Wissner, says the reason is because we’ve become too used to bull markets where you have wiggle room in marketing execution. “We're still in that digital wave where it's primarily about Google Search, but there's a lot of other methodologies that can be utilized to get to customers and prospects in a much lower cost and effective manner.”The times they are a changing—and those of us...
2022-07-2122 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 34- Finding the single source of truth to simplify every supply chainSend us a textSuuchi Ramesh, founder and CEO of Suuchi Inc had envisioned a need for one single source of truth in supply chain across suppliers, factories, brands, retailers, warehouses, and customers when they began operations in 2017.A bold vision, for sure.But the timing (pre-COVID) helped making the space ripe for disruption. In the same way that you’d eat an elephant (one bite at a time), Ramesh was able to break the problem statement into parts by connecting brands and retailers in the fashion industry with the network of...
2022-07-0125 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 33 - Finding win-win opportunities in the margins with Dan Johnston, CEO of WorkStepSend us a textWe knew that Dan Johnston, CEO of WorkStep had a great story about how they’ve shifted the go-to-market strategy as they’ve expanded post series B--especially for B2B SaaS marketers that have had to make the case for patience.That’s in here, but the overall story is much bigger than that.Having started managing a third-party logistics warehouse that imported trampolines, Johnston noticed something unsettling. It was staffed primarily with temp workers fraught with hidden costs. Not only is there constant turnover and constant trainin...
2022-06-0927 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 32 - Soul Searching to Scaling in short order with Fireflies.ai CEO Krish RamineniSend us a textThe founding story of Fireflies.ai told by co-founder Krish Ramineni sounds like a post-college rock band that turned into software hack. Instead of going to graduate school (working as a PM at Microsoft), Ramineni took his would-be co-founder up on an offer to “hang out” and “work on different things” in some free co-working space that a VC had given them in Boston.When they had something real, they went back to San Francisco, went heads down, bootstrapped, went through an accelerator, and raised a seed round. A month...
2022-06-0329 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 31 - Straight talk about ABM—whether it’s the right go-to-market strategy and how to pull it offSend us a textBefore you buy tech for Account Based Marketing (ABM), and even before you start picking target accounts, check out this episode with StrategicABM’s Chief Marketing Officer Declan Mulkeen.Their firm is 100% focused on ABM and Mulkeen talks about how the tech vendors have popularized the approach in recent years, but they didn’t create it. (it’s been around for over 20 years, and he proves it.)But today, most companies are getting into trouble by purchasing the tech first and launching ABM programs second. That’s only on...
2022-05-2628 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 30 - How to automate and scale referrals for your B2B SaaS – with Referral Factory’s founder Kirsty SharmanSend us a textReferrals are the lifeblood of every business. The cost of acquisition is the lowest, and they tend to close faster and at higher rates, making the sales process WAY easier. So why do companies spend so much on paid channels where the cost per lead is going up and the quality is going down at such a rapid pace?Referrals have always been hard to scale—especially if you haven’t trained your people to ask.Referral Factory founder Kirsty Sherman believes she’s figured out a solutio...
2022-05-1927 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 29 - How to successfully bootstrap a SaaS to provide more founder opportunities with Markup Hero’s founder Jeff SolomonSend us a textRaising capital for your SaaS has one purpose—to amplify and scale the business. It cannot define the business model or product-market fit for you. And once you raise capital, the whole dynamic changes. The pressures are different (you’re now on the clock to deliver return for investors) and so is the go-to-market strategy (the founder relationships won’t be enough to scale). With several successful fundraises and exits under his belt, Jeff Solomon, CEO of Markup Hero talks about how he’s bootstrapped companies to a certain monthly rec...
2022-05-1325 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 28 - How to successfully launch Account-Based Experiences with Bazaarvoice’s Jen LeaverSend us a textMost companies fail with ABM because of their ad hoc execution. They target accounts as a wish list and continue to do business as usual. The truth is that successful ABM requires an organizational mindset shift, and that doesn’t happen by changing it all at one time. “Marketing usually gets it,” says Jennifer Leaver, senior global ABM Manager at Bazaarvoice. “The tougher sale is with sales. There’s a lot of change management involved.”Leaver’s approach to ABM adoption was to start small with “sales friendly’s” (Two s...
2022-05-0626 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 27 - Building a SaaS Success in Healthcare; Akasa uses AI to Solve an Intractable Revenue ProblemSend us a textHealthcare is one of the most difficult industries to penetrate, even for established brands.They’re risk-averse, have strong defenses against being sold to, sales cycles are long and they significant data protection requirements.So how do you do gain traction as a financial management startup targeting hospitals and healthcare systems?In this episode of SaaS Backwards, Ben Beadle-Ryby talks about how they’ve met this challenge by: Building the company around subject matter experts with deep industry roots to earn immediate credibility and early customersLeveraging VC conne...
2022-04-2027 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 26 - What would happen if you moved BDRs under marketing?Send us a textBusiness Development Representatives (BDRs) have typically been a sales function, as part of the compartmentalization of sales functions defined in Aaron Ross’ Predictable Revenue (2011).What worked well for a decade has met challenges today. They don’t want the phone calls or emails until they’re ready.In short, buyers have changed their research and buying process--what was predictable five years ago is…Well, not so much.Because prospecting is actually marketing, some innovative organizations have moved them under marketing and changed the incentives to focus on...
2022-04-0723 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 25 - Predictions on the death of the SDR and birth of buyer centric revenue with Nelson GilliatSend us a textWe’re at an inflection point as sales and marketing practitioners. Some of us have heeded early warning signs as marketing and sales KPIs become harder to achieve, and others are just starting to pay attention. Or rather, they’re being forced to—because buyers are taking more control and our outdated methods of prospecting are off putting. They don’t want your phone calls pressuring them to take a demo. They’re ignoring your emails. And worse, when you are a motivated buyer, you first have to go through the SDR gauntle...
2022-02-2434 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 24 - The Product-Led Growth Go-to-Market Motion; Digging Deep with Correlated's Breezy BeaumontSend us a textIn this episode we explore the product-led growth go-to-market motion with Breezy Beaumont, head of growth and marketing at Correlated. It's a SaaS that helps product-led growth companies to find expansion, upsell, cross-sell, and other revenue opportunities based on how people are using their product.If like us, you're trying to distance your marketing from the "fake" MQL, you might consider a product-led growth go-to-market strategy. It's no small change if your product cannot or does not already support free users and provide you with instrumentation and in-app promos to sell...
2022-02-1131 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 23 - Another Eight-Year Overnight Success Story; Ambition CEO on Virtues of Waiting for a Big RaiseSend us a textBrian Trautschold is not your usual YCombinator alum, though he does credit his success in part to what he learned from the experience and the people he's met.Talking about their recent funding round of $15.5 million, he and his cofounders built the company to be capital efficient, and this has enabled business model and outcome flexibility; they don't have to be the next unicorn to achieve their own ambitions for the company. And the risk of failing to achieve unicorn status and being absorbed at a low valuation by a competitor...
2022-02-0328 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 22 - A Half-hour Master Class in SaaS Marketing with Jay Gaines, Head of Marketing at AgentSyncSend us a textThere are few marketing leaders with the perspective, experience and insights of Jay Gaines. He's also one of the more generous people I've met; he truly enjoys sharing his expertise to help other marketers. In this episode, Jay talks about:Covid and the resulting content tsunami - good content just isn't good enough anymoreThe value of context and empathy in marketing (you read that right)How to use a quarterly "lightning strike" to cut through the noise and drive revenueMaking the case for creative - it's not all about the numbers (but...
2022-01-1931 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 21 - Gaining CEO alignment for the Turnaround: PathFactory COO on being a change agent in the number two role.Send us a textFinding the right marketing leadership position is difficult (to say the least). You must have alignment with the CEO and executive team from the get-go. And it’s even better when you can follow them from one opportunity to the next. Now in her third opportunity with the same CEO, Helen Baptist from PathFactory discusses not only how to find the right leadership role, but also how to manage that change from within that so often required in a turnaround situation.Whether you’re in the process of finding a new...
2022-01-1031 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 20 - The Perils of Being a One Woman Army (Marketing is a Team Sport)Send us a textIt's a pattern we're seeing out there, and some agency friends experience in their careers when they make the mistake of putting themselves in this situation. CEOs at young companies hire a marketing leader, usually a woman with substantial experience, and expect her to singled-handedly transform the fate of the organization. And being the "one woman army" is a really difficult position from which to generate success.In a meaningful discussion of recent experiences she's had as a marketing leader, Jenn Edwards takes us through the highs and lows o...
2021-12-2030 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 19 - How not to Join the 66% who Fail at ABM; Personal ABM Founder on What it Takes to SucceedSend us a textSuccess at Account Based Marketing is not (necessarily) about the tech stack, maybe not even at all about it. According to Kristina Jaramillo, president at Personal ABM, it's doing the fundamentals correctly from both a sales and marketing perspective.Kristina makes a strong case for doing the strategy ahead of the implementation (I know, I know) and then dives deep on how she helps clients to make significant progress in strategic accounts with a highly personalized approach.If you think ABM is right for your organization, or you are...
2021-11-2227 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 18 - Making Bank on the Supply Chain: News and Data Power Growth at FreightWavesSend us a textCraig Fuller and his early-stage firm FreightWaves are living proof that media as a business is not dead. In fact, he's created a powerful new media company and with it a SaaS-like data subscription business to monetize the information coming out of the shipping industry.Moving physical goods is an enormous business that most Americans haven't thought much about until recent headlines about logistics issues breaking supply chains. But Craig's company has been helping shippers and investors to take advantage of its unique aggregation of data to increase timeliness and reduce...
2021-11-0332 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 17 – The Dark Funnel and Moving Away from the Fakery of the MQL with Latane Conant CMO at 6SenseSend us a textEvery once in a while you have a conversation that truly changes how you think about the world. This episode was that kind of experience for me. Latane Conant is a thoughtful and thought-provoking proponent of a new way to think about marketing for B2B marketing leaders.In one of the densest 30 minutes you'll invest in your marketing career, Latane covers these topics and more:Calling for CMO title to mean Chief Market Officer, in recognition of the larger role CMOs should play vs the questionable KPIs they are...
2021-10-1832 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 16 - Get SaaS KPIs in Order so Marketing can Lead to Higher Revenues - Kazoo HR CMOSend us a textCasey Carey is CMO at HR tech platform Kazoo, an all-in-one solution for SMBs. In a wide-ranging discussion Casey illuminates how he approaches the role of marketing leadership, how he's taken the focus off lead generation (he's in the camp that believes that lead gen is dead or nearly so) and how he aligns with sales to drive revenue for his company.Many CMOs face the "lead generation imperative." Casey posits that lead generation is the outcome of great marketing strategy - that is - by positioning and messaging well, understanding...
2021-09-1434 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 15 - Mind the Gap(s) - Affiliate / Influencer Marketing SaaS Refersion Bootstraps to Liquidity EventSend us a textRefersion was founded in 2014. Prior to that, CEO Alex Markov was in digital marketing and dabbled in programming since he was a kid. Alex credits his career experience in affiliate / influencer marketing to help him to reimagine affiliate marketing and innovate on the model.Important innovations included simplifying the onboarding process for merchants, and also tapping into emerging managed e-commerce platforms like Shopify. Importantly though he came to it from a developer's POV, he based his innovations on intimate knowledge of the pain points and gaps in solutions that e-commerce entrepreneurs...
2021-09-0224 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 14 - Healthy Decisions Help Services Firm Grow Through Planned Transition to SaaS - Optimove CMO Tells All.Send us a textHere's another episode that is just incredibly valuable for CEOs and CMOs at early stage SaaS firms. Whether you're a services firm moving to SaaS, bootstrapping, or pre-launch, there's a wealth of insight shared by Amit Bivas, VP of Global Marketing at Optimove.Optimove is a marketing SaaS that helps companies to communicate right message to right segment at the right time... consistent with the micro-audiences we hear leading edge CMOs talk about -- targeting smaller and smaller cohorts to act on their motivations and intent.Bivas explains how...
2021-08-0630 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 13 - Harnessing the Power of Community and a Pivot from Services to SaaS with the CEO of ChaordixSend us a textTerry Sydoryk is the CEO of Chaordix, a SaaS that helps brands to build communities with their end users. This sounds quotidian at a surface level, but it's remarkably impactful.Effective growth and nurturing of a community can drive product innovation, enable feedback for consumer / CPG brands where it's hard to generate contact with end users and makes it possible to be closer to employees as well. B2B brands also can generate tremendous value from communities of users.This episode is a great thought starter for product and br...
2021-07-1632 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 12 - Powering SaaS Scale-ups as a Fractional CTO / COOSend us a textThis episode features an enlightening conversation with business transformation change agent Michael Richardson , founder and managing director of Tech Azur, a consultancy providing support for digital business transformation initiatives, scale-up operations and c-suite advisory. His advice? You don't have to learn everything the hard way. What does that mean? Operationalizing the organization to be able to scale is often a blind spot for CEOs. "What got you funded won't get you scale," according to Richardson. As a founder, CEO or CTO, you should be proud of what you've built, ea...
2021-06-2333 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 11 - Lemlist founder as SaaS bootstrap advocate, growth hacking and turning down $30 million from a VCSend us a textGuillaume Moubeche is a fascinating SaaS founder. He recently gained fame for a PR stunt in which he publicly mounted a VC fundraising campaign only to turn down $30 million. But he is so much more than that. He's a real deal entrepreneur who cracked the code on bootstrapping his startup and he did so through a modern approach and old-fashioned focus on the customer."G," as he likes to be called, covers a lot of ground in this "things you can do, too," episode that should be of high value to...
2021-06-0931 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 10 - Perils and Triumphs of SaaS Bootstrapping (with a Pivot) with the CEO of EnablixSend us a textGaurav Harode is the founder and CEO of Enablix, a sales enablement platform that makes it easier for marketing and sales to manage, collaborate on and share content with prospects. According to Harode, "organizations create content on a daily basis, but there's no simple solution to get it in the hands of salespeople."He's got the mission sorted now, but his SaaS started out as a knowledge management solution. With so many well entrenched competitors, and ROI elusive, he found it difficult to gain traction. A pivot to helping sales be...
2021-05-2528 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 9 - CMO as a Servant Warrior, Armed with Data - Neil Becker of BehavoxSend us a textNeil Becker is a soft spoken yet hard driving CMO. His approach to marketing is that it must serve the organization's purpose, which is to sell its products. This puts marketing in a service provider role to sales, where the two teams share the same KPIs. Interestingly, Neil is the second SoftBank-funded CMO to appear on the podcast (the other was Erez Yerselove of Globality), and they share a lot of perspective on the transformative nature of a $100 million investment.This is a fast-paced and valuable conversation that touches...
2021-04-2330 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp. 8 - Cyclr CEO on how his iPaaS Creates Connectivity and Opportunity for other SaaS FirmsSend us a textAccelerating SaaS growth is a multifaceted challenge. For the right kinds of SaaS applications there might be nothing that accelerates growth faster than a strong integration or "platform" ecosystem. Fraser Davidson, CEO of iPaaS Cyclr goes deep in this episode on the value and strategy for building integrations. Davidson puts forward the idea that there are three kinds of integrations: Strategic to the product, which should be built in-house (think Google Maps for a real estate SaaS); Commercially important to drive sales and retention (the more integrations in use, the stickier y...
2021-03-2228 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 7 - CMO of AI SaaS Globality aims to change procurement, for marketing and IT servicesSend us a textErez Yereslove is a serial marketing leader whose company, Globality, is changing the way professional services are sourced. By applying AI to the process, the company creates efficiency in specifying requirements, finding the right partner (starting with incumbents) and negotiating a clearer scope and fairer deal for all.Erez talks about innovating in professional services, reveals a new feature that enables proposal comparison "apples to apples" vs "apples to kumquats." Saving time for CMOs and CIOs as they procure services and for the suppliers as well is a key benefit. AI...
2021-03-0730 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 6 - Live Events Platform Aventri CEO Pivots in Pandemic, Accelerates into the FutureSend us a textJim Sharpe was a man with a strategic plan just a few weeks into his tenure as CEO of Aventri, an enterprise-class SaaS for live events, when the pandemic hit. While many SaaS weren't impacted, his firm's life blood, trade shows and private in-person events, came to a halt.Using his strategic plan as a starting point, Jim, his team and their board / investors, regrouped, reinvested and pivoted the business to support the virtual events his clients were holding. He's also driving toward a new vision for in-person events where virtual...
2021-02-1631 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 5 - Inbound Everywhere - Dan Tyre of HubSpot on Driving Growth for B2B OrganizationsSend us a textThe irrepressible Dan Tyre is our guest for this episode, and he makes a compelling case that the Inbound methodology can and must be applied far beyond lead generation to make your company as successful as it can be. If you want to be jazzed up for 2021, this is the episode for you.Dan talks about how the flywheel, a model that HubSpot introduced to represent the integration of sales, marketing and customer success, is central to achieving goals in 2021 and beyond. He also talks about how the principles of Inbound...
2021-01-2933 min
Happy Marketer ConnectionKen Lempit, President of Austin Lawrence Group “BUSINESS MANIFESTATION”Ken Lempit, President of Austin Lawrence Group, joins the final Happy Marketer Connection to discuss Business Manifestation. Hear how to manifest success in your business and life, lower your churn rate, the most common mistakes CEOs make, how to grow as a SaaS company, and Ken’s transition from the corporate world to his family business. Connect with Ken at AustinLawrence.com and on LinkedIn. Thank you for listening to Happy Marketer Connection! Stay tuned for our new podcast which will focus on Community Powered Marketing – coming in Q1 2021
2021-01-0534 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 4 - Lumesis Continues Growth in a Finite Market; Being of Service Helps the Bottom LineSend us a textGregg Bienstock and his parter Tim Stevens follow a path we've come to recognize; subject matter experts who decide to get into the software business. Gregg provides a nuanced and "open book" look at how the company was formed, learned from its missteps and capitalized on its opportunities. Gregg reveals another side of success we also are noticing as a pattern: he engages clients and leads his team with empathy, humility and open-mindedness. By allowing himself to be vulnerable he's developed relationships that matter, yielding fruit that helps him grow the bu...
2020-12-1829 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 3 - ReferWell Accelerates Growth via Go-to-Market Strategy Pivot, CEO and SME PartnershipSend us a textVytas Kisielius, CEO of ReferWell, is one of the smartest, most perceptive, successful and approachable CEOs I know. He's the kind of leader you just innately want to help achieve his goals, right after meeting him.In this episode, Vytas and I talk about what's working for his SaaS, how he needed to dramatically pivot sales strategy and product positioning to accelerate growth, how CEOs can know when to delegate as you are scaling and more. He also goes into some detail on the relationship he has with the firm's founder...
2020-12-0729 minSaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 2 - The SaaS CMO occupies the Hot Seat in the C-Suite with Chalva TchkotouaSend us a textChalva is a wonderfully thoughtful CMO with a great background in advertising and consulting before he became a client-side marketing leader and multiple time SaaS CMO. In this episode we talk about the new CMO's imperatives including alignment with the CEO and board, the need for a CMO to be a tech-savvy leader as well as a marketing leader, and how to build consensus and drive innovation. A great wide-ranging conversation with a powerful marketing mind.Resources for SaaS CMOs and CEOs:Recently closed a...
2020-11-2328 min
SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS SuccessEp 1 - Selling Buyer Enablement SaaS to Other SaaS firms - ProteusEngageSend us a textJoey Knecht, CEO of Proteus talks about how he manages his SaaS to success. He measures a lot but is unusually focused on the value of relationships.In this wide-ranging conversation we cover buyer enablement, the role of the CEO as the company scales up and what's working for his BDRs today.Resources for SaaS CMOs and CEOs:Recently closed a funding round and need to ramp growth?Check out our comprehensive "scale-a-saas" guide:Think your website could generate...
2020-10-3029 min