The SaaS Podcast - AI, Growth & Product-Market Fit for SaaS Founders

Most founders think they know what problem their product solves. Michele Hansen's SaaS product validation framework proves them wrong through customer interviews and customer discovery. Learn Michele's approach to SaaS product validation - from finding product-market fit signals to the 'reaching for the door' question, and why 5 customer interviews reveal enough to act. Michele is the co-founder of Geocodio and author of Deploy Empathy. Her SaaS product validation methods helped dozens of founders with customer discovery at Calm Fund. 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 SaaS product validation starts with listening, not pitching: Customer interviews should never include selling - prospects with real pain voluntarily ask about your product. 🔄 Use the 'reaching for the door' question in customer discovery: Thank the person, ask 'Anything else?' and wait - the most honest answers come in that silence. 🧠 Mirror and rephrase wrong for deeper SaaS product validation: Restating wrong triggers over-correction, revealing details that finding product-market fit requires. 📉 Low response rates signal weak SaaS product validation: If prospects won't talk about the problem, it likely isn't painful enough to build a business around. 🎯 Five customer interviews reveal SaaS product validation patterns: Five conversations surface themes - if you hear five different things, your scope needs narrowing. Chapters Introduction What Geocodio does Why the book is called Deploy Empathy How Deploy Empathy complements The Mom Test Setting up a SaaS product validation scenario Customer discovery vs. sales The pain-frequency chart for finding product-market fit How to recruit customer interview subjects Using a discovery script Building rapport for SaaS product validation The reaching for the door question Interactive interviews and the undemo technique Where to find Deploy Empathy Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/308 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Benn Stancil built a product customers loved but nobody could name. Mode's SaaS branding fell between BI dashboards and data science tools - a SaaS positioning problem that confused buyers for years. Learn how Mode solved its SaaS branding challenge by narrowing to 'by analysts, for analysts,' using entertainment-first content for product positioning, and growing to 8-figure ARR. Benn is the co-founder of Mode, a collaborative analytics platform. Their SaaS branding journey from category creation confusion to clarity serves clients like Lyft, DoorDash, and Bloomberg. 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 SaaS branding needs a noun buyers can repeat: Mode fell between BI and data science with no category name - a SaaS positioning gap that made sales harder. 📉 Underinvesting in SaaS branding research costs years: Launching without product positioning research led to confused sales conversations for too long. 🛠️ Customers believe your SaaS branding labels: Mode called itself 'collaborative' and buyers repeated it as a purchase reason - despite zero collaboration features. 🚀 Entertainment-first content beats product marketing for SaaS branding: Mode's first blog post analyzed Miley Cyrus data, attracting analysts before they cared about the product. 🧠 Committed decisions beat perfect ones in SaaS branding: Three analytics founders learned that speed outperforms endless hedging on category creation decisions. Chapters Introduction What Mode does and who it serves Size of the business and key customers How the idea started at Yammer SaaS branding challenges after launch The cost of underinvesting in product positioning Why finding a category name took years Handling conflicting customer requests How SaaS branding language shapes expectations Acquiring the first 10 customers Why committed decisions beat perfect decisions Content marketing and category creation The startup marathon Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/307 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

AJ started Carrd as a vanity project to pay for lattes. Using product-led growth and freemium SaaS pricing at $19/year, he grew to $100K MRR and 4 million sites with just two people. Learn how AJ built a product-led growth engine using the freemium model, built-in virality through 'Made with Carrd' links, and a product-led growth approach that replaced all marketing spend. AJ is the founder of Carrd, a freemium SaaS platform. His product-led growth strategy with bootstrapped SaaS economics let him scale to $1M ARR without a marketing budget. 🔑 Key Lessons 🚀 Product-led growth virality beats paid marketing at scale: Carrd's 'Made with Carrd' link on every free site created a self-sustaining freemium SaaS growth loop. 💰 Keep product-led growth pricing low for maximum revenue: AJ found $19/year with Black Friday discounts drove higher total revenue than raising prices. 🛠️ Invest in product for product-led growth instead of marketing: AJ made more code commits in 2021 than any year, treating product improvement as the primary growth strategy. 🧠 Raise funding for expertise, not capital: AJ raised $2M while profitable to access AWS engineers for a bootstrapped SaaS infrastructure migration. 🎯 Generalize feature requests for your freemium SaaS user base: Virtual sections solved one user's request while unlocking new use cases for everyone. Chapters Introduction and what Carrd does Revenue and product-led growth metrics Why AJ raised $2M despite being profitable What drove freemium SaaS growth in 2020 Twitter and building in public The freemium model and Made with Carrd link Product-led growth approach over marketing Lessons on building a great product Feature requests and product-led growth iteration Hiring the first developer Choosing the right investors Product-led growth pricing and Black Friday conversions Tech stack and AWS migration Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/306 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Brian Parks raised $30M for Bigfoot Capital and has funded 35 B2B SaaS companies. His conclusion: most startup funding fails because founders treat capital raising like a side project instead of a SaaS fundraising priority. Learn the 5 startup funding mistakes founders repeat and the 8-step process Brian uses on both sides - as someone who manages SaaS fundraising and deploys venture capital SaaS investments. Brian is the founder of Bigfoot Capital, providing non-dilutive startup funding to B2B SaaS companies at $1.5M-$10M ARR. His capital raising process took 15 months to close $30M. 🔑 Key Lessons 🎯 Treat startup funding like a full-time sales process: Founders who half-commit to capital raising signal weak execution and lose investor trust. 📉 Slow responses destroy startup funding momentum: Brian says time kills deals - speed signals operational competence across the entire business. 🤝 Build an Ideal Capital Provider Profile before startup funding outreach: Target 50 relevant investors, not 1,000 - wrong targeting wastes months on SaaS fundraising. 💰 Run a structured 8-step startup funding process: Brian's framework: discover, acquire, activate, gather results, select, dominate diligence, document, close. 🧠 Negotiate hard at term sheets, not in final docs: Over-optimizing clauses after signing exhausts investors and kills capital raising deals. Chapters Introduction What Bigfoot Capital does The 5 capital raising mistakes Mistake 1: The casual startup funding approach Prep vs. go-to-market in SaaS fundraising Mistake 2: Shooting from the hip The 8-step startup funding process Activate, engage, and follow up Gather results and term sheets Dominate diligence Mistake 3: Wrong audience for capital raising Mistake 4: Over-optimizing startup funding terms Mistake 5: Not removing friction Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/305 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Jody Glidden spent four years solving a CRM data problem before B2B SaaS sales took off. His enterprise sales cycles dragged three years to close a single deal through founder-led selling. Learn how Introhive cracked B2B SaaS sales by focusing on one vertical, doing founder-led selling for 4 years, and building SaaS partnerships that grew revenue from 7% to 30%. Jody is the co-founder of Introhive, an AI-powered platform that transforms B2B SaaS sales through CRM data intelligence. He raised $135M+ and landed enterprise sales wins like PwC with 100K users. 🔑 Key Lessons 🏢 B2B SaaS sales depend on solving the data problem first: Introhive spent 4 years raising CRM accuracy from 65% to 90%+ because bad data killed enterprise sales retention. 🎯 Focus B2B SaaS sales on one vertical to dominate it: Introhive targeted accounting firms where they had security advantages and existing relationships. 🤝 Founders should own B2B SaaS sales before hiring reps: Jody ran every meeting for four years as founder-led selling before transitioning to a sales hire. 📉 Inbound marketing fails without brand - start outbound: A VP of Marketing from Salesforce produced zero leads because enterprise sales tactics for known brands don't transfer. 🤝 Turn customers into SaaS partnerships for B2B SaaS sales growth: Partner revenue jumped from 7% to 30% after CRM vendors realized Introhive eliminated their churn risk. Chapters Introduction What Introhive does Background and previous exits Identifying the CRM data problem Building the data accuracy platform Landing PwC through enterprise sales Founder-led selling and hiring salespeople Challenges of early B2B SaaS sales When to hire your first salesperson Why inbound marketing failed early Focusing on one vertical market Three-year enterprise sales cycles Growing SaaS partnerships from 7% to 30% Board member selection lessons Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/304 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Mitch Causey had no sales background when he started selling SaaS without sales experience. He ran a one-person SEO agency using spreadsheets, then turned those into software and grew DemandWell to $1M+ ARR. Learn how Mitch built a SaaS sales process by selling SaaS without sales experience first, pre-selling software before it existed, and developing a founder-led sales playbook before hiring reps. Mitch is the co-founder of DemandWell. His journey of selling SaaS without sales experience started with a concierge MVP and referral-driven founder-led sales that reached $150K before building any code. 🔑 Key Lessons 🤝 Selling SaaS without sales experience builds a repeatable playbook: Mitch closed every deal himself before hiring AEs, handing them a proven pitch rather than guessing. 🛠️ A concierge MVP validates faster than building software: Mitch ran DemandWell as a manual service for 18 months, proving the idea before any development spend. 🤝 Pre-sell by delivering the outcome manually: DemandWell sold contracts before the product existed, demonstrating founder-led sales at its best. 🚀 Hire an SDR before AEs when selling SaaS without sales experience: Outsourcing lead gen freed Mitch to refine the SaaS sales process and focus on closing. 💰 LinkedIn ads work when ACV justifies the cost: DemandWell's $30K average contract made LinkedIn viable, with near-100% MQL-to-qualified rates. Chapters Introduction What DemandWell does and who it serves Starting as an agency with no software plans The 18-month concierge MVP with spreadsheets Revenue and customer count The people plus platform coaching model How a non-technical founder built the product From $0 to $150K through referrals Selling SaaS without sales experience and pre-selling Hiring an outsourced SDR for the SaaS sales process Bringing on account executives Why LinkedIn ads work at $30K ACV Founder-led sales and scaling advice Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/303 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Jordan Gal built CartHook into a $6M ARR recurring revenue machine on Shopify. Then Shopify shut him down. But before that, his SaaS pricing strategy of tripling prices transformed a leaky business into a healthy one. Discover how raising recurring revenue prices from $99 to $500 plus transaction fees achieved churn reduction from 15% to 2% and doubled MRR from $250K to $500K in one year. Jordan is the co-founder of Rally. He previously grew CartHook's recurring revenue to $6M ARR processing $2.5 billion in GMV before platform risk forced a pivot. 🔑 Key Lessons 💰 Tripling recurring revenue prices filters wrong-fit customers: Jordan raised CartHook from $99 to $300 with zero drop in demand, achieving immediate churn reduction. 📉 High churn gets masked by strong recurring revenue growth: 400 trial signups per month with 15% churn would have capped MRR without raising prices. 🎯 Switch from self-serve to demos for recurring revenue power: Requiring applications dropped signups from 400 to 20 but attracted merchants paying $500 plus transaction fees. 💰 Raise prices on existing customers with a value promise: Jordan gave six months notice, committed to SaaS pricing improvements, and most customers stayed. ⚠️ Platform risk scales with your recurring revenue success: CartHook thrived on Shopify until processing $100M+ per month, when Shopify blocked new customers. Chapters Introduction What Rally does and the headless checkout concept The backstory - founding CartHook The abandoned cart idea and cold email sales No-brainer SaaS pricing that removed buyer risk Raising funding and finding a CTO Customizable Shopify checkout discovery Explosive launch demand Why tripling the recurring revenue price was right Spotting the churn wall at $250K MRR Requiring demos and raising prices for churn reduction How Shopify forced CartHook to change Platform risk lessons for every founder Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/302 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Raj Sheth, CEO of Decalab, discusses acquiring and growing SaaS businesses, lessons from failed ventures, and the success of RecruiterBox. He shares insights on transitioning business models, acquiring companies like Fly Data, and entrepreneurial opportunities with Bupas.

What happens when eight founders starting a SaaS from Germany, New Zealand, Louisiana, San Francisco, South Africa, India, Florida, and France all share their stories? You hear what it really takes to keep going when you feel alone, broke, and unsure if anyone will ever use your product. For the 300th episode of The SaaS Podcast, host Omer Khan invited eight listeners who are starting a SaaS to share how they found their first customers, what kept them motivated, and what lessons helped them avoid costly mistakes. These early-stage SaaS founders prove that building a SaaS is hard everywhere - and that the SaaS founder journey gets easier when you learn from others. SquareKicker reached first six figures bootstrapped. Explorerland grew revenue 400%. Situation Hub's non-technical founder built a crisis management SaaS from scratch. TeachFloor overhauled pricing after learning from peers. Fresh Projects grew globally from South Africa. All while starting a SaaS without Silicon Valley connections. Key Lessons 🎯 Market timing matters more than product readiness when starting a SaaS: Alexander Watson built Explorerland years before the market needed it, but revenue grew 400% when corporate transparency requirements caught up to his product. 🚀 Bootstrapped founders can reach six figures without funding: Nick and Hannah Ippolito built SquareKicker to 3,000 installs and break-even MRR within a year of launching, proving a small team with focus can compete. 🧠 Learning from others' mistakes is the fastest shortcut: Gerard Braud, a non-technical founder starting a SaaS, compensated for lack of experience by studying hundreds of founder stories - treating peer learning as a graduate degree. 💰 Pricing confidence comes from hearing how other founders handled it: Maria Bovee restructured TeachFloor's pricing after learning from peers, gaining the confidence to make changes she had been putting off for months. 🌍 Early-stage SaaS founders outside Silicon Valley build global companies: Simon Berry grew Fresh Projects from South Africa to customers worldwide, proving geography does not limit a SaaS business. Chapters Introduction - Episode 300 milestone Why this episode is different Alexander Watson - Explorerland (Germany) Alexander's story: Forest management SaaS with 400% revenue growth Nick and Hannah Ippolito - SquareKicker (New Zealand) Nick and Hannah's story: Bootstrapping to six figures with three kids Gerard Braud - Situation Hub (Louisiana) Gerard's story: Non-technical founder starting a SaaS Maria Bovee - TeachFloor (San Francisco) Maria's story: Gaining pricing confidence from founder stories Simon Berry - Fresh Projects (South Africa) Simon's story: Building a global SaaS from Johannesburg Cal Tiger - Shake and Send (Florida) Cal's story: Marketing challenges for tiny SaaS companies Vignesh Ganeshan - Press9 (India) Vignesh's story: Strategic confidence and tactical clarity Anise Delport - Think Tanks (France) and closing thoughts Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/300 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

Most SaaS companies invest heavily in content creation and then do nothing to promote it. Alan Silvestri built an entire agency around fixing that SaaS SEO strategy gap - and his outreach email was so good it landed him on this podcast after Omer initially said no. In this episode, Alan walks through his exact SaaS SEO strategy for link building and content promotion. He explains why most outreach fails, how to reverse-engineer competitor backlinks to find untapped prospects, and the SaaS content marketing process that separates companies dominating organic search from those with content graveyards. Growth Gorilla's link building playbook distinguishes between "money pages" (keyword-targeted content) and "linkable assets" (content designed purely to attract backlinks). Alan's content promotion process uses personalized outreach that leads with genuine value rather than generic pitches. Key Lessons 🎯 SaaS SEO strategy requires equal investment in creation and promotion: Publishing content without promoting it creates a "content graveyard." Alan says companies should invest as much time in link building as they spend on content creation. 📧 Personalized outreach gets replies, generic pitches get deleted: Alan's email to Omer stood out from thousands because it led with value and personalization. Your outreach should ask questions and offer help, not pitch your company. 🔄 Reverse-engineer competitor backlinks to find untapped prospects: Instead of contacting the same sites linking to competitors, analyze what types of pages link out. Then find similar pages not linking to anyone yet for better SaaS SEO strategy results. 💰 Separate money pages from linkable assets in your content strategy: Money pages target keywords and drive conversions. Linkable assets like infographics attract backlinks. Use both to build domain authority that lifts all your content. 📉 SaaS SEO strategy results are exponential, not linear - do not quit early: Most companies see 20% of results after 80% of effort and give up. Committing long-term separates companies that dominate organic search from those with content graveyards. Chapters Introduction Alan's favorite quote: Marty McFly from Back to the Future What Growth Gorilla does: content promotion for B2B SaaS Why content promotion matters for SaaS companies The content graveyard: why most SaaS content never ranks Common SaaS SEO strategy mistakes How Alan's outreach stood out and led to this podcast The skyscraper approach and why it stopped working Reverse-engineering competitor backlinks for untapped prospects Money pages vs. linkable assets in SaaS SEO strategy Building a prospect list and finding the right contacts How to prioritize which pages to promote first Combining Ahrefs data with Google Analytics conversions Creating a 12-month content marketing roadmap The outreach email that actually gets replies Personalization at scale: tools and processes Follow-up strategy: value first, ask second The exponential curve of SaaS SEO strategy results Lightning Round Wrap Up Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/299 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email