The Nathan Barry Show

Simon Alexander Ong, author and leadership coach who focuses on energy and performance across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. He shares stories from a career shift out of finance. Short, practical habits for consistency, stress tools like stillness and perspective, seasonal energy planning, creative marketing experiments, and using presence and gratitude to lead with more vitality.

Grace Miller, Head of Failure and Experimentation at Flight Story, leads YouTube growth, localization and shorts strategies. She recounts scaling a channel from 100k to 14M subscribers. Short, punchy takes cover experiments that failed, dubbing and localization tests, using chapters and posts, multi-channel tactics, and how a culture that celebrates learning fuels rapid growth.

Mike Brown, former Navy F/A-18 backseater turned entrepreneur who built and sold an eight-figure oil and gas company, recounts selling supercars and redefining wealth. He describes losing $1.5M and finding peace, reframing rich as freedom across health, time, and relationships. Short stories cover process goals, daily habits, clean versus dirty motivation, and spending for happiness and leverage.

What does it take to grow a SaaS business from $1 million to $5 million annual recurring revenue when your revenue has plateaued? Michael Sliwinski, founder of the productivity app Nozbe, joins Nathan Barry to diagnose the core issues his business faces and map out a clear path forward. Michael, who flew all the way from Europe for this conversation, dives into the challenges of competing in a crowded market, the impact of a product rebuild, and the search for a compelling new positioning. This episode is a masterclass in auditing your business, identifying roadblocks, and strategizing for breakthrough growth, especially for founders navigating a competitive landscape and aiming for their next big milestone.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:05 Michael's journey to Nozbe02:51 From side hustle to $1 million ARR04:47 The Japan growth explosion06:17 Rebuilding Nozbe from scratch10:14 Competing with industry giants12:58 Breaking down business metrics and building blocks19:07 Understanding max MRR and the S-curve22:42 The flatlining awareness and traffic25:02 Expansion and multi-seat customers29:43 Legacy customers on the old vs. new Nozbe30:52 Strong customer retention and low churn37:25 Key metrics and dashboard visibility39:46 Accountability through weekly revenue meetings42:07 The effectiveness of current content strategies46:27 Partnership success with a productivity consultant51:09 Direct sales for partners53:01 Reframing positioning for growth56:19 The core promise of Nozbe: The tool teams actually use59:43 The "boulder pushing" analogy1:02:18 Strategy for identifying and incentivizing new partners1:11:34 Tapping into true fans for new partner leads1:14:57 Michael's reflections and next stepsIf you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one.Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/showFollow Nathan:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarryLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarryX: https://twitter.com/nathanbarryYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshowWebsite: https://nathanbarry.comKit: https://kit.com/?utm_campaign=29661554-nathan_barry_show&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=nathanbarryshow&utm_content=youtube_descriptionFollow Michael:X: https://twitter.com/msliwinskiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelsliwinskiMastodon: https://social.nozbe.com/@michaelNozbe: https://nozbe.comFeatured in this episode:Kit: https://www.kit.comNozbe: https://nozbe.comHighlights:02:17 – ZDNet feature blew up Nozbe05:13 – iPad app success in Japan09:27 – Impact and the $5M goal11:54 – Customer loyalty despite competitors22:15 – Demo meetings and their conversion rates32:27 – Customers prepaid until 204057:33 – Why simpler is better for teams

Dan Cumberland, a serial founder who builds human-centered AI systems for creators and entrepreneurs. He explains portable context documents and context engineering. He shows workflows that turn podcasts into TikToks, automate newsletters, and use AI as a sous-chef for operations. He covers avoiding chat memory, chaining multi-step AI tasks, and mining meetings for ideas.

Tim Grahl, book marketing expert and founder of BookLaunch and StoryGrid, explains engineering long-term book success. He contrasts short bestseller sprints with two-year launches. He breaks down influencer promotion, getting fans to buy with scarcity and bonuses, and why reaching 10,000 readers and giving away copies fuels lasting word-of-mouth.

Justin Su'a, a performance psychologist who trains elite athletes, military units, and leaders. He unpacks mindset shifts for peak performance. Topics include delivering tough feedback, building truth-bearing relationships, scoring and strengthening team bonds, mental rumble strips for pressure, and tactics to solicit honest feedback and navigate VUCA environments.

Noah Kagan, entrepreneur who founded AppSumo and grew a 1M+ YouTube following, reflects on going all-in, building a dream team, and the viral pivot that changed everything. He discusses burnout, why he paused despite success, repeatable content formats, and shifting to raw, sustainable projects that fit family and business priorities.

Julia Taylor, founder of GeekPack who teaches digital skills to women and aims to reach a million by 2030. She explains her embedded partnerships framework that drove 70% of revenue this year. Topics include partnership alignment, win-win-win deals, custom integrations across products, co-creation of programs, and impact measurement for repeat collaborations.

Chris Hutchins, creator and host of the All The Hacks podcast, dives deep into the art of podcast growth. He shares how to leverage deep expertise and innovative networking to maximize reach. Chris discusses the power of guesting on other shows and crafting value-driven pitches. He reveals strategies like post-roll ads and calculating listener lifetime value to enhance monetization, while also addressing smart ways to promote podcasts everywhere. Plus, he throws in savvy travel and finance hacks that will elevate your next adventure!