The Saas Revolution Show

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, we're live from the SaaStock USA Scale Stage with Klaviyo President Steve Rowland. "No matter where you live, there's this nice radius that you travel and you run all your errands in. I like to go into the local coffee shop or maybe you've got a favourite wine store or maybe a clothing store or a technology store. It's always such a cool feeling when they go, hey, Steve, it's great to see you. We want to be known and we want to be understood, and we want to feel connected to the places we visit physically. That's really hard to do in a digital world because our radius is not 10 miles or 10 kilometres. It's infinite. I buy my deodorant from an Australian company. Is that weird? But they know me. So we have that connection that we want to have as individuals and humans. And so how do you create that in a digital world? That's what we enable," Steve Rowland, President at Klaviyo In discussion with Creator Match Founder AJ Eckstein, Steve shares practical tips drawn

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, we're live from the SaaStock USA Scale stage where CEO Coach Mark MacLeod shares strategic insights and practical habits for sustainable success. "In January 2021, I attended a retreat on the theme of self mastery with my guru and yoga teacher. As part of that, she had us write our eulogy. So I had to write about my life as if it was in the past and write about how people would describe me. What impact did I have? What values did I live by? How did I touch their lives? What did I stand for? I don't really believe in legacy because there's 8 billion people. I don't actually matter. But you know, how did people remember me until they forget me? There's nothing like looking in your life through the rear view mirror from the point of view of your death to clarify how you should live and the choices you should make today." In the episode, Mark shares: - His journey as a leader and how that experience led him to become a coach. - The aspects of CEO life and hustle cul

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Eoin Bara, CEO of Tipple, who shares how Tipple won five billion dollar customers in its first year of operation. "There's a lot of SaaS companies that do one thing, and I think there is a trend in the market towards consolidation. So if you look at, like, employer records and HRIS systems benefits tools, right, I think there's going to be consolidation of those into one tool. You know, we look at Revolut now doing expenses, you know, you look at offering other products, that's going to be the thing. It's 1. finding the thing that's going to be the killer feature that brings the customers in the cutting through the noise of marketing and like getting to your target customer, then it's going to market getting scale." Eoin shares: - His journey from being a UX designer working with the likes of Goldman Sachs, Vodafone, like Aer Lingus, to 'starting a side hustle' now known as Tipple - How fond memories of his childhood in Tullamore

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, we're live from the SaaStock USA scale stage where Jake Dunlap (CEO, Skaled) and Kevin "KD" Dorsey (Sales Leadership Accelerator & Consultant) go head to head in their session on 'The Great Debate: What You Need to Know about AI in Sales'. Ready for a debate? KD and Jake share what you NEED to know when it comes to AI and sales. The future of sales is human powered by AI, and these two renowned sales experts will arm and argue the knowledge and skills you need to thrive in this ever-evolving era. Through the lens of friendship, leadership and sales enablement, these two will debate it out together. Listen to the full episode, watch the video below and subscribe to the SaaS Revolution Show podcast today.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by David Politis, Founder and Executive Chairman at BetterCloud. "If you think about the journey of a company in the various stages of a business, we were getting to a scale where it made sense to find a partner who has a track record of taking companies to that next level, organically and inorganically, just to be really transparent. They have multiple ways of getting businesses to that next level, and we wanted to find a partner who could do that with us." In the episode, David shares: - How entrepreneurial spirit runs in the family - His journey to founding BetterCloud - BetterCloud's journey to $100M ARR - The decision to acquire G2's G2 Track product - How the role of a CEO changes as you scale - The top three things from the Startup Founder Survival Guide - And more! Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Tim Schumacher, co-founder of saas.group, as he shares his insights on exiting your SaaS business. "The one thing that's moved the needle every time is being open about certain problems which appear in one business and solving them myself, in a way, and that usually made a good business. And those were always been than the ones where I was just looking at some general trend I didn't really understand, those were my failures." Tim shares: - Growing his first business: from three friends in a garage to 300 people (before then selling to United Internet!) - His beginnings in angel investing and what constitutes a fundable founder - A saas.group snapshot: 20 companies acquired ranging between $1-$10M ARR - The key steps involved with acquisitions (and why soul searching is #1) - His advice to founders considering an acquisition... and why it's important to remember valuation is just one factor! and more.Check out the other ways Sa

Live from the SaaStock USA 2024 Scale Stage, Kyle Lacy (CMO, Jellyfish) tells marketing leaders the five ways to not get fired. "I believe marketing should have a seat at the table for all four of these to force alignment, because you are the hub and spoke of the go to market model - in my opinion. So that's why it's important that you at least help own, or at least help report, on these things." The average tenure of a marketing and sales leader at a high-growth startup is short, and it’s short for a reason. How do you build staying power at any company as a marketing leader? It’s important to build specific strategies to gain a seat at the proverbial table. Join Kyle as he walks you through the five ways to position yourself as a marketing leader, from revenue alignment to owning a pipeline/revenue number.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined live at SaaStock USA 2024 by Ashley Grech, CRO at Xero, as she shares the five key moments to drive revenue growth & customer retention. While we're all familiar with sales cycles and customer life cycles, when you take a deeply customer-centric view, there are a few moments that really matter in revenue and retention, and it behooves you as a leader to think through how you handle each of them in order to turn them into force multipliers for your funnel and customer relationship. These moments include: First impressions, Conversion, Establishment, Growth (cross-sell and upsell), and When something goes wrong. Tune in to hear GTM expert Ashley Grech, CRO at Xero, discuss.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

A company is essentially two things: a group of people and a collection of decisions. How those people make these decisions is the art of running a business (37signals). We make decisions every single day, it’s what often dictates the direction of a business. Some decisions work out and some don’t. Some are quick to make and some tough to call. You’ll never be able to consider every single piece of data, analysis or consequence when making a decision - sometimes a decision has to be made from the gut. Legendary founder, Jason Fried is joined by SaaStock’s CEO, Alex Theuma, to share his decision making philosophy and answer some of the biggest questions founders face today.Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Aytekin Tank, CEO of Jotform, as he shares how he bootstrapped a unicorn SaaS with teams of no more than six people. "One interesting number I can give is, like, we always had this 50% revenue growth rate and we still have that. That's very interesting. Actually, if we didn't develop the enterprise version, we would actually lose that - we would probably drop down to like 30%. But then the enterprise came to help, and we still have that 50% growth rate today." Aytekin shares: - The one thing he did pre-Jotform that meant he had a much smoother ride in becoming an entrepreneur - Why he's a big believer of free products, and how that goodwill leads to paying customers - How being a company of small cross functional teams has kept a positive company culture - The makeup of each team and how they cultivate innovation, productivity, and creativity - The building blocks of success, where technical skills meet business skills and more!

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined live at SaaStock USA 2024 by Kyle Hanslovan, co-founder & CEO at Huntress. "That nuance of finding the green field, the niche, is probably the single biggest differentiator that will help you escape and go, you know, you can sell to finds at one million or make five million in revenue, but to escape ten you have to have a process and you have to have a real market that is differentiated and that niche will get you there if you can just really ask yourself 'am I differentiated' and again, I didn't respect that." Kyle shares: - The journey to $1M and then $10M ARR - His process of finding and engaging channel partners - His biggest challenge over the next year, and how he plans to solve it - The reality of 'hire slow, fire fast', incl. open communication and employee churn - When work life balance meets sacrifice - is it one you're truly willing to make? and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Jake Dunlap, CEO of Skaled, who shares the innovations in sales required to hit your goals. "Relevancy cuts through the noise. That is the only way to be successful - that is it, it is singular. If your team and your organisation cannot send relevant messages, whether it's via video, whether it's via LinkedIn, voice-note, whether it's email or call, you will not generate meetings. So that's where the human comes in." Jake shares: - The most important thing that CEOs should be doing *right now* - The core component of hitting outbound targets - Modern sales processes and the vecs concept: vetted, educated, cold and self service - Relevancy vs personalisation, and the *only* way to win - Meeting the modern customer where they stand- 40% of buyers would like the option to self service buy at 2030, where do sales reps fit in? and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Adam Robinson, founder & CEO of Retention.com, who shares his lessons from when a bootstrapper tries to grow like a venture backed company. "The word bootstrap mostly describes 'okay, I got it to 3 million, it's making a million and a half bucks. I don't have a lot of employees, I don't have a lot of problems, this is great'. The problem is like, most of those companies are actually just slowly dying. But what creating companies like that can allow you to do is you get it to that; you get somebody else running it, and then you try to tinker around and like, make another one. By the time you're like, 'oh, this is working, I'm actually going to focus on it', It ends up being bigger than the last one." Adam shares: - His 10 year stint working "The Big Short" - Equating entrepreneurship with being able to be present - Hustle meets reality: why five years went by before he paid himself a dollar - Churn dynamic and financial discip

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by David Klein, Co-founder and Managing Partner at One Peak, who shares his insights on how the SaaS and investing market is changing. "1% increase in growth, the impact on valuation is the same as a 3% increase in profitability- even today. So growth is just valued at three times profitability, even today. And that number was about 12x in November 2021, so at the height of the bull market. So growth is, in our mind, still really important, and if you want to build a big business, you just have to grow. " David shares: - From resigning on the same day to where One Peak is today; $300M, $500M, and $1B funds - What lies ahead for the European and American markets - The shift from focusing on growth to profitability (and which is more important...) - The the return of the series a and the series b, an uptick in consolidations, and shifting goalposts - Bridge rounds - are they a necessary evil? and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Ev Kontsevoy, CEO of Teleport, as he shares how to decide which baby to kill... "We never make obviously bad decisions. Every single decision seems rational in the moment. But there is like a certain trend - and the one thing that keeps biting me is ignoring complexity for too long. Eventually I self correct, and I just realised 'hey, the business is getting more complicated, the product is getting more complicated, the way we sell is getting more complicated.' And every time I kind of catch myself, like, I should have thought about this six months ago, now it's too complicated. So letting complexity creep in is just awful. Just don't do that." Ev shares: - Mailgun.com and the beginning of the cloud revolution - Creating a bubble for yourself: diving into internal and external motivators - Coding in a cave: building pieces of software that replace an entire part of an organisation - The year of two growing products - Evaluating t

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Wes Bush, founder & CEO of ProductLed, who shares his thoughts on product led scale. "PLG is going to become the de facto go to market motion that powers SaaS companies of the future, whether you like it or not, it's just everything's going that way. And so with that said, what I want to kind of emphasize is product led growth isn't the be all end all when it comes to actually building a product led business - it's actually just half of the story." Wes shares: - How they've helped their customers generate over a billion dollars of product led revenue - AI's impact on PLG - His most controversial PLG opinion  - How to turn what you do best into generating new business - Ying & Yang: Why product led growth and being a product led organisation need to go hand in hand - Why challenging your boss can be key to team alignment - A sneak peek into his #SaaStockUSA session, including the nine core components that every founder nee

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Martha Bitar, CEO at Flodesk, who shares the top 5 things that helped her bootstrap to $25M ARR. "Someone somewhere told us not to build code for our solution until we had a customer interview that made someone cry because - cry in a good way! - because they were so excited that their problem was finally getting a solution... And we did. At first when I heard it, I was like, of course no one is going to cry because this is not the type of problem that makes people cry. But we eventually did get someone who cried in a demo, and that's when we knew they were ready to build the code." Martha shares:

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by SC Moatti, Managing Partner at Mighty Capital and SaaStock USA 2024 speaker extraordinaire, as she shares how to fix a broken GTM. "When you talk to product folks, what they love is they love good products. I mean, that's their nature. It's that idea that the best product wins is actually becoming a reality. Because when you sell to product people, they want to make sure you have a good product that's going to nicely integrate in their stack and we can talk about what makes a good product, but that's what wins right now." SC shares:

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Denis Mosolov, Managing Partner Venture Debt at Flashpoint, as he discusses what's out there (from a founder's perspective) if you don't want to dilute. "It's a big challenge for us, because you know if your company's really going to take-off and show growth levels that are exciting for the VC community, you do need to invest and you do need to know how to raise capital. That's a skill that the founders need to have and so it is a red flag for me if something is like 100% bootstrapped, because there's a big question mark - 'are you guys actually able to raise capital?'" Denis shares:

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Matthijs Welle, CEO at Mews, who shares his lessons building Mews to unicorn status and $100M ARR. "Recognise when we've got a challenge and address it. And I surround myself with phenomenal people, I'm not afraid of hiring people that are smarter than me around me, because I'm not always the smartest person. I have more context than anyone else, but these people lift me, and I think the best managers do that - they just find phenomenal talent and then trust that they are not going to be fighting, but showing up for the job and lifting you for the manager that you are." Matthijs shares: - Mews' founding story - from frustrations with a big marble block to building the next generation infrastructure system for hotels - The company's growth path (including 40 new hires MoM!) - From eight acquisitions to receiving $110M on top of raising a round - the pivotal moments speed and drive overlapped with opportunity - The ONE role that h