The SaaS Revolution Show

The SaaS Revolution Show, Alex Theuma
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May 24, 2018 • 33min

Finding product-market fit in deep tech with Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss, omni:us

Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss, CEO and Co-founder of omni:us, learned very early on she was destined to build companies. She had the knack for it as well as the determination. It's how she built three companies before founding omni:us. But it is her latest that is the one she is determined to really grow and scale. With four co-founders and a new address in Berlin, the Viennese entrepreneur began her journey into AI. As important as it was to train her bots to "read" digital documents, what was even more key was finding the use cases and product-market fit that would allow her to monetize omni:us. It took selling into two industries before finding the one, which would truly benefit from the value proposition of omni:us - making sense of and structuring digital documents. Finding it was a combination of listening to inbound signals and being disciplined to apply the criteria that helps rule out the unfit choices. Listen on to hear: The criteria to find product-market fit A key learning Sofie picked about the search for product-market fit An important lesson about selling to enterprises with product-market fit Sofie is one of many excellent speakers we will host at SaaStock on Tour Berlin on June 7th. On the day she will be joined by the likes of Christoph Janz, Steli Efti, CEO, and Stan Masseuras. See more info and tickets https://www.saastock.com/ontour/city/berlin    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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May 17, 2018 • 25min

Selling SaaS in traditional industries with Jack Beaman, Syft

When Jack Beaman, CEO and Co-founder at Syft, decided to disrupt the temp worker industry, he thought he would be building a marketplace. He started off with a clear idea - create a marketplace where hospitality industry employers and temp workers would be able to find each other. What he didn’t suspect was that they would find each other so efficiently that employers would experience 400% increase in workers. And they would need new efficient ways to manage them. An invaluable opportunity to create a SaaS platform they were prepared to pay for presented itself on a silver platter. Entrepreneurial Jack jumped on. Listen on to hear: How to sell and get customers in traditional industries What has helped with the adoption of tech Does traditional advertising work in SaaS Jack is one of many speakers that we will host in Dublin this October at SaaStock18. He will be joined by the likes of Corey Thomas, CEO of Rapid7, David Skok, Managing Partner at Matrix Partners and Meagen Eisenberg, CMO of MongoDB. As we are approaching the 100th episode of the podcast, we are offering a €100 discount for SaaStock18 to our listeners. Use code saasrevolution100. See more info and tickets on https://www.saastock.com    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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May 10, 2018 • 30min

How to ace your SaaS product demos with Dan Martell

Canadian Dan Martell believes that the three least boring things on the planet are growth, happiness and influence. As such, a road paved with frameworks and processes to reach them is anything but boring. It is a road he has been navigating and paving with 5 companies, 3 exits and 39 angel investments. One of the things he has perfected throughout his experience is the art of the product demo, which he talks about extensively on this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show. Listen on to hear: What almost everyone gets wrong when it comes to product demos What is a simple framework for executing a product demo How to ask for a close with confidence What is the impact on the business when you don’t ask for a close on the call How to deal with objections After you have listened to it, download Dan’s rocket demo framework https://www.danmartell.com/saasrevolution Dan is one of many speakers that we will host in Dublin this October. In his own words, “There is nothing more powerful than meeting many founders who are 2-3 years ahead of you on the journey.” 3000 attendees will come to see and learn from founders like Michael Litt, Brynne Kennedy and David Cancel. As we are approaching the 100th episode of the podcast, we are offering a €100 discount for SaaStock18 to our listeners. Listen in to learn from Dan, grab the code and head over to https://www.saastock.com for more info and tickets.    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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May 3, 2018 • 31min

What SaaS companies can learn from Spotify with Marta Sjögren

On the latest episode of the SaaS Revolution Show, we host Marta Sjögren, Partner at Northzone, one of Europe’s oldest VC companies. Having been around for a few decades, Northzone has had a chance to put bets on many companies that are now bright tech superstars. Many of them are SaaS. Trustpilot, StepStone and HappyOrNot are just a few notable examples. Marta has been with Northzone for almost 6 years. In the conversation, Marta covers a lot of the valuable lessons that lay in Spotify’s story that can be applied to B2B companies, from fundraising to pricing, packaging and scaling. Listen on to hear: What it means to be a "Born Global" company and how the home market should be used Key lessons from Spotify’s pricing and packaging The secret to scaling successfully as Spotify At SaaStock on Tour Helsinki, Marta will host a fireside chat with the CEO of HappyOrNot, one of her portfolio companies. They will talk about the fascinating story in building a Hardware-first SaaS company. On the day, she will be joined by a roster of exciting speakers such as David Cancel, CEO of Drift, Joyce Liu, Principal at Dawn Capital and Steli Efti, CEO of Close.io among others. Join them on May 23rd https://www.saastock.com/ontour/city/helsinki    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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Apr 26, 2018 • 32min

Stop confusing customers and start positioning your SaaS right with April Dunford

Seven startups. All seven of them acquired. 16 launched products. All 16 of them repositioned. Roles as varied as CEO, CMO and COO. There has never been a dull moment in April Dunford’s career. Throughout all that, she has become the world’s foremost expert on positioning. Improving the context a product creates for its customers became April’s lifelong passion. It’s why she has taken on seemingly very different roles in the various startups and their acquirers she joined. As she puts it, positioning encompasses the entire organisation. Currently, April is working on a book, which she hopes will offer the first scalable methodology for doing positioning right. Listen on to hear: Why so many startups and companies fail at positioning What are the signs you are having a positioning problem How to start fixing your positioning and create the right context for your customers Examples of product repositions April has executed What is the best way to track the effect of repositioning April is one of many speakers we will host in Dublin at SaaStock18 taking place October 15–17. As we are coming to the 100th episode of the podcast soon, we are offering a €100 discount on tickets to listeners. Tune in to find out more. See who else is speaking at SaaStock18 https://www.saastock.com    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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Apr 19, 2018 • 36min

7 years of trying and failing with SaaS: The road to 2,964% growth with Alexis Prenn, Receipt Bank

According to Alexis Prenn, CEO and co-founder of Receipt Bank, SaaS is a bit like playing a video game — every 9 months or so you move to the next level. Each level is as difficult as the one before. Alexis began playing the Receipt Bank game nearly 8 years ago. For the first three years, they went the bootstrapping way, not so much out of strong conviction to do so but because they were too hard on themselves. They feared rejection more than anything else. The two co-founders believed that they had to make themselves a little more beautiful and their metrics a little better before they asked anyone for a penny. Eventually, both realised that this mentality was missing the point of what it means to be a growing SaaS company. On February 10th, 2011 they decided to be serious and not make any more excuses. And pursue a realistic growth rate. Three percent at a time, Receipt Bank has reached 2,964% growth. It’s on a path to reaching $25 million ARR and has banked $65 million in funding. Listen on to learn: How and when Receipt Bank became a serious company Why growth and retention are the only things that matter? Why you should avoid averages with metrics like the plague How to keep the growth mindset as the company scales How to choose acquisition channels Bringing wisdom from founders, operators and investors to your doorstep is why we are taking SaaStock on Tour. Our next stop is Paris on May 3rd. We have limited tickets left so grab one and learn from Rachel Delacour, Philippe Botteri and Jean-Charles Samuelian https://www.saastock.com/ontour/city/paris    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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Apr 12, 2018 • 30min

Growing from a line of script to 360,000 users with Simon Grabowski, GetResponse

Simon Grabowski, CEO and Founder of email marketing automation platform GetResponse is the latest guest on the SaaS Revolution Show, hosted by Alex Theuma. Simon started his first Internet business back in 1996, aged 16. Frustrated with how tedious and boring sending emails manually to prospects was, he decided to write a little script to automate the process. With 1000 Polish zloty in his back pocket, by 1998 Simon decided to turn the script into GetResponse, which would become the first email and marketing automation platform in Europe. Selling globally from Gdansk, Poland early on and fueling the growth through an early affiliate program, GetResponse has grown to 350,000 users spread over 180 countries, and 400 employees on three continents. Celebrating the company’s 20th anniversary this year, Simon has achieved this by being completely bootstrapped. Listen on to hear: How to achieve growth when you don’t have the money What was the opportunity that opened the enterprise market for GetResponse How Simon differentiates GetResponse from competitors How embedded virality early on is still paying off, 20 years later Why focus on UX early on can have a huge effect on the company’s bottom line Simon is one of many speakers we will host in Dublin at SaaStock18 taking place October 15–17. As we are coming to the 100th episode of the podcast soon, we are offering a €100 discount on tickets to listeners. Tune in to find out more and learn from Simon Grabowski. See who else is speaking at SaaStock18 https://www.saastock.com    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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Apr 5, 2018 • 29min

How to conquer the US market from Europe with Florian Douetteau, Dataiku

A Math PhD dropout, Florian Douetteau, was only 20 when he first got the startup bug. The practical ways of learning through immersing himself into startups appealed more to him and he has never looked back. The SaaS Revolution Show latest guest, Florian started Dataiku, his latest venture, five years ago in Paris. The collaboration platform for data scientists was profitable from the early onset. Florian had seen the struggle of growing a company in France, where there is a steady growth up until a few million in revenue but then a stagnated growth when it comes to getting to the next stage. Maybe it was because the European market was not dynamic enough or the companies would become almost too European. Listen on to hear: How he initially scaled into the US when Dataiku was very small -What were the factors that helped Dataiku with American customers, including NPR How he organises his time between the three locations and spends enough time at each P.S. Florian is one many excellent speakers we will host at SaaStock on Tour Paris on May 3rd. He will be joined by the likes of Rachel Delacour, VP for Startups at Zendesk, Christoph Janz, Managing Partner at Point Nine Capital and Philippe Botteri, Partner at Accel among others. Get your early bird tickets before April 12th https://www.saastock.com/ontour/city/paris    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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Mar 29, 2018 • 54min

From Zero to IPO: Lessons in Scaling Mimecast with Peter Bauer and Ari Helgason

Back in 2003, tech wasn’t exactly having its most glorious days. The bitter taste of the dot-com crash was still pungent. Few entrepreneurs would be blamed for not willing to take a punt by starting a new tech company. Peter Bauer, however, didn’t succumb to that too much. He sensed SaaS would outlive that and become the next big thing. Peter placed a bet on a cloud-based email management system and Mimecast was born. From the early days, Mimecast defied rules and expectations. While everyone advised Peter to focus on just one aspect of email, he and his co-founder were religious about creating a supercategory. 15 years on the journey, Peter has had the rare chance to lead the company through all stages, including an IPO. He knows equally well the problems of having 5k in the bank and 35 people on the payroll as well as having 140 million in the bank and figuring what is next. Listen on to hear: How does the thinking behind the product change over time How do you know it’s time to move to a new market How Mimecast kept the cultural cohesion as it scaled What is the best way to approach compensation Which is the toughest stage on the journey and how to prepare for it P.S. This conversation was part of a fantastic first stop of SaaStock on Tour in London. The next stop on SaaStock on Tour is Paris on May 3rd. Find out more information https://www.saastock.com/ontour    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)
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Mar 22, 2018 • 35min

How to go global from the early stages with Bjorn Zinssmeister, Templarbit

Bjoern Zinssmeister is the co-founder and CEO of Templarbit, a San Francisco-based developer-oriented security platform. Started less than a year ago, it has already been through Y Combinator, has raised $3 million in funding and is successfully conquering the Asian market, starting with Japan. Bjoern left Germany for San Francisco as soon as he graduated university. In 2010 there simply wasn’t enough interesting tech coming from Europe to keep him around. It was all in Silicon Valley. Before he founded Templarbit, a developer-oriented security platform, Bjoern took seven years to learn the trades of building and running tech companies. His journey started at Match.com up and concluded in Design Inc where he was the CTO. Listen on to hear: How to pitch to Y Combinator with confidence Does going to Y Combinator help  How to go global as an early stage company How to conquer the Asian market Why closing a company even with a million in the bank may be the right thing to do P.S. Bjoern is one of many speakers we will have at SaaStock18 alongside the likes of founders and operators such as Corey Thomas, CEO at Rapid7, Frederic Kerrest, COO at Okta and Brynne Kennedy, CEO at MOVE Guides. Sign up for our Insider Sale https://insider.saastock.com by April 1st to get a 2 for 1 ticket discount code.    Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe | Dublin, IrelandBook tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/🇺🇸 SaaStock USA | Austin, TexasBook tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)

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